Denon RCD-N7 vs Teac CR-H500NT for nightstand source...
Aug 23, 2011 at 10:35 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 3

obzilla

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Hey all. 
 
I'm wondering if anyone has any experience or opinions on this little unit as a source/dac for a nightstand head-fi rig?
The features are what I am after. Ipod/Iphone digital out, USB support for FLAC/WAV, CD player, WIFI connectivity, AirPlay, etc.
The price is right. $600 CDN
The size consumption is right, and if I so desire down the road I can put a humble pair of bookshelf speakers on it for bedroom listening.
 
Here is what my rig is/will be.
 
LCD2 rev2 > Schiit Lyr > Denon RCD-N7??? 
 
LCD2s and Lyr are inbound/shipping, I currently run a pair of Ultrasone 900s or IE8s though my ipod, Denon AVR-2112 HT receiver (which is just peachy for the 2 phones I have currently), or through my creative external USB soundcard on my laptop.
Irrelevant but I run a pair of B&W 685s with a B&W ASW608 sub through the HT receiver in the living room.


 
I can find no mention of the RCD-N7 here on the boards, though it has some nice consumer reviews online.
I'm not looking for uber-fi. Most likely what people around here would call "mid-fi" I reckon. I don't have golden ears, but I do love good sound and want a nice, moderate nightstand rig to go with the phones and amp I have, as I enjoy music most while relaxing in bed.
 
The only tech data on the internal DAC I can find is "24-bit/192-kHz DACs" off the tech specs from Denon's site. I don't know if that is upsampling or not.
 
 
http://usa.denon.com/us/product/pages/Product-Detail.aspx?CatId=f234eea1-3300-4537-8f59-f6cd2f3441d6&ProductId=06d01afa-690d-4b10-8797-2c37432d5eb8
 

Really I just want to make sure that my source,
1. Comes with all of these convenience features listed above (WIFI, USB, Ipod, etc) 
2. Sounds "good"  
3. Doesn't put me any further into the poorhouse than necessary.
 
 
So, any ideas, comments, feedback, suggestions, or warnings would be very appreciated.
 
I can go test it out, but hauling in the Lyr, and LCD2s to get a real life sample of how in behaves with the rest of my components seems a bit extreme for what is meant to be a humble DAC/CD Player/ Ipod dock combo, no?
 
Thanks in advance guys.
 
Aug 24, 2011 at 10:59 AM Post #2 of 3
Nobody then?
 
I guess it'll be a lower-fi product if that is the case.
 
Aug 26, 2011 at 2:57 PM Post #3 of 3
Well, this will probably be the last post that this thread sees before sinking into the abyss of inutile threads.
I'm only leaving this comment just in case someone else comes along looking for a similar unit.
 
I went and tried out the Denon RCD-N7 with my IE8s (out of convenience). It's plastic, crashed twice on my iPod while changing songs, though it did sound noticeably better than the iPod, which is primarily what I was looking for, on top of everything else it does.

 
However, sitting next to it was a shiny metal Teac CR-H500NT that 6 Moons has reviewed very highly.
It sounded better, was made of metal, and had physical knobs for volume and track seek as opposed to the Denons "1990's-Style-Microwave" white button configuration for everything.
While slower to navigate the iPod, it never locked up, even on the same tracks the were bothering the Denon.
 
Not only were the iPod (all ALAC) files sounding better through the Teac DAC, the CD player sounded a notch above.
It was $50 more than the Denon, so I went with it. Neither is a real audiophile unit, but the Teac, from build to sound, is just a big step above the Denon in every way and for my humble bedroom rig, it should be just right. I'm looking forward to it being my new nightstand source, instead of just the iPod line out.
 
 
http://www.teac.com/consumer_electronics/reference_series/cr-h500nt/
 
Depending on how things go, I may grab a second one for the office.
 
 

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