SACD player upgrade below $1,500

Sorry for the poor image quality...

 

Congrats Denis!

• Denon DCD-1600NE: TEST - i-fidelity.net

 

Thanks very much!

 

Nice to find out Arcam still makes SACD player ...

 

So this Denon DCD-1600NE SACD player is actually made in Japan. What kind of warranty does it provide?

 

Looks like your answer is on this page -- Denon DCD-1600NE: Seite 5 - i-fidelity.net

"Garantie: 3 Jahre"

 

I have the Denon Warranty sheet here for the USA that came with the product, and it says 1 year for SACD/CD/DVD/Bluray players. Amps and integrated amps are covered for 3 years.

 

Thanks. I believe the Marantz SA-14S1 has a 3-year or 5-year warranty at twice the price of the Denon ...

On another thread, two owners of the Marantz 8004 complained about their players failed to read the SACD layer shortly before the warranty expired.

 

This has been a common problem with many Marantz and Sony models.

 

Isn't this just a matter of decoding the SACD layer? Has the decoding chip gone bad?

 

I think it’s actually that the laser weakens and no longer reaches the SACD layer on hybrid discs.

 

The two things that most frequently go on a CD/SACD player are the laser assembly or the tray mechanism itself.

 

But replacing the laser pickup should not be such a big deal ...

 

One would certainly hope... However, often times the replacement lasers (even those obtained directly from the manufacturer) are of inferior quality, and don't last very long at all. And I can tell you from very painful experience of replacing dozens of Sony DVP-S9000ES player lasers, that my average time for a player to be returned to have the replacement laser replaced again was about 6 months.

 

No, because this failure starts gradually. First it begins with only certain dual-layer disks. Then it gradually progresses to more and more dual-layer disks until eventually no-dual layer disks will play the SACD layer. Eventually this spreads to those much more rare single layer disks too.

But when the laser is replaced, these players typically play like-new again for anywhere for 3-months to a year. But then the problem always seems to re-appear.

Its has never been clear to my how or why this happens. But certain models of laser used by certain players just seem to lose their ability to focus on the SACD layers after a while. But other players (like Oppos), seem run forever, and yet never seem have any SACD reading issues.

 

Thanks for sharing this.

I wonder if the Yamaha BD1060 has a laser that can last a long time. I know their CD players last forever, even their cheapest models.

 

I have no clue. Although I did read a comment from someone on this forum which made me question whether Yamaha is still the very high quality brand that they once were.

 

I've read dozens of comments about their newer amplifiers from people on this forum and elsewhere on the internet. I purchased one recently on the basis of those recommendations and I'm really happy with it. I'm on my third Yamaha CD player over the last 20 years.

 

This was a big issue with Denon's once highly regarded DVD-2910/20/30, 3910/20/30 and 5910 SACD/DVD players. Depending on use, the laser would start crapping out after only about 3 - 5 years. It's very difficult to find one that still works and even then, because the issue is so common with Denon's players, it's a big gamble unless you can get one for dirt cheap. I loved the DVD-3910 player and would still probably have it in my set-up even with an Oppo 103 currently as my go-to for SACD if the Denon didn't gradually stop reading discs after about it's 5th year. Now it sits in it's original box in the garage. Come to think of it, my 1987 vintage high end Denon CD player only lasted about 4 years from date of purchase too.

 

My Denon 3910 was an excellent-sounding universal player (okay, its SACD playback was very average) that failed on me after about four years. It's mind-boggling how the Denon engineers got most everything right on those units except getting a laser assembly that would last beyond three years. It's why I probably will never buy another Denon unit ever again.

 

It's a shame to learn about Denon's reliability issues with the laser mechanism because this Denon player is a sweet-sounding machine that really brought new life to my stereo rig. Hopefully my unit will serve me for some time to come. But I will keep my Yamaha universal player around just in case.

 

If it is any consolation, I haven't heard of their more recent players failing like the players made in the 2000s. Denon moved production from Japan and China at the time, and they had growing pains making the transition.

The most common failure on SACD players manufactured today tend to happen early upon purchase, if they are going to break.

 

My Denon DVD-3910 is still in my system, but it won't play anything DVD-related without lots of skipping/dropouts. It started doing this after several years of frequent use, but I'm pretty sure at least I got more than about 5 years of solid use out of it. I am resigned to the reality that eventually it will stop playing SACDs as well, so I'm hoping my request for an opportunity to buy one of the last run of Oppo 205 players pans out for me (if I eventually receive an email from Oppo...). Then I'll replace my failing Denon DVD-3910.

Craig.

 

Hopefully you get many years of service out of it Deniss. I'm constantly trying to keep up on reviews just in case my 2003 Onkyo SP-800 ever bites the bullet.

 

Where did you buy it?