Marantz's newest CD player, the CD 70, continues the brand's long-held reputation of making entry-level disc spinners that hit the mark, with a performance brimming with insight, power and clarity, and a solid build quality that's easy to use.
But this CD 70 also marks the end of an era. With a new model name, a new design language and a hike in price, the CD 70 heralds the end of the celebrated Marantz CD6000 series, and a new beginning for what ‘entry level’ hi-fi means in 2026.
The CD 70 replaces the Award-winning Marantz CD6007 – a player that launched in 2020 and has been our entry-level recommendation ever since, for its hugely entertaining, cohesive and detailed sound, good spread of features, and superb build quality for its £349-£399 price.
The CD6007 follows in the footsteps of a long line of five-star, Award-winning CD players – it's a lineage that runs through two decades, and we've tested nearly every single model. The CD6006 (and its UK Edition), CD6005, CD6004, CD6003 – put these successive models all next to each other and you might have to squint to find the differences.
The Marantz entry-level CD player has had the same design language ever since the CD6003 launched for £300 in 2009, with a sturdy front panel showing symmetrical buttons flanking the disc tray and display in the middle, and distinctive curved sides.
This design was derived from Marantz’s more expensive hi-fi separates at the time (such as the Reference SA-10 SACD player), and not only meant a very recognisable profile across all Marantz models regardless of price, but also that that these budget Marantz CD players looked and felt far more premium than their asking price and rivals.
That same style and format carried on over the next decade across five models, with each iteration tweaking and refining the sonic formula to be that bit cleaner, more detailed, more dynamic, more open and more cohesive. The build and finish remained reassuringly solid with little changes (CD6005 has "shinier buttons", we noted in our review), with the price staying in the £300-£400 range.
The earlier models remained between £300-£350, and it wasn't until the CD6006 launched in 2016 that we noted the first "meaningful" rise in price to £400.
"A fantastic player and immense value for money. Its predecessor was already a winner, and this has topped it"
Such was Marantz's success in the CD player category in the ’80s and ’90s that its more premium "two-digits" models – the CD-63, -65 and -67 – were released in a yearly cycle. For the CD6000 series, it adopted a two-year cycle – a regularity that feels rather alien in today's hi-fi landscape.
When we spoke to legendary Marantz engineer Ken Ishiwata in August 2011 ahead of the CD6003 being replaced, he said, "We've switched to a two-year replacement cycle in stereo products such as these. However, while we might have been able to extend the CD6003 and PM6003 for another year, our competitors are trying very hard to catch up, so we have to make sure our leading position will be maintained."
Most of the times, the differences between the generations have been minor – changes to the circuitry and power supply layout, new DSP decoder, improved headphone amplifier – but every few generations, there is a greater step change, such as a new CD transport mechanism or new DAC chips.
Of all the features, it's the USB port on the CD6000 series that has seen the greatest evolution.
In the CD6003, it could play MP3 files and charge your phone, but when the CD6004 came around, it was a challenge to charge the larger and more power-hungry iPads that were becoming popular – this was “a tough nut to crack”, admitted Ishiwata during our interview. We noted it was done “properly” in the CD6005 review, and you could also play WAV files up to 24-bit/48kHz.
With the launch of the CD6007, you could play hi-res files up to 24-bit/192kHz and DSD for the first time through the USB port.
"Fresh young challenger"
But the CD6003 wasn’t the first of its family to receive acclaim. The CD6002 launched for £270 in 2007 and won back-to-back What Hi-Fi? Awards, and we noted that while previous Marantz players had always sounded pleasingly rich and detailed, this was the first to really shine when it came to dynamics and punch.
Let's go back even further to 1999, which is when the CD6000 series was first launched. We tested the updated CD6000 OSE in the September 1999 magazine to five-star success. It cost £300. The CD6002 and 6000 OSE look distinctly different from the CD6003-6007 run of models, with the disc tray and display on the left hand side and the buttons on the right.
Even the 6000 OSE looks remarkable different from the even more ’90s-retro design it replaced: the CD 67 MkII SE. In the review of the CD6000 OSE, we said this “fresh young challenger” took its design from the more expensive £3500 CD7. This recurring trend of Marantz's budget models adopting the design language of its flagship models of the era continues with the new CD 70 in 2026.
The 1999 CD6000 OSE player featured a newly developed Philips transport, four Dynamic Amplifier Modules (HDAM – a technology still used in Marantz products to this day) in the output stage, and – as it does today, 27 years on – had RCA line level, optical and coaxial outputs and a 6.3mm headphone port. We said that the 6000 OSE sounds typically Marantz: fluid and full-bodied, "eminently musical" and noted "taut rhythms that are crisply delivered" when playing Stevie Wonder or classical pieces. Although, we said in our review, the CD player needed more teeth and bite with, say, heavy metal music.
Marantz addressed this and upped the sonic game in the next release after a gap of a few years in the CD6002, and it continued to improve the sound quality in every generation since. This forgiving, smooth character is even addressed in the CD6006 from 2016, which we noted had "rather more bite and shine to the treble frequencies than we’ve been used to from 6000 series CD players in the past – which is definitely a good thing".
Sometimes the differences between the generations weren’t big enough to warrant a full system overhaul; if you had the CD6004, did you need to immediately replace it for the CD6005? Not necessarily. We said in our CD6005 review that Marantz has perhaps played it a little "safe" while also acknowledging the "greater sense of space, on top of an already-open delivery" and "lovely free-flowing character that’s fluid but not overly rich".
There's no denying that the CD6000 series carried on flying the flag for budget CD players for well over a decade, with next to no competition for the excellent, last-of-its-name CD6007 in recent years as CD’s popularity waned in light of streaming. It’s a product we would still recommend for CD fans today, especially if you see it at a discount.
"The entry-level hi-fi market isn’t what it used to be"
The new CD 70 carries that Marantz mantle, but it has evolved enough that it ends the chapter on the much-loved CD6000 series. For one, there is a marked increase in price, which has now increased considerably to £499. It’s a sign of the times as the price of quality hi-fi separates has increased across the board (components, materials and supply-chain demands all cost more, which all move the price tag northwards) that this is now considered "entry-level" in today's hi-fi market.
The design language has changed considerably, and that alone marks a clear end of the ‘classic’ CD6000 series and the dawn of the new CD 70 model. This new styling might not be for everyone, but it would be foolish of Marantz to stay stuck in the past and not move things forward.
The CD 70 is even more insightful, clearer and punchier than the CD6007, although it has a more assertive and authoritative character that we're used to hearing – a far cry from the smooth, relaxed sound we said needed more of a kick with the early CD6000 players.
It’s a good CD player even at this elevated price, but even so, we can't help but wave goodbye to the much-loved CD6000 series that was a true bastion of budget CD players.
We said in our CD6005 review: "There’s something admirable about a company that just won’t quit, even after it’s fought its way to the top. We’ve lost count of the gongs the Marantz 6000 series has scooped over the years, yet Marantz keeps tweaking."
It's a drive we hope to see carried on with this new generation of Marantz CD players.
MORE:
Read our Marantz CD 70 review
Read our exclusive interview from 2011: Ken Ishiwata talks upgrades, keeping ahead of the game and why there's life in the old CD yet
