Sound stage, imaging.

Detail, no harshness. It really is beautiful. As musical as dedicated 2 channel CD players should be but for the most part aren't.

Features are easy to utilize and work.

Build quality is excellent, operation is silent and flawless.

These comments for for the RDV 1.1 not the RDV 1. The RDV 1.1 together with the RDC 7.1 are wonderful. I got these for the sound of 2 channel CD music. Compared to other extremely expensive units, this pair just simply out performed everything I tried in 2 channel music.

Customer Service

Sim Audio Andromeda
McIntosh 201
Opera Audio Droplet

Great picture and sound.

1. Obnoxious bright blue lights (7 of them) that stay on. 2. Bright blue display that won't stay off.
3. The player is VERY slow to load and movement between menus, chapters and such is equally slow
4. Various problems in pause / start accuracy
5. Pause or FF/RW then hit play and 1/2 the time there is no sound and/or the picture is frozen. Press Stop and play and to get things back to normal.
6. A remote that's useless if you like the lights off to watch a movie.

What an astoudning disappointment this unit is! While the sound and picture are amazing, they missed so bad on these other things that it's a bother to use.

At it's nearly $3000 price tag it should be a joy not a problem. I went back to my old Pioneer until I can go ahead and get a Proceed or Meridian like I originally planned. There's a reason things cost more in situations like this.

And, turns out Buzz Jensen isn't so hot either. They were great until I told the sales rep about the problems and that I was going to sell it off. He said he do whatever it took to make me happy. Of course, now he doesn't even return phone calls.

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Lesser quality units like Pioneed 414 (though it had none of the above problems).

Outstanding picture, very good to excellent sound, build quality, styling

None inherently, but see below.

This player, I believe, has video quality that is on par with my Pionner Elite DV-09 (which I still own). I am referring to the interlaced output, because of course the Pioneer doesn't have progressive outputs like the Integra Research. In progressive mode, on a Toshiba 40H80, the Integra Research wins the award for best picture. None of these evaluations take into account the players' anamorphic down-conversion to letterbox, since the TV is 16:9 it is not an issue for me. The RDV-1 also has excellent audio performance with CD's as run through the Integra Research RDC-7 surround preamp and RDA-7 power amp. I believe this is in large part due to the Apogee Electronics master clock in both the player and preamp, but nevertheless, it works. DVD-Audio is hard to judge, because I don't have a basis for comparison, although it sounds excellent to me on its own merits. It is definitely more revealing than regular CDs. This is obviously using the player's internal 24 bit/192 kHz D/A's, since DVD-Audio currently doesn't leave the player in digital form. If I'm not mistaken, the RDV-1 is capable of sending out the signal digitally, as soon as the music industry gives permission for them to do so. The only caveat with the player's otherwise flawless performance is the minor glitch that has occasionally shown itself when the unit is first turned on. Sometimes it will come out of standby, show the display for about 5 seconds, and then go back to standby. This is, at worst, a minor irritation, and even so, the unit was replaced immediately by the dealer upon notifying them of the problem. The comments by the reviewer below are a matter of taste as far as the lights are concerned. I think they are striking, and anyway, no serious theater room would be designed so that the components couldn't be hidden from view if so desired, so it really shouldn't be an issue. If the equipment is in a rack in the back of the room or even up front in a cabinet with a door on it, it's really irrelevant. Overall, I am very happy with all the Integra Research pieces, and highly recommend them to anyone.

P.S. Buying a Proceed PMDT or Meridian 500 or 800 series piece does NOT guarantee happiness. Just ask some of the people who have owned and reviewed them.

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Pioneer DV-09

Sound Quality, Build quality, appearance, video quality, apogee clock, DVD-Audio playback.

Remote, somewhat annoying blue lights.

I have owned this unit since June 2001 and I must say it is impressive. I previously owned a Toshiba 5109 progressive scan player and still own a Pioneer 704 Laserdisc Player. In comparison with the RDV-1, there is no contest. The Toshiba's sound was bright and somewhat harsh and the video artifacts in the interlaced mode were very quite prominent. I also demoed a Pioneer Elite DV-09 for a few weeks and find the Integra unit performs similarly in the interlaced mode, but far surpasses it in the progessive scan mode. (The DV-09 has no progressive scan.)

Perhaps the best thing about the RDV-1 is it's CD performance. It sports an Apogee low gitter, digital clock. (Apogee is known for the ultra high quality digital clocks it builds for the professional recording industry.) The sound is on par with the best stand alone DA converters and separate transports I have heard. Airy, spacious, rich, super clean and dynamic sound. Never harsh or bright. It makes average CD's sound superb and better CD's sound live.

DVD-A performance is in a world unto itself. I have never heard anything that compares. I use the DB-25 cable that is supplied by Integra Research and am amazed at the sonic realism the format produces. Listening to FlourPlay's self titled DVD-Audio disk is a revolutionary experience. The bass is tight and deep, mids accurate and warm and the highs are sweet and detailed. But the soundstage is enormous. Headroom is limitless. Notes are crisp and live sounding. I have a couple of other DVD-A discs that are not mixed as skillfully, but still sound superior to a typical CD.

I am very pleased with this machine. There are some who are annoyed by the everpresent blue power indicator lights. They shine brightly in completely darkened rooms but it doesn't bother me. I think they look pretty. My use of a bias light keeps the room from being totally dark, and I think that makes the light not so distracting (perhaps). The only clear disappointment is with the non-backlit remote. You can not see the buttons at all in the dark. All in all, the purchase of the Integra Research RDV-1 was a perfect udgrade. I think anyone would be pleased with it's performance. I highly recommend it.

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba 5109; Pioneer Elite DV-09; Pioneer 704 Laser Disc player

Picture, Sound, Build

None except an annoying intermittent noise from the transport that sounds like a muffled road drill.

I use the player with a DC1 and Parasound 1205 power amp running Proac 2.5, CC1, R1S speaker set up with a REL sub.

The performance is a marked improvement on the last player I owned and I have recently invested in Chord Chorus interconnects and Odyssey speaker cable which has also helped.

The appearance is very understated and the operation and set up are simple and easy to follow.

Video performance is excellent using svideo cables from the DC1 and the audio shows clear separation between instruments.

My only gripe is that the UK distributor doesn't believe me re the annoying sound and told the dealer that I would have to bring the player back before they would send a replacement.

Having spent a 'high end' sum of money I had expected a high end service. The dealer is frankly embarrased will have to lend me his own demo unit in the meantime.

Still a good player though. And I like the blue buttons.

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Proceed MDT

Great sound, sharp pictures, beautiful built and look

Is there any?

The video playback is great. It provides razor-sharp pictures. You will know what I mean if you've watched "Gladiator". Just look at the costume and the chair sat by Commodus and you will see the details that can be revealed by this player.

The RDV-1 also plays great music as well. For playing normal CD, it was found obviously in an AB test that it perform even better than some D/A plus transport combination, for instance, an Audiomega transport + Aragaon D2A2 D/A convertor set up, which is costing more or less the same as the RDV-1. Nevertheless, the performance of the Audiomega transport together with the RDV-1 D/A converter is even better than the RDV-1 alone, but the difference is not that significant.

For DVD-audio, as there is still not much software available in the place, it is hard to comment. But my first impression is that it plays more detail and real-like music reproduction than normal CD, even in the stereo mode.

For the look, it is a beauty in my opinion. In addition, if you are annoyed by the display, they can be dimmed or switched off completely by pressing the "display" button on the remote.

At the end, I think what really matters should be the video and audio performance of the player. If you are always attracted by the look of the player, you must be playing a bad movie or bad music piece which can hardly arouse your interest in the real purpose for buying the machine.

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