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Nice surprise: Denon DVD-5000 as a DAC.

trhee said:
Actually, this isn't entirely true. The CDX2 and CD5 XS both have digital out while the CD5i, CDS3 and CD555 don't.
Click to expand...

Really? I'm surprised, because I thought Naim had taken a hard-line stance on that subject until recently, with their separate DAC model.

Thanks for clearing that up.
 
Discovered last night that it won't even play DVDs (its supposed to, it just doesn't, not even a perfectly clean one that has just been opened)- but I'm not too upset as I have a different solution to my DVD problem on the way, hopefully. Till then I have three other options, all newer, with progressive scan, one- a Pioneer Elite unit (that won't play CDs- they make a good pair I guess)- that has a very good picture, and I have upscaling in my receiver.

So- I wouldn't recommend this thing as anything but a DAC, if you can find it cheap. The transport mechanism is 'suspect'. It sounds better using another player as a transport, anyway, even when its built in transport works. So I have a really really big DAC now :) I've thought about taking it back to where I got it, but I like the sound so much that I'm not too upset that its being used in a role that is entirely different than what I bought it for.
 
JohnVF said:
Discovered last night that it won't even play DVDs (its supposed to, it just doesn't, not even a perfectly clean one that has just been opened)- but I'm not too upset as I have a different solution to my DVD problem on the way, hopefully. Till then I have three other options, all newer, with progressive scan, one- a Pioneer Elite unit (that won't play CDs- they make a good pair I guess)- that has a very good picture, and I have upscaling in my receiver.

So- I wouldn't recommend this thing as anything but a DAC, if you can find it cheap. The transport mechanism is 'suspect'. It sounds better using another player as a transport, anyway, even when its built in transport works. So I have a really really big DAC now :) I've thought about taking it back to where I got it, but I like the sound so much that I'm not too upset that its being used in a role that is entirely different than what I bought it for.
Click to expand...

Have you tried connecting your Marantz (that's what you have, right?) or any other CDP on hand to the Denons digital inputs so you can see if there's an audible difference between the transports themselves?
 
Mr. Lin said:
Have you tried connecting your Marantz (that's what you have, right?) or any other CDP on hand to the Denons digital inputs so you can see if there's an audible difference between the transports themselves?
Click to expand...

I've had it connected to the Marantz SA-11s2, and my Cambridge Audio 640p V2, as well as using it as an integrated player. The Marantz and Cambridge are in different systems so it wasn't a fair comparison, but in both instances I liked the sound of using a separate player as a transport. It's kind of obnoxious to just use it as a DAC (it must way 35lbs at least) but I'm happy doing that if I can find a place to stash it. Which sucks because I bought it to cut down on the components in my AV system. I'm looking at a more up to date NAD masters series universal player for that system, and the success (or failure) of that adventure will probably dictate how I use the Denon.
 
I haven't heard anything back as of yet for the one near me.

Still holding out as I've bought from this guy before and he does
take a while to call back so we'll see.

Scott
 
Mr. Lin said:
Have you tried connecting your Marantz (that's what you have, right?) or any other CDP on hand to the Denons digital inputs so you can see if there's an audible difference between the transports themselves?
Click to expand...

I got into this in a bit more detail in the 'what CD player are you listening to ....' thread but I just got done doing this. I compared a Cheap, hollow, plastic-y Denon DVD player, Cambridge Audio 640p, and the McCormack SST-1 "digital drive" as transports. The McCormack being the only dedicated transport. The McCormack was noticeably better than the cheap DVD player (which somehow even reversed channels via its coax output.) The DVD player basically negated this unit as a nice dack- things just sounded kind of jumbled together, and bass was just a blur over everything. Ok, not as bad as that but it altogether was pretty unspectacular. The Cambridge sounded very good. Everything was as it should be. The McCormack just took that one step further. Things were more subtle, bass was better/more defined, and the sense of space and imaging were improved.

I'm very happy with this combo. Its still not the equal of the Marantz SA-11s2 but both units together cost a fraction of that unit's price, and the system they're in gets a lot less critical listening (but may get more now..).
 
I'm glad you did that, rather than dismissing the idea of transports sounding different as a myth. So I guess the results weren't really surprising.

Just a thought: perhaps the Cambridge Audio CD player makes a good transport because CA design their own transports, rather than using ones normally intended for DVD players.

I really want one of those somewhat older Audio Note transports, but they're pricey, even used.
 
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