Universal Player Advice?

[grayp]

What's a good choice these days?

Want to be able to play dvds, cds, dvd-a, sacd and who knows what else    
Gapless on the DVD-A is critical.

Looking to spend about 300-400.

Thanks

[nickgregory]

I use the Denon 2900 which you can find used on Audiogon on the bottom end of your range.  Fantastic audio.  Pic quality is at best above average...

[Ryan Sims]

http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,80860.0.html

Maybe

[jdawg]

I second the Denon. Check out the 2910, that's what I'm using.

[Nick's Picks]

I'd put the $150 oppo 971 up against any of the lower end "good" Denon or Marantz decks.
I really dont think you can best the Oppo until you spend some good $$$ on a UDP.

yea..its that good.

[dgodwin]

I'm in need of a new dvd player as I gave my old one to my Dad.  I have SDTV, and will for some time.  I'd like to get a player that does DVD-A, but don't think I need an upconverting one.  I'm considering the dv970 instead of the dv971.  Any reason why I need the 971 instead of the 970?  Thanks in advance!

[Nick's Picks]

the 970 plays SACD, not sure if the 971 does

[nickgregory]

well I ordered the Oppo 981HD primarily for video but will put it up against my Denon 2900 once it gets here for audio as well.  Would love to get rid of the Denon and slim down to one DVD/CD player/transport.  Will report back.

[edtyre]

I have the Oppo 970....check here for refurb price of 119.00
i paid 160.00
http://www.oppodigital.com/dv970hd/dv970hd.html

The only bad thing i have to say is it doesn't play homemade DVD-A's
gapless, there is a mini gap and its still annoying to me, but since most
of my audio playback is from the macintosh these days, its not a deal breaker
at this price point. Plays commercial DVD-A's and SACD's gapless.
The video is really great and it plays everything i have
DVD, DVDR, VCD, SVCD, PAL etc.

I still have my Pioneer Elite DV-45 for gapless playback on homemade DVD-A disks.

[dgodwin]

I have the Oppo 970....check here for refurb price of 119.00
i paid 160.00
http://www.oppodigital.com/dv970hd/dv970hd.html

The only bad thing i have to say is it doesn't play homemade DVD-A's
gapless, there is a mini gap and its still annoying to me, but since most
of my audio playback is from the macintosh these days, its not a deal breaker
at this price point. Plays commercial DVD-A's and SACD's gapless.
The video is really great and it plays everything i have
DVD, DVDR, VCD, SVCD, PAL etc.

I still have my Pioneer Elite DV-45 for gapless playback on homemade DVD-A disks.

Didn't see the refurb, just the standard $150 + shipping price.  Amazon has it for $150 shipped.  hmmm...

[nickgregory]

well I ordered the Oppo 981HD primarily for video but will put it up against my Denon 2900 once it gets here for audio as well.  Would love to get rid of the Denon and slim down to one DVD/CD player/transport.  Will report back.

got it today...video is absolutely fantastic.  Takes regular DVDs and improves the video by a significant amount.  Also plays everything I have thrown at it....from normal DVDs to DIVX, it plays it all without issue....

I need to do an thorough audio comparison between the oppo and the denon 2900, but the good news is, no gaps from what I have put through it (Nero created CDs, Wavelab DVD-As and Audio DVD Creator DVD-As) and sounds good.  My initial impression is that while it sounds good, the lowend sounds a little less defined than the Denon unit and the upper end is slightly harsh.  Dont get me wrong, it sounds really good...but not as good as what I hear in the Denon 2900.  Also to be clear, what I am hearing is mainly on 24 bit DVD-As...CDs sound fantastic with no noticeable difference between the two....

Bottom line though...the unit is worth its weight in gold in terms the video performance....and it definitely sounds really good for audio as well...

Will post as I get more thoughts on the unit after playing with it for a while...