Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Looking back through the reveiws I was amazed to see that my original review was posted on Sept 29 2001. This player has not missed a beat in over 5 years. No problems, no skips. It still sounds superb. I have been thinking recently about upgrading but then I listen to the 370 and realise there really is no point. This has proved to be amazing value for money.

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Price Paid:  $125.00 from Used

Summary:
Pretty darned nice unit for the price -- I heard the slight 'gray veil' over the mids immediately though. This comes across to me as a so-called "house sound" that many mid-fi players exhibit, and is typically the result of less-than-excellent power supplies rather than DACs and such, but I don't know for sure in this case. The unit I bought has many hours on it, so it's not a matter of break-in. I'm not bothered by the house sound of this player at all, as it obviously has many other excellent qualities. Eventually I'll probably plug in an external DAC and use it that way, but for now it makes an excellent addition to my system, replacing a Rotel RCD-855 (which does NOT have the 'gray veil' issue, but sounds considerably flatter, less open and more old fashioned than the Denon... great for classical but a flop with many other genres).

Overall I would recommend this player, but be aware that the carousel is absolutely typical of a low to mid priced 5-disc changer... it's noisy and obviously will be the first thing to go at the end of the unit's life. I really doubt this player will be around in 20 years, while the single disc Rotel RCD-855 might still be playing by then. Anyway, for the price these often go for it's well worth the money.

Strengths:
Clarity, transparency, openness, engaging sound quality. Good looks.

Weaknesses:
Veiling or "house sound" over the mids, fairly light and only noticeable when listening critically. May be too much for a discerning audiophile tho.

Similar Products Used:
Rotel RCD-855, various other models over the years

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Price Paid:  $299.00 from Good Guys

Summary:
O.k. another update. After more screwing around with my speaker system I can give a more accurate description of the sound this player has...over 6 years later. The best thing about it has to be the bass. The modded 370 has the most linear, unboomy, deep bass I've ever heard from a CD player in my system. That's comparing this to the Pioneer 655A PX (import Elite line), the Harman Kardon AVR7200, Numark Axis 8, and about half a dozen portables, including two from Sony and Radioshack that I consider to be high-end. The bass on the 370's analog outputs is extraordinary. DEEP. It's amazingly linear, from the quietest to the loudest...none get compressed together. The midrange has a very slight grayish veil from the HDCD PMD-1 decoder/filter chip and the highs can have a slight edge to the sibilant range. You also need to have this unit isolated. Stick it on rubber balls, a down pillow, on the other side of a wall with a hole through it for the cables...something to get rid of vibration. If it's between your front mains this isolation factor is more important. This is odd because tests have shown its jitter tolerance to be extremely high. And as I've said before, with well recorded HDCD's this is a great sounding unit for orchestral recordings, particularly from Silva. It will never sound as liquid, open, glowy, or transparent in the mids as some other players (except with HDCD), and its rhythm is fairly analytical, but this is a special CD player. If you can get a sound system set to gorgeous quality with this finicky player, I can guarantee you will get every other source in your collection to sound more like it was intended.

Strengths:
The low end. My fronts are flat down to 31HZ and this thing does them justice. Great for setting up a system to get flat, deep, unboomy bass response. Get rid of that boom and you'll enjoy your system much more. Music should not be boomy, even dance music. Not even kick drums. I just spent 3 days listening to the best speakers/sources in the world all day long at Alexus Park for CES. Boom is bad. And if you fix it for music, yes, movies will still give boomy explosions. For under $100 used this is a piece of audiophile heavan. At the very least get it for HDCD's and that newest Cranes album Particles & Waves. Lordy.

Weaknesses:
Quirky transient edge to the sibilant range on some material. Requires the headphone cable to be internally disconnected.

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Price Paid:  $75.00 from Ebay

Summary:
I had just finished rebuilding my power amp and then noticed that my Yamaha CD changer sucked badly. I wanted better sound. This Denon definately brings it. The difference was startling. Overall the frequency response is so much smoother. I always thought my boomy bass was caused by my cheap subwoofer. Not so. It was the Yamaha and it's so called "Natural Sound". What a laugh. But the best part about the Denon is it's lack of destortion no matter how complex and loud the music gets. This thing sounds like a high end turntable minus the clicks and pops.

I bought this on ebay as a new refurb. On the second day it developed a problem. When I turned it on it made a horrible grinding noise. I opened it up and could not find any problem so I put it back and it worked but then it started skipping disks. So I opened it again and noticed it uses leaf switches for sensors. I cleaned all three switches and it has worked flawlessly since. I also did the headphone mod.

Strengths:
Sound quality. It's glorious.
The remote works well from extreme angles.
Quiet carousel.

Weaknesses:
Goofy sensor design using leaf switches makes the unit unreliable. I only give this 5 stars because I was able to fix it.
Would be nice to have volume control on the unit too. Remote volume should have more adjustment range and unit should remember it's volume setting.
It's a large unit, barely fits in my cabinet.

Similar Products Used:
Yamaha CDC-645

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Price Paid:  $300.00 from Sounds Deluxe

Summary:
I've had this changer for about 4-5 years now and figured it was time for an upgrade. I borrowed a Cambridge Audio 640C demo (good rating from Stereophile) and tried it out for the weekend. Whether it was rock or jazz, via headphones or speakers, I could not find any discernable difference. I even enlisted the help of two friends and they couldn't tell the difference either. What a great deck!

Strengths:
Accurate sound

Weaknesses:
Tray makes "groaning" sound when opening and closing

Similar Products Used:
Denon DCD-1400, Carver, Philips