Denon PMA-2500NE & DCD1600NE review

Numpty112233

In my original review I stated that the very 1st SACD I played on the player brand new out the box - Herbie Hancock's Sextant - sounded like finger nails down a blackboard. It certainly doesn't now. I can now really enjoy that disk. Whether that's due to the player running in or the fact that at the time I was using my Cambridge CXA-80 amp I can't say for sure without sticking it back into the CXA-80. What I can say is the piercing harshness described by Dibster is no longer present and it sounds sublime.
I quite agree with SickSquirrel that performance from redbook is really stepped up, as I stated in my review. Rightly or wrongly I put this down to the upscaling AL32

gibbsy

Rightly I would say.

Numpty112233

With my DCD-1600NE connected to my PMA-2500NE with QED Reference cables I cannot hear any difference between digital co-ax and analogue RCA inputs i.e. between DACs

SickSquirrel

That AL32 voodoo is indeed something special, it really does close the gap between CD and SACD playback...

SickSquirrel

Have you had your 2500NE in your main system yet?

SickSquirrel

The PMA probably has the same DAC and AL32 processing...

gibbsy

No, still connected to the Lehmann headphone amp and it is a very good combination. It's a heavy unit and unfortunately I'll not be able personally to lift it into the cabinet and get it connected because of my spinal problems. That's a job for my son or grandson.

At the moment it's going to get a lot more use with the headphones than in the main system, almost on a daily basis. Now I'm thinking do I really want the Marantz sa8005 back with the headphones and the answer to that sadly has to be no. I'm going to keep the two systems apart in any case for convenience sake.

Perhaps I should buy another Denon. Perhaps my wife will murder me if I do.

SickSquirrel

Pity, I think there would be a great synergy with your Rega amp...

HenryHonda

There certainly is with mine!

gibbsy

I'm going to have to try it certainly but it's a heavy old beast, too heavy for me to try and get into the cabinet. I'll leave it for now as I know it will get more hours on it where it is with headphone use. It's keeping me up at night though until around 1.30 in the morning. Wife goes to bed around 10.30 because of her dicky ticker and I think, just another album then I'll go up. I'm enjoying every disc I put in it whether it's SACD or redbook, it's amazing.