Denon DNP720AE is no fun

[nsr1200]

I have had the Denon DNP720AE Network player for about 6 months now, and have been struggling with connecting the internet radio. It keeps cutting out. Also the connection to my NAS is slow, and this also cuts out. A month ago I went out and bought a Cambridge Audio NP30, this was purchased for two reasons. 1. I wanted one and 2. To confirm that I did not have any problems with my network setup.

Using the NP30 confirmed that my network setup was fine, and its glorious, there is still a certain amount of lag on the NAS access, but this is to be expected due to the way data is handled over a network.

Going back to the Denon, I have opened multiple TCP and UDP multicast ports, even temporarily taken down my firewall but the rechid unit will still not operate properly. I don't use wireless I have ethernet ports throughout my house so I just plug in, I use DHCP. I'm finding the software is slow and unresponsive and when a firmware upgrade is needed it wipes all my settings, so I have to start the laborious process of finding radio stations. Denon have taken the fun out of my Hi Fi and it becomes a grind just switching it on.

I'm starting to think that the Denon is faulty or it is old technology.

Any suggestions on settings and the likes would be welcome.

Thanks

 

[macinthebox]

Hi nsr1200, if you are connected by wireless there could be some other things in play causing this to happen.

If you have a router that has any kind of smart wireless (the ability to monitor wireless bandwidth and change channels on the fly if necessary) then disable this. If the wireless channel is jumping about for any reason this could be causing problems. If you have a number of neighbours connections in range most routers that do not have smart wireless, out of the box are set to channel 6 or 11, so try changing to channel 1 or 2 to see if this helps matters. This can all be done by your routers web configuration page.

If connected by wired connection, if you are using any kind of wireless bridges or homeplugs try powering these down and re-bridging / re-pairing the connections. If using devices like this also try bypassing them just with a straight lan cable to the router to rule these out.

Also found this which may be useful - http://denon-uk.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1503/kw/dnp720ae%20reset

If you try all of this and still experience issues, then it is possible the player could indeed be faulty, in which case your dealer should be able to organise things accordingly for you.

Macinthebox

 

[nsr1200]

Macinthebox

Thanks for the response. It's a completely wired and managed network, so no wireless bridging in my house, I recently rewired the electrics in my house and thought it would be a good idea to install ethernet in every room seeing as I had the floorboards up anyway. In short every stationary device is connected via LAN including the NAS. Only phones, tablets and laptops are Wi-Fi enabled.

I think I will try the reset option tonight, from the link you sent me, and seeing as the NP30 works perfectly then all problems point to the Denon. Hopefully it will behave after a reset, as I am relunctant to get rid of it, because when it does work it sounds pretty good and it also conforms to standard hi fi sizing so fits in well with my Arcam kit.

Again thanks for the help.

Cheers!

 

[aob9]

You say your entire house is wired. Is there an ethernet switch box between your router and the Denon? If so can you temporarily remove the switch box and join the network cable to create a direct link from your router?I understand you say the CA doesn't give any problems, but I resolved a similar issue with an old D-Link streamer some time back. All my other devices were fine but this one device didn't like switch box.

I'm generally not a fan of streaming, I prefer to load my 320kbps MP3 files onto a high capacity usb stick and plug it into my Denon 720 cd player. For my flac and High Res files I connect the line out from my Fiio X3 direct to my Denon 720 amp.

 

[nsr1200]

It's connected through an ethernet switch, I will bypass this and run a cable directly to the router, but I'm not confident it will make any difference, but I'm willing to try anything at the moment

Thanks

 

[nsr1200]

I did a factorty reset, which started off better, but it soon went back to cutting out. I am going to do a bit of research on the Denon's delay timing, this could be why its dropping out all the time, I believe that most Network players have a 2 second delay for receiving data, to ensure smooth continuous playback without stops.

to be continued......

 

[Tomas]

Hello, besides the problems with Denon,which one these two do you prefer? I am trying to decided between Ca and Denon

Thanks for your advise

 

[nickfury]

This thing is a piece of junk. I've owned it for just over 2 years and sometimes it will stay connected for days at a time. Then it will drop. Can't get it connected. Give up and try another day. Connects again maybe two weeks this time, then drops. Rinse repeat.

Tried tweaking the router settings, relocating router, you name it. Just realized I'm just outside of my 2 year warranty, so I called up Denon begging for mercy, but no mercy for me. Dude says, "Sorry that's our policy".

Denon used to make solid stuff, but I think they've gone south.

$100 plus shipping to try and fix it - I think not. Denon you are dead to me.

 

[radioTeddy]

Hello nsr1200

I have understood that you have an Ethernet connection between your router/switch and your DNP-720AE. How long is the cable?

Your reports are similar to the connection problems that I experienced and which resulted in the return of my DNP-720AE to the HiFi store from where it is was bought. They then sent the unit back to Denon who, after a few weeks, returned it to the HiFi store with a test report that did not list any faults. Similar to your setup, my house is wired with Ethernet cable. Four spurs, that serve different rooms on different floors in the house, are connected to the four ports of the router at the one end and to RJ45 wall sockets at the other.

Prior to the acquisition of the DNP-720AE, a smart TV was plugged in to one of the wall sockets. Although the TV did not have any difficulties connecting to the Internet, the DNP-720AE simply refused to connect for about 19 attempts out of 20 and then once connected would drop the connection after an upredicitible time period.

As the plan was to use the same wall socket for both the TV and the DNP-720AE, a (powered) four-port switch was bought. One "side" of the switch was connected to the wall socket with a short patch cable, while the other side was connected with 0.5 m patch cables to the TV and DNP-720AE. To my initial surprise, both devices connected to the Internet and held their connections without interruption.

Eventually I decided to remove the tangle of cables and replaced the four-port switch with a wireless access point which serves not only the TV and DNP-720AE but also a couple of smartphones. The DNP-720AE connects without problem.

My conclusion is that the Ethernet line driver transceiver used in the TV, four-port switch and Wi-Fi access point is of a higher specification than that used in the DNP-720AE. It would be interesting if you could perform a similar investigation and report your findings here.

 

[The_Lhc]

Ahem, radioTeddy, the post you're replying to is nearly two years old, I don't think that poster is still around the forum.

 

[TomC]

I have similar probem with Marantz NA6005. Internet radio can't be loaded, and after network reset everything works fine, for week or two...since they are more/less same company I would say that they have very common problems...

I am waiting for Marantz response...