Denon 2900 and Dacs

Coach: I've been listening to my ECD-1 DAC for over a month now and am happy with the purchase. I thought the 2900 as a cd player using its analogue outs was very underwhelming. My opinion is it was designed as a DVD player first and made it a universal player as a secondary goal. The Burr-Brown DACs in it are supposedly pretty good, but for whatever reason the end result wasn't that great, that’s another reason why they were are popular choice for modders. Anyway, back to the question. Yes, to me the expense of adding an external DAC was well worth it. The music sounds much better and the high frequency digital glare (if that is what it was) disappeared. I also think my pre-amp liked the fact I was now feeding it by its balanced inputs.

Snipes: You're right. As a cd player the 2900 does leave a lot to be desired. Sacd and DVD-A are ok and the dvd end is great. But I have a Denon changer and it sounds better then the 2900. Much more body to the music. This is really a fine player,but it has to do better. I'm looking at some right now,Benchmark,Musical Fidelity,Bel Canto to name a few. Any suggestions would be welcome.

I have been curious about this same subject and am currently shopping for a 2900 or 2910. Is one better than the other? If I use my CAL Alpha dac will it process the sacd and dvd signals as well?

I agree-cd sound leaves much to be desired-sacd-dvd-a, no
problem--I sent my 2900 to Modwright--Dan Wright,had the
truth-tube mod done----BIG-difference---highly recommended.

I tried a MF Tri-vista DAC with my 2900 and although it was an improvement, it didn't seem huge. I ended up with a MF A5 which is a tremendous performer and much better then the 2900/trivista. I have also listened to an Exemplar 2900 which is awesome.