Great sound. Top rate Brown Burr hardware. HDCD

None yet.

I read allot of reviews on the HK, I have been wanting to try some HDCD dead shows out on a capable player for awhile - so I grabbed this one at CC for a relatively low price. Sounds fantastic with HDCDs - great clarity and depth, a much richer feel than I am used to (and believe me, I have ALLOT of dead shows and have listened to them on numerous systems from walkmen to "high end" martanz/onkyo/krell systems. For the money, this HK is one hell of a cd player. I have heard it can have problems skipping as it "ages." Might want to go for an extended warranty...will repost if I have problems.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer, denon, ect.

Great soundstage, HDCD Decoding, Better sounding 16bit/44.1kHz CDs

none so far

Absolutely Fantastic! Great Detail, even on standard 16bit/44.1kHz CDs. So far I have 4 HDCDs and They all sound great. The soundstage is frighteningly wide and enveloping. Dynamic puch on my TOOL Lateralus HDCD is unbelievable with great low bass and yet real punchy bass that is tight and clean. As well as greatly detailed mids and highs. Some people complain about the unit cycling through the CDs at start up but it is a ctually convenient because it lets me know if theres a new CD(s) in the player. All in all it is a wonderful CD/HDCD player and definitley a keeper

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Sony DVP-N300B

Good sound quality

Only works for two hours before breaking completely

Picked up this excuse for a cd player, brought it home and hooked it up. The sound was very good perhaps because of its built in HDCD decoding capabilities. The only problem was that the unit completely ceased to function after a couple hours. After it first started skipping horribly on every track, I tried to turn it off and on again but then it would not start playing again at all! Even when the player was working correctly, the carousel mechanics were slow and noisy. Avoid this player like the plague.

Great sound, solid construction, coax digital output, HDCD decoding

Horrid remote (like something from 10 years ago!), no TOSLINK output

I've had this unit for about 3 months and am pretty happy overall. The primary reasons I upgraded from my Kenwood unit were the coaxial digital output and HDCD decoding. As a big jazz fan, I have been pleasantly suprised at the number of jazz recordings available on the HDCD format. Since my Denon receiver has 4 TOSLINK inputs and only 1 coax, I do wish this changer had a TOSLINK output too - but this did cause me to get a better DVD player!

My only real complaint is the weak excuse for a remote. In this price range I expected better. The remote looks like something from at least 10 years ago. I have had a difficult time finding a universal remote that will fully control the unit and have even tried the U-Command. In time, I will spring for something I can configure from my computer.

Similar Products Used:

Kenwood

Very natural sounding with no harshness at all. Quick disc and track access times. Great looking piece of equipment. Plays CDRs without a problem.

None so far.

I passed up buying a HK DVD-5 player (can't play CD-Rs) that I could have had for only $209 brand new from CDW in favor of this CD changer since I already own a Toshiba SD 3109 that I'm quite pleased with. I was looking for a unit that would play multiple CDs (DVDs would have been an added bonus) and considered the Denon DCM 370. I felt that the Toshiba DVD played CDs better than my single disc Denon so I tried the HK. I am quite satisfied with the sound quality...extremely non-fatiguing sound with great, tight bass, exceptional midrange and natural highs (almost "soft" sounding). The unit works smoothly and is pretty fast at accessing songs. All in all, a great buy considering the Burr Brown DACs, HDCD, etc. for the $210 I paid for it brand new.

Similar Products Used:

Denon DCD 910 single disc player. Toshiba SD 3109 DVD/CD player.

Great Sound, especialy with Digital Coax

Skips sometimes when changing disks during playback

Overall a decent Cd player but be sure to watch it closly for problems. I had to exchange it twice due to problems with skipping and errors within the first couple of days after purchase. Third one works good. Still skips some!
HDCD works great also. Can definitly tell the improvement over regular cd's.

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Pioneer

Great detail and balance
HDCD processing
Burr-brown DAC's








Excellent sound (especially considering the price)
HDCD processing, good build quality, ease of use,good looks

None

The FL8380 is a step-up from the players that I have used in the past and it definately sounds that way. The overall sound is warm and balanced. I'm an analog guy and have never been crazy about how digital tends to thin-out and flatten the sound of recordings. The FL8380 has more of a natural sound than alot of CD players that I've heard, even ones costing more.This player is quite good at revealing details in recordings. I've noticed better seperation with vocal harmonies. The two(or more) voices sound distinct from each other rather than smearing together. Also, percussion instruments (especially cymbols) have more of a natural timbre. I can hear instruments buried in the tracks of familiar recordings that I never even knew were there. As good as regular CD's sound on this player, HDCD encoded discs sound even better. With HDCD discs, I've noticed even greater detail. The soundstage is wider and the music has more of a realistic 3-D quality overall, more like good vinyl playback. What I like about the HDCD medium is that, unlike say, SACD or other audiophile formats, it doesn't cost extra(CD's are expensive enough). I have Van Halen's Fair Warning and Women and Children First and they sound awesome! Way more clarity and punch. Also the Buffalo Springfield discs sound rich and full. I hope that they continue to release more HDCD titles, especially classic rock stuff. I auditioned similarly priced players from Onkyo and Denon which didn't have HDCD and they sounded more "digital" to my ears. I also listened to more expensive players from Marantz and Parasound that didn't sound as smooth and detailed (of course, this is only my opinion and your taste may vary). I have'nt heard every CD player in this price range but I'm pretty sure that you can't get a better player for the money, especially one with HDCD. If you have'nt already guessed, I really like the FL8380. Value wise, I'd give this player 6 stars if I could. Overall, I give it four stars because there are better sounding players out there, but they cost a hell of a lot more money!

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Sony, TEAC 5-Disc changer

Not real sure

Over all sound quality

I bought this unit because of the DAC and HDCD. However I was very disappointed.

The bass was very muddy and the highs were somewhat tinny. This thing absolutely murdered a quality sub. Also I had to set my receiver volume 8 to 10 db's higher to achieve the same listening level that I had with my previous cd. It was back in the box in less than 5 hours.

I bought the Marantz CC3000 (saved myself $50) and it was far superior right out of the box.

This was my first and last HK product. I would not recommend this to anyone.

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Sony ES / Denon

Excellent, neutral sound out of a dvd player in this price range. great bass reproduction and excellent highs with my seperates set up

none that i have found yet. (who cares about the damn remote you remote freaks!)

I have had this cd player for about 2 months now and love the hell out of it. I work for american t.v. and appliance, one of the largest retailers in the midwest, so I have listened to a ton of cd players. I put my whole system together and wanted to upgrade my cd player without spending the $1000 I was thinking of.
this was by far the nicest cd player we carry in the store for the under $500 price range. for how much this unit retails for($249), it is an excellent value. my system is as follows:
Parasound AVC-1800 surround preamp
Parasound HCA-1205 5 ch. THX Ultra amplifier
Audioquest Coral interconnects to all 5 channels
Harmon/Kardon FL-8380 with monster z series
Tannoy Saturn 8 (front channels)
Tannoy saturn 8 center channel
Polk psw-250 until I get my vANDERSTEEN v2WQ
mOURDANT Short ms-10 (rear channels)
MIT bi-wre network wire( MiT terminator) all around.
With all the money I have spent this is why i currently have the polk subwoofer!

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onkyo dxc-380

HDCD, digital filtering from Burr Brown decoder when not in HDCD mode, Great sound, in random mode plays 2 songs from each CD before going to next disk(saves machanical ware)

A little noisy when changing disks

The HK is clearly the best sounding CD player out of all the ones I have ever used. Don't put your sub near it, or it will skip. Then again the sub I own is a Velodyne.(it will shake your world) People want to hook it up digitally. I don't think they understand that if you hook it up digitally the HDCD decoders don't work. The decoders in the reciever are working instead. First I hooked it up with Monster Interlink 400 MK II's($39) and it sounded good. I later replace them with Monster Interlink Reference II's($99) and what a pleasent suprise the sound just comes alive. Just recently I purchased a Harman Kardon AVR 520 and it has the HDCD decoders in it so now I have it hooked up digitally. The decoders in the 520 sound a little better.(maybe there newer)
I know there are better HDCD players but in this price range or even a couple of hundred more nothing comes close.
My system:
HK AVR 520
JVC XV-FA95 DVD audio
Onkyo TA-RW111 tape deck
Polk Audio
RT 55iblack L+R fronts
FX 300iblack L+R rears
CS 400iblack center
Velodyne CT100 sub
All cables are Monster Interlink 400's or better.

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I've been working for electronics store for years and every day I use Sony, Pioneer, Technic, Onkyo, Kenwood and others. I have owned many of these.