Dr. Spec-Denon 2900

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dholmes
dholmes Posts: 1,136
edited July 2003 in Electronics
Its time for a upgrade, is the Denon 2900 a good player? Chroma bug free? Hows the pq, sound,& the use of the player ? 1000.00 is a lot of $ I live in a area where I cant audition this player. thanks dholmes@caveland.net
My HT set-up Panasonic front proj, 120 in ws screen, ATI amp,Integra 9.8 pre-pro, 2 Polk rti150, cp 1000, 4 fx 1000, Pioneer blu-ray 2 SVS sub pb 12-ultra 2, & Paragon popcorn popper. ps 3 Coaster leather HT recliners.
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  • Dr. Spec
    Dr. Spec Posts: 3,780
    edited July 2003
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    Picture Quality:

    Uses the Silicon Image/DVDO PureProgressive (SiI504) Decoding Engine - the same used in the flagship DVD-9000. I don't think there is a better decoding engine in this price range, or even well above. The image is liquid and film like and at the same time very detailed.

    Chroma Bug:

    Uses a new 'Chroma Bug Free' Mitsubishi MPEG/DVD-Audio Decoder.

    While the 2900 is indeed free of the "regular" chroma bug, it still suffers from 3:2 Alternating Progressive Frame Flag problems, most notably on Disney DVDs. This looks exactly like the regular Chroma Bug, but the MPEG decoder is not malfunctioning; it is properly reading an improperly (but legally) encoded signal.

    An MPEG decoder can be programmed to actually compensate and correct for this improperly encoded data, but Denon chose not to take this route at this time with the 2900.

    Bottom line - it's not a deal breaker for me, and it's not present as nearly as often as the regular Chroma Bug was, so it doesn't bother me. And it's not Denon's fault Disney screwed up the encoding on its DVDs. Still, it would have been nice if Denon addressed this issue anyway, since the 2900 was a clean slate design.

    Sound Quality:

    The 2900 sounds fabulous, and that opinion is echoed by dozens of very experienced 2900 owners over at HTF who have owned far more upscale music players than I have.

    It has DD, DTS, DVD-A, and SACD decoders with 5.1 analog outputs. It has custom built to Denon's specs Burr-Brown 24-bit, 192-kHz DSD 1790 Audio DACs that decode PCM and DSD signals discretely with no down-conversion of DSD.

    It has full digital BM for DVD-Audio, with the Analog Devices Melody 32-bit processor, 80Hz crossover with 12dB high and 24dB low pass slopes, and adjustable delay time and channel levels.

    It also has full digital BM for SACD, 80Hz crossover with 12/24dB slopes on all channels, and adjustable channel levels. Unfortunately, it is missing the delay time feature for SACD. This omission is notable and a definite negative.

    Ease Of Use and Reliability:

    Build quality is excellent. The 2900 has been flawless in all aspects of operation and use.

    The OSD is easy to use and SACD and DVD-A are no problems to set-up if you follow the Denon .pdf document on their website.

    The remote buttons glow in the dark, but there is no backlit feature, which is another negative for me.

    Summary:

    A damn nice universal player with superb PQ and SQ and some niggling problems/omissions. Only you can decide whether or not these problems are deal breakers.

    Doc
    "What we do in life echoes in eternity"

    Ed Mullen (emullen@svsound.com)
    Director - Technology and Customer Service
    SVS
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