Page 53 - 2022-08-01 Sound & Vision

correction, Dolby Atmos, bass
management, and wireless
surround sound. Still, I found it hard
to complain because the Heos app
is very user-friendly and works well.
PERFORMANCE
It didn’t take more than a track or
two to discover the Model 40’s
sonic personality, which empha-
sizes large soundstaging, solidified
images, warmth, and harmonic
density. With the Who’s “Magic
Bus,” from The Who, Live at Leeds
(16/44.1 FLAC, Tidal), the band was
placed on an expansive and airy
soundstage. When Keith Moon
sets the song’s meter, tapping
together a pair of Latin American
claves, the Model 40n reproduced
the sound with a rich, woody timbre
and clean transient pops. Pete
Townshend’s intervening electric
guitar sounded full-bodied and it
was easy to hear those notes rico- 399 has its charms—its bass is
cheting off the venue’s le wall.
Alexis Cole’s “Something So
Right,” from The World’s Greatest
Audiophile Vocal Recordings,
Volume 2 (16/44.1 FLAC), sounded
sophisticated and gorgeous. Cole’s
voice, backed by the warm sound
of Marvin Sewell’s guitar strings,
came across as relaxed and liquid
with beautiful midrange bloom.
All of the sonic images were large
and solidly planted against a quiet
background. At the same time,
the high-frequency glissando of
Sewell’s fingers sliding between
notes was cleanly reproduced
without being grating, a common
failing of components that don’t
cost an arm and a leg.
If pushed to identify a minor
quibble I had with the Model 40n’s
sound, it would be that it produced
a smidgeon less detail than some
of its competitors. NAD’s C 399
integrated streaming amp, which
I reviewed for the June/July 2022
issue and still have in-house, repro-
duced Sewell’s guitar strings on
“Something So Right” with slightly
more vibrational spring, though
the difference was subtle and
would likely go unnoticed without
a contemporaneous comparison.
Indeed, absent such a comparison,
the long and metallic low-level
dynamics of cymbal decays
seemed fully resolved on the title
track from Billy Cobham’s Total
Eclipse album (16/44.1 FLAC).
Bear in mind that while the NAD
C 399 and other competitors that
use class-D amplification, such
as Cambridge Audio’s Evo 150
($3,000), o en favor linear sound
that is clean, pristine and detailed,
they also tend to lack the 40n’s very
appealing fullness and harmonic
density. In particular, while the C
slightly more extended and linear
than the 40n’s—it didn’t muster the
40n’s alluring midbass. That’s not
to say one approach is right and the
other wrong—only that it will likely
come down to a ma er of personal
preference.
To audition the Model 40n’s
ARC feature, I watched the 2017
World War II movie Dunkirk.
Throughout the film, the sound
of German bombs and artillery
shells exploding on the water
award winning, was good enough
that I wasn’t shaking my head as
many such outputs make me do.
The output’s real strength was
the way in which it placed voices
and instruments, each in a distinct
space surrounded by plenty of air.
As is the case with most competing
products, the 40n’s headphone
output doesn’t deliver true audio-
phile sound but it will more than
suffice for casual listeners.
CONCLUSION
as allied troops scurried about
on nearby boats was deep and Don’t let the Model 40n’s respect
gut-wrenching. And when fighter for the old-school components
planes crossed over the screen, the fool you. Combine the ability to
sound of their propellers was huge tweak the incoming digital signal to
in scale, detailed, and visceral. improve performance and suit indi-
While some streaming amplifiers, vidual taste with a robust amplifier,
including those that use class-D beefy power supply, and brawny
amplification, are rated to deliver build, and you have a thoroughly
more power than the 40n, I never modern beast of a streaming
felt as though more wa age was machine that will woo you with its
needed. large scale, harmonically dense
I didn’t test the Model 40n’s sound. Add to that a reasonable
internal phono stage, but I spent price, and the Marantz Model 40n
time with its headphone output. All is easy to recommend.
too o en, these types of outputs
are included to check a box on a
list of features rather than sound The Verdict
good. Switching between the
Apos Audio Caspian and Audeze The Marantz Model 40n is a thor-
LCD-1 headphones, the output was oughly modern music streaming
able to adequately drive both sets machine that sounds great and
of cans, while producing sound delivers a robust set of features
that was listenable without being without losing sight of the brand’s
grating. Transparency, while not storied past.
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