Denon PMA-2500NE & DCD1600NE review

SickSquirrel

Just got my DCD-2500NE setup, and Wow....  It blows away my 8 Year old £2k Simaudio CD Transport and £2k Reference DAC, and that is just on Redbook!

I was not expecting this

SickSquirrel

Mine is giving off a mild electrical smell, anyone else experience this?

gibbsy

Yes. It was a question that I was going to ask as well. It has diminished over the three week period I've had the unit. Some sort of protective coating??

SickSquirrel

Thanks, yes could be something on the transformers...

Have you found any changes in the sound over the 3 weeks?

gibbsy

Yes and mostly on those difficult poor recordings. Adele has certainly seemed to have opened up more. Same with my Moody Blues SACDs, they are not the greatest but amongst my favourites so know them well. To be honest I was so knocked out by the initial playing I've just sat back and enjoyed everything. No doubt I'll get a eureka moment as I did with the Oppo headphones when they eventually opened up.

I think I'm still well short of 100 hours using the player for just a couple of hours a night.

Numpty112233

My PMA-2500NE amp certainly gave off the electrical smell the 1st couple of times I had it on. Can't say as I can remember particularly noticing it as strongly on my DCD-1600NE

gibbsy

Glad I found out what the smell was though. I did blame the dog at first.

DIBSTER

I'm really enjoying my DCD1600 that arrived last Friday, it complements my PMA1600 perfectly.

When I first fired it up I must confess that I found it ever so slightly on the harsh side, very detailed but a little piercing on certain tracks. Following on from a suggestion in this thread I then left it on repeat play for the best part of 2 days and then played the same tracks again. That harshness has now gone and it's a delight. I've only been playing CDs that I've played countless times over the years and am completely familiar with and this is without doubt the best CD spinner I've had. A definite keeper.

SickSquirrel

I would not want to put the DCD2500 in a system that leans to the bright side, it will be interesting to see how it charges, I only have 4 hours on it at the moment!

What I like so far is how it deals with overly compressed Redbook CD's, it really opens them up, tames the harshness and makes them enjoyable to listen to!

SickSquirrel

Wonder what the Marantz SA-KI Ruby would sound like?