Denon DCD 1500 II -vs- Luxman D-113

somehow, not really sure how, i ended up with Mike's DCD 1500 II cd player.

with my DAC out of the loop, i hooked her up today in a side by side, direct A/B comparison with my faithful Luxman D-113. the Luxman has suprised me in the past with its overall excellent sound quality so i fully expected it to more than hold its own against the Denon.

my only complaint with the Luxman has been the amount of sibilance (slightly too much) on some material. right off the bat i noticed the Denon handled this aspect better, not smoother, but less sibilance, and with a more natural presentation.

that was the only difference i could detect, at first. i switched IC's to the same results across the board. apparently there are no audibly discernable differences between Magwire Naked's ($25) and Kimber PBJ's ($?) in my system (but thats another topic).

aside from the sibilance factor, i was pretty suprised that i couldnt find even subtle differences between the players. smoothness, clarity, detail, soundstage, imaging, gain level, even "darkness" or "warmth" is identical - not very close, i mean identical.

i just let the Denon play alone for a while. going back to the Luxman i thought i picked up the slightest bit of graininess around the vocals on higher notes. focusing on this aspect, i confirmed the Denon had the upper hand here as well. it is ever so slight, but its there.

i continued on with the Denon. going back to the Luxman again it seemed that the Denon had just slightly more "body" or "depth" to the overall sound. this was even harder to pin down, but i am satisfied the difference is there, though even more slight.

try as i might, i cant find any more differences in this comparison. again, aside from the sibilance (on some material), i really had to focus intently for extended periods in order to pick out the other differences. for normal listening, i would have a hard time distinguishing one from the other.

next i'll be incorporating the DAC and comparing. this will be more difficult as i will have to disconnect and reconnect the DAC when going from one player to the other.

I still have a Denon DCD-1500II from many years back that now has only one channel operating (something broke in the terminal strip on the back of the unit). I've had it connected to a system in my exercise room for years.

Not too long ago, I purchased a defective CD from Telarc, and, not realizing it was the disc that was at fault, thought that something was wrong with my other CD player - an Adcom GCD-600, coupled to an Adcom GDA-600 converter. I replaced the ADcom pieces with the Denon, truly expecting to hear a sublte difference, but was all but amazed at what I heard. The Denon sounded downright lousy compared to the Adcom combo! It was almost as if I had simply dumped a blanket on top of my speakers.

As the same disc perfiormed just as poorly in the Denon, I realized that it was the disc, and not the player that was at fault, and reconnected the Adcom equipment. I truly never realized that two CD players could sound so different.

I always liked the Denon unit, but the distinct and clear sonic superiority of the Adcom equipment gives further testimony to my praise for that company.

This post has been edited by emaidel on November 30, 2006 04:43 pm

I'm just thrilled it works I never heard back from the guy about the 1520 so I guess it's gone. I'm working on a Sony 707ES now I doubt I have a chance but I'm trying

Scott, Midnight Oil is going to sound the same on any CDP, or Cassette, of 8 track or...

If you want that 1500 to come alive feed it some Mark Knopfler guitar work.

That 707ES is supposed to be a great player. What's wrong with it? I seem to recall Axel saying that if the laser or something associated with it goes out, then you're out of luck.

- JP

That 707ES is supposed to be a great player. What's wrong with it? I seem to recall Axel saying that if the laser or something associated with it goes out, then you're out of luck.

- JP

Yeap, it seems the lazer assemblies are all but unobtainable.

Jorge

well I hate to say it, but we hooked up my DAC and played some Oil, and it was better defined and it was a different sounding style of crap, just jokin, actually it sounded great and I kinda liked the groove a little bit more than me hating it.
It just sounded different.

elroy