Avguru, One suggestion. Rick Kern does a $300 mod on DV-50's which affects mostly the multichannel board and the power supply. You might want to have him do this given your enjoyment of multichannel sound. I posted this info on two posts early on on this thread but the posts have mysteriously been removed. I have a Rick Kern modded player which I am quite happy with; unfortunately, I never heard it prior to the mods, so if you go this route let us know the difference in sound (same goes for anyone else who has had this mod). It might be a kind of kiss-and-make up for the dirty laundry trashing that has been going on lately in what has otherwise been a wonderfully exciting (awaiting shoutout results) and informative.
On another note, I am curious about the extent to which an interconnect or other tweaks can make up for the sins of the cdp. I mention this because of the enourmous difference in sound the DV-50 is capable of given the right interconnect and tweak. I finally ended up with a HMS Gran Finale II interconnect (with PCs as well) with bybee slipstream filters added to both ends and a Z-Squared Ultra sleeve. The difference between that and my former Cardas Golden Reference RCA interconnects was nothing short of breathtaking (bigger soundstage, significantly better blackness, elimination of all listening fatigue, extension of sound an octave in both directions, clear and pinpoint separation of instruments, etc). I had an entirely new system in effect. I realize that this is all very system dependent but it made me aware of the potential of DV-50 with the appropriate tweaks. Perhaps some cdps do all of this internally and don't require the external tweaks. If that is the case, then one could meaningfully talk about the "potential" sound of a player given some additional tweaking (there are other DV-50 tweak others have commented on in various threads). Hope this makes sense and I hope this thread keeps going since I enjoy reading it every day.
On another note, I am curious about the extent to which an interconnect or other tweaks can make up for the sins of the cdp. I mention this because of the enourmous difference in sound the DV-50 is capable of given the right interconnect and tweak. I finally ended up with a HMS Gran Finale II interconnect (with PCs as well) with bybee slipstream filters added to both ends and a Z-Squared Ultra sleeve. The difference between that and my former Cardas Golden Reference RCA interconnects was nothing short of breathtaking (bigger soundstage, significantly better blackness, elimination of all listening fatigue, extension of sound an octave in both directions, clear and pinpoint separation of instruments, etc). I had an entirely new system in effect. I realize that this is all very system dependent but it made me aware of the potential of DV-50 with the appropriate tweaks. Perhaps some cdps do all of this internally and don't require the external tweaks. If that is the case, then one could meaningfully talk about the "potential" sound of a player given some additional tweaking (there are other DV-50 tweak others have commented on in various threads). Hope this makes sense and I hope this thread keeps going since I enjoy reading it every day.