Brilliant sound quality, traditional Arcam "warm" sounding

Only adequate visual quality compared to modern day players Far too pricey, still is second hand

I bought the DV88 last autumn as a "one-box solution" selling my Marantz cd player, and my Sony dvd player. The sound from the analogue outputs is superb, and is the reason I bought it. The picture quality was adequate, though when it came out it was very good. It wasn't as good as the Sony in that area.

Similar Products Used:

Marantz Cd7300 Moodlab Nos Dac Benchmark Dac1 Sony CDP-XB930E QS

Airy, Detailed, good Paced CD Player (I am reviewing the player with regards to its CD playback merits). You get a good CD player and a very good DVD player in one!

none for its price range

I'm writing a review about the CD player capabilities of this DVD-CD player offering from Arcam. I have an Arcam DV88 which i bought over at Audiogon for $700. Reading through the reviews of the DV88, most have claimed that the CD72/CD72T sounds a tad better than the DV88. I think this claim might have been clouded by bias that stand-alone CD players is better than DVD players. I happen to have an Arcam CD72 in my rack so one day i tried comparing the quality of the sound of the DV88 and the CD72 without bias. I used several CDs from different musical genres for my test (name it: jazz, classical, pop, rock, downtempo, electronica) and I was surprised to discover that the DV88 beat the CD72 hands down ! The DV88 produced better air, detail, and pace compared to my CD72. Listening to Cds using my DV88 was more enjoyable than listening to my CD72. Reading more about the DV88, I discovered that this player had Wolfson DACs compared to the CD72 Burr-Browns. If you have been following the development of Arcam's products, Arcam now claims that the Wolfson DACs are one of the best in the world today. Moreover, they have have started equipping their new models (CD73, CD93, and CD33) with Wolfsons! As a footnote, the highly acclaimed CD82T happens to be equipped with Wolfson DACs as well. So if you are on a budget and in the hunt for a DVD player that produces high quality CD playback, the Arcam DV88 delivers. And mind you, there is no need for a CD72 or CD 73 whatsoever. I consider the Arcam CD72 as a good CD player but my listening experience tells me that the DV88 is better than it. If you are an owner of both the DV88 and a CD72/72T player do the test yourself and im sure you will agree with me (just make sure you use the analogue outputs and not the digital outputs). Equipment used for the test: Mission 783 speakers (bi-wired) Arcam DV88 DVD player Arcam CD 72 CD Player Arcam AVR 100 Receiver DH Labs Air Matrix Interconencts DH Labs Q10 speaker cables Absolute Power Cord Furman Power Conditioner

Similar Products Used:

Marantz 6000 OSE, Technics PGL-4, Naim

Surround Sound - Real not seperated Analog Audio - Honest and bright Picture - Crystal

Remote no good for people with poor eye sight - me. Have programmed the AX1 controls to do the business.

When my Micromedia died I was faced with having to buy another combi DVD CD player. Arcam FMJ or DV88+ where the choices. I plumbed for the DV88+ so that I can buy a separate CD player later. Was i disapointed - NO. In fact very surprised. After making a trip to collect a new set of Chord Company cables (Interconnects Digiatal and S Cable) I can say that when connected to the Yamaha AX1 and Ruark surround sound system (Chord Company speaker cable all round miles of the stuff) I have a sound that makes me feel young again. It is bright and honest, positively alive and fab really. Well worth the wait - well done Arcam and Chord Company (my old interconnects had faded).

Similar Products Used:

Micromega Premium DVD player.

In DVD mode, this player gives a flawless picture. I have a Loewre Aconda TV hooked up through RGB Scart, and the picture quality is fantastic. The colour saturation is great, even with "difficult" films like Se7en, filmed in very dark conditions. The same is true with films which are deliberately "hued" like "Traffic", it handles reds, burnt out deserts or whatever in a truly lifelike manner. No hint of picture crawl or pixelation, and digital films like "Monsters Inc" are staggeringly good. Plays just about anything, I've had no trouble with DVD copies, CDRs, CDWs and VCDs. For music, this is a great sounding player, much like the Arcam CD players, perhaps on a par with the CD72. Not over exciting, not brash or too dynamic, but very musical, might be a bit too mellow for some. It copes well with all types of music, I prefer acoustic, detailed music, and this is handled with good clarity and clear resolution. With rock and metal it might sound a bit too laid-back for some, and although capable of quite good attack, perhaps a bit too refined for lovers of this genre. I have it paired with an Arcam AVR-100, it would probably sound even better with a hi-fi amp..

Makes older DVDs show their age, e.g. the difference between Terminator and T2 is marked. Needs expensive upgrade for DVD-A - any time no. No progressive scan. The remote is over fussy, though I've now had the latest upgrade, track and chapter selection is razor sharp. My player had a rather noisy transport, and I was learning to live with it until I read the review by "Plind" (from Netherlands) on this site. Contacted my dealer, and Arcam took the unit back, and have replaced it with a new (DV88+) transport mech, which is silent. All this plus the software and firmware updates, on a machine 20 months old and out of warranty - for FREE!! Took 2 weeks, but well worth it, well done Arcam!! Still haven't got it to show me JPEGs from a CD as my dealer has said it will do though...any tips welcomed! Doesn't support EX, and more discs are coming along with this, maybe it can be upgraded?..

A fantastic DVD player, extremely capable in audio as well. Well worth auditioning if you have the money, a massive step up from cheaper players. This player will amaze you with the quality of its pictures, and delight you with the quality of its sound when paired with the right kit. It plays almost everything you can put in it, is multi-region, and looks stunning too, especially when alongside other units from Arcam.

Similar Products Used:

Auditioned Denon and Rotel at this price point, also Naim CD5 for music only (Naim was better sounding, but I needed DVD etc. for the family!!)

Very good quality sound and image, it was initially like I replaced my speakers and brought better ones! Very clear sound and the image was very crisp!

I started to notice a lip sync problem on certain films, over the 5 weeks I have had it, it got worse and worse depending on what film I was watching. Unforunately I have had to take it back and try another DV88, and that has the same problem! Yet all the films that were out with lip sync played perfectly on my old player! The DV88+ was not quite so bad as I tried this in the shop. Worth checking out if you are sensitive to lip sync issues before buying one. I now have a Denon 2800 mkII, although the image and sound quality is not up to the DV88 standards, I am happy there are no lip sync issues any more. Due to this I have only given the product a 3....

A superbly built piece of equipment. Very heavy, although this could just be a couple of lead weights in the bottom to make you feel like you have brought something expensive, it really does add to the quality feel of the DVD player.

Sound, contrast, colors, looks and, what really sets this player apart for me: Arcam's drive to improve their existing products and the service they offer as a result of that!

After my last upgrade: none whatsover!

It took me a little while to really start appreciating this player. That's why I waited almost two years with writing this review. I had several problems with the unit a first, but they were quickly resolved by my dealer and Arcam by replacing the unit with a newer model. To start with the video quality: it's excellent. The contrast and colors are wonderful, especially on my Loewe Xelos television. I do advice everyone to experiment with the different ways you can connect this player with your tv. In my case, by far the best results are achieved by connecting the both with S-VHS on the DVD side and SCART on the tv side. As for the audio: I really like the Arcam's sound. Smooth, never harsh, detailed and yet punchy. Its audio performance was one of the main reasons for me to buy the DV88. Recently I bought an open AV-rack and that's when I first noticed the mechanical noise the player made. This really started to annoy me. Especially in quiet passages in both movies and music. Additionally, I had trouble playing cd's with the new copy protections. So I mailed Arcam and they advised me to bring in the player for a revision. They would do a firmware upgrade and they also had an improved transporting mechanism available, supposedly reducing the mechanical noise. So I did bring it in, waited too long, but boy, it was definitely worth the wait! Playing copy protected cd's is now not a problem anymore (firmware 1.81). And the transporting mechanism is wonderful! The noise reduction is dramatic and I can really enjoy the quiet passages in both movies and music now. Great job, Arcam! It's fantastic how they keep investing in improving their existing products and that they make these upgrades available to their existing customers as well. This is a service you're not likely to see from any of the more mainstream brands, which will be far more likely to put improvements in new products instead of existing ones. Aside from all the great technical and musical stuff, the DV88 also looks great. Slick, minimalistic, very stylish. It's amazing how the more mainstream brands still think that their black plastic machines look as great as they did in the early 80's and that, when you buy a top model from them, the machine gets a really distinguished look by having gold letters instead of white letters on the buttons and knobs. Wake up!

Similar Products Used:

NAD T-550

sound out quite good, video color saturation v.good, great support from US distributor. Great support from local dealer

chassis could be thicker for price, cd function can not be controlled by Arcam DiVA amp remote, LT loader a bit noisy, (Uses nearly same DVS mech as Wall-Mart players!) slow loading red book cds''

Yesterday I updated the player firmware to version 1.76. Now the unit will wake from sleep by pressing the tray open button on the front. Also, one can reliably track skip back within the first second or so of a song start. I really like the button-o-plenty remote. It forces one to remember position rather than reading labels. Also, all new units come with easy to read matt finish buttons for those moments when you have to read. (Old remote had shiny, impossible to read hemispherical buttons.) DVD playback is nearly flawless on a line doubling set. Colors are rich as expected, details are resolved. I have played about 50 titles so far with the only problems being heavily scuffed media which won''t play on PC drives either. Chroma bug is hard to notice, even looking at those titles implicated in demonstrations (Toy Story, etc.) Red book audio is just superb as everyone has noticed. I wish, however, it could handle SACD, not just DVD-A through a future upgrade. The unit will play MP-3, however VBR at >224Kb/s seems to skip. CDR/w support is otherwise flawless. A general concern about playing red book audio on a DVD player is that copy protected titles, such as those using "Cactus" will not work. I really loathe the thought of having to buy another decent CD player just to use the new releases. My DV88 is used 90% red book. You might want to prepare for this if you intend to use the DV88 or any other DVD player as your primary digital source. Stuff: Music: Arcam DV88 LT-18/1.76 Arcam A85 Macintosh G4 Cube as MP3 source Monitor Audio Silver 8i Transparent interconnects/speaker cables ''cause computers are RF noisy Vid: Arcam DV88 Yamaha RX 800 Cambridge Soundworks ear splitters Mits 46" rear projector set Monster cable vid-3 component/Transparent TOSLink/Monster speaker cable

Similar Products Used:

Stuff from Asia

Sound,Connectability,Plays CDRW(so does everything else these days)

Remote,Picture quality on my model,Drive noise,Price and intermittant mechanical failures

It seems from the other reviews that Arcam may have an overseas service problem,That aside I have had my DV88 for about a year the CD play back through the analog outputs is realy quite good, very competent and not over board playing any sort of music except drum and bass. The picture quality is another matter, Iwas posted overseas shortly after buying it so I had no time to fiddle with it so I left it in the hands of my very competent Father whose first comment on my return was"If I could find the invoice they could have the thing straight back".The problems with the picture are as follows Ghosting,Blocking,Artefacts,Colour bleed and a strange haze that appears from time to time. The other niggles are the remote is only fit as a toy for the dog, A terrible on screen display,A drive mechanism that sounds like a waste disposal and the odd inability to read a DVD resulting in a complete jam up where you have to shut down the machine for half an hour to be able to extract the disc. Needless to say now I am home the thing will be going straight back to the dealers for repair we will see if all these problems get fixed first time. Although at this time I reguard this machine as a very over hyped steel box. If it gets fixed properly and my opinion changes I will let you know. Just for the record we have compared it to a Pioneer 626 and a Sony F-11 which both managed to muster a better picture but could not better it for sound

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba SD100,Pioneer626,Sony F-11

Picture, sound, upgradeability

Slightly noisy transport while playing DVD''s.

Purchased this unit because I was looking for top notch DVD playback AND high quality CD sound. Admittedly, I got what I bargained for. Picture quality is outstanding, movie sound is very realistic; CD playback is way up there. I also autitioned Denon''s DVD-2800 for movie playback. Its picture was probably just a tad sharper than the Arcam''s, but I noticed slight artifacting as well at some points; the DV88 showed none of that. In music, the sound is unmistakeably "British". It''s got rhythm, pace, punch, without getting agressive. Quality is up to par with e.g. Arcam''s excellent Diva CD72. The unit is "more equal than others" for being upgradeable to DVD-A and Progressive Scan. Still, there are minor downsides. The remote does not sport the most impressive user interface I''ve ever seen, but you''ll get used to it. Don''t worry. At layer change, it might pause for a millisecond or two, but not long enough to be annoying. What might get annoying is that during DVD playback, the transport may get slightly noisy. I solve this problem by closing my cabinet''s door... Basically, even after auditioning some excellent CD players over the last couple of days, my verdict is that I would definitely buy this unit again. It has everything I''m looking for at a price that''s just about low enough not to get into a fight with the girlfriend...

Similar Products Used:

Denon DVD-2800, NAD T-550 Arcam Diva CD72, Heart/Marantz CD-6000 & 5000

the basis elements are the best, ie sound and picture, upgradabilty is also a plus point

nothing

The picture quality is superb, there is an extra depth to colour, basically the picture looks real rather than a TV picture.

when a dvd player can play CDs better than most if not all sub £500 cd player, then the price of £900 seem more than reasonable

The other reviews may metion that the remote is basic, but if want a remote that has the basic functions of volume and play ect this more than adequate.

I purchased this along with the AVR100 and have it conected with Van den Hul cables.

other equipment

Mission 782
Mission 78ds
Mission 78c
and REL status sub

My next upgrade will be the purchase of 2 P85 power amps to Bi amp the lot. i am confident that after this, my upgrade days are over.

Sat

Similar Products Used:

Sony 735, Panasnic A360