My Denon DVD 2900 review [long] (1 Viewer)

[Rachael B]

Lewis, it's usual on Jacintha albums for it to be bass, drums, and piano. You might hear a guitar or flute on occasion. If there was ever sax I didn't ever notice. Mostly the music is thin, minimalist sort'a, and as Robert sez sometimes A Cappella. Lke DANNY BOY is... There will be guitar on her new album because it's based on her favourite torch singer, I think it's Julie London...? One discription I read said they'd be using guitar to keep faithful, or to the spirit of the torch music, anyway, something to that effect.

Jacintha seems like the kind of singer you wish you'd hear in a piano bar. She's so good at what she does. Too bad it's not populist music anymore! Best wishes!

 

[CurtisC]

2900 OWNERS,I have a question.While I love my 2900 and the superb sound,it has a very slight vibration,does yours?is this normal?

 

[Scott MIddleton]

If anyone is interested, I have a PDF document from Denon explaining the proper procedure in getting the audio setup and calibrated for the 2900. It's interesting as I don't know if the material is actually repeated in the users manual, but I know that Technical support had been monitoring the forums and saw where people were having issues and sent the procedures out into the field to their dealers.

Out

 

[Lewis Besze]

Is that the same one,you can download from their[denon] website?

Rachael,
thanks for the info on her,one more thing,where is the best place to purchase her SACD's,price wise[on the net]?

 

[Rachael B]

Lewis, tower.com usually discounts Groove Note (her label) SACD's by 2 or $3. Circuit City's .com might be worth checking too. Best wishes!

 

[Steve_AS]

Simple answer here: I don't know.

I don't know why the sound is degraded, and I only brought up the DSD-PCM coversion because some have suggested that this might be the culprit. Apparently some universal players do a DSD-PCM conversion on every SACD signal, regardless of whether bass management is applied, and so some have seized on this to explain the curiously poor performance of these players on SACD sources. Is it, in fact, behind the problems of Sony's attempts at onboard bass management in their players? I simply don't know. Wish I did.

DSD-->PCM seem to me the *least* likely to cause a degradation of the magnitude you report (the 'my wife can hear it' variety)

And let me hasten to add, I never assumed you were lying about the effects. My questions regarding anyone's audible perception are always of the same types -- 1) did you really hear it, or did you only think you heard it? and 2) is the reason for the difference you heard really the reason you say it is? We're basically talking about #2 here; I believe you're really hearing an effect.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

I know Rich and a lot of us have beat that issue to death , but I would have just one more question: when the BM *is* engaged, is it possible that the reason why it sounds worse, is that the player is simply dropping the overall sound level for some reason? (I.e., louder usually sounds better.)

 

[Bruce Tritch]

Quickie question for Those Who Know.
SACD sounds better on the 2900 than DVD-A. Temper this with I today own about 20 each SACD and DVD-A, whereas 2 weeks ago I owned and had listened to zero, lifetime. To my ears, my SACD sounds best. I'm really enjoying my Hi-Res DTS also--Hell Freezes, Blues Brothers 2000, Fly Like an Eagle, Various Clapton disks,On Air.
But DVD-A is so so. I might note that Dolby Digital sounds 'about' the same thru the 2900 as my Outlaw 950. The 2900 blows the Outlaw away on all other formats. (Still haven't sampled Lo-Res DTS).

Question #2. For those with fancy-schmancy set-up disks (ie: something I don't have). I found that balancing the 2900 with VE was about the same as the internal test tones-maybe a 2 dB difference in sub setting. I don't have SACD or DVD-A tones or even DTS test tones. Do those result in different settings? The answer needs to also needs to list specific settings on the 2900. My understanding from the English translation of the Manual is that with filter off the would indeed be a difference. I running with filter on.

Finally, anybody care to try another translation of the cryptic info on page 17 of the English manual where descriptions of the effects of filter on and fitter off are discussed? Ideally someone could read the Japanese and translate from there.

Thanks,
Bruce

 

[Lewis Besze]

Finally, anybody care to try another translation of the cryptic info on page 17 of the English manual where descriptions of the effects of filter on and fitter off are discussed? Ideally someone could read the Japanese and translate from there.

There is nothing of a sort on page 17 but on page 31 though,and it's self explanatory IMO.

 

[Bruce Tritch]

Oops.
I didn't actually open my manual. I instead am using the page numbers from the on line pdf manual. It is page 17 in the pdf.
The pdf manual "seems" to indicate the Filter should be on for Dolby Digital and PCM MC, but off for DTS, SACD, and DVD audio. It also seems to imply that the sub should be adjusted 5 dB for DTS and 15 dB for SACD.

In any case, the English is convoluted, and a comma here or inflection there could change the meaning, which is why I ask if anyone can directly translate the Japanese.

Finally, I too would 'think' that DTS test tones are the same as DD...but there is that darn manual again. It indicates a difference in DD and DTS playback levels. I figure unless someone actually has DD and DTS test tones (not, for example VE)and actually did the test with and without the filter engaged, one would not be able to tell.
Until then, I'll just adjust it until it sounds good.

 

[Jeremy Hegna]

Lewis...

Just wanted to thank you for your observations on this deck. I received mine Thursday and can't wipe the smile off my face.

I've had no problems calibrating mine and I will list my components below. The sound is phenomenal, I can't decide which I like better..DVD/A or SACD. Redbook playback is excellent...Video is out of this world. I'm very happy with this purchase after having the 2800, then the 2800MKII, I believe Denon has a home run with this deck. I haven't played my vinyl in a couple of days, starting to feel a bit guilty.

I am using an upgraded Denon 5800 which does NOT have the capabilities of sub boost that the 5803 and 3803 have on the multi-channel inputs. However, you can remember settings on all inputs for channel levels. I mirrored my settings on the digital side to the EXT-1 inputs and calibrated from the 2900's test tones. Mains are large (Nautilus 802s), center is large (HTM-1), rears are small (602s). Sub, yes...filter OFF. Mains and center are powered by seperate amp.

Thanks again Lewis and for all looking for an excellent universal deck...look no further than the 2900!

Jeremy

 

[Lewis Besze]

No problem Jeremy!
I'm however curious how you set any speaker to "small" when the filter is set to "off"?

 

[Jeremy Hegna]

My mistake...

Filter is on.

Jeremy

 

[Charles M Berry]

So, now thats its been a couple of weeks, is everyone still in the same camp they started out in? Are thepeople who immediately loved the 2900 now less enthusiastic, or are people who were initially hostile about some potention flaws now less disenfranchised by the 2900? Any more holistic reviews?

I thought that this was going to be the be-all and end-all of DVD/SACD/DVDA players, but all the BM hoopla over at AVS tempered my initial enthusism and willingness to purchase before the Secrets review is up. On that note, does anyone have an update for when the Secrets review will be posted?

Thanks.

 

[Lewis Besze]

I thought that this was going to be the be-all and end-all of DVD/SACD/DVDA players, but all the BM hoopla over at AVS tempered my initial enthusism and willingness to purchase before the Secrets review is up.

Half of the people there don't own it,so I would be equaly tempered by that fact as well.
My opinion haven't changed a bit,no it's not perfect,but that word can't apply to any of the audio/video parts in the chain.Will there be an audio section review on the Secrets site as well? SS normaly does video only.

 

[David S]

Agree with Lewis - I've had mine for about 3 weeks and its a keeper (although I felt that way from the get go).

 

[Kevin C Brown]

In the Shootouts, Secrets only looks at video quality. But when they do separate, full-scale reviews on individual players, they do look at the audio performance too.

 

[Rich Malloy]

I know Rich and a lot of us have beat that issue to death , but I would have just one more question: when the BM *is* engaged, is it possible that the reason why it sounds worse, is that the player is simply dropping the overall sound level for some reason? (I.e., louder usually sounds better.)

Sorry for not answering you earlier, Kevin. I've been out-of-town and off-forum until yesterday.

I did carefully level-match with a Radio Shack analog SPL meter, and this was in fact necessary. The signal as run through the bass management circuitry did playback at a lower level than the "direct" SACD signal, and so careful level-matching is necessary for proper A:B comparisons.

Also, and this is extremely annoying, whenever you change modes on the C555ES, the settings of the previous mode do not remain in the memory (or at least I couldn't find a way to make them). As the bass management modes allow for level-matching among channels, I also carefully calibrated these with the SPL meter, having to boost the levels of the center and rears (a little more for the rears) to achieve a match among all channels. But when I switched back and forth from the "direct" mode, the level-matched settings of the center and rears in the various BM modes were not maintained (reverted to "0db"). Fortunately, the handy-dandy little knob on the Sony ES's make it a snap to reset the levels.

 

[Luis S]

Hell Ive had mine a couple of weeks now myself(loaner). Know what? Aint gonna be upgrading for a loooong time!Just might have to keep it Definately

Luis S

 

[CurtisC]

I'm very happy with mine,never had any BM or bug issues.I had a skipping issue,took it back,new one works great.