Marantz M1 Review

Introduction

Some audio companies are quite astonishingly consistent in what they do. Even as the market around them changes beyond recognition, they keep designing products to the same template they have always done.

In some cases, this makes perfect sense; a Rega turntable adheres to the same basic design principles as it has always done because vinyl is a…mature… format and the basic design is absolutely up to the task of doing justice to it.

Some examples are more unusual though. When I was becoming interested in hi-fi in the 1990s, Marantz made integrated amplifiers that combined a row of RCA inputs, a phono stage and a class AB amplifier to drive a pair of speakers.

Since that time, amplifier specifications have changed beyond all recognition… but, it’s still possible in 2025 to buy a Marantz amplifier that conforms to that basic pattern. Even when the company adds more contemporary features, they still look and feel like Marantz amps of old…

…except this one. The M1 is a completely different to any other Marantz amp in the range. It is designed to be used in ways that the more ‘normal’ models are not designed for and it has some interesting extra functionality on hand as well. Does the Marantz DNA still shine through in this very different application and can the M1 hold its own?

Price

In the UK, the Marantz has a retail price of £900 but, at the time this review is being written in October 2025, there seems to be a common pattern of £100 off in the wide selection of retailers it is available from.

In the USA it is available for $1000 (and as the M1 is made in Japan, it is subject to less volatility than equivalent products made in China). In Australia, the price is listed as $1600 AUD.

The M1 doesn’t replace any of the more conventional Marantz amplifiers and might be best seen as an additional model designed to do slightly different things to them. This does give it a slightly experimental feel – as if the company is weighing up how well it does before adding any more models that mimic this configuration.

Design

• It’s a grey box…
• …but a grey box that goes places that normal amps can’t
• Heavily dependent on app to function

Over the years, Marantz has made some truly beautiful amplifiers. The PM-4 is a perfectly proportioned lump of seventies magnificence and as a teenager I wanted a PM-17 so badly, it hurt. More recently, the PM-10 and Model 50 have mixed material choices and design influences in a way that very few other companies can do.

At the other end of this, there’s the M1 which is a grey box. I’m not being sulky or dramatic here either; it’s a flat sided grey box. It’s quite well bolted together and the vented top section is quite tactile but there is very little you might reasonably describe as ‘styling.’

There is a good reason for this though. When you consider, how it functions, the M1 is exactly the design it should be. Its control interface has no need of physical controls or feedback from the unit so it’s logical to a fault in not providing any.

It’s clean, logical and clever in that it can easily be out on display or tucked away without any line of sight to it and it will make sense in both cases. When you combine this with the decision to use Class D amplification it means that the prospect of sealing one away in a ceiling void or similar should not be an alarming one.

In the entire time the test sample has been running, it’s never been anything more than fractionally warm. This is a device designed for a specific role and it makes much more sense when you see it that way.

This does mean that, with the almost complete absence of physical controls (and no remote handset), the M1 is heavily dependent on the control app to function. In the case of Marantz, this means HEOS. This allows for access of local stored content which is then augmented by streaming services, AirPlay and Bluetooth.

The streaming service provision is respectable enough (and is bolstered by the arrival of Qobuz (a highly irritating absentee for years) and the Connect version. PCM is supported to 24-bit/192kHz and up to DSD256 which should be enough for most needs.

My reservations about HEOS stem from the app itself. It never feels particularly fast or dynamic and, on tablets in particular, it never feels like it uses the available space to the best advantage.

Only the M1 was on hand to test as a HEOS device so I haven’t tested the multiroom element but I can’t see it being better than BluOS in this regard and there are fewer HEOS devices to choose from when equipping a house than there are BluOS equivalents.

The M1 is able to use Roon which, while pricey, does alleviate most of these issues and allow for a wider spread of devices to be used in multiroom.

Specification

• Streaming module is the main point of use
• Supported by some extra inputs but no phono stage
• Clever HDMI input
• Dirac Room Optimisation
• 100 watts of Class D power

The main point of the M1 is to access network and streamed content and I’ve already mentioned some aspects of the HEOS app aren’t perfect but the M1 is able to access the bulk of mainstream services and a local music library in a way that won’t require much in the way of source equipment; useful if you have elected to stow it out of sight.

You can connect other things though although if you have a turntable, you’re going to need an external phono stage. While this is quite the break with tradition; every other Marantz amp I’ve ever tested has had one, I do think it makes sense for Marantz to do this as it means that one input can handle a selection of different roles and responsibilities. An optical input is also present as well.

It’s the HDMI connection that is the most interesting addition though. First up, it’s an eARC connection rather than standard ARC which gives it a greater level of functionality. The most interesting aspect of it though is that it is capable of receiving a multichannel signal and downmixing it to stereo itself rather than needing the screen to do it.

This is a useful feature as, based on testing other devices, it can result in a higher level of performance than an input that needs the signal downmixing.

There’s one other interesting feature too. The M1 is the first stereo Marantz product I can recall testing with Dirac. This is based around the same basic principle as seen on BluOS devices, with limited bandwidth (up to 500Hz) being available for $159 and the full 20Hz – 20kHz being an option for $249.

This can look a little steep when many devices are available with EQ at no additional cost but the nature of what Dirac can do in terms of phase and time correction, and do so while you do nothing more onerous than move a microphone about, is very welcome.

The amplification this functionality is tied to is a Class D amp in contrast to the AB circuitry in use in the more conventional Marantz stereo amps (although it’s worth adding that some of the company’s high end models are also Class D.

Power is given as 100 watts into 8 ohms rising to 125 into 4, both at very low distortion levels. It should be entirely sufficient for the sort of speakers that the M1 is likely to encounter. Connection to your speakers is via a single set of reasonably sturdy speaker terminals.

Performance

• Manages to sound like a Marantz
• Very consistent across the various inputs
• HDMI ARC performance is superb

Some of you might have read the ‘Manages to sound like a Marantz’ bit of the intro and gone ‘eh? Of course it will sound like a Marantz, it is a Marantz!’ The reality is a bit more complex than that.

Even when Marantz amps have used Class D modules, they have used features like the long running HDAM modules and power supply arrangements that give them some lineage to the older model. The M1 does without all these things… and yet it still sounds like a Marantz.

What this means is that when partnered with the Mission 700 (which is not too radically different in price), the way that the M1 handles Echo by My Baby is lively, flowing and fundamentally musical. The Mission is slightly forward of neutral and this gives the M1 a little boost of treble energy that is wholly beneficial.

With the relatively large and hard hitting Mission, the bass response is also very good but I suspect it might wind up being a little leaner with less potent speakers. The integration with the upper registers is very good though and there is no shortage of convincing fine detail.

Some extended listening does suggest that the M1 feels engineered to be a fairly forgiving device that trades off the last ounce of hi-fi credibility in return for the ability to ensure that less than perfectly recorded material is still enjoyable.

I celebrated the anniversary of Nirvana’s Nevermind being released with a play through of a FLAC rip of the original CD and was impressed by the result. The Marantz captures the intensity and sheer passion of the music but does a decent job of avoiding the worst excesses of the compression present.

Give it the rather more audiophile The Making of Five Leaves Left by Nick Drake and the Marantz has to give a little more ground to more incisive rivals but it does a fine job of capturing the essence of these rarely heard studio tapes in a way that really serves to bring Drake to life.

Switch from the HEOS input to sending a Rega Planar 10 turntable via a Chord Huei phono stage and the Marantz keeps its basic consistency. You can argue that some of the character of the turntable is lost by the process of how the Marantz works (the analogue signal will be digitised) but it’s still a fundamentally engaging and convincing sound that does justice to Depeche Mode’s exciter. For less spendy turntables, it’s likely to be more than up to the task of working well with them.

The HDMI input is a star turn through. It is a noticeably different listening experience to straight stereo via eARC.

Sure, the result itself is still stereo once the Marantz is done with it; if you want multichannel cleverness as an option, the 2025 Bluesound Powernode has features the Marantz cannot manage but the way that the M1 makes its way through Foundation is noticeably more immersive and – for the want of a better word – bigger than simply listening to the two channel downmix.

This is an area where I think the M1 has an advantage over most other stereo products doing the rounds at the moment and for people using it for as much TV work as they are music, it’s something to pay heed to.

Should you buy it?

FAQs