Very well built, excellent DVD-Audio sound quality, superb CD player, very good DVD picture

No progressive scan

This is an excellent product and a great bargain. It improved sound of my CD collection greatly. DVD-Audio is awesome. Do not believe anybody telling you otherwise. DVD picture is also very good. Currently I'm using it only in stereo (I am actually in the market for a decent set of speakers that would give justice to this player). Bass management is am issue but it may turn out to be less of a problem than it seams. Right now I am using full size speakers and I may go with all full size speakers for my HT/surround sound setup. You owe it to your ears (and eyes) to check this player out. Highly recommended. Make sure though the rest of your system can accomodate it in terms of inputs (a receiver or an amplifier with 6 analog inputs)and quality. Don't even think of using it with crappy speakers and a cheap receiver.

Similar Products Used:

Sony and Technics CD players

sophisticated upsampling for standard CD's!!! build quality

no progressive scan

I felt compelled to write because of the misunderstanding of a previous reviewer regarding the "digital remastering" function on this player. As explained in Robert Harley's Guide to High End Audio textbook, this kind of "upsampling" process is not a gimmick. Rather, it's a highly-regarded way of recapturing some of the quality left out in the standard CD (under)sampling recording process. According to Harley, it extracts the very best from standard CD's, making even nasty early 80's digital recordings listenable. That Technics has seen fit to include this feature in a bargain-priced deck (while few of our 'preferred' economy audio companies have! E.g., NAD, adcom, AMC, etc.) should be cause for COMMENDATIONS not uninformed criticisms. This is a gorgeous product for standard CD playback, now available for a song. I can imagine no better introduction to high-end digital!

Similar Products Used:

AMC, NAD, Krell, Adcom, Sony, JVC (mix of cd & dvd players)

Build Quality, Sound, DVD Audio, Price

Remote leaves a lot to desire, Not Progressive Scan

I have a different outlook on DVD players than most. With the Sony XBR I have, progressive scanning is overkill. It would probably benefit RPT owners, but I can tell little difference on this set. So, with the vast majority of players from $300 up having very good to excellent picture quality, I was looking for something that fit the bill as a Sound machine. In the sound dept. there are still major differences among players. I found that out quickly. Maybe not so much with movie sound, but in the area of music.
I was looking for a plaayer that had very good CD playback and was leaning to the Denon or Pioneer models, but after reading some of the reviews (good and bad) about this player and seeing it on J&Rs website for $399, I though waht the heck.
First off, this should not have the Technics name on it. Panasonic should have branded this as something else- the heft and build quality alone make it far superior to anything I have ever seen from them. Second, it is apparent from the specs alone that this should have come from some company like Rotel, definitely not Panasonic.
After hooking the player to my system, I sat down to the unenjoyable task of setting the myriad of setup options on this player and burning it in. I played CD after CD and DVD after DVD (set to repeat) on the player with the speakers turned off for a week before attempting to listen.
Well, I can only say WOW! I had been told this was a poor CD machine by some and a great one by others. I lean heavily toward the latter. I don't know if it is the break in that I did and others didn't, or maybe good cables, speakers, etc. but this player is smooth yet detailed with CDs like no other I have owned (easily betters the Sony 7700) and measures up to (surpassing in some areas) my 8 year old upgraded Sony ES CD player that cost $1000-then.
However, when I played the Chesky 96/24 discs and the DVD-A title of ELPs Brain Salad..., I got goosebumps that I never had from the Sony or Toshiba (with the Chesky discs). And, I only use two channels. All I can say is my system has a new, permanent disc machine!
Picture quality is great and it performs as well as the Sony as far as I can tell (again, it is probably due to the TV). I couldn't be happier that I stole this player for $400.

My system:
Sony Wega XBR400 36"
B&K PT3 Pre-amp
B&K Power Amp 185WX2 (4 ohm)
Magnepan MMG main speakers
Monster Reference Interconnects
Monster Z series speaker cables
Technics DVD A10N disc machine

Similar Products Used:

Sony 7700, Toshiba 5109, JVC 723

Cd playback, DVDA playback, Widescreen Video

The front panel says Technics on it

I wanted to spend at least a month with this machine before submitting a review. I believe in order to put a review in perspective one must understand what the reviewer is comparing a product to. While I consider my system great, it is by no means an outrageous system. Its basically a better Dennon reciever, full range quality speakers, Velodyne Sub ect. I mention this because some reviewers pan this product. If I had spent thoudsands on a cd transport or DAC,s I probably would too. Under weakness I tongue in cheek put it has the Technics name on it, because I believe if it had a high end name on it reviewers would be doing cartwheels over it. I believe most of us own CD and DVD players in the $400-600.00 range. And in that light I must say I love this product. When I first heard about the digital remastering circut for cd playback I thought it was a joke. However thanks to some of the reviews below I checked it out. All I can say is compared to the products Ive owned this machine is significantly better. Cd playback is more consistent. The Dennon was dull compared to this, and the JVC while good on some cd's sounded boomy or too bright with others. With the Technics I no longer am constantly adjusting the tone controls. In fact the music seems to sound great no matter where they are set. Another thing I noticed is I can turn the Bass up more on my reciever while playing the Technics and the Bass only sounds better, more pronounced , where when it was fed by the other machines always seemed to sound boomy and muddy. As far as DVDA goes all I can say is I am blown away. You just have to be playing the right discs. Try Silverlines Inside the Music Classic Rock. The improvement in sound quality is dramatic. Even my wife who is tone deaf and has seen me bring in all sorts of equipment over the years remarked this is the first time she has noticed such an improvement in sound. Now a big surprise to me came on the Video. While it looks the same as any midlevel player in pan and scan, for the first time on my Hitachi 50inch SBX circa 1998, widescreen movies look razor sharp. I always thought widescreen would look mediocre on my set because I thought the black bars were taking away from the resolution. Thats why I hated widscreen. Now I'm starting to like it! Is the machine perfect? Of course not. If you have a progressive scan televison Im sure you would want that feature. And the "toggle on the remote control takes time getting used too. However this machine is well made. Its heavy, chisled and is definetely a classic. At the recent discount pricing on this unit, this machine is a steal. If you have nice equipment, but a mid level cd or DVD player, my suggestion is grab it. Even if DVDA goes away, which I don't believe it will, you are still left with a great cd player and a good video playback system. Bottom line I love this machine!

Similar Products Used:

Dennon DCM 560 cd changer mid level JVC DVD Player

Build, Soundstage, Value, DVD Audio.

No Progressive Scan

This is the nicest Technics piece I have seen. I am not a fan of any Technics products except this one. The build and design is rock solid.
The sound stage of this unit is define and warm. It is the best vaule for a DVD player on the current maker with the recent price discount. I am very please with the player. I hope they have more software coming out soon.

Similar Products Used:

Sony 9000ES, Toshiba 9200.

remaster circut, dvd audio playback (stereo only "thank you" )

no cd-r playback

I am running this on,
parasound hca1500a, php850, energy veritas v2.1's
all monster z ref 2 single ended interconnects with
z2 biwire and a monster clean power mphts3500.

this is one great piece of gear for both dvd playback and
cd playback ( best with remaster on )

for those of you who do not understand what the remaster
circut does for your cd's let me tell you.

first it oversamples ( same as accuphase ) the 16/44.1
signal on a standard cd to 24/88.2 twice the sampling rate.
it also extndeds the frequency response past 20k ( accuphase does this by employing a chain of 6 dac's ).

it gives your system a more open and warmer sound.

for me it gave a greater transparancy to the music also
better control over the bass, and a much wider soundstage

sure it has it's limitation's and it's not exactly a highend piece of gear but for those of you who "like me"
cannot afford the over priced stuff it sure is a great compromise.

as far as dvd audio titles go I just picked up doors la woman and buena vista social club both disc's are the best i heard next to vinyl in stereo.

good picture, DD, DTS, well made, DVD-A

goofy "remaster" function, DVD-A is still rough round the edges.

Pretty good picture. I hate the remaster funtion, though. It strips the music of its life. The last thing a CD needs is to have its already artificial sound artificially widened in the dynamics. I think it may be technics attempt at half-assed HDCD. The DACs don't sound THAT great, either. I guess DVD-Audio standard ones are expensive to impliment properly. So SACD requires $1000 to sound better than most DVD-Audio. We can all expect that someone like Accuphase will make a player that will clean SACD's clock, but cost $10,000. What's the solution? I haven't a clue. But at least this player is reliable and can play any disk I want (SACD stuff so far is not any music group I'm interested in). Ciao.

Similar Products Used:

none

DVD-Audio

DACs

There are several reasons that one might by this unit: asa a DVD player, for DVD-audio, as CD-player, or as an all-around combination. Different features will be important for different users.
I bought this for its DVD-audio capability. I replaced a Toshiba 3109 DVD (which was fine for video, but poor for audio CD's) and a SUMO CD transport (used for audio). The unit is as good as the Toshiba for video (I use S-connectors, not component video), and about as good as the SUMO for simple audio.
The build quality of this unit is much better than one would expect from a company like Technics which is definitely not know for its quality. It is quite heavy for a piece of Technics equipment. It also is said to improve normal CD-sound. Cosmetically it has that too flashy look often associated with cheap Japanese equipment. There is an annoying blue bar that I suppose is meant to look ‘ccol'.
What about DVD-audio? There was an unfair and very inaccurate review in Stereophile several months ago that trashed this machine and DVD-audio in general. I was surprised that a serious magazine could publish something as inaccurate and as misleading. The reviewer clearly did not understand the unit he was reviewing. The situation is quite complex, so I will do my best to explain.
First let me explain how I listened. I have the 5.1 output channels hooked to the inputs of a McIntosh C-39 preamp (see my review), without a subwoofer. I have the digital output going to a Golden Theater GTX-1 (see review) which sends its output to the C-39. When listening to a CD or DVD-audio in stereo mode, I can switch sources from the analog inputs (using the A-10's enhancement and DACS) an the GTX-1 (using its DACS).
Listening to DVD-audio disks can be complicated, as is clear from the sample disk that comes with the player. There are many different modes including surround and various levels of stereo (going to 96/192). All the commercial disks I have listened to are in surround (24/96) mode, which is clearly not the best mode for audiophiles. As you might imagine, some sound much better than others. The best ones give an impressive sound stage and high quality sound using the 6 analog inputs. Some of the high quality stereo tracks on the sampler were very impressive, but I have found no commercial disks using these modes.
One of the criticisms of the DVD-A medium is that output must either be analog or reduced to 44.1 (standard CD) because of copy protection schemes. This not completely true. The copy protection is optional on the part of the DVD maker. Those that do not have this do output 24/96. My GTX-1 indicates when 24/96 is input. This is one of the thing that Stereophile got wrong.
When listening to a standard CD, the sound is almost always better when I use the DACs on the GTX-1 rather than the ‘remaster' function on the DVD-A10. There is an occasional CD that sound better in stereo with remaster. Sometimes the difference is quite small.
The biggest problem with DVD-audio is the lack of disks (I listen mostly to classical music). I have one of the Barenboim Beethoven disks (Symponies 7 & 8). The sound is great, the performance is not. I also have the Strauss disk (good), the Jose Cura disk (also good, but not a spacious sounding) and a few others. More titles are promised, but they never seem to appear on schedule. I noticed that J and R have reduced their price to $399. At this price one has little to lose. I wish I had waited (I paid $699 there).

Similar Products Used:

Toshiba 3109 (DVD), SUMO, Theta (CD)

Dramatically upgrades the sound of regular 16/44 CDs. Flexibility - plays DVD-A discs and movies in addition to upgrading my current CD collection.

The power cord could be much better.

I first heard this unit at a friend's house after he raved about it. Although I was thoroughly impressed with the way that the "remastering" process improved the sound of regular CDs, I was not interested in buying one myself because I had recently purchased a new, relatively expensive, CD playback system featuring a Cal Audio Labs DAC with a tubed output. In addition, I didn't think it would sound nearly so good in my small, bright, sensitive room. My friend let me borrow the Technics for a weekend, however, and it sounded so good that I simply had to go out and buy one immediately. (Is anyone interested in buying a Cal Audio Labs DAC???)

The reason I had to have it was the "remastering" function. My room is so bad, and regular CDs are generally so deficient, that I was despairing of ever finding affordable sound that wouldn't be fatiguing, compressed (why does almost all rock music have to be so compressed and stifling?), and grating. I went through several different speakers (finally settling on the Alon 1), I went through several CD players and DACs, and several different amps (ranging from tubes, to pure class A, to two class A amps in dual mono mode, to regular solid state). I had gotten to the point where I thought that vinyl was the only solution. Then I met the Technics DVD-A10. All of a sudden it was almost impossible to quit listening. My better recorded CDs were phenomenal, my worst recorded CDs were listenable, and the rest brought me to a new level of satisfaction that I didn't think was possible in the price range I could afford. I have a bunch of CDs with excellent music on them, but which I never listened to because the sound drove me away. Now I can listen to them again, and some of them sound like audiophile discs!

What specifically is so good about the sound? First, there seems to be "more 'there' there", to quote a famous audiophile. The sound is fuller, richer, with more substance and character. The image separation is much improved, and the sound comes from a blacker, cleaner background. Despite the Stereophile review, it is not lacking in punch or drive (even on techno music, like BT or the Chemical Brothers, that requires drive), and the soundstage was wider, not constricted. I had always read about the magnificent soundstage of the Alon 1 speaker; now I can experience it.

I have not listened to DVD-A yet, except for the sampler disc provided with the unit, but I am now ready when the product starts coming in. And I can use the Technics to build my home theater system around.

I have to comment on the preceding review of this item, in which the writer was extremely negative. I haven't compared DVD-A to SACD, as he has, and he may be correct that SACD is better. But DVD-A is much more affordable (not all audiophiles are wealthy), will probably ultimately win the format war, will be available (at least to some extent) in the 24/192 configuration, and will take recorded sound to levels I've never been able to experience. And, most importantly to me, it greatly improves my current CD collection, which the SACD will not do. (By the way, I am in complete agreement with the preceding reviewer about watermarks - they are disgraceful.)

To sum up: if you want your current CD collection to sound dramatically better, buy a Technics DVD-A10. And then be prepared to enter a whole new world of sound in the coming year as DVD-A becomes available.

Similar Products Used:

Cal Audio Labs; Audio Alchemy; Denon

None

Build quality, Verance watermark firmware

Compared to the flagship SACD players, this unit is a joke. However, it is worth comparing DVD-A to SACD--even though the hardware is worlds apart and the software comes from different recordings. Why? Because the initial offerings for DVD-A and SACD are indicative of the type of releases we can expect from now on. I compared the Dvorak 9 symphony on SACD and the DVD-A sampler in my own system consisting of the Avatar integrated amp, SCD-1, and B&W Nautilus 802s wired with Goertz MI2 speaker cable and silver saphire ICs and line conditioned with PS Audio's power plant.

The sampler used 24/96 which is an accurate representation of real DVD-A releases from major labels, since they are not using 24/192 (one more indication this format is less about sound quality and more about convenience for record labels). Anyway, the SACD had incredible punch, inner detail, and tonal accuracy that sounded realistic and vibrant. In comparison, the DVD-A sounded very polite, with details lacking and/or glossed over. String tones were warmer as if prettied up in the remastering. There was really no comparison. DVD-A sounded like polite CD on this machine. CD sounded less polite with some glassy harshness and even more glossing of tones and fewer details.

The build quality of the A10 was shameful. A unit at Good Guys slowly disintegrated in about 2 months with normal use--it no longer even has a faceplate. The A10 is a $299 unit jacked up hundreds of dollars just because it can play DVD-A. This unit shipped a year ago but was recalled because of paranoid record executives who wanted to put a watermark on all digital music. What they came up with is the Verance watermark, which has been shown to be audible and hackable. Who cares, said a VP at Warner Music Group. They went ahead with the "copy protection", mandating that all DVD-A players like the A10 have firmware to play discs containing the watermark and taking the first steps in the tainting of all music. . .using this watermark to "protect" music is like pissing in one's drinking water just so no one else can drink it. It ruins it for everyone. So all of you who buy this unit are helping pay to screw up music for everyone. . .That's the truth about DVD-A right now.

My feeling: if you're ready for and interested in high resolution digital audio, check out SACD. If not, stick to CD.