Upcoming universal player releases any new info?

The only pro reveiws so far are in German and French as this is a newer model.
Go to the avs forums dvd section under the Integra dps 10.5 (same player) and you will find somewhat translated versions of both reveiws of the sp 1000 as well as dozens of owner opinions and comparisons to other universals.
There are also the links to the actual reveiws if you can read German and/or French.
The sp 1000 sells for around 5k U.S.in the east and Europe and 2k in the U.S. and Canada.

Skip the first 2-3 pages of the thread as it was speculation before these two players were released.

If you read the entire thread, you will find nothing negative except a firmware upgrade needed for hdmi/dvi hookups.
This is a problem with pretty much all hdmi to dvi players and the patch is on the way.

This is the only universal I have ever seen get a unanimous thumbs up like this, in the 2.5k and under class.

Greg

I agree with Greg. I have an Integra DPS 10.5, and had a Denon 3910 for about a month. The longer I had the Denon, the less I liked it. The Integra (Onkyo) is built better than anything I have seen yet. The video is the best I have seen too...even with the alleged HDMI->DVI bug mentioned above.

In my system, the 10.5 replaced a Lexicon RT-10 which replaced a Theta Carmen II. The Lex had the nicest sound of the players I have had, but the video was not even in the same league as the 10.5.

I don't mean to say that the audio is bad on the 10.5 at all, because it is not. And I still can't say why I think the lex was better with the audio.

I must also say that it seemed to me that the 10.5 took some "burn-in" time, which I will never understand. But for this player, it improved on its "presence" (a stolen adjective from Greg on the AVS Forum). I am hopeful that the modders Greg mentioned will come up with some improvements that will take the audio beyond the DV-50...with any luck.

Dave

Dave,

This is a useful datapoint. Could you elaborate a bit more on what you like about the audio of the 10.5 and what you didn't like about the 3910? I am at this point planning on getting a 2900 or 3910 and having it modded.

Thank you.

- Jay

Jay,
I will attempt to explain the difference.

Using analog 2 channel outs, the 3910 has 192hz upsampling on permanently with no way to turn it off.
The 3910 does not sound bad, its just too detail oriented for long term listening.
I found this same signature on sa-cd as well and preffered the body and musicality of the sp 1000.
The sp 1000/DPS 10.5 has a more texured musical quality going for it with just the right amount of detail.

It is more musical and less mechanical sounding than the 3910.
With no hours on either player, I slightly preffered the dvd-a of the 3910 over the sp 1000, whith the sp 1000 sounding too polite whith this format.
DVD-A is by far my least used format, so for me the sp 1000 was superior whith video from component 480p to 1080i on every single movie tried on my 110 in screen and also the better sa-cd/redbook player.

I don't have much faith in the Denon 3910 build or QC, but I would either go for the 2900 modded for audio and accept that it does have decent video but not the best video or go for the sp 1000/dps 10.5 and have the best possible video available and have it modded.

My first 3910 was doa, my second has the upconversion video button not fuctioning and froze up playing its first dvd-r.
It also needs a firmware upgrade for chroma spread and a couple of other glitches.
I guess these glitches are all covered on one upgrade disc ESS-6609-5.

Having them both, I can tell you that the 3910 would be sent for mods right away if I had piked it and the sp 1000 I would have modded eventually.

Doug at RAM East told me he wants to make these twin players his reference offerings whith a no holds barred mod.

Can anyone comment on the DVDA playback, thanks.