Yamaha DVP-S2300, universal DVD-A / SACD (1 Viewer)

[Seth V]

It looks like this thread hasn't had too much activity lately, so I wanted to see about getting this thread started again. I wanted to post my opinions on the Yamaha DVD-S2300. I got mine a little over 2 weeks ago(sorry for not posting sooner). Is it what we all had hoped for? Well yes and no. I can say with a resounding YES! that DVD-Audio/SACD performance is first rate. The sound is very natural, and rich.
As far as redbook cd performance goes, well it's not bad but could be better. I compared it to my standalone cd player, and it kind of paled in comparison. Cd playback sounded just a tad harsh. As for DVD-Audio/SACD bass management, i'm not really sure, as I haven't gotten around to checking that yet. From what I have read from the very few who actually own this player, is that it does offer bass management for both. When I do try this feature I will post my findings.
Now on to picture quality, this player puts out a very good,detailed, and filmlike picture. There is no chroma error, and the Faroudja DCDi processing does a good job of getting rid of jaggies. The colors are rich and vibrant. The only things that I didn't like about the picture was that it was a bit softer than I would have liked,and distant object seemed a bit out of focus. Picture quality as a whole was good to very good.
The only DVD player that i've seen for under $2500 that has a noticably better picture than the Yamaha S2300 is the Denon DVD-3800. The picture was more detailed, and 3 dimensional, IMHO. So i'm probably going to be using the S2300 as a dedicated DVD-Audio/SACD player, and later on get a glitchless Denon 3800(if there is one).
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Seth

 

[TimmyH]

Hi Seth v, thanks for the update, your experience seems to tally with the other couple of people on AVS who have reviewed the S2300 (very good SACD/DVD-A, O.K. CD, and somewhat soft video). I would like to get a universal player, but think I will wait to see if CES shows any new players on the horizon, if not then I think the S2300 is a top contender. TimmyH.
P.S. Have you considered getting thr Yamaha "modded" to improve Sacd/DVD-A and especially CD (where it seems weak) playback? Might be worth checking out.

 

[John-Miles]

Well now I am definitely hoping my dealer gets some in.... but they still say they are waiting for the price to drop.

 

[Seth V]

Well, I finally got a chance to evaluate the Bass Management on this player for DVD-Audio/SACD. On a positive note,this unit does indeed include Bass Management for both DVD-Audio/SACD. How well is it implemented? Well, better than most, but not complete. It does allow the user to select large or small for all speakers. Only the center and surround speakers are adjustable for time delay and level though. As far as Bass impact, i'd say it was fair to good.

I am going to connect the S2300 back up to my Outlaw ICBM. I just prefer the bass through the ICBM much better. I'm not saying that the bass output was bad using the S2300, I just felt that the Outlaw ICBM did a much better job.
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Seth

 

[Daniel Mai]

Seth,

Have you tried A/B comparation with/without ICBM on the S2300 or you just "felt that the Outlaw ICBM did a much better job"? I'm contemplating about adding ICBM to my S2300.

Also, seems that the time alignment is only for DVD-Audio, not SACD. Unless I missed something?

For DVD-A, when adjusting speakers, time delay, and level, does that only effect the sound for analog output? or will these adjustments pass thru digital via coax or optical also?

 

[Mark All]

Thanks for the updates Seth! I didn't get a chance to go hunting for an S2300 last weekend, but have excluded everything else right now in its price range. Maybe next weekend. Tweeter doesn't seem to carry them locally in the DC area, but Myer-Emco probably will (I hope). A Yahoo search I did took me to a German Web site that shows the gold, black and silver European versions. My guess is we'll probably be limited to black here.

 

[Seth V]

Daniel,

Yes, I definitly did an A/B comparison with and without the ICBM, and found the inclusion of the ICBM to be the prefered choice. Better bass,and having the ability to adjust the crossover for each channel, are reasons I prefer using the ICBM.

The speaker adjust,time delay,and level, are only affected via the analog outputs. As far as i'm aware, the digital outs are not affected.
__________________

Seth

 

[KeithH]

Seth, thanks for the review. What did you use as a dedicated CD player in your comparison? Also, have you compared the 'S2300 head-to-head with any other universal players? I am curious as to how the audio offered by the 'S2300 compares to the Pioneer Elite DV-47Ai, Onkyo DV-SP800, Integra DSP-8.3, and Marantz DV-8300.

 

[Seth V]

Sorry all for the long delay,i,ve been having some computer issues. So this will be my last post for a while until I get my computer fixed.

KeithH,

The cd player that I used to compare with the 2300 was a Sony CDP-XA20ES. Using the S2300,I did do a side by side with the Pioneer 47A,47Ai, but haven't compared the Onkyo, Integra, or Marantz players. I found that I liked SACD/DVD-Audio better on the Yamaha. I found the picture to be somewhat more defined on the Yamaha also. Of course one major difference was that both the Pioneer 47A and 47Ai both had that dreaded Chroma Bug, which the Yamaha did not have.

Also the for anyone interested in a professional review on the S2300, the new Feb/Mar issue of Sound and Vision has a complete review of Yamaha's S2300.

 

[Daniel Mai]

Seth,

That's an interesting comment regarding the PQ. My intention was to get a universal player, but I found the PQ on the S2300 a little soft compared to my RP-91. I agree with you on the sound (of S2300), it's superb, but I couldn't comment before since I have only gotten into DVD-A and SACD thanks to the S2300. There was no basis of comparison for me prior to the S2300. The built quality is great.

The irony was that I wanted to replace my RP-91 to get a better PQ, so I bought the S2300. It sounded amazing to me so I'm keeping it for audio and it brought me back into listining to more music again. The RP-91 will still be the video workhorse. Maybe I'll give the Yamaha video a few more spin.

Also, I did get a chance to borrow a Denon 1600 (many compared to be the same as RP-82 PQ) for a few days and the picture does look a bit sharper than RP-91, but no scaling/zooming features.

We can only hope the new Denon 2900 will be the same as the 3800 but has SACD and scaling/zooming features and maybe even better PQ since it sports a Fajouda 2300 chip.

 

[KeithH]

Seth, no problem. The 'XA20ES is a good player, but I thought the 'S2300 would be more competitive. Oh well. You still have the 'XA20ES, and it sounds like the 'S2300 is a winner otherwise.

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Just got the latest S&V. Their conclusion on the 2300? Their measurements indicate "slightly better than average" video, but noisy audio on everything but SACD. So will be interesting to see how the Onkyo/Integra machines compare.

 

[Lewis Besze]

Yeah,and it seems that TA only works on DVD-V,and the BM xover slope is rather shallow,and it's set at 100hz.
I have to pass!
My search continious!

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Lewis- Maybe the new Lexicon uni-player will do ya!
(But it also seems to be a Pioneer based unit, for ... $3500.)

 

[KeithH]

Lewis, what about the Denon DVD-2900? There doesn't seem to be enough information available yet to render a decision one way or the other, but definitely be looking for it.

 

[Lewis Besze]

Yes that's my new hope.
At this point I only need TA on digital domain,sent to the analog outputs,since my Outlaw has BM on it's 6 ch input.

 

[Rich Wenzel]

you know whats funny, in video performance, hometheaterhifi had the yamaha higher than the marantz, onkyo and 45a and 47a models in their latest shootout

Rich

 

[John-Miles]

Rich, can you provide a link to this if its online

I would appreciate it.

 

[Seth V]

Just went to the hometheaterhifi site and read the shootout, the results were quite suprising. Thanks for the post Rich. By the way here's the link to that report:
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-b...rch&articles=5

 

[Kevin C Brown]

Wow, enlightening... Good to bad isn't really a function of price either...
Plus, Secrets didn't look at the audio performance. S&V's measurements for audio were not that great at all for the Yamaha.
Dang, maybe Keith is *still* on to something with buying a peak performing SACD player for SACD, and a peak performing DVD-A/V player for DVD-A/V...
And I was really surprised by how badly the Marantz 8300 faired...
Man... :frowning: