I have replaced the Marantz's stock PC with AURAL THRILLS' silver PC cord. I didn't notice the difference until 3 month later when I decided to switch back to stock PC. I got huge reduction in transparancy and the soundstage. When I pluged the silver PC - it all came back. Now I see the difference the good PC can make.
Save your monies, the SA8260 sounds as pretty darn good as is, it's just a hop,skip,& a jump away from the sacd-1. I honestly would wait, & maybe add a few more cd's to your collection for now.
Audiobugged, thank you for your comments. I do have brass cones under my speakers - when I installed them it lifted the speakers of the floor and gave them a little tilt as I used 1.5 in. cones in front and 1 in. cones on the back. It made the bass tighter and overall music more revealling. Also, I had just received 3 sets of Sorbothane Isolation pads that I bought here on A-gon. And I placed a set under each of my components. I liked the way my system sounded even before I placed them. So I didn't expected much more improvement, just wanted to experiment. I like the results I got. The music just became even smother than it was before isolation pads. I would love to hear recomandations on using or NOT separate DAC with SA8260. Thank you all.
It's a modest system, which could use some minor cheap tweeks. I'm not a big fan of glass shelves, especially thin ones, is it atleast tempered glass? Not crazy about the stand sturdy wise, & cd's on the same rack? 2 major affordable tweeks I would make -
1.) I would get 4 vibrapods @ $6.00 each in between the very thin glass shelf & your sacd player. If you don't want to spend 24 bucks? Go to Walmart, Kmart, etc.... & p/u on of those soft gel computer wrist pad for 4 dollars & cut it to size. Or p/u 2 Racket/Squash Balls for 2 dollars cut them in half w/ a Xacto blade on the seam place 1/2 under each of the 4 supports of the player.
2.) Look into isolating & elevating your speakers the hardwood floors. Bring them closer to ear level when seated in your listening position. Or atleast another 4 cut Racket balls under each speaker........