Denon 3800BD

[admin_exported]

Hi What Hifi,

Here in Denmark you can now get the Denon 3800bd for only £870. Should I just buy this nice blue ray player when the price is so low, or should I wait for the new Denon line or Oppo?

Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

Well, having tested the Oppo and the Denon against each other the comparison is this, the performance is identical. Both have amazing picture and sound quality over HDMI. The Oppo is about 3 times faster in operation than the Denon and plays all discs such as SACD and DVD-A. It's also cheaper and multi-region modifiable. So that's what I'm buying. Personally I wouldn't wait for the new Denons as they will be brilliant, but no better than the Oppo and at more than twice the price.

 

[jase fox]

Like we did'nt know who Will would back? ha

Me personally i'd get the Denon for that price, the ONLY time i'd be tempted in buying something like the Oppo is if it were "better" than the Denon, then i'd have to test it for myself.

 

[Anonymous]

jase fox:Like we did'nt know who Will would back? ha

Me personally i'd get the Denon for that price, the ONLY time i'd be tempted in buying something like the Oppo is if it were "better" than the Denon, then i'd have to test it for myself.

No offense Jase, but it is not a crime to continue to hold a view.

The Oppo IS better than the Denon, and I've stated how. I demo'd both players and found both to have outstanding picture quality and outstanding sound quality. So they are equal on that front in my view. But where the Oppo is clearly superior to the Denon is in playback of SACD and DVD-Audio which the Denon cannot do. It is also considerably quicker in operation than the Denon, it is Profile 2.0 which the Denon is not, it can stream media from it's USB connection. It is also multi region for BluRay and DVD at only £600.

Now please, I know you haven't tested it, but by golly a good many people have. Exactly what do YOU need in a player, before you are prepared to consider it better than another? Or am I just being my predictable, biased self, as usual.

 

[jase fox]

No offence taken at all Will, just like i continue to hold my view with the Denon's of which i will always stand by.

Now as for the oppo's being able to play SACD & DVD-Audio thats all well & good, if YOU want that, were as i dont!! I dont listen to music no were near as much as i used to & ive heard SACD years ago & it hardly took of did it, thinking about it i dont hardly see any SACD titles in any of the stores here, so folk still actually hang on to that format do they? I thought that went the way of minidisc? Also as for it being multi region? I would of been interested in multi region years ago, but yet again its not a feature im bothered about as it doesnt exite me as much as it did years ago , maybe its just my age.

And all i WANT in a bluray player is to play blurays to a quality that IM more than happy with & a good upscaler of DVDS with which i have in my transport !!

Just to add to this with you saying they are both the same in AUDIO & PQ thatll do me fine as all the other glossy features are of no interest to me so ill stand by Denon just as you will opppo... May we both have many years of viewing ha

 

[Anonymous]

Same to you mate, same to you.

Don't have an SACDs but having heard those of a friend when he brought the Oppo round, I was utterly blown away. I'll be investigating music in a way I never thought possible once my Oppo arrives.

Yup, it's horses for courses. If you don't need a 6 litre V12, then quite honestly, why buy something with one. Couldn't agree with you more.

And there's nothing wrong with the Denons, I thought the DVD and BluRay performance was outstanding on the 3800 I tested, it was just a bit too slow and a bit to expensive when compared to a machine that was three times the speed and at the time, 40% cheaper. That price difference is now 30% or put another way you pay 41% more for the Denon 3800 than the Oppo in multi-region guise (which you need in order to play Region B / 2).

Guess we'll have to agree to hold different views.

 

[jase fox]

Absolutely Will, thats what this games all about and thats having our own views & being satisfied with what we have?

 

[Frank Harvey]

J.Kratz: Here in Denmark you can now get the Denon 3800bd for only £870. Should I just buy this nice blue ray player when the price is so low, or should I wait for the new Denon line or Oppo?Well that's about the price it's now going for over here - grab one, they're a bargain! I think when comparing players, it's going to be down to the screen as to whether it's going to show those differences. I think there are a lot of screens on the market that just aren't going to give you the full benefit of a top notch Bluray player because they're just not good enough to do so. These differences will show through particularly when using projectors, and higher quality plasma screens like Fujitsu's or Pioneer KRP Kuro's. It's also worth mentioning that when comparing Bluray players, or even screens, don't just look at sharpness, colours, or black levels. Some screens produce a more 3D image, or have better skin tones etc, which on their own may not seem much, but can affect your enjoyment of a movie. As an example, when we compared the JVC HD150 projector to the Mitsubishi HC7000, we noticed that even thought the black level is a little better on the JVC, some may prefer the more 3D looking image of the Mitsi. Sometimes you may find you'll compromise on one area of the picture for gains in another. Extended viewing is definitely recommended, as quick A/B's aren't the best way to choose picture quality.

 

[D.J.KRIME]

I am yet to see the OPPO in action but to me if it is as good as Will is saying does look like a very good buy.

Dont get me wrong, as a Denon DVD3930 owner I am used to the whole package Denon's higher end products have to offer in fantastic PQ and Sound along with superb looks and build quailty, but looks aside(oppo does look quite cheap from pics and their DVD players were very cheap'o in appearance) the oppo does on paper offer a better package especially to me as it is fully multi-region for both BD and DVD which is very important to me as I have loads of non region 2 DVDs and only really wish to have 1 player in my rack when I finally make a descission on getting rid of my beloved 3930 and PS3 for a single unit as many BDs over here are still cut by the BBFC and until I can get a multi-region BD player I have no choice on where I get my BD software from if say the US disc is regionally coded.

 

[Anonymous]

Hiya DJKrime! When I first tested the Oppo it was against a 3800 playing into an ISF calibrated Pioneer KRP600M. There was no difference whatsoever. We watched one of the THX intros about fifteen times, flicking from Oppo to Denon and back again, even freeze framing on the same shots. No difference. These players are both magnificent. I have to admit, I think the Oppo is one of the ugliest machines I've seen. It's dated in appearance and not at all handsome as something from Denon or Arcam. I'm willing to forgive it its aesthetics in return for awsome performance. I didn't personally find the analogues from the Oppo to be as good as feeding my Arcam via HDMI. Maybe with a bit more tweeking I could have got the analogue output to more closely match using the Arcam's DACs, but the bottom line is that if it's only connected via HDMI, as mine will be, then there's no point paying the extra money for the superb analogues in the Denon 3800. In the top end BluRay players this appears to be where all the money is going. Don't spend your money on it, unless you intend to use it. Personally, I'm happy with the performance of my Arcam, so it's HDMI all the way, hence the Oppo.

 

[aliEnRIK]

My concern with the oppo is actual build quality

Id hate to spend the money on one only for it to die on me 2 years down the line

 

[Anonymous]

How do you usually cope with that sort of concern? Have you played with one in the flesh, what were the areas that worried you?

 

[aliEnRIK]

Oppos are not known for there durable build quality from what ive seen online. I hold my hand up ive never actually touched one but its still a concern as thats what EVERYONE says bout them (Cheap 'looking'). Decent electronics inside of a rubbish chassis (And possibly a bad laser system?)

If you know anything on this im all ears

 

[Anonymous]

aliEnRIK:
My concern with the oppo is actual build quality

Id hate to spend the money on one only for it to die on me 2 years down the line

That's a risk we take with many products. An increasing number of quality brand products are manufactured in China i.e. Arcam AVR600 and many brands including those considered to have better build quality are sometimes manufactured by a third party.

Dasp

 

[professorhat]

das:That's a risk we take with many products. An increasing number of quality brand products are manufactured in China

Is that relevant to the build quality?

 

[Anonymous]

professorhat:
das:That's a risk we take with many products. An increasing number of quality brand products are manufactured in China

Is that relevant to the build quality?

Personally I don't think so if done properly but for some there's a historical stigma associated with things being "made in China" . Thus some make claims that if a player is made in Japan for example it will have a higher "build quality" than a player made in China. Similarly if something has a nicer case and is heavier it gets associated with higher performance which may not be reality.

Dasp

 

[Anonymous]

Yes, I've always wondered about how a CD player or DVD player can possibly need to weight 15kgs when my laptop manages to do far more and at less than 2kgs with a screen. One day, someone will invent a gravity enhancement rack and it'll "sound" amazing by doubling the weight of your kit. Hee hee hee. Anyway, I thought EVERYTHING was made in China anyway. My iPhone, all my electronics and in years to come, no doubt my wife will be Chinese too. They're currently paying all our mortgages by buying all our debt, so really we should be nicer to them.

 

[HD Elvis]

aliEnRIK:

Oppos are not known for there durable build quality from what ive seen online. I hold my hand up ive never actually touched one but its still a concern as thats what EVERYONE says bout them (Cheap 'looking'). Decent electronics inside of a rubbish chassis (And possibly a bad laser system?)

If you know anything on this im all ears

I was drawn to this thread as the new price of the 3800 has given me food for thought and stumbled across this. I have to say in Oppo's defence build quality is good. My 983 is going strong ( a year in) and given me no problems at all. I was intending to wait for the 83 but a potential house move put this on hold. I have to say though as I mentioned the new 3800 has got me thinking lol!

 

[lcd4ever]

Just bought a 3800 yesterday for £799......this is literally half price.....and much too good a deal to let slide.....wife says I have got to wait until Xmas to hook it up though......only way I could get her onside with buying it as I only got my Sony 550 last November.....but it will be worth the wait....

 

[wireman]

Will Harris:Yes, I've always wondered about how a CD player or DVD player can possibly need to weight 15kgs when my laptop manages to do far more and at less than 2kgs with a screen.

You need to listen to one - your laptop undoubtedly does do more than my Levinson CD player, but I'd bet it doesn't sound as good! More seriously, my Levinson CD player and (to a lesser extent) my Denon 2500 transport's construction is probably is a little OTT, but it's mostly about damping vibration and resonances... something that really isn't too noticable with entry level or even mid-price kit, but there comes a point where this kind of attention to construction detail does begin to matter. But you invariably do pay a high price for such small incremental gains.