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DVD player vs. CD player


tom b. 57

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On Saturday I purchased a Denon DVD 2910 after doing some comparison shopping, several weekends to be exact. I wanted a good quality player that would support more than just CD or SACD formats. I wanted to be able to use this player for MP3 and any other formats, like JPEG. I did not want to spend more than $1000.00 or so. I finally settled on this Denon after doing some AB comparisons. The denon actually sounded better than a $1300.00 Primaire CD player, which was held in high regard by several people I spoke with. The Denon listed for $749.00 but since it was a clearance item I was lucky enough to pick it up, brand new, for $279.00. This thing is fantastic on delivering smooth accurate audio. It is SACD capable among many other formats. Has anyone else found that some of the middle of the road priced DVD players perform better when it comes to audio? I must mention that I compared it with a couple of Marantz cd players and a couple of different Sony units also. This thing actually blew them away. I just wonder how one justifies purchasing a much more expensive source for audio when I can't imagine that there could be that much of a difference in the audio. The seperation, soundstage. the subtle nuances of the music seem to come through with this moderately priced unit. The highs are sharp but not overly bright and the lows are present and crisp. The killer price didn't hurt either. Thoughts and comments are welcomed.

Tom

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I have a NAD C542 CD player, $400-500, and a Denon 2900 and like them both. The Denon is a smoother and the C542 has more detail. The 2900 is at least 3 years old so it does not have the latest tech so your 2910 could also match or surpase my C542 in detail.

I have found I like the sound of some cds on the C542 and some on the 2900 but if the cd is a quality recording I usually play it on the C542. If I had to live with one for cd playback I could keep either one and be happy.

At the price you got the 2910 for there is nothing out there that will equal the price/performance of what you got. By that I mean CD, SACD, DVD A, DVD Video, HDCD, etc. I am going to wait till Denon comes out with the next 29 or 39 series and probably not get another cd player. Then again there are some nice tubed cd players.

enjoy your music

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The difference has nothing to do with having DVD ability. When acting as a CD player, the functions involved don't know about DVD. The difference is as comparing to another CD player whether part of something with multi-format capability or not.

Dave

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The difference has nothing to do with having DVD ability. When acting as a CD player, the functions involved don't know about DVD. The difference is as comparing to another CD player whether part of something with multi-format capability or not.

Dave

This is the point I am getting at. I A-B'd some CD players that were more expensive and supported only CD format against this DVD player that plays many more formats and this DVD player performed better with detail, seperation, and overall clarity throughout the whole audible range of frequencies. So why would one, or, how could one justify spending an enormous amount of money on a CD only player? Is it the prestige of owning an expensive name? Is it a notion that the more you spend the better the sound, even when the sound that the piece of moderately priced equipment emits is extraordinary? Is it just a perceived fuller richer sound in the very expensive piece? Is there really that much difference?I can hardly believe that a few or for that matter many thousands of dollars more is going to give me that much more satisfaction. I cherish my music. From jazz to blues to classic rock and even a taste of some heavy metal. On occasion some symphonic tunes are quite nice. I guess I don't understand the thought that after you hit a certain level of accurate music reproduction there is this whole other level that costs thousands of dollars more. Please, can someone elaborate on this?

Tom

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I have the older 2900 which is supposed to compare to the newer 3900 series. I love it as a multi channel player, and not a bad DVD player either. On my two channel rig I bought a Denon 2800MK II which is a giant killer on the CD side.

I would like to have a tube CD player though in the future...maybe a Jolida.

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On Saturday I purchased a Denon DVD 2910 after doing some comparison shopping, several weekends to be exact. I wanted a good quality player that would support more than just CD or SACD formats. I wanted to be able to use this player for MP3 and any other formats, like JPEG. I did not want to spend more than $1000.00 or so. I finally settled on this Denon after doing some AB comparisons. The denon actually sounded better than a $1300.00 Primaire CD player, which was held in high regard by several people I spoke with. The Denon listed for $749.00 but since it was a clearance item I was lucky enough to pick it up, brand new, for $279.00. This thing is fantastic on delivering smooth accurate audio. It is SACD capable among many other formats. Has anyone else found that some of the middle of the road priced DVD players perform better when it comes to audio? I must mention that I compared it with a couple of Marantz cd players and a couple of different Sony units also. This thing actually blew them away. I just wonder how one justifies purchasing a much more expensive source for audio when I can't imagine that there could be that much of a difference in the audio. The seperation, soundstage. the subtle nuances of the music seem to come through with this moderately priced unit. The highs are sharp but not overly bright and the lows are present and crisp. The killer price didn't hurt either. Thoughts and comments are welcomed.

Tom

Tom, where did you buy it? I would like to pic one up at that price too!

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I use a DBX DX5 CD Player but also have a Denon 2900 both are fabulous players. The 20 year old DBX will play CD-R's and MP3's strangely enough and has DBX's DAIR circuits that really benefit older CD's that are weak on output which gives it a big advantage over the 2900 when CD playback is concerned.

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The difference has nothing to do with having DVD ability. When acting as a CD player, the functions involved don't know about DVD. The difference is as comparing to another CD player whether part of something with multi-format capability or not.

Dave

This is the point I am getting at. I A-B'd some CD players that were more expensive and supported only CD format against this DVD player that plays many more formats and this DVD player performed better with detail, seperation, and overall clarity throughout the whole audible range of frequencies. So why would one, or, how could one justify spending an enormous amount of money on a CD only player? Is it the prestige of owning an expensive name? Is it a notion that the more you spend the better the sound, even when the sound that the piece of moderately priced equipment emits is extraordinary? Is it just a perceived fuller richer sound in the very expensive piece? Is there really that much difference?I can hardly believe that a few or for that matter many thousands of dollars more is going to give me that much more satisfaction. I cherish my music. From jazz to blues to classic rock and even a taste of some heavy metal. On occasion some symphonic tunes are quite nice. I guess I don't understand the thought that after you hit a certain level of accurate music reproduction there is this whole other level that costs thousands of dollars more. Please, can someone elaborate on this?

Tom

Tom, it is everything you mentioned. My "CD Player" is worth about 15.00 at Frys. If I had beaucoups of bucks I'd buy all sorts of beautifully built works of art for my listening room but I am not. I transfer everything to hard drive and play back through either a Card Deluxe (two channel) or ESI WamiRack XL (up to 8 channels) 24X192 depending upon the source material. The Card Deluxe is measurably comparable to any DAC at any price, though in deference to the wide opinions of our crowd I won't say it's the best...but it's the best I've ever heard and appears to have absolute no characteristics of its own. As a location recordist, that is important to me. I judge playback by what is present or missing from the original experience.

I am not trying to sell you on that concept, but will state my sincere belief that it is all about the DAC when it comes to digital playback, and unlike many things in audio this position is well supported by science. I made a little joke in another thread a while back about having tried striping one of my CD's along the edge with an opaque marker as some have suggested. I duly reported that suddenly my spreadsheet was accurate to two more decimal places and the fonts were visibly sharper. I rarely take a shot like that, but I cannot see how anyone can not understand that file reading from a disk drive, any disk drive, is either accurate or it is corrupt.

Believe your ears. With digital technology there is less and less correspondence between price and performance. Save your bucks for Heritage speakers and enjoy the music. JMHO.

Regards,

Dave

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tom b. 57

I mustthank you soo much. Apparently I have the last denon 2910 in NJ, I went to two bestbuys and the one I got was a demo but it was underneath the tv so no one really touched it, it had no marks, fingerprints, scratches.... But since it was open box I got it at $229.99 though the remote is not exactly the same it works!

Thanks again!

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The difference has nothing to do with having DVD ability. When acting as a CD player, the functions involved don't know about DVD. The difference is as comparing to another CD player whether part of something with multi-format capability or not.

Dave

This is the point I am getting at. I A-B'd some CD players that were more expensive and supported only CD format against this DVD player that plays many more formats and this DVD player performed better with detail, seperation, and overall clarity throughout the whole audible range of frequencies. So why would one, or, how could one justify spending an enormous amount of money on a CD only player? Is it the prestige of owning an expensive name? Is it a notion that the more you spend the better the sound, even when the sound that the piece of moderately priced equipment emits is extraordinary? Is it just a perceived fuller richer sound in the very expensive piece? Is there really that much difference?I can hardly believe that a few or for that matter many thousands of dollars more is going to give me that much more satisfaction. I cherish my music. From jazz to blues to classic rock and even a taste of some heavy metal. On occasion some symphonic tunes are quite nice. I guess I don't understand the thought that after you hit a certain level of accurate music reproduction there is this whole other level that costs thousands of dollars more. Please, can someone elaborate on this?

Tom

Doh!

typo on my behalf, I boofed.........

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tom b. 57

I mustthank you soo much. Apparently I have the last denon 2910 in NJ, I went to two bestbuys and the one I got was a demo but it was underneath the tv so no one really touched it, it had no marks, fingerprints, scratches.... But since it was open box I got it at $229.99 though the remote is not exactly the same it works!

Thanks again!

Jay, congratulations on your find. I know you will be happy with this acquisition. I am using mine for strictly two channel listening, as I am not in to video much. It is nice to have such a good audio performer with the ability to perform as a great video player if I ever choose to use it in such a way. For me, this was the best buy of the year.

Oh, by the way, your very welcome.

Tom

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tom b. 57

I mustthank you soo much. Apparently I have the last denon 2910 in NJ, I went to two bestbuys and the one I got was a demo but it was underneath the tv so no one really touched it, it had no marks, fingerprints, scratches.... But since it was open box I got it at $229.99 though the remote is not exactly the same it works!

Thanks again!

Jay, congratulations on your find. I know you will be happy with this acquisition. I am using mine for strictly two channel listening, as I am not in to video much. It is nice to have such a good audio performer with the ability to perform as a great video player if I ever choose to use it in such a way. For me, this was the best buy of the year.

Oh, by the way, your very welcome.

Tom

basically same here with two channel, heck i don't have a tv to hook it up to set up the fancy menu....... maybe i should get a tv?

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