None

CD playback, DVD-A, on-screen menus, etc.

My statement below was correct. This player is built poorly, especially for a flagship product to show off high resolution digital audio. I have read statements here that you need more than $1k to get SACD, but now the SCD-C333ES goes for less than $600 so what gives? If you guys want a good DVD player, you probably already own one or could buy one for less than this that will give as good a picture or better. And if you're interested in good sounds, SACD beats the snot out of DVD-A. If you're interested in multichannel sound, you owe it to self to wait for Sony's $400 SACD player due soon. Don't make a mistake and buy this Technics piece just because you're impatient. Besides, there's barely any DVD-A music available.

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9000ES

Build quality, CD playback, video picture quality, decodes everything except SACD and it is a great value.

DVA-A bass management if one does not have full range speakers.

I was not going to post a review as the attributes of the A-10 have been well documented by others. However, I noticed a very harsh review below which I felt deserved "the other side of the story".

A few comments:

>"compared to the flagship SACD players this unit is a joke""the build quality of the A10 was shameful"<. This quote is what prompted me to write this. One could read ANY professional or owner review and this is a totally inacurate and misleading statement. IMO as a very thorough shopper, this is the best built DVD player inside and out at this price and much higher that I have come across. The guts are impressive by any standard, namely:

*separate power supplies used for digital and analog circuitry,
*R-core transformer for analog circuitry which I believe is also used by these high end SONY SACD units,
*TA-KE II capacitors,
*heavy multi layer base which minimizes vibration and increases the structural ridgidity of the A10,
*all alloy fascia and zero plastic to be found anywhere on this unit, and
*all the inputs/outputs and there are quite a few, are gold plated and,
*the transport mechanism is very smooth and quiet.

The only way that I can see the face plate falling off the A10 is if it was dropped or it fell from a shelf. Surely such a thing could never happen at Good Guys. I seriously doubt these flagship SACD players would fare much better under identical circumstances. Really!

With the A10, one also doesn't have to stick to redbook CDs as it was stated. As an owner, I can experiment with DVD-A when recordings become more abundant which is an added plus of owning this unit. In the mean time, I will be busy listening to CDs, DTS DVD music videos and movies and 96/24 recordings which have abundant titles NOW.

I just thought I would give the A10 a fair shake as it is an excellent performer with the looks and build to match. At the current prices, it is what can be defined as an excellent value and consider it to be an easy five star product.

Happy listening.

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Pioneer and SONY units plus auditioned quite a few DVD players very recently.

great build quality.

doesn't play CD-R's but doesn
doesn't play CD-R's but doesn't bother me..

I also hear the clicks as mentioned in the review by Jason.
I'm not sure what it is but it seems to come from the unit.

This is an additional followup from my review just below:

The "click" that I hear on the DVD-A10 when I skip CD tracks are not audible in my speakers but I hear them from inside the actual DVD player. It almost sounds like an electrical relay that is clicking inside the cabinet. Does anyone else hear this on their DVD-A10 unit? Thanks.

EMAIL: jthomas600@hotmail.com

Build-quality, DVD-Audio, nice price

Video quality, CD music

I bought this player based on many reviewers' positive comments but decided to return it after testing my CDs and DVD movies. I believe the reviewers are right in saying that this player is of excellent value for money and nice features such as DVD-A and upsampling capability. The build-quality is excellent and it is very quiet compared to my old Pioneer DVD player.

However, when I played my favorite CDs with this player, the music (w/upsampling mode on) sounded rather harsh although the overall feeling was smooth. Some of my CDs sounded better with this player, but lost transparencies and details that I used to hear from other CD or DVD players. Maybe, I had too much expectations from this product, I don't know.

The decision to return this player was made after I played DVD movies and live concerts. Video quality from Technics player was not as sharp or as accurate as my cheaper Pioneer DVD player. The color resolution, I thought, was not as excellent as Pioneer or Sony players. I concede that this judgment is entirely based on my own subjective evaluation, so other reviewers may have totally different opinions. But, I believe my own ears and eyes: so, I had to return this player.

After I returned the product, I began searching for other DVD-A players and even SACD players. Alas! The prices for other brands are too expensive to purchase. I believe the Technics DVD-A10 is still an excellent choice for consumers who look for decent quality and nice value.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer DV 414 DVD player

Not many DVD A disk available at present.

Like the other reviewer said, if this product had another
name on it, it would cost more. For the money this is a
fine product. Alot of attention to detail on this machine.
Get it if you can! Great sound!

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JVC XVD701BK

Tough to criticize at this price. Perhaps DVD-A bass mgmt but that's not the reason I purchsed this player. Lack of zoom feature for some.

I'm not sure how anyone would consider this player less than five stars in the value category. It is an extremely well built unit with very good video and 16.44.1 playback quality. It does take some time to properly set up this player so it is adviseable to spend some time with the manual beforehand.

In the video category it betters the Pioneer 525 DV (sharper colors, period) which I owned for approx. one year and is much, much better with CD playback. It is also far smoother, dead quiet and infinitely better built with inputs and outputs to suit just about any requirement. I also own the very good Pioneer Elite PD65 CDP and have absolutely no problems enjoying the 16/44.1 playback qualities of the A10. BTW, the upsampling mode does smooth out poorly recorded music but I do prefer this feature "off" when listening to well recorded music.

To the above, add built in DD/DTS decoders for the which I do use as I have the A10 connected via its six channel analog outputs (all inputs and outputs are gold plated, btw). On top of this, throw in DVD-A which I found simply excellent on the 192kHz/24 tracks on the sampler but rather ordinary on other tracks.

In summary, I purchased the A10 for video only as it is far too early IMO to invest in the new audio formats and as I own a quality stand alone CDP. I'm more than pleased with the video quality thus far. I have however been surprised by the 16/44.1 playback capabilities of the A10 and also have had the opportunity to taste DVD-A for basically nothing. BTW, a year back What Hi*Fi published a detail review of the A10 and favorably viewed its CD performance to the likes of Rotel and Sony ES CDP offerings in the A10's UK MSRP price range.

As someone stated in an earlier review, replace the Technics brand name with something with a bit more flash and the A10 would not sell for anywhere close to its current price. The A10 with all its capabilities and price point undoubtedly deserves five stars in the value category and isn't far behind in its video and CD performance.

I will pass review of the A10's DVD-A capabilities until recorded mudic to my liking becomes available. As I understand it, it could be sometime before ample recordings become available for this format due to the ongoing copyright saga.

A couple of final points, unlike the majority of flimsy and noisy plastic loaded video players on the market, the A10 should be a very reliable unit. The champagne finish is also quite refreshing for those of us who have had enough of black only components.

Enjoy.

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Pioneer DV 525

no component progressive scan, no hdcd for regular cd's

In response to the previous reviewer, Ted, I think that your interchangable use of two terms which mean different things is causing confusion. "Downmixing" is not the same thing as "downsampling".

This player does "downmix" compressed multi-channel dvd audio for output via two channels. I know because the manual says so and because I have heard the results. The Corrs "In Blue" dvd audio allows one to listen to the surround mix, the surround mix "downmixed" to 2-channel, and a "high resolution" 2 channel mix. The two different 2-channel mixes are obviously different and only one of them is "located" on the disc itself. The other is created by the player.

"Downsampling" would imply that a player will take the digital signal and make it available, still in digital form, at a lower sampling rate. Page 39 of the manual states "When playing DVD-Audio, all digital output is in the down samples PCM form." It therefore outputs a 48kHz, 16-bit signal, but this signal, I assume, is still multi-channel.

I'm not sure if the same reviewer or a previous one complained of not being able to adjust the delay and volume of speakers and this is not entirely true, either. See pages 40-41 of your manual. The manual is unclear, however, whether any of these adjustments have an impact on DTS and dvd audio signals. It specifically states that the delay settings only affect Dolby Digital, but it is mute on the speaker mode and relative volume settings.

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none

build quality, top end, quiet

Appears to not downsample compressed (MLP)DVD audio to 2 channel, tacky blue lights

Very impressive build quality for a mid-fi product. Heavy and solid. This translates to very quite operation while running. My old Pioneer 414 sounds like a small jet engine, while spinning DVDs. The audio only button is an appreciated feature and noticably improves the sound.

My strong bias is towards audio so I'll focus on that. CD playback overall is impressive. To my ears, comparable with a good $600 stand alone CD player. Perhaps a bit more transparent than say a Rotel and arguably better highs but not quite as smooth. And the sound is not as integrated as with a better CD only player. All and all the Technics leans more towards the clinical than the musical side, I'd say.

I find the Remastering feature to be a mixed bag. Geneally I leave it on but with poorly recorded discs (sadly this seems to be most discs) it can make the sound a bit harsh. But turning it off makes the music sound a little smaller, more contained. I am not an engineer, and I don't confess to understand how the feature works (and Technics offers nothing to help) but, putting together everything I have read, I'll take a "best guess". Remastering seems to be some combination of limited upsampling AND extrapolation/extension of frequencies beyond 20,000kHz (Legreto(sp) link redux, as another reviewer wrote). If you listen real hard I think you can just make out the sonic trade-off between the fake DSP sounds (this is bad) versus the gain from no brick wall filtering at 20,000kHz. The upsampling is not to the extreme of stand alone upsamplers (a simple doubling of 16 bit 44.1 or 48kHz PCM data streams) but it probably does no harm and may even smooth things out a bit?

DVD audio. The Chesky two channel DVD discs (96 kHz 24 bit) will knock you back. Everything is better versus standard CD. And they are not even recorded at the highest resolution (192khz). And a cut or two on the sampler that came in the box sound very promising (the music is dreadful however). The analog section in this deck tramples the analog section in the Pioneer 414. You can see the potential of the unit on these few recordings but it's a tease because no one is letting us taste it. I'd rather listen to just about any Stones CD - complete with some of the worst recording ever - than one more listening session with the marvelously recorded Sara K.


Now things get complicated. My system currently does not have 6 inputs so I kludged stuff together to understand what was happening. Near as I can tell a previous reviewer is correct - there is no bass mangement for multi channel DVD audio. Perhaps of more concern is there is no way to delay the rear channel signals and unless your listening room is the size of a barn this is BAD, BAD. If the sonically lame Dolby Pro Logic taught us nothing else, it did teach us that human brains need to hear the front channels first, if there is any hope of simulating a real music environment.

Also, I am getting mixed signals from Technics customer service, but my experience has been that ANY high resolution disc that incorporates compression (MLP) will not be downsampled properly. This potentially could be a real issue if, like me, you want to let some of the dust settle on the whole high rez thing and were hoping to enjoy hi resolution two channel in the meantime. Almost EVERY DVD audio disc is going to include compression, otherwise six high resolution tracks won't fit.

Video. Not my priority by a long shot but, as many have said, no progressive scan outputs - what were they thinking? The picture is noticably better than my Pioneer 414 but that is saying little. (Of course there is not the horrendous lip-sync problem of the 414). All this will be obsolete in few years with high definition players anyway - hopefully.

So, all and all. I'd recommend waiting. The Technics DVD-A10 unit shows promise but the whole multi-channel thing is currently a mess. DVD audio or SACD? Watermarking. Miniscule amounts of software worth listening to as music. No high resolution digital outputs combined with no bass management and no user selectable time delays is a sorry situation.

And this unit's apparent inability to downmix compressed multi-channel recordings is inexcusable.

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replaced a Pioneer 414 DVD Player

I just ordered mine at $364. This is a true bargan if I ever had one. Etronics is selling them at this price amd Jand R is matching price. There is no DVD player that plays music or Video at this price.