One is a streaming all-in-one and the other is an amplifier. Judge them on how many boxes you want and what you already own, not on the spec sheet alone.
| Area | Better | Why |
|---|
| Noise floor | B | Marantz PM8006 is the quieter design on paper - 106dB against 90dB. Audible mainly with sensitive speakers in a quiet room. |
| Built-in DAC | A | Marantz MCR 60n has a DAC on board; the other needs an external one, which is another box, another power lead and another purchase. |
| Streaming | A | Only Marantz MCR 60n has AirPlay 2, Roon and HEOS. |
| Analogue inputs | B | Marantz PM8006 takes more analogue sources - 5 against 1. |
| Room to grow | evenly matched | The same expansion options on both. |
| Built-in sources | depends | Marantz MCR 60n has a CD player built in. That is one less box if you still play discs or listen to radio, and dead weight if you do not. |
| Shelf space | depends | Marantz MCR 60n takes up about 52% less shelf area (845cm² against 1772cm²), and it is 99mm shallower, which is the measurement that decides whether a rack door shuts. |
| Price | A | Marantz MCR 60n costs less - $1,000 against $1,499 at list. |
A Marantz MCR 60n B Marantz PM8006
depends neither is better in the abstract - it turns on your room, your system or how you will use them. Only specs published for both amplifiers are judged; anything missing on either side is left out rather than guessed.
Which should you choose?
Neither runs away with it - they trade advantages. Let the "depends" rows and the speakers you already own settle it. If you already own a DAC or a streamer, the built-in one is money you are paying twice for, and Marantz PM8006 becomes the more rational buy. Think about the whole system: the roughly $499 saved by taking the cheaper one would buy better speakers or a subwoofer, which does more for the sound than the difference between two competent amplifiers.
What a spec sheet cannot show: how either sounds with your speakers, how the controls feel day to day, and what the app is like to live with - which is where most all-in-one amplifiers are actually won or lost. Power figures are the manufacturers' own and are not measured to a common standard, so treat small differences as noise. If you can hear both, that will tell you more than any row above.