Would you like a brand-new $800 universal player for under $100.00?

HB27

I've been playing out the Sherwood for about an hour now and I have to say I'm not impressed with the audio quality at all.
To be fair I'll play with it for a while and play with the settings but I have serious doubts it's going to be a decent cdp or sacd player at all.
I changed power cords used the "pure music" setting that bypasses all video functions and had hoped for an improvement.
What I've heard so far...."shallow" no detail, loss of bass, and shrill on the top end. Just what I expected from a DVD player for audio use.
I'll burn it in a while longer and see IF I can find something in the settings to improve it but right now it's to be confined to DVD only use on the tv.

vc69

Yeah, I have rather low expectations. I may even just flip it to a buddy of mine whose little Phillips just died.

ESavinon

I believe it will settle down once burned in. I initially got the same results out of the box.
After making some adjustments via the menu it sounds alot better.

HB27

I've been playing with it. No improvements so far so lets hope the burn in does the trick.
I'll play it out a few days and maybe it will come in.

ESavinon

Did you got to the audio menu and set it to stereo,large speakers, etc?

HB27

Yes,
Got all that done. It'll make a good dvd player and my old one is going bad so I'm fine with the purchase.
It's an easy set up menu

ESavinon

I think it's the best $90 spent in a while.

vc69

ESavinon wrote: »

I think it's the best $90 spent in a while.

I would have to agree.

faster100

I mean really it was 100 bucks, received my tracking today should have mine soon

jim 249

I searched the web for reviews on this and could find none. I think I will pass. There has to be a reason that it is selling for $100.00.

billbillw

jim 249 wrote: »

I searched the web for reviews on this and could find none. I think I will pass. There has to be a reason that it is selling for $100.00.

Yeah, the reason is because it is a 4-5 year old model; it is on the verge of being discontinued; and it (along with most of these DVD based 'universal players) has become nearly obsolete in the face of the recent flood of cheap bluray players.

There have been huge price drops on all of the DVD based universal players as most have been discontinued.

HB27

I'll have to say it's a good DVD player with a lot of options and features.
Time will tell if it's a good buy or not but I was needing a DVD player so any good features are a bonus for me.
I haven't had time to really dial it in yet so the jury is still out on mine.
I am rating it against a very good cdp so maybe I was looking for a higher standard audio component.
It's worth the money for what it is. I don't see an $800 retail on it unless it was manufactured for "The Home Shopping Network"

jim 249

Yeah, the reason is because it is a 4-5 year old model; it is on the verge of being discontinued; and it (along with most of these DVD based 'universal players) has become nearly obsolete in the face of the recent flood of cheap bluray players.

Well if that's the case let me know when you see a new in the box Denon 3910 Player for $100.00!

billbillw

jim 249 wrote: »

Well if that's the case let me know when you see a new in the box Denon 3910 Player for $100.00!

That won't happen because the 3910 is at least 2 generations old from Denon. They replaced it with the 3930Ci, which I believe has now been discontinued as well.

Based on what I know is inside these boxes, the 3910 has nothing on this Sherwood.

Bottom line, you really can't find anything new that will play SACD for this price other than that plasticky piece of garbage Sony CE595. I had 4 of those garbage units and none worked right for me.

DaveHo

jim 249 wrote: »

I searched the web for reviews on this and could find none. I think I will pass. There has to be a reason that it is selling for $100.00.

Do a search on the SD-860. Audio wise, it's the same. It got pretty good user reviews from what I saw. Mine comes today. I'll be sure to report back.

-Dave

HB27

I've let mine run overnight and all day yesterday and it's a bit better than it was.
I'll play with the settings afterwhile and hope it smooths out a bit more.
I don't see much use in swapping out cables and cords just yet until it settles in.
I'm running the AQ Diamondbacks and PS Audio power cord with a ROHS 2M HDMI cable right now. I know the cables and cord in other units.

WilliamM2

jim 249 wrote: »

Well if that's the case let me know when you see a new in the box Denon 3910 Player for $100.00!

The 1930ci was going for under $80 last year on Amazon, the 2930ci was about $180. I think you missed out on those closeouts.

praedet

Any thoughts on this as a platform for modding?

billbillw

praedet wrote: »

Any thoughts on this as a platform for modding?

Unknown at this point. I cannot find the service manual or schematics anywhere. Haven't seen the boards yet either. I have a feeling it will be filled in with surface mount opamps though, which of course, do not lend themselves to easy swapping.

Even if that is the case, you might be able to do some simple mods like upgrading the coupling caps (or remove them altogether, depending on the opamps in use).

Mine was delivered today, so I'll probably have a look inside tonight after a quick test.

vc69

Got mine today. I'm gonna let it play a DVD-A looped and give it a few days, then give a listen. It's a good looking player.

DaveHo

Here's my first impressions.

In short, I agree with HB27. I've been playing a couple of multi-channel SACDs, & it's not bad, but my Denon 2900 is better. The highs are a bit piercing at times, lacks midrange detail & the warmth of the Denon. I've also owned a Denon 2200 in the past. I would put the Sherwood on par with that. I did notice a fairly big difference using the pure audio mode. Without it, the sound was veiled & downright lifeless.

Here's how I have the player configured. All speakers set to large, xover @ 70 Hz, levels are all set to 0 except the sub which is at -3db, all distances @ 10ft. Now that may seem a bit strange, but my Outlaw 990 converts the 7 channel analog inputs to PCM & does level adjustment & bass management there as well so the best scenario is to have the player do the least amount of processing possible. I haven't tried any other settings, yet. Will probably try setting the sub to "No" so it's signal goes to the front L/R instead to see if that's makes any difference in the bass.

So far, I'd say it was worth the money spent, but it's no giant killer.

-Dave

tonyb

This player shines in sacd when the i-link is used. By-passing the players processing isn't doing it justice.

HB27

tonyb wrote: »

This player shines in sacd when the i-link is used. By-passing the players processing isn't doing it justice.

I'll give the i-link a shot tomorrow. I may be wrong but the "new" seems to have disappeared now. It may be a slight bit more detailed than originally set up. Still lacking the bass and mid clarity and seems "picky" as to what it likes to play. Some of my standard cds sound pretty decent on it and others are very shallow. Settings and familiarity may cure these ills.
As a DVDP it's very good and does a good job on some discs I had been having trouble getting loaded on my old Toshiba. Picture quality is very good and easy set up menu is a plus for me. I'm old school and any newer component that's easy to use is always a big plus for me.
It's definitely worth the money for what I needed going in. There's also the possibility of it being a quality player once I know it better and find out remedies for it's quirks. AND my lack of expertise in dialing it in. I hope it turns out it's just me not knowing the right combo to make it shine. I haven't had the time to really sit down and dial it in.

billbillw

tonyb wrote: »

This player shines in sacd when the i-link is used. By-passing the players processing isn't doing it justice.

I-link? Not a feature on this Sherwood. THink you are confusing the Pioneer Elite in the other deal thread.

BTW, I'm not all that happy with mine. Doesn't seem to like CD-R and the drive is very loud otherwise. Build quality is not quite what I was hoping for either. I'll probably be sending it back if it won't play my CD-Rs.

HB27

billbillw wrote: »

I-link? Not a feature on this Sherwood. THink you are confusing the Pioneer Elite in the other deal thread.

BTW, I'm not all that happy with mine. Doesn't seem to like CD-R and the drive is very loud otherwise. Build quality is not quite what I was hoping for either. I'll probably be sending it back if it won't play my CD-Rs.

That should save me some time looking for the i-link. LOL!
It would have driven me nuts looking for it.

billbillw

billbillw wrote: »

Unknown at this point. I cannot find the service manual or schematics anywhere. Haven't seen the boards yet either. I have a feeling it will be filled in with surface mount opamps though, which of course, do not lend themselves to easy swapping.

Even if that is the case, you might be able to do some simple mods like upgrading the coupling caps (or remove them altogether, depending on the opamps in use).

Mine was delivered today, so I'll probably have a look inside tonight after a quick test.

I looked inside. Definitely not a mod friendly design. It uses some weird 8-channel DAC (BB DSD1608) plus another processing chip (STA308A). No obvious coupling caps to change out. Hard to figure out anything since the majority of the parts are hidden on the underside of the board (I had to do some major disassembly just to find out the DAC chip.)

In all, this unit definitely has that cheap generic Chinese build quality inside. No upscale parts anywhere inside it. No-name caps throughout, but at least the power supply had all 105C rated caps.

For $100, its about what you'd expect (maybe even a little better), but I would feel ripped off if I'd paid $800 for it. I'd probably ready to commit murder if I'd paid the prices that the Parasound clones were asking for the D-200 and Halo D3. And yes, I can confirm they are the same hardware inside (the D3 does add balanced connections, whoopee!)

DaveHo

I left the player powered all night, but not playing anything. After some more play time this morning, I've got a couple "does yours do this too" type questions.

First, I've come across one Redbook CD so far that it will not load. This is not a burned one, but a quality GRP disc. The player did load it once last night, but refuses to this morning. Anyone else find it won't play certain discs?

Second, the drive sounds like a chain drive garage door opener when opening/closing. Anyone elses this rough sounding?

All in all, taking into account the orginal MSRP, the build quality seems to be lacking. The noisy drive I can live with if that's "normal" for the unit. The not loading the CD issue has me a bit worried. This is the same problem my Denon is experiencing & I don't want to be stuck in the same boat. Thanks to billbillw I've ordered the part that should repair my Denon and if I can successfully fix it the Sherwood might be going back.

-Dave

DaveHo

Ha, well this is going back. Virtually all my listening last night was SACD. Been giving store bought Redbook CDs a spin this morning. I came across another Redbook CD that wouldn't load, so I grabbed a handfull of CD's off the rack & tried loading them all. Less than half loaded successfully. This one is clearly defective. Wonder if I'll need to eat the shipping charges? I'll be asking for my money back, not a replacement.

Edit: Just got off the phone with MCM. Got an RA# & they claim I will be reimbursed all shipping charges since it's defective.

-Dave

billbillw

Dave,
Mine is having difficulty with just about every audio disc. Can't get SACD, CD-R, and only half of my pressed CDs. Yes, the drive sound crazy loud. I'm calling to get an RMA today. I could try and get another one, but I just don't like the chances.

Just called, RMA was painless and I was told entire cost will be refunded, so we will only be out the return shipping cost.

DaveHo

Bill,

I was told to make sure the return shipping cost is on the label or written on the box under the RA#. That way it will be refunded also.

-Dave