Underwood HiFi Ultimate Mod Denon 3910

Hi John,

Please tell me about how it sounds in your system, especially as compared to other CD, SACD players you have heard.

I own one. It's a fine sounding player. I swapped the OE tubes (EH6922) for Amperex 7308 and this sweetened the sound. The EH tubes were ok but they were too lean in the mids. The 7302s added some warmth.

The only complaint I have is of a very, and I do mean very, slight PS hum that can be heard on quiet moments during play. This might just be my player as I haven't heard anyone else make this comment.

I would characterize its sound as neutral with a lean midrange (even with the Amperexes), great bass extension and detail. I play mostly acoustic, acoustic jazz, chamber music and vocals through it. I find it does not really "rock out", if that makes any sense but on acoustic music it really pulls the details and the intimacy out of the CDs.

I have a pair of Mullard 6922 I will swap in at some point. I think they may add a bit of bloom to the mids which might be nice.

As for working with Wally, Chris and Glen? These guys are great. My first player arrived DOA (shipping damage) but with a phone call and a few emails, I had a replacement in a week. The replacement has worked flawlessly since.

Thanks John and and Colopilot,

Your posts really help me to evaluate how the Ultimate Mod Denon 3910 would perform in my system.

I am not looking to replace my Ayre C-5xe which I love, but rather to replace my Pioneer DV-47A DVD player. The pioneer is not bad for movies, but I have a number of DVD videos of concerts that I like to play from time to time, especially for parties, and I would really like to improve the sound -- and perhaps have a high quality alternative to the Ayre for CDs and SACDs similar to having to different cartridges for analog.

The things is though that most of my DVD video concerts are rock bands and it sounds like maybe the Ultimate Mod Denon 3910 may not be the best choice for that kind of music. What do you guys think?

Ed

I would tend to agree Ed. Not to be too self serving, but I just posted an ad that may be right up you alley, a RAM modded Esoteric DV-60. The picture quality was much better than my previous Denon 5910, which was quite a surprise to me. The DV-60 upscales to 1080p.

Sonically, it's definitely more dynamic and powerful than my Underwood Marantz SA-11S1 as well. I would think it would be the perfect fit for rock videos.

Hi Ed,
Regarding DVD-A, DVD-V and SACD multichannel performance, I find the 3910 does a tremendous job. It might just be the subwoofer that gives the player that added rock and roll umph it lacks on straight 2 channel CDs. Or maybe it's the added resolution as I do find SACD and DVD-A 2 channel more "meaty" than the usual CD sound.

Have you investigated the mods and how they work with MCH output? Only the front 2 channels are tubed. The remaining channels benefit only from the PS upgrades unless you opt for the additional "level 2" mods for them. I didn't go this far. Do I miss them? That's hard to say. I doubt my MCH speaker set up is likely to make these mods audible anyway.
Sounds, though, like you might want to go for the MCH mods too.

I have a non modded 3910 that I have in another HT system and I can say that for what ever reasons the modded player has better video performance too. I can only guess it's the upgraded PS at work here.

When my first player arrived DOA I was asked by Glenn to open the unit and do a bit of fault checking. With the top off you can really see the quality of the mods - they look OEM in every way. Whatever happened to the player to kill it you could tell it wasn't an issue with its build, it's all top notch work.