Will you test the Denon RCD-N7 (ceol) any time soon?

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Anonymous

Guest
I'm looking for a review on this also befor christmas.

Looks very smart and thinking of pairing it up with some MA BX2's would this be a good choice? the white Denon speakers made for the unit look a bit naff IMO!
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
I had a listen to it yesterday with a pair of TINY cambridge audio speakers and sub (dunno the name of those speakers) and it sertainly played loud enough. Didnt sound bad either with those small cheap speakers but it was not set up in a perfect way. I suspect it will sound awesome with my Dali 1.s . I may go back today or tomorrow and ask if they can set it up with the Dali Ikon 1.s as they had them in the shop too.

I must say that the little i heard impressed me. It looked real good too and alot better than the pictures on the intardnet. I think i fell in love abit :)

-edit- The small speakers are called Minx
 
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Anonymous

Guest
so, in your opinion, how is the output with the denon speakers?

I know that there are better speakers... but let me know if with those speakers there are major flaws or no.

thanks

DaVe
 
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Anonymous

Guest
Havent found the time to go to the store yet im afraid. Ill try to make it next week.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
I bought one last week and my impressions are (quickly) :

Setup : easy, but if you want to connect it to the network using WiFi, entering the WPA key with the remote command is painful.

Sound :

1. the amplifier delivers a very good sound for this category of product. The sound is clear, precise, dynamic, it never "shouts". Probably one of the best in this category. The tone controls are basic : bass, treeble, balance and source direct (bypasses all tone controls).

2. the speakers : they are small. Very small. And until God changes the laws of physics, don't expect great basses from this size of speakers. Don't misunderstand : the basses are dynamic and precise but not as deep as larger speakers could produce. The treebles are crisp and very detailed. If you like deep basses or intend to use the N7 as a 2.0 home-cinema, you will have either to replace the speakers by larger ones or add a subwoofer. Globally, the N7 speakers deliver a well equilibrated sound, clear and dynamic but one could regret the lack of basses. Please note that there is a parameter (named "Speaker optimize" that must be switched on if you use the N7 speakers, off if you use other speakers. Else the result is not as good.

3. Sources :

- the CDs are played with very good quality. It is not the kind of CD player that will make you say "I rediscovered my CDs", but again, for this price range, it is very good.

- Internet radios, provided you choose high quality internet radios are surprisingly good. On the other side, average/low quality radios will sound worst than on lower-end equipments. The Denon doesn't like mediocrity. The main problem is that thousands of radios exist and browsing through them is not easy. Even with the Iphone app, if you want to search a radio by keyword, you will have to enter the keyword with the remote command ! Hopefully, once you have found your radio, you can save it in your "Favorites" and then access it easily later.

- Optical input : I linked my blu-ray player to the optical input of the N7. Nothing special to say. The sound is very good.

- Ipod dock : the music is played without any kind of distortion or other defaults that an interface could produce. Browsing a large music library on the small screen of the N7 is not ideal. Airplay will be a welcome addition, when available (end of January according to Denon).

- NAS / PC : the music is played without any problem. Again, browsing could be easier. If you have an Iphone, the Denon app will help.

- FM Radio : nothing special. RDS/TP/PTY are managed. You can save your preferred radios in Favorites. A small antenna is included but if FM is important to you, you'd better connect a true antenna. AM radio is... AM.

Conclusion : for this price range, it delivers a high quality sound except for basses. Probably the best choice if :

- You use it in a small room (<30m2)

- You want to listen to everything that exists on internet and your home network (encoded in high quality because the Denon will reveal all the defaults of low quality sources)

- You have an Ithing (Ipod, Iphone, Ipad, ...)

With larger speakers, it can deliver very good basses but then you could also study the Marantz MCR-603...

A few ideas for Denon :

- Add a video output so that the users can browse through internet radios and media library on the screen of their TV

- Allow text entry from the Iphone app

- Include slightly larger speakers (a 16 cm woofer instead of 12 cm would probably give very good results).

Hope this helps...
 

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