Denon DVD-A11

Any thoughts on this universal SACD/DVD-A/DVD/CD spinner? Am mainly looking four your thoughts inn terms of standalone audio performance or as use as a transport?

I know the trend here is for dedicated players for audio but I've managed to bag one on ebay for £300 (damn good price I'd say given its RRP and s/h prices it commands elsewhere), for use primarily as a transport into my DAC, but the DVD side of things is a definite bonus to me as well.

I seem to recall many of the high end Denon universal spinners being regarded as decent enough transports, but also very receptive to heavy modifications (usually applied though to the 2900/2910/3910 etc). Has anyone ever had a go or had their player modded?

 

Having recently had the opportunity to hear one, I would not look further than the Oppo 981 if looking for a transport/universal player. If you are clever it can be modified to output SACD and hiRes audio over SPDIF too. All for $220 with full warranty. Picture is superb too - full Faroudja processing on board.

 

Theres no way of knowing till you hear it .....if its for audio only [cd play back ] its likely to have a lesser cd performance than the equivalent costing standalone. But if your using it as a multi disc player and diverting digital audio via a dac even a cheap one you may be very pleased. I've yet to hear a multi disc player[at any price] get anywhere near a mid range stand alone...mid price being £500 ish .....but I've not heard them all so there could be a gem or two out there

 

According to some, they've yet to hear a dedicated transport at any price get close to a Sony PS3 feeding an AV amp, but that's another story.