APL NWO2.5 ?

Mmakshak - I have had the APL3910 for about two weeks now. It has all the latest upgrades including the AKM DACs. Right out of the box it sounded pretty darn good. I have only about 15-20 hours on it now and recently listened to Miles Davis Kind of Blue (had listened to it about 30 times before on a Meridian 506-20) and was blown away by how good it sounded - it was like listening to it for the first time and discovering all the little nuances and textures to the music/performances that I had never heard before. Can't wait til my 3910 is fully broken in. That being said, I can only imagine how good the NWO 2.5 is.

I have owned the 3910 with Crystal dacs , the 3910 fully loaded with 6 AKM dacs per channel and now own the NWO 2.5. In my opinion if the Crystal was say a one , then the AKM would be a four. The 2.5 would easily be a twelve in performance difference. I also work with Alex so take this statement for what it is worth to you. I however stand by it as accurate imo.

I also owned an APL Denon 3910 with Crystal DACs and then with AKM
DACs. If 2 is 100% more than 1, and if the Crystal DACs were a one,
then the AKM DACs were a 1.25 or a 1.5. 25% or 50% improvement is an
enormous jump in audio terms. We are usually happy with single digit
percentage improvements. Were the AKM DACs 100% better than the
Crystal DACs? Not in my opinion.

As they say, YMMV, and everyone's continuum is different.

Tvad , you owned version AKM # 5 and we are up to revision #14 . I owned AKM version # 12 . What I was referring to was in non technical mathematical terms my friend . It was basically on a laymans scale. 1. was Crystal 4. was my AKM and although I initially intended to place the 2.5 as a simple 10 , I gave it some thought and came to the conclusion it was higher in relative performance. I wasnt intending this to be taken too terribly seriously. I was simply trying to put this in to perspective for some out there who might wonder where the performance values lie. It was a relative scale not based on percentages . My mistake I guess. Audiophiles are certainly a serious group of people..... :} I represent APl Hi Fi yes , I also have fun in this hobby and will exit quietly when it ceases to become so.

No problem Brainwater. You offered your perspective and I offered mine.
Your explanation of which AKM DAC revision I had certainly goes a long
way to explain the difference I perceived betweeen the Crystal and AKM
DACs.

Kumbaya.

When evaluating used APL Denon 3910 players, how does one determine
which AKM DAC revision is installed? And, how does one compare the
value of a used APL Denon 3910 with AKM DAC revision #6 versus, say,
a used APL Denon 3910 with AKM DAC revision #13?