Denon DVD-A1UDCI Universal Blu-ray Player (The best sound quality of any BD tested)

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Denon DVD-A1UDCI Universal Blu-ray Player
(The best sound quality of any BD tested) (August 2009 Review link)

The Denon DVD-A1UDCI is the best sounding BLU-RAY player so far tested by Home Theater magazine. It is a reference audio player that beats the sound quality of the OPPO BDP-83. This Denon DVD-A1UDCI also includes a dual HDMI output to send HDMI video to the display and dedicated audio to the A/V receiver using the other HDMI connection. This is a very nice feature to have. The Pioneer BDP-09FD was the first BLU-RAY player to offer dual HDMI outputs. The Denon also has a legacy 480I S-Video output that is not available on the OPPO BDP-83 and most other lower price BLU-RAY players.

On the negative side things go down hill a bit for the $4,500 Denon BLU-RAY player. The $500 OPPO BDP-83 is an overall better reference player when compared to the Denon DVD-A1UDCI. The OPPO BDP-83 offers the same quality video performance as the Denon DVD-A1UDCI and the OPPO is much faster loading BLU-RAY discs, twice as fast as the Denon on some titles.

What really surprised me is the Denon does not include any internal memory for BD-LIVE. This is a $4,500 player with not even 1GB of internal memory for the BD-LIVE feature. The top of the line Pioneer BDP-09FD BLU-RAY player for $2,200 includes 4GB of internal memory for BD-LIVE. The OPPO BLU-RAY player for $500 includes 1GB of internal memory for BD-LIVE. On the positive side the Denon uses a SD card slot like the Panasonic to add external memory. Cosmetically a SD card looks better then a USB stick plugged into a BLU-RAY player.

What is very surprising is that the model number of this Denon universal BLU-RAY player is DVD-A1UDCI. One would think the Denon company would have called it a BD-A1UDCI instead since most people purchasing this player would be mainly interested in the BLU-RAY player section. Denon might be able to sell more BLU-RAY players if they took the DVD name off the model number and replaced it with the "BD" or "Blu-ray" name. After checking the Denon website I see they have a new coming soon reference Universal BLU-RAY player for only $1,999 that will reach more consumers that want to own a cheaper player. The model number on that player is DBP-4010UDCI. Which is a great change since it is labeled as a BLU-RAY player ("DBP" instead pf "DVD").

Click here for the $4,500 Denon DVD-A1UDCI Spec sheet

Click here for the $1,999 Denon DBP-4010UDCI Spec sheet

The main advantage of the Denon DVD-A1UDCI is in its audio quality. According to the Home Theater review the Denon is the best of the best and sounds so much better then the OPPO BDP-83 or any other BLU-RAY player tested. If your a Audiophile that wants the best audio possible then the Denon DVD-A1UDCI is the player to own.

Click here to read the complete detailed Denon DVD-A1UDCI review at the Home Theater website

The following are a few select quotes for the August 2009 Home Theater Review

"What’s disappointing in a player at this price point is the fact that it doesn’t include the local storage required for BD-Live. As with some popular players in the sub-$500 price range, you must buy an SD card before you can go BD-Live. "

"In spite of the misleading model designation, the DVD-A1UDCI is a Blu-ray player first and foremost—but that’s just for starters. It not only plays DVDs and CDs, it plays SACDs and DVD-Audio discs. DVD-Audio is gone as far as new releases go. And SACD lives as a niche within a niche, with a small number of new releases primarily confined to boutique jazz and classical labels."

"Over HDMI, the DVD-A1UDCI can transmit Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio as native bitstreams. It can also decode either lossless format to PCM and includes a set of 7.1-channel analog outputs. On the interactivity front, Bonus View PiP was active from the get-go. But when the player shipped to me in mid-July, BD-Live capability was dependent on a firmware update that Denon released a couple of weeks later."

"It’s also worth noting that Denon includes the necessary video processing for constant-height display when used together with a projector equipped with an anamorphic lens (no black bars on widescreen movies). You can change the video output resolution on the fly, and there’s a Source Direct mode that outputs the native resolution of the video encoded on the disc. In addition, if you want to stroke your inner tweaker, you can force an RGB output over HDMI and enable interpolated Deep Color output (also over HDMI) to a compatible display."

"The high end has not traditionally been about convenience features or functionality; it’s almost always been about purist performance. It’s my opinion that this player’s strongest pitch is to audiophiles who will use its HDMI outputs for DVD and Blu-ray but still want to use the analog outputs for high-end audio playback. And if that’s not you, then this isn’t your player."

"The DVD-A1UDCI’s performance with Blu-rays and upconverted DVDs alike is awe-inspiring. I watched the player on a JVC DLA-HD750 projecting onto a 92-inch-wide Stewart Studiotek 130 screen, and the image was sensational in every way."

"The player’s versatility was also remarkable, due to its outstanding video processing. Whether it was concert videos, Discovery Channel’s Shark Week on Blu-ray, or the toughest test patterns at my disposal, the Denon’s 1080i-to-1080p processing was simply flawless."

"1080p/24 playback with the standard DVDs I watched—especially Star Wars: Episode IV—worked well, without loss of cadence or image breakup. And on top of that, the image quality on Star Wars was as good as I’ve seen from that DVD in my system."

"While the Denon’s pure performance was beyond reproach, it is a step backward in disc loading and access times compared with the newest, speediest players and that old standby, the Sony PlayStation 3. The PS3 and the recently reviewed OPPO BDP-83 (which I bought and is now my reference player) are very comparable in terms of speed. I compared the Denon with the OPPO and timed the loading/access times to the first onscreen image and then to the main menu with Disney’s difficult Ratatouille and two new titles: Disney’s Race to Witch Mountain and Warner’s Watchmen. These are difficult discs that require multiple hits of the skip forward button. Still, the OPPO accessed both main menus in less than half the time it took the Denon. Watchmen and Witch Mountain took more than two minutes to get to the main menu with the Denon, while the OPPO took just over one minute."

"Overall disc access and reaction times with navi-gation and other interactivity was also on the slow side, including Bonus View PiP and BD-Live. As with so many other standalone players, if Denon’s looking for an area to improve upon this player’s formidable performance, interactivity and disc speed offer the biggest opportunity."

"There’s no reason to compare the OPPO BDP-83 and the DVD-A1UDCI, except that they are both universal Blu-ray players and the $500 OPPO is a ridiculous overachiever. The OPPO offers much faster disc access and loading times, and its video processing and video performance over HDMI with BD and DVD are on par with the very best players I’ve seen at any price, including this Denon."

"However, over its analog audio outputs, the Denon is far more singular. It smashes the sound quality of the OPPO and every other BD player I’ve yet heard by a degree that’s nothing short of astonishing. Saying it’s night and day is only the beginning. The OPPO’s analog audio playback is very respectable for a $500 player, but the Denon goes much, much farther."

"The Denon DVD-A1UDCI offers cutting-edge video that’s unexcelled, and it’s the best-sounding BD player I’ve heard to date. By about a mile and a half."

Click here to read the complete detailed Denon DVD-A1UDCI review at the Home Theater website

[jonesyg27]

So, for $4,000 more than the Oppo, you get better analog audio? That's it, everything else is the same or worse? Why not just buy a Denon receiver, which should have DACs comparable to or better than this player, and bitstream from the Oppo over HDMI? You would save at least $2,000. Consider me underwhelmed, even if the SQ difference is supposedly beyond night and day.

[gonk]

I read that review yesterday - it was interesting to see that the only place where the A1 was really superior to the BDP-83 was analog audio performance. That's one area where a $4,500 player had to have a clear and undeniable advantage - but it's also an aspect of the player that fewer and fewer people are using, as HDMI receivers and surround processors become more common in homes, and it's got to be balanced against the review's point that the BDP-83's analog section sounds better than it should for a $500 player. The review goes on to note that video performance was very comparable between the two, that speed was clearly better for the BDP-83, that the user interface and documentation was better on the BDP-83, and that the BDP-83 actually had some extra features over the A1 (1GB on-board memory, USB media playback support). I wonder how many BDP-83 modders are going to use this as a marketing tool for their personal tweaks to the BDP-83's analog section?

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by jonesyg27

So, for $4,000 more than the Oppo, you get better analog audio? That's it, everything else is the same or worse? Why not just buy a Denon receiver, which should have DACs comparable to or better than this player, and bitstream from the Oppo over HDMI? You would save at least $2,000. Consider me underwhelmed, even if the SQ difference is supposedly beyond night and day.

Perhaps you should go back and re-read the review. This is not the Blu-ray player for the masses. This is a high end Blu-ray player targeted at the high end user wanting a Universal Blu-ray player that can also really up-convert DVDs to a stellar level. It offers features and performance offered by at present no other reviewed Blu-ray player. It offers such features as Balanced XLR connectors and the ability to do the following from the review:

It’s also worth noting that Denon includes the necessary video processing for constant-height display when used together with a projector equipped with an anamorphic lens (no black bars on widescreen movies). You can change the video output resolution on the fly, and there’s a Source Direct mode that outputs the native resolution of the video encoded on the disc. In addition, if you want to stroke your inner tweaker, you can force an RGB output over HDMI and enable interpolated Deep Color output (also over HDMI) to a compatible display.

The Denon is built like a tank and it is not intended for the normal $2,000 to perhaps $7,000 system that are frequently found for members of this community. It is a machine intended to be used by High End users that are looking for a single player to be used in their $50,000 to several hundred thousand dollar listening/home theater system.

As to your suggestion that the Denon receivers DACs will equal those of the new universal Denon don't expect that until you get to the top Denon receivers and the Denon Pre/Pro.

For myself, I will continue to use my upgraded (highly modified) Denon DVD 5910 and upgraded Denon DVD 3800BDCI Blu-ray player. My upgraded Denon 5910 will probably outperform the new stock Denon player (particularly after the installation of the Balanced XLR connectors) for music (and possibly up-converted DVD) though my upgraded Denon 3800 may equal or outperform the new player for Blu-ray playback.

Rich

[jonesyg27]

Gonk made my points better than I did. But I'm just part of the masses lacking reading comprehension:

It’s also worth noting that Denon includes the necessary video processing for constant-height display when used together with a projector equipped with an anamorphic lens (no black bars on widescreen movies). You can change the video output resolution on the fly, and there’s a Source Direct mode that outputs the native resolution of the video encoded on the disc. In addition, if you want to stroke your inner tweaker, you can force an RGB output over HDMI and enable interpolated Deep Color output (also over HDMI) to a compatible display.

The Oppo does all that too, by the way, but maybe the constant-height processing is not as good as the Denon, I don't know. I expect the high end (in any sector) to drive the technology though, to innovate, not just be more expensive to match other expensive stuff. Cost doesn't equal value. But I won't insult anyone who has a different perspective.

[gonk]

True, the Denon adds stereo XLR connections along with its more expensive analog section. It also adds Denon LINK. What the review doesn't mention is that SACD output is limited via HDMI (I think it's 44.1kHz PCM), so the only way to get the original signal out of the A1 is to have a Denon receiver with Denon LINK. This makes it a good match for someone with a $100,000 system anchored by a flagship Denon receiver or Denon's processor, but it actually reduces its value for "lesser" systems. The BDP-83 has no such limitation, as it can pass a raw DSD bitstream or a decoded PCM bitstream (with no downsampling) via HDMI to any HDMI-equipped receiver or processor. For those $100,000 systems in which the Blu-ray player is being connected digitally, the A1's monster analog section isn't a factor and the two players become very much comparable on performance. And as jonesyg27 pointed out, the BDP-83 offers a zoom mode that supports CIH projection systems, on-the-fly resolution changes (and on-the-fly changes in audio output mode), a source direct mode, RGB output, and deep color output.