I have a chance to pick up the subject player for US$99. I fully understand the fact that it can't carry the Denon 2200/2900's or the NAD T533's cd case, (RE: jockstrap), BUT that does seem like a hard to pass up price. It comes with a 90 day parts/labor warranty. I'm sort of strapped right now but don't wish to miss a real deal. I've recently picked up the Eagles' Hotel California DVD-A and would love to hear it (on a DVD-A). I figure its got to be miles above my current DVD player, a Sony DVP-NS315 which although it passes DTS to my NAD T742, it also passes an annoying hiss as well. Thoughts?
Sem, For $99 I don't see how you could go wrong with the Pioneer player. It's a great way to get into both DVD-A and SACD. I've been using a cheap Toshiba (SD4900) to listen to DVD-A. Even with my lowly player, I can hear the great sonic benefits of DVD-A. The Pioneer would make-do for now until you can afford a better player. I plan on upgrading to a Denon 2200 and don't feel bad about having spent $80 for the Toshiba player a few months ago. (It's going in the guest bedroom.) As far as budgeting, don't forget about all the DVD-A and SACD discs you'll want to buy after you hear how great they sound.
The Pioneer is great at the price. But I am sure there will be others that compete with it shortly.
Certainly, the Denon 2200 is the one to beat at its price point. It is undoubtedly the player that gives you the most bang for the buck with every reasonable playback format. If you can get the Pioneer Elite 47AV or 47AVi at around the same price it is about a wash. If you have a Pioneer i-link receiver the 47AVi is definitely the one to get. Plus you save money on interconnects as everything goes through the single firewire--which outperforms any surround interconnect--or any other interconnect for audio (with it being about the same as HDMI or optical/coaxial digital interconnects for stereo). But since the firewire does it all--and cheaply (with an enoromous bandwidth 400mHz, with new firewire coming out with 800 mHz)it should be on every receiver and pre-pro, along with HDTV and HDTV receiver. Firewire and HDMI interconnects will definitely future-proof you with great performance for the forseeable future. Although I wouldn't buy new equipment just for those qualities if your older equipment is working fine. I would just take it into serious consideration for future purchases.
It would be great if NAD, Rotel and many other manufacturers begin to include universal firewire and HDMI on all applicable components. I bet within 2 years HDMI will be on plenty of components and to a lesser degree firewire. Firewire is too consumer friendly for the music and movie providers to like. Most firewire has no encryption to prevent copies and can be daisy-chained to over 80 components with no quality loss--as long as you have two-way firewire.
I love my new Pioneer Elite 59AVi connected to my 49TXi receiver. It plays every format wonderfully. I use my Denon 2900 with my downstairs set-up (which is connected to Aragon separates).
I am putting off my new HDTV purchase until Intel ships their LCoS chips to the various manufacturers that will use them. I probably have to wait until the end of the year until actual HDTV's with LCoS arrive--and by 2005 until there are many of them. Then I will compare them with the latest generations of DLP's and go from there.