Marantz Project D-1 - The ultimate conclusion of the 16-bit era - DutchAudioClassics.nl
Hi all,
I’ve owned a Marantz Project D-1 (1998) for a number of years now, and it’s one of those pieces that keeps pulling me back in.
Recently, while digging deeper into the Philips LHH series, I started to better understand where the D-1 fits in historically. It was developed by the same Sagamihara team behind models like the LHH900R, but instead of following the bitstream direction of the time, it deliberately returns to a dual TDA1541A S2 Double Crown setup. On top of that, it uses a custom DSP and a fully Non-NFB analog design.
What I find interesting is that it doesn’t come across as nostalgic or “old-school.” It feels more like a very deliberate attempt to extract everything possible from the CD format, using multibit pushed to its limits.
I ended up writing a detailed blog about it, focusing on the technical design and the context of that transition period:
https://www.dutchaudioclassics.nl/context/Marantz-Project-D1/
I’m curious: are there people here still using TDA1541A-based CD players or DACs? What keeps you coming back to that architecture compared to newer designs?
Would love to hear your experiences.