The Denon 3805 receiver boasts "3rd generation i-link for uncompressed digital transmission from a i-link DVD player" 1) I assume the 2900 doesnt fit this characteristic, and what if it did? What is going to better about i-link vs the digital out of the 2900? ANy ideas you could share? Jeff
That e-cost 289 deal looks awful sweet - trying to understand the differencees

jeff, the 2200 (that's the one ecost has for $289) is an excellent piece of equipment. (Hopefully mhorgel will chime in here). The Denon ilink is a proprietary connection. Frankly, I tend to shy away from proprietary designs because of the limiting flexibility. Having said that non-technical thing, the 2200 @ $289 is a steal. When Denon comes out with their new line, you won't be able to touch a unit with comparable PQ for 2x the price. Unless you need to flex the "gotta have it" muscle, you can't go wrong with the 2200 and a component connection.

I-link will save u from extra wires which u will need for multichannel material [sacd/dvd-a]....also u will need a iLink compatible a/v reciever.

Pioneer has the i-link feature as well. Don't know if the terminals would match.

but to be clear, the advantage is purely a cable mgmt thing, right?

more importantly Jeff is which machine, DVD player or receiver, has superior bass management and D/A conversion. In a lot of cases, the DVD players have very weak bass management.

I am officially chiming in. My 2200 from e-cost has performed flawlessly, and looks new. It is an excellent machine in all respects. I thought that the lack of bass management with my Pioneer 563a (2200's immediate predecessor) didn't matter much, but the bass management on the 2200 makes the bass on SACD's and DVD-A's much punchier, like it is supposed to be. E-cost was pleasant to deal with, they even called me a couple of weeks after the sale to make sure everything was OK. I have since bought a refurb HP laptop for my son's graduation present...no problems there, either.

Mark