Everything taking into account the price

Not compatible with SACD.

Nothing exceptional, but no flaws, which is amazing for such a low price !
Good image, many features, good remote control, good sound.....
Highly recommended.

Put the outputs in 5.1 mode and fixed, not at 0dB unless there's obvious distortion. The outputs on these run at like 1.1 volts, so that's within the tolerance of most inputs. I have the version with SACD, too. Crushed reds lack dynamic range and the low end is a tad lite in areas. Picture over all needs adjustment on your TV for best results.

every erea, lots of lows, super mids,giants high

plastic remote

copland cda822 cd player this is an wonderfull cd player i've heard many others but no one come's close in many erea's, everthing is fluent, even the build of this player is something special my other toys are nautilus 804, cable v.d.hul, arcam a85, pioneer 565a, processor cyrus av-8 with a bypass so-called straight line bypassing the proccesor.

Similar Products Used:

arcam cd 33, meridian 507, cyrus cd 8 quad 99 cdp

I just thought I'd inform all of you that the 655A, the one that also includes SACD, is available on www.welectronics.com for close to the price I paid, with multiregion on. If you're using it with a flat panel or projector that can display NTSC and PAL, then it'd be a great buy. I'd love to have Lynch's Dune in Anamorphic and DTS, but the USA is not so lucky. Maybe I'll eventually buy one of those multiregion, multiTV players so I can buy that and twin peaks. By the way, if your amplifier has enough gain, set the 655A to 0dB on all channels in 5.1 mode. Even if you only have 2 speakers you can turn the others off and it will combine the channels for you. The output stages of this player don't perform well when the output is cranked up, and you don't want it compressing the dynamic range just to make the output hotter. On some DD and DTS material (like Paul Van Dyk's Global), virtual surround does make a lot of difference in 2 channel. It also seems to boost the very low frequencies and better manage phase of the rear channel information. Unfortunately it also makes the front channels a little two too phasy in the process. No matter what you do, though, CD playback will still generally be very digital and agressive sounding. My brother likes the way it fleshes out detail, though.

This is for the SACD capable 655A: The luma to chroma problems appear to be gone when component out is used. Haven't had a single read problem with any disk. Sounds great with MP3's. DVD-A and SACD sound like the best CD's, though on this level of player doesn't really exceed, except in terms of the mids on SACD. Have yet to try surround. Wide range of picture and sound adjustments. DTS is a tad bassy and overly warm, but dolby digital seems effortless for this player. Bjork's Volumen 2 though a headphone amplifier and ER4S headphones produces some of the most transparent and natural sound I've heard any system reproduce. Odd considering how hard people are on the consumer version of DD. Bought an Akai 30" widescreen w/o progressive ($330!!), and the only problem now is the large, noticeable scanlines of the TV. On a 13" NEC pro video monitor in anamorphic squeeze mode, it looked absolutely superb and film like. All my friends love my new set-up, but I guess I'm just really picky about TV's.

Price and sound quality are both great. Sound is very good for the price. Both Dolby Digital and DTS soundtracks sounded rich and full without the "tinny" sound of alot of budget players.

Video performance in progressive mode was ruined by the noise in the picture (by the way, I am using a line conditioner, so clean power isn't the problem). Interlaced mode was full of "jaggies" and other artifacts.

I purchased this unit with fairly high expectations that it would fill in nicely for my old Pioneer player that just died on me. Having a Sony 7000 still, I assumed that the newer players of today would be able to out perform my old 7000 w/o the expense that it had cost me years back. Wow, I was sure wrong. This player is not a bad player, but to even compare it to my Sony 7000 is crazy. This player has a decent Progressive image (using it with a Sony XBR 400 TV) but the noise induced into the picture in progressive mode is quite evident to say the least. Doing side by side comparisons with the Sony 7000 via 2 copies of Lord of the Rings proved to be a total mismatch. My trusty old 7000 won hands down in every scene by a large margin. I decided to give the 656a a shot in interlaced mode....big mistake, interlaced mode looked terrible on the Pioneer. Take the noise out of the picture in progressive mode and this would be a much better player, but I just can't get myself to see past it.

Similar Products Used:

Sony 7000 and Pioneer DV-525.

Picture, specs, multichannel sound, auto video system conversion (between NTSC and PAL),generous amount of outputs.

CD replay, Mp3 recognition, disc scan time.

As I have been using it for almost a year now, this is the most justified time to write the review. This player offers superb picture in all conditions, including the black scenes which is familiar to movies like Seven and Blade. Multichannel music is very good too, considering this is a universal player. Spin Celin Dion's A Decade of Songs I seemed to stick on my sofa even with the less attractive tracks, because I was taken by the detail it's available to reveal. However, it's rather not impressive with CDs as it doesn't offer as much music as a dedicated CD player can dig out, also you can't play every Mp3 encoded discs (especially written on CD-RW); And the onboard decoder can be bettered with more tuning options between the channels. Overall it's a good player with future proof ability.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic DVD-A130, Pioneer DV-525, PS2

Need to append previous review. In interlaced composite out, there is noticable chroma distortion on these units, i.e. high contrast patterns get red and blinky.

Well, my 655 plays everything except HDCD, but I have a Denon 370 for that. With CD's neither player has the finesse of vinyl, but the Pioneer has less gray scrim across the sound...blacker background. However, the bass is a bit exagerated, and perhaps the highs, too. It's more crunchy, like the loudness button on reciever. Sounds are larger than they should be, without the pinpoint imaging of the Denon. SACD (both stereo and multichannel) definitely sounds better than CD, even on the Denon. There's a body and harmonic richness that I've never heard from digital before. Unfortunately, there's some type of problem with these units producing a slight static distortion in the upper mids & lower highs during extremely dynamic parts, regardless of the format you play. It's definitely a sore point for this unit. Also, on a few DVD's there's a weird, but very brief random piction distortion. On one there was spontaniously a few seconds of full static (instead of the soundtrack) that I later could not reproduce by rewinding the DVD back to that spot. On the plus side, the picture is superb, especially in true animorphic on widescreen TV's or with the vertical height adjusted on a 4:3 ratio set. I set up my little tv using the THX optimizer on Romeo and Juliet for 16:9. The picture on that DVD is stunning. Only a few DVD's look off, but usually only by being a bit too bright in the blacks compared to the well mastered ones. The sharpness level is best set to +2 or +3. I think +3 fleshes out the most low level visual detail without becoming edgy, but +2 has a slightly more realistic level of detail considering the limitations of DVD. I go for +3 and neutral on everything else. All other adjustments I've simply done on the tv itself. It has a very intuitive menu and start up system, though, I wish it let you program more than just 24 chapters in a row. While the units can convert NTSC to PAL, I'm unable so far to get it to convert PAL to NTSC, though it's probably an option buried in the unit's service menu somewhere. There is a code available to make the unit region free and break into the service menu, but it requires a PDA or elaborate programmable remote. Supposedly a Pioneer service center can do it for you in a second. Finally, this player reproduces MP3's better than any other unit I've heard. On the high resolution formats, though, I'm sure this player is not performing up to the level that is certainly possible with them. But for the price, it's hard to complain too much.

Nice build, features, screen is dot matrix. Cheap! recognized mp3 with no problems.

None really. Of course I haven't come across any problems yet.

This is a great dvd player! I shopped around for a year before I even bought this one. Its a great buy for the price. DVD audio/Video mp3 progressive w/ 3:2 pulldown. Pure cinema. I think this is the best deal for the buck. Even the layer change is faster than my previuos DVD players. Which were all pioneer. I was strongly considering the Denon dv900 but reviews were bad for it. ONly reason i was going to get it was for the buffer. BUt it doesn't have DVD audio. Graphics menu is great. It goes well with my pioneer elite recevier. Nice esthetics too. Good starter. Get it.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer DVD players. 414 etc.