Overall the best changer I have listened to. Such a warm and revealing sound. I love the stock DAC and the video output is fun for a unit of it's age. Very large in size, but worth the space. Sounds much better then my Denon 5 disc.

The capacity and sound quality

The disk labeling started to get funky after about a year then it totally locked up. We had it "repaired" three times (twice by Denon) in a period four months we had it at home for a total of a couple of weeks. Fortunately we had the extended warrantee and have finally gotten rid of the piece of junk under the lemon clause. These things are no longer in production and I would not suggest anyone else buy the ones that remain out there. Good idea but they have some serious problems that machines of this cost should not have.

great sound, horrible reliability and hopeless service from Denon. It is really too complicted for its own good.

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there is nothing else

Extraordinary sound.

Rythmically a little slow.

Truly a great product. Exceptional transport. With the right source material, and an outboard DAC like the one from Meridian, sounds as good as a $20.000 Linn CD player. Totally relaxed presentation. Phenomenal bass.

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There is nothing like it, nothing to compare.

Build Quality, Sound, Electronics.

To Slow of a disc change. Main unit to Slave unit not so good sometimes.

I bought this unit, along with it's 5001 slave counterpart for a total of 200 discs. I must say, the unit sounds amazing, and the difference is so obvious from other mass-market players. I have this hooked up to my AVR-5700. The only thing I really do not like is the speed of the disc change. To me, it is slow. My old sony 200 changer was much faster. It is only fast when the other disc is idling on the other reader. Also, when you power up the units, sometimes the 2 changers do not 'sync' up right, and you have to power on/off again for them to 'talk' to each other.

Other than that, money well spent. I just have to bag my lunch for a year.

Build, electronics, features

Some incompatible features, another Denon remote

Unbelievable. Electronics are so good I'm using the built-in A/D and outputting in Analog with Kimbers instead of using the digital out and a seperate decoder. You can set this unit up to play in almost any manner or order you want, it truely is a unit designed for ultimate versatility. Only complaint is that some features such as the cross fade (it has two readers built in) don't allow video output as well, so I have to rely on the LCD readouts that will tell me the disc title but not the artist when playing. Pretty damn minor, but you should know. Expensive? A killer. Value? Do NOT buy a CD player, reference or not, over $750 that is not this unit.

DCM-5000
AVR-3300
DVD-2500
Custom Kimber all around
Boston Acoustic VR THX surround system

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Kenwood

Sound, Build Quality, Price

Instruction Manual

Purchased this from the UBID site for a total of $700 dollars. Out of the box it would not play more than one disc without displaying a funky error code (manual no help). Tried contacing Denon (worthless) so I used their web site to find local service center near Tampa. The one place in Tampa the dumbass would not service because "I didn't purchase it from him". Had to drive the unit to Sarasota where it was fixed within in week. Had it playing all day and night and I have to say that it was worth the trouble. The sound purity is incredible. I hear everything and the sound is very crisp and clean. The cross fade function is really nice and even the random play functions kick serious butt. The changer mechanism is very high quality and hopefully will provide me with years of enjoyment. I think this would be a nice addition to anyone's audio setup. Check to see if you have a local service center before you buy in case of problems. Later Gators

My setup is
Denon AVR5700
Denon DCM5000
Sony 650D Changer
Pinnacle Classic Gold Towers

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Sony Changers, Toshiba Changers

Beautiful clarity of sound, two transports, music grouping feature.

Will only play 1 song from each disc in random mode unless on repeat when it will play 1 from all then come back and play another from each - weird. Also can only 'delete' 100 songs.

This is the "Duck's Nuts" of CD changers. Got the 5001 slave as well for a total of $4000 Aus (that's about $2000 US). Out of the box quite easy to set up. Some of the functions are a bit hard to figure out - partly due to the manual, partly due to my expectations being a bit different. Once you figure it all out it is really really cool.

And the sound... Nothing compares. I have it going through my Electrocompaniet ECI 4 amp with B&W 805s - the sound is sensational.

Other natty functions are also pretty cool - cross fade, delete (for those songs you just can't stand) and so on.

All up - brilliant.

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none

Forget Sony Forget even their ES Models they are mass produced cheap plastic prone to break. The Denon DCM-5000 is the only CD changer worth the money. First it is built right the mechanism are mostly metal and solid. The CD rack slides completely out so you have access to all CDs at once no fiddling with a cheap plastic carousel. Second the 24 bit sound is incredible, this is the best sounding player I have ever heard. (the player also supports HDCD format from Pacific Microsonics www.HDCD.com I have not tried this out yet). The onscreen programming is great, although they could have allowed more characters in CD titles, artist names, and song titles but this incoveniance is minor. The fact that there are actually two players let the music keep playing with no interruption even in random mode. All in all this is a great player and the only CD Changer choice for a true audiophile.

Just got this baby up and running and all I can say is wow. Didn't think I would hear a difference in sound quality over my old Sony CD player. Wow. Not only that, but the features are intelligently designed and very useful. The on-screen display of all of your CDs and tracks, and the ability to sort them by artist or title -- fantastic. Lastly, since there are two CD players inside, the fade over feature provides zero delay between disc changes. Now, if it weren't so dang expensive -- but hey, you get what you pay for.

Sound, Build Quality, Plays 2 separate CDs into 2 zones simultaneously, attractive look, on screen display: song name, artist, CD #, track #, time elapsed, next CD, and other stuff. Very comprehensive.

Price, nobody has in stock. You have to wait for them to get it in.

I have both the Denon 5000 and 5001 units. As others have mentioned, the sound in analog is phenominal. The digital connection - via coaxial - is superb. This unit has capability to decode HDCD and has a 24 bit Alpha processor. It also plays DTS CDs that I have in there. An example of the brilliant sound is when I play Sting's "Brand New Day" DTS version. A 24 bit CD that delivers big time. I deliberated a lot before buying this, but I am glad I went with this. The build is awesome and the 2 drives make for smooth transition to next CD.

Some have mentioned it is slow. If you are playing one CD and then set it to the CD you want to play after the first one, the change is instand. The second CD starts in less than 2 seconds. This is because of the 2 drives and the 2nd drive already has the next CD in its grasp.

The only negative is price. However, you get what you pay for. I am looking to add 2 more 5001s soon for a total of 400. That will set me back a bit