[ai0tron]

Hello World,

I have recently ordered this. OOooohh it's all silvery and it's gonna look great with the MELOS!! I'm fairly certain the picture will be fantastic (progressive scan), and I have 30 some odd DVD's to utilize this feature, but as you all might have figured, I really got it for it's supposed great audio performance. 24/192 Burr Brown Dac, 118db SN ration, 103db dynamic range, amongst other interesting audio specs. Like seperate board layout for audio and video components etc so on. Anyhow, it's supposed to be pretty darn good for the money, and you can get it modded at modwright I believe, and they do all kinds of nifty stuff to it. So whenever I get it, which should be later this week or early next week I'll be posting my impressions. Oh yeah I'll also be reviewing my nifty SVIDEO cable if any of you CARE,which you might but I doubt. But I dont care if you care im reviewing it anyway. "Till next time I'm ai0tron, Savannah audio news."

 

[kenshi]

Just want to share my thought. I bought this one last X'mas. It is a decent DVD player at a great price. (I paid only $199 at Goodguys after rebate.

) The picture quaility is great, though, I never own a DVD player but a LD player. However, for music, my Rotel RCD-951 performs much better though.

 

[ai0tron]

Yeah, I was expecting it to be average, but still, it was only $222 including shipping. The real kicker is, that you can have it modded at modwright for about $275 and they completely replace the analog output section and make many upgrades to the components. Then you have one of the best progressive scan DVD players, and you have a damn good cd player, all in one box. All for a price right around $500... I think, and this is me using my brain here (warning, put the fire department on hold), I CONCIEVE that this is the best Price Performance route I can take if I want nice DVD palyback and NICE cd playback.

Now now, I know there are doubters out there, I'm forging a path, this is going to be THE solution for $500 dvd - cd playback. OH yes.

 

[Nick Dangerous]

It's certainly an awesome P/P source, but not *quite* the ultimate.

I have heard that the Pioneer DVD players have only a "pseudo" progressive scan unit in their lower end players. It will be an improvement over a simple S-VHS connection, though.

I own the Pioneer 440 which is practically the same thing. I think it's a great player... although I hate the chiclet-gum remote control.

 

[ai0tron]

It only becomes the BEST price performance machine AFTER level 1 modding... Although you can spend outrageous amounts on mods and possibly get a trully awesome machine. It would cost $560 MORE to get the thing completely tricked out at modwright...

Im thinking of getting the level 1 mods, and then adding bybee filters. Anyone know if these bybee filters really matter?

The total on that would be $435

Plus the $222 for the player

$657... hmmm. Plays DVD's, plays mp3 cd's vcd's all kinds of stuff, open session cdr's(thats cool). Has great picture quality and has great sound quality... I DUNNO, it seems... sketchy...

The level 1 mods alone are pretty nice looking and seem to be more or less worth the price at $275.

Check out what they do at this site:

http://www.modwright.com/standalone.htm

 

[pigmode]

Good deal. Will you eventually add an external DAC? It should be a fairly impressive music player post mods. Plus you can rent Kurosawa discs now.

Bybees
At his site, Modwright sez: they made the bass "simply growl." Do a search at Asylum for other viewpoints.

 

[ai0tron]

I'd rather not add a DAC right now. I think this player will make an excellent transport though, it supposedly has excellent error correction with twin laser pick ups. For the moment I should keep things low priced and simple. BUT, in the future, sure, I'd like to mess around with an external dac.

Well UPS says this Friday it should be arriving. So I'm waiting on the edge of my seat. This will be the first time I actually play a decent source signal through my Melos!

Rent Kurosawa??? How about BUY them ALL! I've seen 4 of his movies now, and they have all been fantastic. My favorite is Kagemusha, I rented it on a whim and it blew my mind, I watched it twice in a row. But I'm not going to run out and track them all down, I'll let them come to me, as they will, they always teach me a lesson this way. Maybe I'll never see another one, I've seen Kagemusha, that alone is blessing enough.

I also need to get apocolypse now redux.

 

[ai0tron]

I just got this and lets see:

It matches the Melos perfectly

Umm, sound wise it's so so, much better than the radioshack portable I was using, but overall I think the Denon 370 is a bit better sounding, of course thats from memory. I'll give it some time before I make any real judgements.

Other considerations are build quality, which is both good and bad. The body is all metal, as it should be, but the face is plastic, and the cd tray is plastic... ickthhpt. The plastic cd tray is what really gets me, it feels incredibly flimsy, but it loads very quickly so it's not terrible.

DVD's play well and the picture quality is an A+. Noticeably better than my roomates Apex (as it should be). Of course I'm using svideo with my sytem and he isn't. Also my teensy weensy TV (17") is newer Toshiba flat screen. I typically use it for video monitoring when I output stuff to video tape from my computer, but it doubles as an entertainment device now.

 

[ai0tron]

Ok after listening to it for awhile I got some feelings and some notes...

#1 Lack of bass. The bass is there but it doesn't womp your ear drums the way I'm used to. I wouldn't call the player bright, I would call it "well lit". I has a full warm tone that has a foundation of bass but it's not an earthquake.

#2 It has very nice upper mids and treble. I was impressed with the seperation and inner detail present in this area of the frequency range. There was an EXTREME reduction in sibilance coming from the crappy RSHACK portable.

#3 Overall it has a richer tone than the Radioshack, although, sadly, I prefer the radioshacks bass, bloated as it is. Bass is addictive I guess.

#4 DVD's sound good to varying degrees, there are some really neat functions for getting "surround" sound from 2 channel setups. The first one is Dolby Digital, it sounds pretty good actually and I'm trying to decide if thats my favorite for movies. Theres another option called trusurround, and that kind of sucks as it takes away from the bass.


#5 It has an interesting sound option that increases the dynamics of the music for low level listening. I thought that was pretty neat actually, it does work but the difference is not very dramatic.

#6 Overall: Well, $222 got me a damn nice DVD player and a pretty nice CD player. I'd have to say I am happy with this purchase, however it's obviously going to need some tweaking!

Other notes:


HD600 movie performance

Well I hadn't ever really used the HD600's for movie listening and now I have so for all of you that are wondering here are some of my thoughts regarding their function.

I must say, that in all actuality, DVD's sound very very natural with my current setup. I watched Cast Away as part of my audition and I was very impressed with the renditions of rain and water, they sounded completely natural, it was total reality. Also, the transparency of the system is so much that you can sense which sounds were "effects" and which sounds were recorded. I could hear little accents added here and there that were obviously fake but I hadn't ever noticed it before. This was actually annoying as it detracted from the necessary "suspension of disbelief" that is necessary for enjoying a movie. But as you may know, it does NOT fit in with the typical movie going experience! Movie theatre sound is always too loud, to harsh, too bass heavy, this was totally different, totally revealing of the original recording. I wanted more dynamics, and I wanted more bass, especially during action sequences.

Overall the HD600's performed well, but I found them lacking the necessary pow for an exploding jet engine, it was like they were always looking out for my ears or something.

For the movie going experience I give them a B+


BETTERCABLES S-Video Cable.

Alright, this one is a bit of a bummer, perhaps my TV isnt large enough or HI-Res enough but I did not notice much of a difference between this S-video cable and the chincy one that came with my video card. The colors were just slightly richer, and the definition was just slightly sharper. The contrast was just slightly better also. IMO however it wasn't anything that could not have been compensated for at least somewhat by playing with the color settings on the TV.

However S-Video is obviously superior to the crappy composite out.

Also, I now find out that in order to take advantage of the progressive scan feature I have to use a special TV with component video inputs.

Overall the cable is nice, it works, and it looks good

, but I could have lived without it.

 

[ai0tron]

DAMN, Aphex twin sounds fantastic through this player, extremely tight and well defined, very precise tonality, impressive.

The bass seems solid with this cd, I think because it doesn't actually go that deep and this is an exceptionaly good recording.

I think I'll just record my feelings here about some songs as I listen for the next couple of hours.

Listening to Aphex Twin, I'm actually struck by the solidity of the sound, firm and full. A little forward, but enjoyable, it's not noticable unless you think about it. I'm loving the quickness of this machine, it's extremely fast. But the tonality has a warm harmonic timbre. Bass is hitting! I know it's this recording though, this recording is what you might call "phat". I'm feeling generally a little fatigued, a little overwhelmed by the amount of information... But the machine refrains from becoing congested, keeps the sound open, I think this is partially the large noise floor. When there is suppsoed to be silence their is silence no matter how short that moment is.

Alright on to Bob marley,

First song, stir it up, ooh I'm liking this. Individual instruments are much more different in terms of dynamics than with my rshack portable... In other words one instrument rises to a full volume but the instruments in the background stay there. Something about it though, it's almost too forceful, I get that fatiguing sensation again. Every thing is very smooth though, smooth but hard hitting. "Bass" on this track is very full. It's a bass instrument though so we aren't talking really deep bass here.

next song, get up stand up, ok damn, am I wearing grados?? Geez, voices are like CLEAR, too clear, colored kind of clear, forward kind of clear. It's interesting though. In a way. It's possible that it has this coloration to increase vocal clarity on DVD's. It doesn't sound bad, it just kind of sounds like your on stage, and I'm not used to that out of my Senns. I typically prefer a laid back presentation but this is kind of fun.

Alright lets try a favorite here... Sun is shining. A metallic 'tock' kind of sound that I thought was echoing before I know realize is being struck multiple times... It's a very coherent sound, but a very forceful and present sound. Details don't slip by but they are part of the music. I think my Rshack portable was distorting mightily, everything is so much cleaner overall. I think i can officialy say I have a solid state sounding system, but I can still make out the tubes adding harmoncis to guitar notes, and smoothing out the highs a bit. One thing I should mention is that on these two cd's the sound quality is exceptionally good, and I have heard exceptionally good sound. A good sign I think.

Damn, Im in the same room with Bob Marley... Freaking drum hits are very dynamic.

Alright, either its the recording or Im hearing some compression in these vocal dynamics. I suspect the recording because I have noticed that mics have a bad habit of compressing at loud volumes with vocals. I heard this on a 20,000 system in Hawaii and have since concluded that many flaws are the product of miccs compressing sound. The recording was superb but the vocals were a touch compressed, they would kind of glass over at high cvolumes, im getting the same kind of thing here. I'll have to try some piano next, im a better judge of that. The music sounds very open and real...

Alright here we go, good recording of Chopin.

Ahhhh.

Righteous. Most Righteous.

Let me just hear that again.

Damn, that sounds weawy weawy goooood.

It could be more harmonic, a little more note decay, maybe a touch less of a knockout punch. I almost get the feeling that this thing is so precise it not as much fun.


Ok on too Chris Isaak.

This is reminding me of my Dad's old system. So clean it's kind of scary. Vocals still sound a touch strained during extremely dynamic moments. Maybe it's the mic, maybe it's the player. Maybe it's the player revealing the mic. Who knows. Bass is nice, everything is nice, his voice kind of reaches into eternity the way it's supposed to.

I wish I could get away from my computer.

Hmm bass is actually more musical on this track than with the Rshack player.

Ok heres a nice test,

Tabla Tarang Melody on drum. Smithsonian/Folkways collection, this is a damn cool recording.

Ok damn, it just lacks that magic that tubes brought to it back when i had my XCANS. Still, it's very well rendered.


My conclusion.

This player sounds nice for 199 +shipping for 222 at etronics. Im pretty impressed in all truth, and the DVD picture is SHARP and clear. OH but one minor dissapointment, it doesn't play my beastie boys anthology disk veyr well. I haven't gotten that disk to play right in any DVD player and I have tried several, but I was hoping it would work onthis one, at least the audio stuck around, it was just he picture that dropped out this time. I think that disk broke my computers DVD player actually, so Im just going to avoid playing it in any DVD player, its messed up for somereason.

Also when i was watching cast away there was a very slight pause that recurred during ONE chapter change, and you wouldn't notice it except that when you are listeing with headphones you can hear the VERY slight ambience go away for a moment then come back. I rewound and played it again and it recurred so Im assuming its related to the disk.

Anyhow, I like this thing. It sounds really good to me, but it does have some flaws. It could use mroe bass for my electronic music, and it could do with a slight reduction in the upper midrange and treble. Its just a touch forward.

Ill get it modded sometime and let you all know how it sounds.

 

[FlurkingShnit]

ai0tron:

This pitch is what I tell customers all the time at Best Buy. I got kind of confused as to why you would buy a progressive scan player but use only s video cables. But yeah, to get the whole progressive scan thing to kick in, this is what you need:

an hdtv (or digital tv, or one that specifically says it can display a progressively scanned 480p picture)

A progressive scan dvd player (which you have)

and component video cables (I would suggest monster, but that's only because the higher ups at best buy always push us to sell monster accessories to customers since it helps the numbers. You wouldn't BELIEVE the mark up on these.)

Keep in mind though that component cables don't carry an audio signal. So you might be interested in buying some seperate audio cables unless your s video was a kit that came with audio cables as well.

God, and I thought I came to this forum to get AWAY from work.

 

[vn412]

i concur with ai0tron....i got the dv-343 a few weeks ago and it is sooooo good. the sound improved DRASTICALLY, more than i ever possibly imagined. it was good stuff. i would pretty much describe the change the way ai0tron did with his 444.

but i have to disagree with what ai0tron said about bass...i think the bass is VERY solid and realistic. however, i dont listen to much dance music. most of the time i listen to rock and jazz if i want drums. however, for electronica, i popped in some house and heavy house and found it to be quite enjoyable!

oh yeah, and being able to play pretty much every single thing i throw at it (including my personal favorite format for videos: svcd) is a big plus!

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Hey, which Aphex Twin CD are you talking about? The latest, Drukqs?

 

[ai0tron]

Yes I was talking about the latest one. Drukqs. It's really amazing at times.

 

[ai0tron]

yeah vn412 as time has gone on the bass has improved somewhat but is still lacking IMO. I think I mentioned that it is solid down pretty low, below 100hz maybe down to 80 it seems solid enough. But on a Busta Rhymes Track a couple of bass hits left me remembering deeper bass. But I may have been mistaken. It definately sounds good but theres definately room for improvement.