Just a quick question, my buddy is looking at getting a dvd player around the 200-250 price range and was wondering how important it is to match the dvd player to the receiver? He doesn't have a receiver right now, but will be getting one within the next year, probably a denon, but does it matter if he gets a pioneer elite, or yamaha, or others? Any recommendations for dvd players in this price range? thanks alot guys
It probably does not matter, unless you are looking at universal dvd player(dvd-v,sacd,dvd-a). With universal players in order to play sacd or dvd-a you have to hook up a seperate wire for each speaker including the sub from the dvd player to the multichannel connection of your receiver. A few of the brands(Denon and Pioneer) have a special digital connection to avoid this wiring nightmare as long as you have the correct model dvd player and receiver. This is probably not an issue with you since these type of universal players are not in your price range.
Good point about SACD/DVD-A. Analogue interconnect means player flavours sound somehow. Typical issue is dark/bright sound for each component. IMO even more important to match SACD/DVD-A player with speakers, for instance regarding bass management issues.
In digital domain there could maybe be some flavouring too. There are different brands of DSP chips, and something called brick-wall filters. Just guessing, but IMO the possibility justifies listening to and compare different player/receiver combinations.