Denon 2900 and Dacs

They're no where near it. Let's put it this way, if you connected a good outboard dac - Benchmark Dac 1 or Bel Canto DAC2 etc) to your Denon 2900 you would notice a major improvement in sound.

I added a Bel Canto DAC2 to my Marantz DV8400, which alone was considered a pretty good audio unit, and the improvement was astonishing.

I consider an outboard dac to be a great way of upgrading a solid player that you want to keep, without completely breaking the bank.

I finally pulled the trigger on an external DAC for my 2900. I bought an Electrocompaniet ECD-1 and am anxiously awaiting it's delivery. I'll reply again in a week or two with my findings.

I'm considering an outboard dac for my Denon 2900. What am I going to hear? I have an Anthem avm30 and an ATI 1807 amp with B&W across the front. I listen to music in two channle,unless it's sacd or dvd-a. Will the expense be worth it.

Coach: I've been listening to my ECD-1 DAC for over a month now and am happy with the purchase. I thought the 2900 as a cd player using its analogue outs was very underwhelming. My opinion is it was designed as a DVD player first and made it a universal player as a secondary goal. The Burr-Brown DACs in it are supposedly pretty good, but for whatever reason the end result wasn't that great, that’s another reason why they were are popular choice for modders. Anyway, back to the question. Yes, to me the expense of adding an external DAC was well worth it. The music sounds much better and the high frequency digital glare (if that is what it was) disappeared. I also think my pre-amp liked the fact I was now feeding it by its balanced inputs.

Snipes: You're right. As a cd player the 2900 does leave a lot to be desired. Sacd and DVD-A are ok and the dvd end is great. But I have a Denon changer and it sounds better then the 2900. Much more body to the music. This is really a fine player,but it has to do better. I'm looking at some right now,Benchmark,Musical Fidelity,Bel Canto to name a few. Any suggestions would be welcome.

I have been curious about this same subject and am currently shopping for a 2900 or 2910. Is one better than the other? If I use my CAL Alpha dac will it process the sacd and dvd signals as well?

I agree-cd sound leaves much to be desired-sacd-dvd-a, no
problem--I sent my 2900 to Modwright--Dan Wright,had the
truth-tube mod done----BIG-difference---highly recommended.

I tried a MF Tri-vista DAC with my 2900 and although it was an improvement, it didn't seem huge. I ended up with a MF A5 which is a tremendous performer and much better then the 2900/trivista. I have also listened to an Exemplar 2900 which is awesome.

In my experience with the 2900 as a transport using the MF Trivista. I found very little difference between the player audio output and the DAC audio out. It wasn't untill I went with a dedicated transport the Theta Digital Data Basic II that my digital front end came to life. A huge improvement over the 2900 as a transport.