JohnnyN
Stunt Coordinator
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2001
- Messages
- 228
Denon - $899
Pioneer - $799
Before you read any further, let me get straight to the bottom line, there really wasn't a clear winner... With all the numbers and specs in favor of the Denon it really did not outperform the pioneer in all that many respects... My ears are better than my eyes, and the multi channel audio playback WAS better on the Denon, but I expected the video to be a whole lot better and it really wasn't.
My set up.
Denon AVR 4802
B&W CDM 9NT fronts, CNT center, SNT Surrounds, 1NT surround back, ASW CDM Sub
Monster M Series Audio Interconnects
Sony XBR Grand WEGA™ Rear Projection Television
KF-60XBR800
StraighWire Silver Link 2m Component Video
Monster 1000V 1m component video
Monster 500V 1m component video
Test Material
DVD Video - Moulin Rouge, Superbit Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Fast and the Furious, Gladiator.
SACD - SACD Sampler, Vaughn Williams - A Sea Symphony
DVD Audio - Buena Vista Social Club, Linkin Park
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
The Denon weighs noticeably more and feels so much more sturdy and solid... considering how close these two players are in price, I expected the build and finish of the DV47 to be closer... but the build quality of the denon is far superior. The remote on the pioneer was easier to use.
VIDEO COMPARISON
First I hooked up both players to my 4802 so that I could use it's 50mhz component video switching, but across all the dvds I ran through this process of a&b switching, I quickly realized that both players exceeded the quality of the receiver's video switching and they looked almost identical in terms of video quality... so I tried them seperately on each dvd on each set of the three video cables mentioned above... The first thing I noticed when using the straight wire silverlinks was that the Denon had the slightest advantage in black levels especially on My Gift is My song on moulin rouge... Then I tried the first race scene in Fast and the Furious to see how these two players held up in really fast motion scenes and here I'm sorry to say, but I couldn't find a clear winner. Both were very smooth and provided fine details even as the cars warped and stretched down the street.
Then I tried running through a few scenes in crouching tiger hidden dragon with the Monster 500V component video cables. In the scene where they fly through the trees, the 2900 had the slight edge with detail and skin tones against the back drop of trees. both players reproduced sharp vivid foliage, but the pioneer just didn't seem as smooth.
In the opening fight scenes of Gladiator I tried to see if I could noticed any difference in performance of these two players with shadows and muted colors under overcast skies and here I'd have to give the slightest edge to the denon for ever so slightly sharper details even in the shadows, but the it's the teeniest tiniest margin of victory.
Audio Performance
I think denon was a slight but clear winner in the SACD playback department. My ears just told me that what I was hearing was more open and closer to what the original sound engineers meant for me to hear. The Pioneer sounded good, but the denon just sound crisper, more open, and effortless on my speakers.
I expected the same on my dvd audios, but I was quite surprised that the pioneer actually sounded a little more lively and while the denon's dvd audio playback was great, it sounded a little dry compared to the pioneer.
in the end I'm sticking with the denon because of it's better SACD playback, slight wins in video playback, and I already have a denon receiver. My choice is probably based less on clear performance wins and more on aesthetic matching. Considering the small $100 difference in price, I went with the player with better build quality, but if anybody has bought a DV47ai and is feeling like maybe they should have waited, have no regrets, I think the DV47 holds it own very very well against the denon and I would have been perfectly happy keeping it. I hate those reviews in audio and home theater mags that make all products sound the same like they were doing adlibs, but in all honesty, the denon sounds a lot better on paper, but it really doesn't outperform the pioneer like I had hoped it would. Despite not having a Faroujda chip or Silicon Image chip, all in all, I'm quite impressed with pioneer's progressive playback... Maybe I'm missing something here and maybe I need new glasses... or maybe the Pioneer is as good as the Denon.
As a footnote... I bought the three different sets of cables to see if I could be convinced about the cable hype... To be honest, I saw a slight difference between the $150 silver links and the $100 Monster 1000V and the $60 monster 500v... but not nearly 3 times or even twice the difference... I'm going to return the more expensive cables and buy some more software... I'll continue testing and see if I can provide any more info...
Pioneer - $799
Before you read any further, let me get straight to the bottom line, there really wasn't a clear winner... With all the numbers and specs in favor of the Denon it really did not outperform the pioneer in all that many respects... My ears are better than my eyes, and the multi channel audio playback WAS better on the Denon, but I expected the video to be a whole lot better and it really wasn't.
My set up.
Denon AVR 4802
B&W CDM 9NT fronts, CNT center, SNT Surrounds, 1NT surround back, ASW CDM Sub
Monster M Series Audio Interconnects
Sony XBR Grand WEGA™ Rear Projection Television
KF-60XBR800
StraighWire Silver Link 2m Component Video
Monster 1000V 1m component video
Monster 500V 1m component video
Test Material
DVD Video - Moulin Rouge, Superbit Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Fast and the Furious, Gladiator.
SACD - SACD Sampler, Vaughn Williams - A Sea Symphony
DVD Audio - Buena Vista Social Club, Linkin Park
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
The Denon weighs noticeably more and feels so much more sturdy and solid... considering how close these two players are in price, I expected the build and finish of the DV47 to be closer... but the build quality of the denon is far superior. The remote on the pioneer was easier to use.
VIDEO COMPARISON
First I hooked up both players to my 4802 so that I could use it's 50mhz component video switching, but across all the dvds I ran through this process of a&b switching, I quickly realized that both players exceeded the quality of the receiver's video switching and they looked almost identical in terms of video quality... so I tried them seperately on each dvd on each set of the three video cables mentioned above... The first thing I noticed when using the straight wire silverlinks was that the Denon had the slightest advantage in black levels especially on My Gift is My song on moulin rouge... Then I tried the first race scene in Fast and the Furious to see how these two players held up in really fast motion scenes and here I'm sorry to say, but I couldn't find a clear winner. Both were very smooth and provided fine details even as the cars warped and stretched down the street.
Then I tried running through a few scenes in crouching tiger hidden dragon with the Monster 500V component video cables. In the scene where they fly through the trees, the 2900 had the slight edge with detail and skin tones against the back drop of trees. both players reproduced sharp vivid foliage, but the pioneer just didn't seem as smooth.
In the opening fight scenes of Gladiator I tried to see if I could noticed any difference in performance of these two players with shadows and muted colors under overcast skies and here I'd have to give the slightest edge to the denon for ever so slightly sharper details even in the shadows, but the it's the teeniest tiniest margin of victory.
Audio Performance
I think denon was a slight but clear winner in the SACD playback department. My ears just told me that what I was hearing was more open and closer to what the original sound engineers meant for me to hear. The Pioneer sounded good, but the denon just sound crisper, more open, and effortless on my speakers.
I expected the same on my dvd audios, but I was quite surprised that the pioneer actually sounded a little more lively and while the denon's dvd audio playback was great, it sounded a little dry compared to the pioneer.
in the end I'm sticking with the denon because of it's better SACD playback, slight wins in video playback, and I already have a denon receiver. My choice is probably based less on clear performance wins and more on aesthetic matching. Considering the small $100 difference in price, I went with the player with better build quality, but if anybody has bought a DV47ai and is feeling like maybe they should have waited, have no regrets, I think the DV47 holds it own very very well against the denon and I would have been perfectly happy keeping it. I hate those reviews in audio and home theater mags that make all products sound the same like they were doing adlibs, but in all honesty, the denon sounds a lot better on paper, but it really doesn't outperform the pioneer like I had hoped it would. Despite not having a Faroujda chip or Silicon Image chip, all in all, I'm quite impressed with pioneer's progressive playback... Maybe I'm missing something here and maybe I need new glasses... or maybe the Pioneer is as good as the Denon.
As a footnote... I bought the three different sets of cables to see if I could be convinced about the cable hype... To be honest, I saw a slight difference between the $150 silver links and the $100 Monster 1000V and the $60 monster 500v... but not nearly 3 times or even twice the difference... I'm going to return the more expensive cables and buy some more software... I'll continue testing and see if I can provide any more info...