Marantz 60n

It may be going through its customary period of uncertainty where ownership and what-have-you is concerned, but if this new 60n proves anything it proves that it’s business as usual inside Marantz. The corporate world is one thing, the matter of turning out profoundly competitive audio equipment is quite another.

The 60n is an integrated stereo amplifier with network streaming abilities and an overspecified ES9018K2M 32bit/384kHz and DSD256 digital-to-analogue converter that’s ready to do the business with any digital source equipment you might have. It’s equally adept with analogue devices, to the point of including a moving magnet phono stage for use with a turntable. It uses good old Class A/B power (60 watts per channel into an 8-ohm load) where many nominal rivals have succumbed to Class D, and it’s ready to become part of a multiroom system with other HEOS-enabled equipment (which basically means products from Marantz and sister company Denon). Dual-band wi-fi and Bluetooth 5.4 take care of music streaming services, with ‘Connect’ versions of Spotify and TIDAL available - and network-attached storage can join in thanks to the 60n’s ‘Roon Ready’ status.

And if all of that makes the Marantz 60n seem like it might represent very decent value at its £1299 asking price, the way it looks doesn’t do any harm either. It’s built and finished to the standard we’ve all come to expect from Marantz, and the ‘floating’ metal front panel sits ahead of a mildly textured, mildly contoured rear panel that changes its appearance every time the light strikes it in a different way. The porthole display is a nod to Marantz design heritage. Overall, it’s a coherent and quite sophisticated looker and looks, to me at least, like a pricier device than it actually is.

Sound quality

Is the Marantz 60n the complete article where sound quality is concerned? No, it isn’t - and quite honestly, given that it costs £1299 I’d be quite surprised if it was. Is the Marantz 60n an enjoyable and entertaining listen? It certainly is - unless you’re one of those listeners who craves constant action.

It doesn’t matter the format in which your music is stored, and to a lesser extent it doesn’t matter its native resolution either. In every circumstance the Marantz is a smooth, insightful and impeccably mannered device, one that’s able to make sense of even the most complex recordings and that can let even quite problematic loudspeakers know who’s boss.

There’s a slight bloom at the bottom of the frequency range, a little overemphasis of the low end, and a corresponding rounding off of high-frequency extension that ultimately means the sound of the 60n is tilted just a little. In the context of its price and its likely partnering equipment, though, this makes sense inasmuch as it will likely make the Marantz a more forgiving element of the system it’s part of. The transition through the frequency range from bottom to top is clean and unforced, though, and in tandem with an overall tonality that’s quite carefully neutral it makes for a pleasant and unthreatening listen.

Detail levels are high at every point, and the Marantz is able to identify and reveal even the most fleeting and/or most minor occurrences in a recording. The fact that it’s able to generate a large and properly defined soundstage means that there’s room for the most transient moments in a recording to be put into convincing context.   

Rhythmic expression is good - although the bottom end is undeniably overstated it’s rigorously controlled, as well as being loaded with information regarding texture and timbre. There’s substance to the top of the frequency range to (partially) make up for the lack of ultimate extension, and in the midrange the 60n lays it on with a trowel - it makes singers of every type and competence sound direct, immediate and characterful.  

The Marantz is very adept with the dynamics of harmonic variation, especially when it’s being asked to play an unaccompanied voice or a solo instrument. It’s pretty accomplished where the bigger and more obvious dynamic variations of volume or intensity are concerned, too.

Despite the fact that it’s never less than enjoyable to spend time with, though, I can’t help but think some listeners are going to require a little more drive, a little more attack, and a little more positivity to their sound. If my use of the word ‘polite’ seems like a criticism here, it’s not meant to - but there’s no getting away from it, the 60n is a polite and cultured listen. If this sounds like your sort of thing, you’re  going to love this Marantz. If it doesn’t, well, it’s not like you’re short of alternatives.

Living with

‘Painless’ is as good a way as any to describe living with the 60n. It’s a simple enough device, after all, and each of its several control options are reliable and well-implemented. If you can’t get what you want, quickly and easily, from the Marantz I really think it says more about you than it does the product itself.

Getting up and running couldn’t be more straightforward. The 60n needs mains power, of course, and its speaker binding posts need to be wired to a pair of loudspeakers. Any physical connections, whether analogue or digital, are easy enough to make thanks to the way the rear panel is laid out - you might conceivably need a long-ish HDMI cable if you want the Marantz to take care of your TV’s sound as well as that of your audio equipment, but other than that there’s really nothing to worry about.

The ‘HEOS’ control app that’s free for iOS and Android is how you get the 60n onto your local network, and once it’s on there it’s no trouble to integrate your favourite music streaming service(s), access internet radio, and get at any digital audio content you might have on a network-attached storage device. The app is perhaps a little cluttered in appearance, but it’s comprehensive and easy enough to navigate.  

Marantz also supplies a remote control handset. Called RC006PM, it’s a system remote (so has more buttons than are strictly necessary to control the 60n), longer than the norm and is crying out for some backlighting. It’s reasonably tactile, though - and once you’ve established which button does what, it's pretty useful.

And there are a few physical controls on the fascia, too. ‘Power on/off’ and a 6.3mm headphone socket are on the ends, while the floating panel has dials for ‘volume up/down’, ‘bass’, ‘treble’ and ‘balance’. There’s also a ‘source direct’ control to bypass those last three.

Conclusion

As the amplification-and-streaming engine for a flexible stereo system, the Marantz 60n is extremely hard to argue with. It could sound a little more vigorous and engaged, sure, but some reasonably careful system-matching can mitigate that trait to a degree - and then you’ll have a system with a capable, adaptable and very listenable machine at its heart.

Listening notes

Big Special Black Dog / White Horse

The amount of low-frequency variation and detail comes in very handy here, as does the open and revealing nature of midrange reproduction. The spacious and well-defined soundstage allows the spaces in this recording to play their part, too.

Chick Corea Return to Forever

Sometimes ‘virtuoso’ is another way of saying ‘massive show-off’ - but not where this tune is concerned. Every element, from keyboards and percussion to bass and voice, is brilliantly accomplished - but the Marantz makes them sound unified and together at the same time. 

Low (That’s How You Sing) Amazing Grace

When a recording is as lugubrious as this one, a system might make it drag and drone - but the 60n keeps on top of the tempo and the rhythm, making it seem stately rather than just sluggish.

You should buy the Marantz 60n because it's specified well enough, and performs to a high enough standard, to form the centre of a high-achieving stereo system and survive one or two upgrades of its partnering equipment while it does so. And because it looks pretty good too, of course..."

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