New in April

HDCD Decoding, change 4 while listening to 1, burr-brown DAC

No power button on the remote

Can't beat it for the price. HDCD decoding w/ burr-brown converter. It even has a coaxial digital output. Sound quality is excellent. I'd definitely recommend it.

Everything

No power button on remote

Superb CD Changer. My initial intent was to use this CD Changer as transport to my Denon AVR-3300 which has super DAC's as well and then use the analog outs to listen to the HDCD encoded CD's in my collection. Don't need that coaxial out at all. Those Burr-Brown DAC's and HDCD filtering make this CD player sound so warm and smooth with every CD I play on it. I was expecting a slight improvement over my Kenwood thru the analog connections due to the Burr-Brown DAC's but the improvement was amazing. Now I find myself listening to my whole CD collection over again. Fantastic product DENON.

P.S. If any of you have ever heard the Kenwood MegaChanger's mechanism you know that it can be very slow and noisy so the noise this Denon makes is practically nothing so I don't even consider it a flaw.

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood CD-224M 200 Disc Megachanger, Pioneer DV-414, Older Technics Single CD Player

Clear detail sound, warm ,dynamic, soundstage, HDCD, function wise, Price

No dimmer, no power on remote ( but all these are not important, it's the sound that matters.)

This cd player sounds very nice. Very warm sounding. It produce a clear and detail sound, not to mention the dynamic and soundstage it produced. I compared this player with the NAD C540 ($450), a player that receive a very good review in almost every audio magazine. I play the two player using a non-HDCD disc ( not fair using hdcd disc.) To me, at first the sound of the NAD C540 really nicer compared to the Denon, but after comparing the two player side by side for a week or so, I concluded that Denon did not sound bad compared to the NAD c540, they just sound different. IMO, it depends on which kind of sound you like. NAD produce a very detail and dynamic, crisp high, great mid-bass and well defined bass.It produce a sound, which i think it's cool sounding. On the other hand, the Denon produce an non-fatiguing , warm sound that i really like/prefer. The high is good, mid-bass is there and the bass was well defined too. For the price of difference in price of $200, the denon is my choice, although many says that NAD is a much better player than Denon. I keep the Denon and return the NAD. My ratings are according to price:performance ratio. To me, the sound the Denon dcm-370 produce at $250, it deserves a 5 star rating. I think this may be the best player i had heard for sub-$300 price. Of course there are better sounding machine but it will cost more than the Denon.
A great cd player overall.

Similar Products Used:

NAD c540 (own for 1-2 week) , Pioneer cd-player (own for 4 years), Rotel rcd-951 ( tested in the store),and many other.

Sound Quality, Build Quality, HDCD

If I had to be extremely picky...No remote operated power and no random button on the unit.

This Denon is definatley a high quality product. I would characterize the sound to be smooth, warm, well defined, alive, and never harsh. The bass is very smooth, deep, and defined as well. In direct comparison with the Onkyo DX-370, the Denon won. The Onkyo sounded much more analytical, unexciting, and bright. I didn't realize that I owned a HDCD until I loaded the unit and started to listen. The HDCD led lit up and I realized that "City of Angels" was encoded in HDCD. Track 6, Sarah McLachlan - Angel sounds really great. I noticed increased depth, presense, and overall resolution in comparison to normal decoding. Very nice feature for the price. As for the speed and noise in the changer mechanism others have identified as a weaknesses, very acceptable considering the sound quality. I purchased the unit from a local retailer for $259. Higher than net prices but it's worth it to listen before you buy!! Overall a great player. In general, I am very picky and return alot of products. I will not be returning this one!!

Here is the system that I listen with:

Onkyo TX-DS777 Receiver
Denon DCM-370 CD Player
B&W DM601S2
Boston Acoustics PV600 Sub
AudioQuest Type 4+ speaker cable (bi-wire)
AudioQuest Interconnects (CD)
Monster Cable Sub Interconnect

Similar Products Used:

Onkyo DX-370

HDCD-Great Feature for the price, Sound Quality

Tray-noisy-only reason for 4 stars in quality

Purchased DCM 370 after researching other similarily priced
products. For the price sound quality is excellent! My experience with Denon has also been enjoyable. Tray is slighlt noisey when switching discs, remote is very well thoughout, no power button.

Recommended HDCD's

Mark Knopfler-Golden Heart
Dire Straits-Sultans of Swing (greatest hits)
Joanie Mitchell-Both Sides

Similar Products Used:

Sony 5 Disc Changer

HDCD - Sound - Price

No off/on from remote

Having been into CD since 1983 when there only 27 CDs listed in the
Schwanns Catalog.I have to give the Denon 370 the two thumbs up.Clearly this is the most musical CD Player I have yet owned,and compares to my neighbors California Audio Lab CD Player quite favorably.The HDCD is a major step forward in getting the CD format to sound more like vinyl. Also non HDCD discs sound dramatically improved. Clearly Denon have a major winner on there hands in all categories. And at its price point it does not have any contenders,only pretenders at this point in time.I have been into quality audio since 1964,and this product is a benchmark for the others that follow,in its price category.Even he highly touted Rega Planet in my opinion pales in comparison to the Denon 370. Nuff Said

Unit is used with the following equipment.

Threshold Cas 2 Amp
Threshold FET 2 Pre Amp
Yamaha T 1 Tuner
HK T60 Turntable
Grado Signature 1 Cartridge
Acoustat Model 2 Speakers

Similar Products Used:

Yamaha - NAD - Technics - Kyocera

HDCD, 5 disc changer

at $299 retail: NONE

The sound of this changer just cant be beat for the price. The remote is fine, and I particularly like the simple look of the changer. Im the kind of person that doesnt need all the high tech, cool looking features and buttons, just the basics and good sound. And the sound is very good. Sounds really clean, and flat, better than most 300 dollar changers I've heard. For those who want an inexpensive changer, that functions well with good sound, this is the way to go.

HDCD(PACIFIC MICROSONICS Chip), Price

No power from remote

Was a tossup between this unit and the Rotel 951. Because I own a lot of compilations, i opted for the changer and not the rotel. For the money, it is probably the best you can get. It is the only changer for the money that has an HDCD Chip made by Pacific Microsonics(i opened the unit to verify this). Since the HDCD has been licensed, cheaper chips by sanyo have been hitting the market. Not a huge country fan, but Garth Brooks Double Live sounds pretty damn good, especially since its a live CD. Also, Jewel's new album is good HDCD demo. I wish the power was accessible from the remote, but it doesnt bother me since my integrated amp has a switched power outlet on it. Dont get me wrong, for the $500 the rotel 951 is great, but @ $270, the Denon is the best deal. The only thing that comes close is the HK 8550, but if you have read the reviews, you know the build quality is sh*t.

My system(music only)

Rotel RA-972 Integrated Amp
Denon DCM-370 5 disc HDCD Changer
B&W 602 Series 2
B&W ASW 500 Powered Sub
MIT Terminator 4 Biwire
MIT Terminator 4 Interconnects
Monster Interlink Subwoofer Interconnect

Similar Products Used:

rotel 951, several NAD cd players

Analog sound (DACs), HDCD, price.

Minor things - slow tray, only one-way disc selection.

I love this CD player. I realized how good the DACs were when I tried plugging it into my receiver with a digital coax, and the sound became thinner and stilted. HDCD blew my mind - I listen to Beck's Mutations and Midnight Vultures constantly, partly because the HDCD makes them so much more enjoyable than my other CDs. It just sounds more real; the imaging is ridiculous.

Another thing - someone mentioned months ago here that it's too bad you can't jump to a specific CD in the tray. I discovered accidentally that that's not true - the Denon front panel and remote don't support it, but if you know how to program advanced codes into your universal remote control, the Denon has codes for doing this, one code per disc number. Sorry, I didn't write down the codes - I was just looking for the skip-disc code - but there are only 256 possible advanced codes on a device, so it won't take you too long to find it. For more help with this, go to http://www.hifi-remote.com/.