Topic: Universal player?

[ducati]

It's such an easy setup.  You leave it plugged in 24/7; with the power switch in one position it's charging, flip it the other way and it's running off battery power.  Ingenious, eh?

I'll let you know first impressions next weekend.

[Mojowill]

has anyone ever tried out the Denon 2910 it says it plays SACD & DVD A and does the up scaling too.  also has a HDMI and a DVI output.

[scervin]

For the 2910 go check out avsforum.com and in the DVD&Movies you will find a 50+ page thread on it.  It has the FL2310 macroblocking issue and some have commented on a green push in the blacks.  Maybe firmware has corrected this.  The 3910 and 2910 are very much the same in the video section, but the audio is much better in the 3910.  Have not read the entire thread, but may as I'm beginning to rethink this type of player and want to know if it can handle all discs. I may go listen to the two this weekend. I'll let you know if I do, but I will say it is a very light player and the build quality is suspect.  I'd rather have good 2 channel player and decent MC.  I have many many more redbook CD's than I do SACD and DVD-A.

sc.

[ducati]

FWIW, I'm buying the McCormack.  It's phenomenal.  Better on CD than tha ARC CD3 which was my prior one-box benchmark (and bests my Rega Jupiter, and the Musical Fidelity A5CD I demo'd), better on SACD than the Krell SACD Standard which was my SACD benchmark.  DVD-A 24/96 shows are as good as I remember them through my dCS.  Nutty piece of gear for a steal of a price, especially because I can get it for about $2700 

Unfortunately I won't have time to compare with the Denon 2910 and 3910 this weekend, but maybe in the future.

FWIW, the Denons have some widely accepted mods available from Walter Lieberman of Underwood Hifi (Chris Johnson of Sonic Frontiers fame does the work).  The 3910 is available now, the 2910 should be soon.  The McCormack player I am buying above is essentially a hyper-modded Pioneer DV47, and judging by it's sound quality the Denon mods should be a great value.  So you'd have an upgrade path, so to speak, with the 2910 or 3910. 

There are 3 issues with mods, tho: 1) you don't get the fancy casework and build quality of a better piece, 2) no warranty anymore from the manufacturer--this may not seem like much, but in the realm of hifi I have *never* had to pay for a warranty repair on gear I bought new, even years and years down the road. 3) resale value on modded units is tough to pin down, and usually sucks.

But if you're not a gear hound that buys and sells often, modded players can be sick values.  Something to consider as the buy-in for a Denon 2910 is only about $700 IIRC.

[scervin]

Yes, well aware of all the mods on these players, but as you mentioned warranty is then void.  Kris Deering will be putting some new players to the test and results should come out shortly on the Onkyo/Integra unit.  Would like to see how it stacks up against the 3910.

Can't justify the cost of the UDP-1, but wish I could!

[Mic D]

From the reviews i've read, it seems that the Denon 2900/3910/5900 dont read DVD-R's well, at all. Anyone else heard this? This is the main reason i've been steering clear of them.

Anyone here know anything about the Jolida JD-700? I'm looking for a universal player that:

- Plays dvd-r's really well
- Sounds good as a CD transport
- Has dvd-a capability.

Any ideas?

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

From the reviews i've read, it seems that the Denon 2900/3910/5900 dont read DVD-R's well, at all. Anyone else heard this? This is the main reason i've been steering clear of them.

I have a 2900 and have had no problems at all with DVD-Rs.  I'm using Riteks - the orange ones from allmedia outlet.  I run a very few assorted other discs from other people and no problem either.

[Mic D]

From the reviews i've read, it seems that the Denon 2900/3910/5900 dont read DVD-R's well, at all. Anyone else heard this? This is the main reason i've been steering clear of them.

I have a 2900 and have had no problems at all with DVD-Rs.  I'm using Riteks - the orange ones from allmedia outlet.  I run a very few assorted other discs from other people and no problem either.

Thanks. How long have you owned it and how often do you play dvd-r's?

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

Thanks. How long have you owned it and how often do you play dvd-r's?

Had it maybe 2-3 months.  I play DVD-Rs 4-5 days a week now since I have been downloading 24-bit stuff.

[Mic D]

What about DVD+R's?

[Lil Kim Jong-Il]

Haven't tried any yet.  The +R discs I have are video and my 2900 is in a pure 2-ch audio setup.

I'll try to remember to try that this weekend.

[wboswell]

I've had issues passing a digital signal with my 2900 when playing 24bit dvdr's burned with Discwielder.  It will only play out of one channel when I use an external device to do the DAC.  It plays the discs well if I use the 5.1 outputs, which, by the way, are just about as hot as the XLR outs on my da-30mkII.  The 2900 will pass a digital signal with store bought dvds and dvdr's, as well as any cd I throw in it.  Just can't nail down the burned dvdr's...