Let's not expect the moon and the earth here. Remember, this is still very much a budget player, and no amount of tweaking or modifying can turn this into a high-end player. It's just like driving a car, say, a Kancil (for the benefit of our foreign readers, the Kancil is a very compact Malaysian-made vehicle, the top of the range model being equipped with an 850cc engine). Now, you can add a turbocharger, install an aftermarket extractor, modify the exhaust system and just about whatever else you can think of, but the Kancil is most certainly never going to be a Ferrari. What it is capable of is giving you the most bang for your buck. In other words, it brings forth and maximises whatever potential the CD 4000 has and hikes up the performance a few notches. During the process of reviewing this unit, I managed to lay my grubby hands on an older Marantz CD 46 for comparison purposes. It's not the same as the stock CD 4000, being a whole generation of CD players older, but it did give me hints of what its basic capabilities are. Other partnering equipment were my trusty (and recently modded) CD-63 KI Signature, Marantz PM-66 KI Signature and Restek Fable integrated amps, with Mission 731i and Opera 1.5 speakers in tow. Cabling comprised of my own DIY efforts. The first impression that I got from this component was that it sounded most unlike a budget CD player. There are many things that a budget player will not give you, and these effects were apparent on this modded unit. One obvious trait is the separation of instruments. Playing Mahler's Symphony No.9 performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra (conducted by Benjamin Zander), it was very easy to distinguish between the various instruments that were playing; each instrument voiced itself distinctly -- the first violins were not overpowered by the second violins, and the like. Soundstaging too was admirable. In fact, it didn't lose out to my CD 63 KI (then in stock form though) by much. You could hear less depth and a slight narrowing of the soundfield, and vocalists sat a bit further back in the soundstage, but it was a close call, and not one you'd expect from a player at this price range. The music that came through was also very articulate. Diana Krall's piano tinkering on I'm an Errand Girl for Rhythm was delivered with confidence, each keystroke fast and immediate. There was also a crispness to the sound that I found very inviting. In fact, I noticed myself foot-tapping a lot more as I began to grow into the player. Improvement in detail over the CD 46 was outstanding. Simply put, many intricacies are lost coming off the older player. Through the CD 4000, you hear more of the background instruments and sounds, for example, a distant triangle or the slide of fingers on the strings of a guitar. They were brought out to the front and not stifled by the other instruments, as would customarily be on budget equipmnent. If I did have a gripe, I'd say that there were two things that didn't strike a chord with me. Firstly, the overall sound was not as full bodied the way I like it. Yes, you do hear everything in the recording, but it doesn't quite have enough presence, or the live factor as some would put it. Secondly, the bass. It just didn't go down low enough. What came through was very fast and punchy, and every smack of the drum or the plucking of bass strings was taut and delivered with authority. It's just that it lacks real bass weight. | 
