Marantz DV-8400 or Denon DVD-5900 or ?

I went through a similar dilemma, and ended up ordering a 5900 and having it sent directly to Dan Wright (ModWright) for substantial mods. His webpage lists the mods that he has available. After much discussion with Dan and others who have bought his products, I was convinced to give this route a try. I should get my modded 5900 into my hands in a week or so. I will report back once I have had a chance to break it in and put it through its paces.

The one time I heard a DV-8400, though, it sounded pretty good.

As for Arcam, I totally agree that they are tops in audio quality. As I wanted a "universal" player, though, and I had a credit at J and R (who does not carry Arcam), the Denon 5900 got the nod. I am very pleased with the audio performance of my Arcam FMJ CD23T, though.

You might want to explore the modded version of the Denon (either 2900 or 5900)available from Underwood HiFi (Walter Lieberman). I'm not affiliated with Underwood in any way -- I just happened to buy something from him last week and got a package describing the mods. They appear quite comprehensive and intrigued me enough to want to follow up -- the focus of the mods is in the audio sections. I just got my receipt today so am staring at it -- his number is 770-667-5633 (I got the Denon AVR-3805 receiver). Sorry this sounds like an ad, but I'm a big fan of modded digital ;-)

Arcam FMJ DV27A. Fabulous picture and absolutely the best audio out of a DVD player under $9K.

I just purchased a Marantz DV-8400. Haven't heard it yet ( still hooking up the audio ),but the video is awesome using the DVI output ( had to use a Monster conversion cable to hook it up to my new Pioneer plasma which has HDMI inputs ).