OK, OK, Ok, Ok, Ok,
I feel like Leo in LETHAL WEAPON. You know how he would get so excited he couldn't talk fast enough?
This Player is one exciting player. If the 2900 is better than this (and it should be) it must be incredible.
First if you read the above, I haven't seemed to have needed any fancy, expensive CDP. My Harman Kardon was always sounding pretty darn good (or so I thought) IT had Burr/Brown DACs and always seemed detailed and musical.
Shoot, I have had guys come in to listen who owned $6000+ Cary CDPs who have sworn that I must have had some serious "modding" on this thing and they would remark how "tube like" it sounded.
OK, OK, Ok, Ok, Ok!
Well as I said above, I plugged things into my BPT and as it subtracted out the noise, I found that none of my three players had all the qualities I needed/wanted.
The HK sounded great in the mid/highs, but seemed a bit bass shy. I tried my old Rotel (at one time it ranked on the top of both Sterophile "and" Absolute Sound) and it had great and luscious bass but got a bit "hard and glossy" on top when pushed to louder levels.
I also had an excellent Luxman that was similar to the Rotel, basswise, but didn't do the upper midbass slam.
While all three had sections that now sounded better (with the BP1) they all now had very noticable deficiencies.
It was like some of the "crap" that the BPT had cleaned up had also been "filling in" the sonic gaps so that it sounded OK. Now that the BP1 was in the system, we had "problems in River City"!
Enter the Denon DVD 2200. Easy set up, turned it on, opened the drawer (sounded solid) and plopped in my Reference Cut CD.
Play>>>> WOW. My first cut is "internal organ" shaking bass. It's sound was "well" beyond the Rotel. What was this sound I was hearing from the left speaker? like a high metallic tinkling, ... Holy Cra*, (not the old, I was hearing things I never heard before line) I was hearing things I hadn't previously heard.
"Crystaline" detail without harshness or brittleness, just sonic delicacy.
Then the Electric bass Solo.... Again. Little subtle sounds that just weren't there before.
Stevie Ray Vaughan's Tin Pan Alley. What a cut and it always sounds unbelievable. Was it different? YEP! Stevies Guitar was more brilliant, but the standout sonic improvement was in the Bass lines and the drum impact. Dry, solid, heavy drum impact. WOW!
Next up, Dire Straits, Private investigations.... There are a few places in this cut where the Piano gets a little agressive, steely and "glary". In fact at high volume it sounds bad.
Well the portion I'm talking about while now still "agressive", has been "sorted out" and sounds pretty darn good. It doesn't rattle your teeth like before.
And the cuts went on and on, like this.
Diana Krall paid another visit and where her piano and voice used to make you wince at anything over 98db, she sounded loud but sweet and pure. Her piano still had an edge on the very loud, closely miked notes, but it sounded more real than ever before.
So am I happy with this unit? You bet, but you have to remember the road that got me here was not paved with High End CDPs. I had mid-fi at best, but if it gets any better than this for around $600, I can't wait to hear it.
Just my experience, in my system and room, with my ears. Your experiences may vary accordingly.
Just think if I would have never gotten that darn BP1 I could have lived (suffered) in Sonic Bliss, and never known. My eyes and ears have been re-opened
So if your lookin' for a new "universal" player and don't have $1 LARGE to drop, this one is just about half that ($630 list) and if your system is pretty resolving, you'll probaly appreciate the difference.
