Integrate the receiver into the HEOS multi-room system to stream music throughout your home.
Via Bluetooth or Apple AirPlay 2, you can stream music from your smartphone or tablet to the receiver.
With the DAB+ tuner, you can enjoy noise-free radio quality.
This is not an AV receiver, so it's not suitable for creating a home cinema surround sound setup.
You can't connect a record player via the phono input.
Description
The Marantz Melody X is a receiver with lots of playback options. This system is the center of your speaker system, which you can easily integrate with the HEOS multiroom system. This way, you can stream music throughout the house. You can also connect a smartphone to the receiver to play music via Bluetooth. Do you have an iPhone? You can connect it via Apple AirPlay 2 and stream music in your whole house. Thanks to the DAB+ tuner, you can listen to noise-free radio.
The Marantz Melody X is a receiver with lots of playback options. This system is the center of your speaker system, which you can easily integrate with the HEOS multiroom system. This way, you can stream music throughout the house. You can also connect a smartphone to the receiver to play music via Bluetooth. Do you have an iPhone? You can connect it via Apple AirPlay 2 and stream music in your whole house. Thanks to the DAB+ tuner, you can listen to noise-free radio.
When it comes to sound quality, I'm honestly not easily satisfied. This is why I have been unwilling to part with my old setup for a very long time. However, when I got the chance to test this Marantz I wanted to make an exception to this rule. I myself am very familiar with the toppers in the HIFI world and Marantz is no stranger to me. The Melody X would therefore be a great opportunity for me to maintain the familiar quality, plus experience the comforts of living in modern times!
Before I started testing, there was already a big plus. The Melody X has the quality to control a wide range of speakers. For example, it is even possible to use speakers of 4 ohms with this system and many older speaker systems can also be combined with this new device.
Out of the box there are a number of things that immediately stand out. The design of the Marantz is certainly beautifully finished with an eye for detail. The buttons also feel very robust and certainly not cheap. If you are used to older systems, you will certainly find this Marantz on the light side and the dimensions are suitable for people who have relatively little space but still want a stereo system.
There is actually nothing to complain about the I/O, although some may miss the phono output. For the rest, one has every other type of input from optical to analog. It is also possible to use the device as a bi-amp, which makes it possible, for example, to place one set of speakers in your living room and the other set in another. This principle is not new and was not super handy in the past because you had to go to the relevant room every time to operate the stereo, but nowadays you can do that via your phone or laptop! So very handy.
In terms of ease of use I can keep it short, this is simply excellent. The stereo performs updates itself (provided it is connected to the internet), can be operated via all kinds of streaming media, from Spotify, TuneIn Internet radio, Sound Cloud, Tidal, Napster, Deezer to your local music library, in fact everything is possible in terms of that.
Now the most important; the sound quality is very good. I have the installation with a passive canton sub and two canton satellite speakers. All in all, I can say that the Marantz drives these wonderfully and reproduces any kind of music beautifully.
To complete my review I have to be honest and also tell my one drawback. This is the remote control, functions well, but feels very cheap. Quite special as the stereo itself is very nicely designed. The remote control feels as if it was invented for a while.
My conclusion is that it may be a pricey device, but certainly future-proof! It is a very versatile stereo that besides the fact that the sound quality is good, it is really very convenient in any situation.
Thbach
26 May 2019
Automatically translated from Dutch
9,5/10
Good sound, easy to use and versatile.
ease of use
sound quality
options
no phono input
After unpacking, let it come to room temperature for a while, and then connected my speakers (Alternating Gain) and turned it on. Connecting to WIFI was just via WPS, an update was downloaded and installed and we could get started. All this immediately worked very intuitively.
The Melody X takes the place of my Marantz PM-78 and CD5003. I streamed via a Chromecast audio. A set up that I have been very satisfied with for many years now. The first time I just played an "old-fashioned" CD and that certainly didn't disappoint. The sound seems a bit more open than with my old setup, which undoubtedly has to do with the difference between a 20 year old Class A amp and a new Class D amp. All in all a nice sound, with a good balance. A tone control is provided, but with everything on source direct I haven't felt the need to adjust anything yet.
Then the real power of this Melody, the connectivity. Spotify recognizes it immediately and that also works the way you want. Sound is just okay, period. The only caveats are that if you want to control the volume from your phone, for example, the steps are quite large and it can be difficult to set the correct volume. But I think that's more of an issue with the app than with the Melody itself, and can easily be solved with the remote control of course. With the Heos app you can control more functions of the Melody, this all works very intuitively. Streaming from sources other than Spotify like TuneIn radio also works fine.
Then the radio function. I don't listen to much radio, but if you want to, you can go anywhere with this. With the DAB+ tuner you can easily find the well-known radio offer, and with internet radio you can navigate through a folder structure that takes you to a large number of radio stations. Works great, and especially DAB+ sounds really good too.
And we're not there yet, because you can also connect your TV to it. If that TV has an optical digital output, that is. My TV itself doesn't have that, but the set-top box does. Until now I used a Philips soundplate for the TV sound, but with the set top box (Ziggo horizon) on the TV input of the Melody X you only have to switch on the case and it switches automatically. A handy learning function allows you to use the TV's remote control to adjust the volume. That works fine and the sound is (of course) much better than from the TV itself or a soundplate like I used before.
In short: a very nice device, with a really good sound and with the versatility that you seem to need these days. I'm very happy with it anyway :)
John kuijpers
17 May 2019
Automatically translated from Dutch
8,4/10
Great receiver for a reasonable price
Compact design
Many linking options
Great sound
Black plastic attracts dust
I have had a CR511 for years, but free internet radio is no longer possible on it. Internet radio is only possible with a subscription to vTuner. Of course this is not neat from Marantz, but it is in the fine print. Decided to replace the CR511 with this CR612. In addition to working internet radio, the device also has a CD player and traditional radio. Despite the fact that everyone in the family has a Spotify subscription, this was a frequently heard wish from a family member :-) The Melody X has a great sound and many possibilities to stream music with it (Airplay 2, Bluetooth), also supports HEOS and the HEOS App. DAB+ does nothing in our living room, no reception yet, but internet radio is fine for the time being. The device is connected to WiFi with us. Controlling with Google Home is another challenge, because Google Home doesn't always understand us.
Compliments also to Coolblue, the first CR612 was already defective on arrival (only had a red flashing LED), but was immediately replaced by another CR612. Picture quality does not apply to this receiver.