Review: Denon APl 3910 CD Player


Category: Digital

Musical tastes : Patricia Barber , Deep Forest , Sting , Banco de Gaia , Seal , Steely Dan and anything from the FIM label . Recordings I use for testing are Chesky s Ultimate Demonstration Disc , Chesky s Women of Song , Patricia Barbers Modern Cool , Dean Peer s Its All Good , Diana Krall Love Scenes and all Burrmester discs . Most important aspect of sound reproduction to me is transparency , timbral accuracy and soundstaging properties. Turn offs are a bass heavy balance. This unit has been with me for 3 months. It replaced a Bat Vk D5 SE and marantz SA 1 . The sound changed by becoming more focused with a much larger soundstage .The players within a given ensemble seperated dramatically and it was much easier to look into the soundfield and place the space between the instruments. A favorite disc for this test is Deep Forest s "Music Detected". Each track is brilliantly recorded and is a fantastic disc for evaluating spacial characteristics of your speakers and how they react within your system . With the Denon , the sound wrapped around both sides of the room and enveloped me in a faux surround sound enviroment that no other player in my system had done. It was deeper as well as wider than any player I have ever auditioned .The Sacd version of Diana Krall "Love Scenes" is breathtaking in its imaging properties and the Denon was spot on . The acoustical envelope was clearer and more holographic with an extended top octave which added immediacy and air to percussive instruments and cymbols.A good example is Johnny Frigos "I Love Paris ". Stregnths were an obviously huge soundstage and quick midbass percussive attack. The arrangement is fast and taunt and the Denon seemed to place acoustical air around the musicians. It comes alive on the Denon. Lower bass was extended deeper and discs like the DVD-A version of Blue Man Groups " Audio " showcase the stregnths of the Denon by delivering a far superior percussive assault than the Bat , Marantz Sa 1 or the Meridian G 98 . Female vocals became natural and engaging. Rebecca Pidgeon s famous " Spanish Harlem " was so lifelike I felt like it was the first time I had heard the track. Instrumental " character " was better defined as cymbals became more easily deleniated from one another within a given song. Dean Peers " Its All Good" has a wealth of cymbal diversity on it and the decay and individual caracter of the various unique cymbals used are beautifully recreated through Alex Peychevs Denon 3910. I am no relation to nor affiliated to Alex or APl Hi Fi . I have also heard no better player regardless of price.
brainwater
Amperidian, "...man oh man my wife is going to kill me..." You could make Brainwater and me as your beneficiaries on your life insurance policy. We'll put the money to good use in our audio systems.

On the bottom of the Rollerblock box (under the foam) you should find 3 small stainless steel plates that you can use to give you a hard surface if you want to try the 2+/G3 upside-down.
just tried them upside down with the steel plates ... sounds hollow compared to the double stacked config. and I had a hard time centering them under the rollerblocks when upside down ... back to double stacked configuration now ... whew, I can relax again ... overall a worthy experiment though.

Just ordered a Statement ... if I don't post anymore on a'gon ... Puremusic and Brainwater my system will ship to you for final tweaks just so all my work is not wasted ... :)
Amperidian, I took note of your observation on the comparison between the upside-down and the double-stacked Rollerblocks. I have another set of Rollerblocks, so I tried a double-stacked 2+/G3. In my system, the double-stacked version has greater high-end extension, cleaner and more transparent harmonic texture, and more body. Thanks, your good deed will not go unnoticed by the Muses. Should your wife disapprove of your Statement purchase in an unfortunate way, your good audio deeds will insure that you will ascend directly into Musical Nirvana.
Can this cd player be mated well to an integrated amp or would I be losing more than the upgrade from my YBA Lecteur CD 3 is worth? I am using a Primare I30 and would like to take it to the next level on the front end of the system. My initial thoughts were to go to the Ayre c5xeMP but I am hearing a lot of hype around the APL but that is mostly with the direct connection to an amp which would not be my case. What do you guys think? thanks in advance