The superb Denon 1600 ties the RP-82 in Secrets shootout update..... (1 Viewer)

[ReggieW]

......As did the Panny XP-30 which retails for $299.95. The Denon goes for $499.95. People are spending up to $400.00 for the 82 on ebay, so it would probably be better to grab the XP-30 or the Denon 1600 with its superb Burr-Brown based DVD-A/redbook CD playback. The Denon also has a nicer remote than the 82 imho, but sadly only has a digital toslink output. The Denon is also very quiet and refined during playback with no transport noise whatsoever. So now, there is NO EXCUSE to spend $350.00-$450.00 for an 82 on Ebay when other options can be purchased brand new .

Reg

 

[Adil M]

The Denon has plenty of freaking whirring and noise especially on startup. It does die down though. The remote is still bad. The Denon is what people should be buying if you're freaking out over the rp82. I'm on hold b/c my current player is good enough.

 

[Peter Loan]

What kind of aspect ratio controls does the Denon 1600 have? Will it at least windowbox a 4:3 picture? Yuck toslink:frowning:

 

[Chris S]

I was very surprised to see the XP-30 do as well as the RP82. I really haven't gotten into DVD-A yet so I'll probably pick up the XP-30 and check it out.

Chris S.

 

[David Lorenzo]

Now the mad dash for the XP-30 ensues....

The XP-30 has the same video section as the RP-82 so it's no surprise that they perform equally. I bet Panasonic pulled the RP-82 because it was crippling XP-50 sales. I'm sure they make more profit from an XP-50 considering that they seem to be very similar in all regards.

 

[ReggieW]

Adil,

As the owner of a 1600 I have to somewhat disagree with you. When I speak of the 1600 being quiet, I am talking about during playback of movies. It is dead silent. There is a little noise when I first insert a CD or DVD-A, which I believe is the laser indentifying what the disc is. Other than this, it is quiet during general operation. Several owners here have compared the 1600 with the RP-82 and found the 1600 quieter.

Peter,

What's wrong with toslink? Don't you have a receiver which handles both toslink and coaxial? I have never heard a difference between either of them, but think the coaxial cables are more durable. Honestly, this wouldn't be a deal breaker for me on this player, though it should DEFINITELY have one at its $500.00 price point. Denon did drop the ball in this respect.

Reg

 

[Jeramy_K]

I'm still kicking around the idea of whether to pickup a Denon 1600 or hold off to get a SACD/DVD-A combo player. Right now I have a Sony SACD but it's not progressive or DVD-A. Would like to have the best of both worlds.

-Jeramy

 

[Han]

ReggieW,
Can you confirm that the Denon 1600 is no better than the typical player when it comes with layer change speed?

The results from Secrets for the 1600 and 900 seem to support the idea that the whole buffer thing is useless, and it's really the DVD-ROM drive vs. standalone drive thing that makes the difference in layer change speed. Hence the Denon 2800 and up being fast, along with the PC based software players.

 

[Dom P.]

What about the Denon 900.. anybody have any opinions on that??

It seems to be a little cheaper and offers the benefit of both Digital Coax and Optical outputs.

 

[dpippel]

The XP30 uses the same Faroudja deinterlacer as the RP82, but it uses the MPEG decoder found in the CP62 - they're different.

 

[Steve_AA]

The Denon 900 has been described in another forum as having an "overly soft" picture. Secrets attributes this to the uneven video frequency response of the 900.

 

[StaceyS]

The 1600 does not use a buffer like the 3800/9000 do.

 

[Ken Custodio]

Why did the Denon 1600 do better than the RP56? Isn't the 1600 a RP56 with the Bur-Brown chip for CD playback? Not that I am complaining, I love my 1600

 

[ReggieW]

Ken,

The 1600 uses the better MPEG decoder found in the RP-82 and RP-91 instead of the one found in the Rp-56. The MPEG decoder effects the picture quality a great deal as well. The 1600 does use Burr-Brown DAC's for DVD-A/CD playback. The RP-56 was never DVD-A enabled.

Reg

 

[David Lorenzo]

The XP30 uses the same Faroudja deinterlacer as the RP82, but it uses the MPEG decoder found in the CP62 - they're different.

Ah. Well then it is a surprise that they perform equally well.

 

[Bill Spahn]

The XP30 uses the same Faroudja deinterlacer as the RP82, but it uses the MPEG decoder found in the CP62 - they're different.

Apparently, the XP30 uses the same MPEG decoder as the XP50 and RP82/72. The thread over at AVS Forum mentions that the pictures of the XP30 that had the RP62 encoder were from a Japanese domestic model.

Bill

 

[Adil M]

Reggie,
I am a former owner of the Denon 1600 so my opinon holds the same merit.

 

[dpippel]

Yes, it seems there's some confusion about the internals of the XP30. I saw the post at AVS Forum, and another person with the US version has popped the cover on his player and confirmed that it has the RP82 decoder. There is also some discussion going on asserting that some US models have the RP82 decoder and some have the RP62 decoder, depending on manfacture date. Looks like it may take a few days for all of this to shake out.

 

[Han]

This from Denon's website.
Denon 1600

...2MB Memory Buffer to decrease layer change pauses or pickup dropouts...

The fact that these two machines had different text put up on the site versus the 4MB for the higher end Denons, tell me that this was intended to be put up and not a copy and paste job.

Call me crazy, but I'd think 1 or 2 MB less than the higher Denons would make the 1600 and 900 perform at least slightly better than the other machines in the Shootout. Not result in the similar 1.75/3 rating.

So either Stacey's right that the 1600 really doesn't use a buffer unlike what's advertised, or that buffers don't make a difference.

 

[Chris S]

There is also some discussion going on asserting that some US models have the RP82 decoder and some have the RP62 decoder, depending on manfacture date. Looks like it may take a few days for all of this to shake out.

As of this post it looks like all of that has been sorted out. The US version of the XP-30 has the same chipset as the RP82 but the Japanese version has the chipset of the RP62.

Chris S.