Suggestions for New CD Player

+1allears... that was a smokin’ deal.


I had an Azur 851c and was not impressed with the dac section at all.  Build quality, looks, connections were all great but if it doesn’t sound very good...

gg107

keep us posted as you massage the Denon into your room/system.

Happy Listening!

I've had the Denon DCD 1600NE for a week now, and unfortunately, at this stage I can't give it an enthusiastic endorsement.

1.  When I received it, I called Denon US customer support with a question.  I left a call-back number through Denon's automated system.  I never received a call-back.

2.  In my experience after-market power cords can make a real, audible difference with CD players.  But the Denon has a two-prong receptacle for a power cord, meaning I can't use either of my three-prong receptacle power cords with this unit.  If I had realized this before purchase, I probably wouldn't have bought this unit.  Caveat emptor!

3.  The CD tray mechanism's operation is relatively slow, and doesn't inspire confidence.

4.  The visual display is small and not easy to read from more than a few feet away.  The unit's appearance in general is more consumer-grade than audiophile-grade.  (I know this going in, however.)

5.  Sound quality:  I understand that components have a break-in period, and it's still quite early.  I am also awaiting arrival of a new set of Audioquest interconnects, which can improve sound quality.  At the moment, I'm using the Denon-supplied interconnects.  So my opinion could change.  But with that stipulation, at present, color me unimpressed.  

I can only fairly speak of my own experience with the audio components I already own (see my original post).  I've also moved, and the new room is less system-friendly (finished concrete floors, glass). 

Evaluated in this context, the Denon is far less pleasing than the (more expensive) Consonance Droplet, or a Lector CDP I had for a while.  Both these tubed players produced richer, more full-bodied sound.  Instruments were more clearly situated in a 3-D-like space.

A closer and fairer comparison is to the non-tubed Lexicon RT-20 player.  The Lexicon surpasses the Denon on slam -- speed and impact -- by quite a bit, and is preferable for rock (maybe 10-20% of my audio diet).  But for classical solo instruments -- particularly the piano -- the Denon wins on tone quality.  It sounds much more like an actual piano.

For orchestral music/opera, I'm reserving judgment until I receive the new interconnects and the break-in period has progressed.  

You might say I'm asking a lot at this price point. I won't disagree.  But I think if I had to make this purchase over again, I'd try the Yamaha, or the Cambridge.  

Send it back.  Surely you're still within the return window.

Burn-in, cables, etc. can make incremental improvements, but they won't change your fundamental reaction to the unit.

In response to your suggestion, twoleftears, I’m considering returning the Denon. But I’m also considering (a) living with it for a while, because patience is a virtue I often find worth exercising, and/or (b) moving it, sooner or later, to the second system in my office, a more likely route, and getting another new CD player for the main system. The CD player in the second system -- an older Sony SCD CE-595 -- has stopped recognizing the SACD layer of discs, a sign that its remaining useful life may not be a long one, and a replacement may be due. And the inexpensive receiver it’s mated with -- a Sony STR-DE185 -- has now developed an intermittent problem of cutting out on one channel. So my audio dollars may be directed there, as well.

Additionally, I find that after more than a dozen years of quiescence, my audio-gear lust has awakened again. I wonder if recent developments in speaker technology would justify the purchase of, say a new pair of Revel or Focal floorstanders to go with my McIntosh MC402 power amp? Or would I really prefer a tubed preamp?