Howdy all...

I'm looking for comments from those who own this new Denon 2910 unit. I got mine last night, and my first impressions, when compared to the subject Pioneer player..is that it's drastically different, and not in a good way. When I recalibrated everythign using the internal 950 test tones, the player made things VERY BRIGHT and LOUD! It was almost painful. When I went back and recalibrated everything with the DVE disc, the player then seemed kind of muffled. It almost sound now that I lost detail in the SACD's and DVD-A's that I had with the Pioneer. It's a very strange situation....

I guess I could use some suggestions from other Denon owners that found something that needed to be set a certain way in the setup menues. There is a lot there...and the other player didn't have that much to configure. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated....I'm going to give this player some more listening time this week...and see if it was just a weird night or what....

Thanks all!

i have the denon 910 and have had no issues except for a drastic improvement on video quality.

granted, i cant comment on sacd or dvd-a quality.

denon makes excellent dvd players though.

I can't comment on the current crop of Denon players....I too own the Pioneer 563a.

I only have one SACD so far, but strictly as a transport feeding my 1050 it sounds great!

I am thinking of getting an ICBM, but I don't buy enough SACD's/DVD-A's to justify it right now.

I have to admit...the ICBM is a must if you are using SACD and DVD-A. It makes a huge improvement in imaging and sound stage!

I really need to listen the Denon more..but the pioneer, with the ICBM, and my new speakers sounded incredibly warm to me....I might be a cheap DVD player owner for a lot longer.

Keep in mind when switching to new components/speakers that the new sound is not necessarily better or worse, it's just different. We tend to get used to the way something sounds. For example, what you considered bright may have been audio detail that you weren't used to hearing. I'd suggest recalibrating to standard levels and then settle in and listen for several months. You might be surprised.

I know the 3910 features a menu option called "Compression". It's basically a "night" compression mode built-in to the player. You might want to make sure that is disabled. Also, I would double check your subwoofer crossover settings. The menu options, at least in the 3910, do seem confusing.

Hey Incognito,

Haven't seen or heard the new generation of Denon units, but I'm a bit surprised that the sound you heard originally classified as "Bright". I've always felt the Denon players were a bit "soft" in their presentation, which is nice if you have speakers that are a bit bright. It sounds like after you recalibrated, you may have gotten a more Denon Like sound. I recent article comparing the Denon 5900 to the Pioneer DV-59avi(Thomas Norton, UAV, I think), suggested that the Pioneer may be a tad more detailed which some might perceive as "bright" It might be a matter of letting things settle in a bit and getting used to the different sound of the Denon. Check to see if your player has a "source direct" function. I didn't see it during a quick look at the manual, but this feature will bypass any DSD to PCM conversions that may take place inside the player (i.e. for bass management). Since it appears you are using an ICBM, you should not need any conversion to play back SACD's. Source direct should give you a "cleaner" feed to your ICBM with less chance of any unwanted conversions. Sounds like you may just prefer the sound of your Pioneer.

I got a pre-Dennon demo of Incog's system a couple weeks back. I thought the upper mid and highs were very suppressed and lacked clarity, air, and detail. I realized since he has fine equipment, that he must have preferred this sound and tuned his system to sound this way. I refrained from commenting on this aspect at the time, because I felt grateful for the Rocket demo, I hardly knew him, and if he prefers this sound, why rain on his parade. He would likely say my system sounds very bright in comparison, but I think it to be much more revealing and accurate to the recordings intent. Having said that, my system is lacking in other respects, like I notice compression at around 90db, and my smallish NHT VT1 speakers have to be driven harder to fill the much larger room, than what I purchased them for 12yrs ago. I'm currently demo-ing all the speakers I can, for choosing good replacements. I suspect I would like the sound out of his new Dennon much better than he does. I have read some reviews on DVE versus Avia, and some who have both say DVE is good for video, but they prefer Avia for sound. They said there are some problems with the subwoofer test tones on DVE. I will offer to loan him my Avia to try out and see if he likes it better! I think some peoples perception and preference for warm, is much different than others.

Just another opinion!

I'll be over at Incog's this friday (5 NOV) for another benchmark (beer and pizza included!!!) to see if the "bright" sounding Denon is really as "bright" and unacceptable as he does (based off of my biased opinion, of course!).

I would agree with NEO's assesment regarding the highs being suppressed [hence Rocket reviews talking about rolloffs at higher freq)- which I think is very typical of Rockets(?!?! from what I've read?!?!).

I think Incog actually has both the DVE and Avia disks.

Oh you all are harsh....LOL!!!

I don't think it's supressed at all...but if what I had was the high's be supressed...then now with the Denon, the mids are supressed. I mistaked the "brightness" of the Denon for a calibration that yielded very loud volumes...so the highs got to me before any bass to offset it. I still feel there is a lacking midrange with this player...and since the Rockets are designed with an emphasis on midrange..they don't seem to be very compatable.

Just for clarification...I am one of those people that likes the warmer sound to the brighter sound. From what I have heard...the warmer sounding speakers have made it much easier to develope a sound stage...in my room.