Need your thoughts on Denon 3910 vs McCormack UDP1


I'm a 2 channel fan who has just expanded to 5.1 with all McCormack electronics, with which I am very pleased. I just bought the 3910 over the UDP1 because of probable better video, more connection and adjustment flexibilty, and lower price.

Early impressions of the 3910 sound quality leaves me unexcited. It just sounds generaly mid-fi, when compared even to my 6 year old Classe CDP.5 which kills it for musicality.

So my options are either trade it back within a week for a UDP, which everyone that has heard it seems to rave about, and accept the no DVI/HDMI, less controls etc. Or eventually send the 3910 in to one of the major mod places, which everyone seems to rave about, and hope it sounds as good as a UDP.

My main frustration is that it seems I have to make this crucial decision without any possible way to actually compare the sound of a UDP to a modified Denon - what would you do?
Ag insider logo xs@2xbbeezley

Showing 2 responses by dbld

What if you mod the UDP-1 for an SDI output (like from JVB) and run it through an iScan HD? Then you could output DVI or HDMI and have scaling too. It would add to the cost quite a bit of course.
Bbeezley - JVB Digital is a place that can mod DVD players to add an SDI output for use with an outboard de-interlacer and/or scaler.

http://www.jvb.nl/jvb.asp?cur=2&level=sdi&page=browse&searchtype=brand&searchstring=Upgrade

I have never done this myself, but I have read about it a lot in the avs forum. It could cost any where from about $450 to $800 fot the mod, then you have to get an outboard Scaler/deinterlacer to process the video, and pass it to your display.

The nice thing about the iScan is that the new model has an SDI optional input, an HDMI output, and also a digital coax input that will time sync the audio with the video. Keep in mind that it takes time for the video to get processed, so the audio might need to be delayed so you don't hear things before you see them.