I play my Exemplar modded Denon 2900 through an upgraded Supra SDS, and listen with an R10. The sound is breathtaking, and far better than what I get from my Marantz 8260, when connected to the SDS. The difference between this Marantz and the Denon is greatest when listening to Redbook CDs. It's really amazing that Denon 2900's can now be gotten on ebay for <$400, and can the be fully modded by Exemplar for about $1,500. I recently got another already modded (not by Exemplar) Denon 2900 through ebay. It's audio board mods are as follows: front L&R opamp upgrades, 4 opa627, 2 opa2134, 2 ad825, upgraded power supply filter and power tank caps - 8 Riken ohm resistors, upgraded audio board signal caps, 4 fast switch soft recovery diodes in the power supply, and 1/2 sq ft of anti-vibration material around main board and transport. I actually don't understand any of this, but these mods are claimed to have been made by the seller. Another claimed mod is that an SDI output was added so that a pure digital video out is available to any compatible video scaler, etc. Whatever all of this means. In any case, this modded Denon 2900 cost me about $475. When I received it, I compared its sound to that of the Exemplar modded Denon 2900, and also with the Marantz 8260. The result was that this newly bought Denon 2900 performed somewhat better than the Marantz, but wasn't even in the same league as the Exemplar modded unit. The sound of the Exemplar modded Denon 2900 is much richer, and has far greater space and ambiance in the sound field. Much more deep rich bass is also provided by the Exeplar modded unit. I contacted John Tucker, at Exemplar Audio, and asked whether the already modded unit, that I just got through ebay, could be modded by him to match my other Examplar modded Denon 2900; i.e., I was uncertain whether John could "pull out" the existing mods, and install his mods. John assured me that this will not be a problem. Thus, I may eventually have this second Denon 2900 modded by Exemplar. But, for now, I've connected this, my newly purchased Denon 2900 to an Corda Aria amp, and I've compared the sounds of an HD600 to that of a K701, through it. So far, I much much prefer the sound of the HD600. So, I think that I'll sell the K701, and get a DT880, since the 880 really impressed me at the recent National Meet.

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I discuss my experience with two modded Denon 2900s at the following thread:
http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showt...07#post2319307

In terms of non-modded players, I think it's a real shame Denon has relegated their ALPHA processor to only their multi-thousand dollar players/receivers. I recently sold my DVD-2910 because it couldn't hold a candle to my DVM-4800 with the ALPHA for Redbook playback. IMO, of course.