DVD-2900 cd performance tested

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  • eelco74
    Senior Member
    • Dec 2002
    • 394

    DVD-2900 cd performance tested

    Ok guys,

    I have had the oppertunity to have a dvd-2900 at my home. I have spend a good deal of Sunday and Monday on listening.

    My goal was set like this :
    • I want a one box player who does dvd, cd, DVD-a, sacd
      reads cdr/dvd (rw) and cd-rw (my Rotel rdv-985 dvd player did not)
      play cd's just as good as my Rotel RCD-975 cd-player
      PAL propressive output (yes that plasma/TFT will come sometime)


    I have read most reviews so my choices were these

    Pioneer 656, dropped because of CD performance and no progressive PAL
    Pioneer 757Ai, dropped, CD performace and no black colour (damn.. :-))
    Marantz dv-8300, CD performance and especially price (2200 Euro)
    Denon dvd-2900, seems te be as good or better than de Marantz at lower cost.

    I listened extensively to the last two players with SACD and CD. The Marantz seems to be replaced by the 8400, but still not available in Europe.

    So I took the Denon home for direct comparison to my trusted Rotel RCD-975. A tough customer to beat, since it has the excellent Philips CDM9Pro unit and also dual 5 bit DACS. The latter also from Philips. They are a special kind of DAC. The are self calibrating, not influenced by temperature and/or age. The have the advantages of both multibit (excellent bass) and bitstream (excellent highs).

    Even at its age of nog almost 9 years, it is only beaten by the awsome Rotel 991 and perhaps the 1070 of 1072. Once I auditioned the 971 and the 991 in direct comparison with my 975. The 971 was as just as good, so no way I was to sped 750 Euro's on it. The 991 was very good, but at twice the price, sadly not twice as good. So I descided to keep my 975.

    I used my RC972 pre-amp and rb981 power amp. The speakers I have are JM-labs Electra 906. Very revealing monitors, that get every detail out of your equipment. But also will show you problem.

    Overall first impresisons are that the CD sound is equal. Ver wide and deap soundstage. The sound is a bit warm om the Denon (seems to be a trademark). But you have to witch A/B extensively. The Denon is somewhat "more in yout face" as the Rotel takes the more quit approach.

    As I played some more CD's, I came to my favourite Marillion album "Clutching at straws". Track 3 finally showed some differences. The attack on the base drum is somewhat tighter on the Rotel. It has some more inpact, as the Denon is slightly wooly. More tracks, like Sugar Mice show the same result. bass impact on the Rotel is better, but only by a very small margin.

    Other cd's like Pink Floyds Division Bell, show that the Denon can sometimes even do better. The somewhat warm sound adds to the atmosphere of the recording. My expectations were about to be met.

    I was very pleased with the performance of the 2900. Some reviews stated that CD playback on the Denon as bad, while others said thait is was good enough. Well if you own a TAG Mclaren of a NAD S500 or Rotel 991 you will find that a dedicated player is better. Below that range the Denon is a strong contender. And it seems that the DVD-11A (5900 in the US) will do well in the high end market.

    So yes, the Denon does as well and sometimes better than my Rotel.
    Futhermore it does all the tings I want, although is seems to have the Chroma bug for PAL progressive. But not as bad as early NTSC players did. I hope a formware upgrade will resolve this.

    After 2 days of listening and playing, I desided that the Denon is the way to go form me. Some thing I dont like are small :

    switching from multi/2channel SACD/CD layer, stops the player and restarts playback at the beginning. The Philips 963SA plays on while switching

    Reading SACD after loading is very slow.

    I have not found a way to display the bitrate with DVD playback

    no DVI output, though I can live with that.

    The Bass management "problem" is no problem for me since I have all large speakers.

    So there it is. I get one, so I can play my new SACD discs form Pink Floyd and Bl0f.

    Anyone in Europe interested in a RCD-975 ?




    Marantz AV8802, Marantz UD8002, Rotel RB-991 and RB985mkii, Rotel RD960
    Focal/Jmlab Electra 1028S, Electra CC, Electra SW1000S, Cobalt 705
    Pioneer KRL-37V, Epson EH-TW8100, Kinkping CES-180 77"inch
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