Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Denon 2200 on sale at ecost

Mark,

You always used to champion the Pioneer 563A and would wonder why people spend so much on expensive universal players. Are you noticing any obvious difference between the players yet?

I am definitely going to get a Denon player at the end of the summer, but it would be interesting to know how much of a difference there is between the budget Pioneer and the Denon.

Snippy;

You sure have a good memory. Mostly I got miffed because some snooty "audiophile" on the Spot said the 563 wasn't worth getting unless you had tin ears. I liked my 563, and I don't think I have bad hearing. I never thought that my 563 was as good as a Denon 5900, I just believe in diminishing returns with audio gear, and at over 10 times the cost of the 563 I don't believe the 5900 is 10 times the DVD player.

I never would have retired the 563 except for the fact that my tax refund arrived at the same time as the deal on e-cost, and it seemed too good to pass up. I also couldn't get around the fact that the crossover frequency for SACD was so high, though I did not actually have a concrete idea of what that was doing to the sound.

I haven't had the 2200 for very long yet, so my impressions are based on very little data, but the PQ seems noticably better with the Denon unit. I expected this...I always said the the 563 had comparable PQ to other players in its price range, and it does. The Denon has better video chips (I think), and performs better.

For DVD-A and SACD I have to admit that the bass is a bit punchier with the 2200, otherwise I cannot hear much difference.

I still feel that the 563 is an outstanding value. For only a few dollars more than a regular old DVD player you can experience high res audio.

The jump from CD to DVD-A and SACD is like an order of magnitude...the step up from the 563 to the 2200 is much smaller.

I hope this clarifies things.

Mark

Mine is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow.

Can't wait!

WooHoo!!!

Finally received my refurb DVD-2200 from E-Cost. Delayed because they had to send it to Canada. Good old customs and Canada Post had it for a week before they decided I could have it.

Regardless plugged in my new SACD disk of Dark Side of the Moon and wow what a difference!!! DVD audio is great but SACD is unreal. As for video even on just a regular RPTV the picture is great not that it wasn't before from my
DVD-1600 but I can notice the difference. Seems to be warmer and sharper at the same time.

One very small nick on the front, the only thing I could notice to make it a refurb. Excellent deal.

Lorenzo - just curious. Did you have a 1600? If so, why the switch to the 2200? And then, how does the PQ compare for the two?

Ray

Hi Ray:

I switched because I got the great deal on the refurb from E-Cost like Mark did. As far as PQ (picture quality???)I'm not sure if there's a great deal of difference but to me the picture on my Sony RPTV (not progressive or HD ready) looks warmer and sharper at the same time. Don't get me wrong the 1600 was great but the opportunity to have a universal player at that price point just couldn't be passed up.

BTW, SACD's are awesome!!!

I am really enjoying mine as well. One unanticipated bonus...the unit's performance on plain old redbook CD playback.

One of the quirks with my system is that stereo mode (which includes sub) on my receiver doesn't sound very good. Consequently, I listened to CD's on "Pure mode", which sends the raw analog signal (immediately after D/A conversion) to the power amp section without further processing, but does not include the sub. Since the 2200 has better bass management than the 563 I was using previously, I can use the 2200's D/A converters, send the analog signal to my receiver, including bass information sent to the sub channel, and have the best of both worlds.

I thought CD's sounded awesome before...now with the addition of sub they sound even better!

Mark

P.S. Right now I'm listening to Luther Allison's "Live in Chicago" This amazing record, recorded at the Chicago Blues Festival in 1995, 2 years before Allison's untimely death from cancer, is an amazing example of contemporary electric blues. If you like blues, you must listen to this CD. Sound quality is excellent as well.

Mark,

I already have a JVC DVD-A player, but I want to get the Denon to be able to get into SACD

Lorenzo,

I do not know why you think that SACD is so much better than DVD-A. Most people who compare the same release on both formats (a la Diana Krall) tend to prefer DVD-A. I am not disaggreeing with you, I am just curious why you think that SACD is so much better?

I'm curious as well. I don't think one format sounds noticably better than the other.

Mark

Mark, Snippy:

Hmmm, well maybe it's actually not as I obviously haven't compared the same recordings in SACD and DVD-A but for me at least the 2200 seems like a bit of an upgrade as far as sound quality goes from my 1600 so maybe that's the difference. I can tell you though the first disc I put in, Dark Side of the Moon was amazing. I will pull out the few DVD-A's I own and compare some more. I do believe the 2200 is a great player though, save for the missing resume feature on movies, close to perfect for me.