Pioneer DV-414 DVD player opinions needed

Danny Tse

I have a Pioneer DV-414 DVD/CD player that has been sitting around. It has very very low usage on it....less than 25 hours. I have been thinking of either selling it or pairing it with an external DAC like the Audio Alchemy DAC. What do you think? I keep hearing that Pioneer DVD players make good transports.

mlware

I've had this model for 5 yrs. It's a solid performer. I'd recommend keeping it for the unusually good value built in to a unit made before entry level dvd players meant cheaply stamped out. The picture is fine thr. component out. Build quality is superior to Pioneer's recent models (it's heavy). Audio quality is excellent. You won't find a Pioneer dvd player under a grand that is as balanced an allrounder. 5.1 movies are crisp and detailed with huge slam and nuance that currently is found on higher end units than this one was in 1998. As a 2 channel CD player it is better than present entry to mid price players. We know that dvd players do not make good cd players. A few Nad and Denon and Sony ES (SACD models doing CD) do sound comparable to a good dedicated budget cd player, as do some harder to find units from Marantz, Rotel and Arcam. The 414 is clean and articulate with a slight forward sound that some may find bright, but it pushes out a lot of detail. It's not as choppy and hard sounding as newer models, it's pretty musical. I use it as a transport but it's internal dacs yield a very nice sound through the analog outs. I wouldn't change my unit out til it's dead!