Denon DVD-2500BTCI

[HT Junky]

I purchased of the these today, and have been checking it out. For those who are not aware of this unit, it is a "Blu-ray disc / DVD video transport" only. It is almost as tall as my Denon 3803CI receiver. This unit is build like a tank around 30 pounds. It has one of the quietest, most solid drawer mechanisms I have experienced.

I currently own a Panasonic BD30. Compared to the BD30, the Denon is just that little bit sharper. The picture on the Panasonic is awfully good though.

Where this unit beats the Panasonic is on the audio side, particularly on the high res audio formats. It's almost like it went to high res plus. Very impressed so far.

I'll post more details after a couple days with it.

[deacongreg]

Alright then.

[HT Junky]

I stayed up most of the night doing A/B comparisons with this unit, my Panasonic BD30, and Toshiba A35 (for standard DVDs).

From disc to disc, the Blu-ray playback is better. Colors looked better to me, and detail was greater. The better the transfer, the more of a difference I noticed. Sound was always better as well. More detailed and more three dimensional.

The A35 was better on standards DVDs in my system. I find it interesting that Denon makes no mention of the video chipset for this player on their website or in the manual, but does so for every other player it makes. Sound, however, was better through the Denon.

CDs sound is better than the two others through the HDMI interface into my Denon receiver. The issue with CD playback deals with the fact that this player is designed to be a Blu-ray transport. It has one single HDMI output connection. No component video, no Toslink and no digital coax out. While the CD playback is better through HDMI than the other players, it is nowhere near what I get through my Benchmark DAC1, using my Simaudio Moon Equinox as a transport.

As a Blu-ray player, which is what I purchased it for, it is the best one I have had in my system to date.

It will be interesting to hear from others as the reviews start coming.

My system is as follows:

Sony Pearl projector
Dynalite 92 inch screen
Denon AVR-3808CI receiver
Toshiba A35 HD-DVD player
Outlaw 750 amplifier
Montana EPS front, Montana SPC center speakers
Energy Veritas Surrounds
Simaudio Moon Equinox (used as CD transport)
Benchmark DAC1

[deacongreg]

HT Junky,

How do you use your Benchmark DAC1? Is see from reviews that it works very well as a headphone amplifier. However, I`ve always been partial to Headroom`s amplifiers. Which are excellent. I had a brief demo with the Benchmark at HE2007 in May with Ultrazone headphones with a PC as a source. Not bad. Are you into high end headphone listening?

[HT Junky]

I have used it as a standalone DAC and a DAC/preamp. For the money, it is excellent in that regard. I have tried headphones, but I don't have good enough ones to judge.

Your timing is perfect. I'm in the process of researching headphones. I have been checking out the ones on Acoustics Sounds. There are virtually no retailers in my area that carry high end headphones. They can order them, but there are none to listen to and compare. I would greatly appreciate your opinion on which headphones to focus on. I'm not concerned about price.

[kennyt]

I always liked the AKG headphones, my brother still has my pair of 701's from the 80's.

Great sounding phones and comfortable too.