Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo Soon to be Axiom owner seeks CD/DVD player advice

My M60s are on their way! I giddy with excitement. I'll be running them with a Denon DRA-395 Stereo Receiver, so I'm limited to analog input. I'm seaking advice on a CD or DVD player. I'll be using my system 90% for music, (H.T. is a year or two down the road). Any recommendations on players? I've looked at the Onkyo DC390 (they make a similar DVD model for same price). Also considering factory refurished Marantz CC4300 and Denon DVD-910. I have noticed MANY bad reviews of Denon CD/DVD players, which has scared me aware from them for the most part. My old Sony single disc has performed well for many years. Any advice/recommendations? Any smaller, but affordable (under $250) players from a less known manufacturer (like Axiom) which I may not be aware of? Thanks!

I just went through all this. I looked at about everything under $1000. I ended up buying the Integra 8.5 for $700. Yamaha has some nice stuff for the $ too, but I wanted a true multi disk universal player. The 8.5 plays music exceptionally well. I'm listening to all my CD's again because they sound so much better. http://www.integrahometheater.com/model.cfm?m=DPC-8.5&class=DVD&p=i

My HK 3480 stereo receiver only has Analog input as well.

This morning I bought both Harman Kardon DVD 22 for $199 and Sony DVP-NS575P for $89 at Circuit City.

Video quality: Extremely close, the HK is just a tiny little bit more vibrant though not really noticeble, the Sony has 4 picture modes and it made up the tiny difference.

Analog audio quality and noise floor: Identical, I duplicated a couple copies of music cd to switch them back and forth. But the Sony play a couple dB louder.

Speed: The Sony can read all my DVD, Music CD, and CDR in lightning speed, while the Harman Kardon was out in the twilight zone. The Sony was very impressive when I jumped from track to track, again...the Harman Kardon was dozing off...ZZZZzzzzzz

Remote: HK has backlit and made it much easier to navigate at night. The Sony has a better layout so once I remembered the buttons location I don't even need to look at it.

Physical size and appearance: HK is bigger in dimension, it matches perfectly with my HK 3480 stereo receiver, the Sony is compact and shorter, though it feels just as solid as the HK, I prefer the HK appearance.



After 6 to 7 hours of comparison I packed up the HK and returned it.

Thanks, I've been able to talk myself out spending extra $ on a CD player. Too many posts here saying that you just won't hear the difference.

Fiberking:

You might want to take a look at either the Onkyo DV-SP502 or the Onkyo DV-CP802.

Both are universal players. The DV-SP502 is a single tray player that's retailing for $299, J&R has it on sale right now for $269.

The DV-CP802 is a multi-changer that holds six discs and can be found for $459-$499.

Hope this helps a little.




Sutter Cane

Anybody know if that Onkyo is the same as the new Integra? (sorry to the guy who just purchased the new Integra!)

I was looking at the Onkyo but the Circuit City I went to didn't have it in stock, I'll shop around more in another week or so, and get me an Onkyo to compare to the Sony that I kept. But dang it, I was having such a high hope in the HK and really like how perfectly it matches my HK 3480 receiver, it looks sexy, plus the backlit remote and all!! the HK DVD22 also sports a "supposedly better" Wolfson DAC that has gotten many high praised too, and I was hoping it would beat the living crap out of the cheapo Sony....atleast in Analog quality, but arrgghh!! Honestly I don't really like the name "SONY", for some reason the name "SONY" always reminds me of Radio Shack or Walmart, but a decent DVD/CD/MP3 player for $89.00....the price-to-performance ratio is just unreal.

If Sony makes you think "cheap", remember - they also make products such as this:
the BVP900 Studio camera.

Bren R.

What's that?? a .50 cal machine gun? hehehe j/k. :-)

With a lot of the crap on TV these days, we can only wish.