System in transition
By and large, my curiosity about this Parts Connexion-modified Denon was on the audio end of things although I did reference some DVD-V sources from time to time. The period of time during which I auditioned the Denon extended beyond the normal three months or so that is common with 6moons writers, this because of economic exigencies, scheduling conflicts, work overlap and a variety of other Abandon Chip factors for which I apologize to those readers who have been waiting patiently for me to make my final declarations of faith as to the aural capacities of this unit.


One other factor which played into this mix was my need to assure our readers and myself -- with something akin to Biblical certitude -- that this unit would hold up for the long haul. That's because having completed an extensive seven week burn-in/audition (during which time I then left the unit dormant for a few weeks), I entered the home stretch of the evaluation process only to be derailed by a technical glitch when the unit failed to read my CDs.

Since it continued to read and play DVDs and SACDs, I tried re-booting the unit. At first this seemed to do the trick but the problem reoccurred. At this point, 6moons shipped the unit back for service with the stipulation that they return this original unit and some sort of explanation as to what had gone kerblooey. In a subsequent e-mail, Walter Liederman told me that out of over seventy units sold to that point, this problem had only cropped up on one other occasion and that they'd replaced the transport then and on my unit but otherwise, everything else was the same.


From that point on, I more or less repeated the original process several times whereby I would run the unit more or less continuously for a few weeks, then let it sit dormant. I then used it intermittently for a couple of weeks and let it sit again. Then I ran it continuously for a while and let it sit dormant for a few more weeks. At the point where I'd repeated this process a few times without any reoccurrence of the original glitch (or any subsequent problems), I was satisfied that the earlier faux pas was a freak occurrence; that Underwood's service response was unequivocal; that there was nothing untoward to be concerned about - and that we could concern ourselves solely with the sonic attributes of this multi-disc player.



In my bio as well as this review's opening section, you can explore the rough outlines of my main reference system, which have remained fairly consistent. During the past several months, a number of new elements were introduced into the mix by way of some new loudspeakers, amplification and digital front end components for upcoming evaluations on Positive Feedback, 6moons and on my own upcoming website (along with some experiments I conducted for my own head involving different combinations of 'neurological' devices before finally settling in on some familiar sets of cabling, interconnects and AC cords for the final furlong).
When I began my evaluations, I was employing a pair of bi-wired Joseph Audio RM7si Signature MKII mini-monitors that have functioned as my reference loudspeakers for some time. When the Level-1 DVD-2900 first arrived, I was using Acoustic Zen Silver Reference interconnects throughout my front end and between my VTL 5.5 tube preamp and Musical Fidelity's Nu-Vista 300 power amps (though I've long favored a pair of Monster Cable Sigma Retro Gold interconnects on my Rogue Stealth Phono Pre-Amp). I continued to use them through the early burn-in process, then switched over to a set of active-shielding equipped Synergistic Research Designer's Reference squared X-Series interconnects with mini-power couplers, which are highly resolved and very revealing (on the Denon and the pre-amp-power amp connection); active SRDR2 AC cords on the Denon, the preamp and the Equi=Tech Q650 feeding my front end components; and a set of active SRDR2 Solid-State Reference speaker cables. This gave me a very open window with which to observe the sonic evolution of the DVD-2900's modified analog output stage as it settled into its own distinctive sound signature.
Towards the beginning of this process, I received a pair of Joseph RM25si Signature MKII loudspeakers for a Positive Feedback evaluation, followed shortly thereafter by the prodigiously endowed McCormack Audio DNA 500 power amp for an upcoming 6moons review, both of which supplanted the RM7si and Nu-Vista 300 combo in my reference system. I continued to employ JPS Labs' Aluminata and Kaptovator AC cords on my power amps and Equi=Tech 2Q, and at a later date, Joe Harley of Audioquest sent me some very impressive samples of their new high rez/high value Panther interconnects and CV-6 speaker cables based on his innovative new dielectric bias system. The final new additions to my menagerie of HighEnd audio components: The Dynaudio Special 25 loudspeakers and a Linn Unidisk 1.1 universal player [review also forthcoming by Henk & Marja - Ed.].


The former are a pair of all-singing/all-dancing, reference quality, two-way stand-mounted monitors featuring Dynaudio's priciest, most sophisticated transducers. The latter is a state-of-the-art digital source component based around Linn's proprietary Silverdisk Engine universal decoding technology.
The Linn 1.1 Unidisk provided me with one final, definitive reference point for CD, SACD, DVD-V and DVD-A playback, although for the purposes of this review, I employed it only to establish some broad general parameters for my own aural edification. I mean, the Unidisk 1.1 is a completely over-the-top audio component; a religious experience; a defining moment in my aural pilgrimage; one of the most revealing, musically involving pieces of gear I've ever had the privilege to audition in my system. Having said that and given the morbid enthusiasm of some cybergeeks for negative reviews and absolute pronouncements from on high, let me remind y'all that this is an equipment evaluation, not a pissing contest. To my mind, it can serve no useful purpose to compare and contrast the performance of a modestly priced, high rez/high value component with an $11,000 no-compromise component whose technology heralds the cutting edge of the next wave of digital source components - safe to educate the reviewer about what's possible at the current bleeding edge.
Which is why for my final round of evaluations, I intermittently employed a pair of comparably priced units for comparison to the $1799 DVD-290 Level 1 mod. One has served as a trusted digital reference over the past few years and represented some aspects of the leading edge of technology at its price point when first introduced, and a HighEnd value that has added a welcome touch of tube serendipity to my digital front end this past year. More to the point, both represent price points of roughly $600 above and $600 below my tweaked-out Denon sample. First is the $2500 California Audio Labs CL-20 CD/DVD Player (whose 20-bit technology derives from the late '90s), and second is a fully tweaked out Ah! Njoe Tjoeb 4000, now available for $1,196 as a Super Tjoeb with a tube output stage, a 24/192 upsampling board and a complete package of special upgrades, sold in the United States exclusively through Kevin Deal of Upscale Audio.


So there you have it: A comprehensive list of components with which I mixed and matched the DVD-2900, leaving one last piece of gear to reference for readers: A Mondial Magic Splitter. Without this antenna ground isolation circuit, I'd have been up shit creek without a paddle - because in running a seven-meter length of JPS Labs Ultraconductor S-video cable from my venerable NEC 20" CT-2070S (still a very highly resolved, dependable TV monitor despite its Neolithic circa 1988 origins), I got a persistent ground hum running through my TV and audio components even when the preamp volume was off. Why ask why? Grounding problems are generally very mysterious. In any event, when the outside cable line was inputted to the Magic Splitter and a 75-ohm video cable outputted at the very first link to the cable box/TV chain (a small 14" TV next to my computer rig), this ground noise was totally eliminated.


Color me impressed. I dare say that for people with sophisticated Home Theater systems, this little 149.99 box could be a lifesaver. An odd trade-off on my rig is that sometimes the Magic Splitter will cancel out one or two channels on Time Warner Cable in Manhattan (such as Channel 82, Turner Classic Movies). I'll either get a blank screen with no signal; or I'll experience some kind of digital fragging where the video image loads slowly like broken shards of glass with a slight time delay. Go figure. As my 20" NEC is the second TV on the line connected to the main audio system in the adjacent room, I leave the S-video cable attached to the CL-20 CD/DVD player and remove the Magic Splitter from the circuit if there's something I want to watch on Channel 82.