Cambridge Audio DV99 review

[moserw]

fantastic sir, now all we need to fix up is the time for this. Can I assume you would be okay with us doing this shootout at your place (since you probably have the best amp+speaker setup among the lot of us)? If you are indeed okay with it, let us know what date and time would be convenient. And I will bring my sheffield labs disc (and some other junk) along. The others can get their own standard comparison material.

If it's going to be at Venkat Sir's place then try to accommodate the PC/HDD based system too. I'm convinced it's the best out there, but would like to hear other's views/opinions too.

 

[spirovious]

If it's going to be at Venkat Sir's place then try to accommodate the PC/HDD based system too. I'm convinced it's the best out there, but would like to hear other's views/opinions too.

Bestway to shootout-
1.WD> ana stereo out> st amp/Onkyo875
2.WD> opt out> Onk875
3.Oppo983> ana stereo out>st amp/Onkyo875
4.oppo983> dig out> Onk875

Similarly other DVDp can be reviewed.

 

[anm]

onkyo 875? who has that?

 

[spirovious]

onkyo 875? who has that?

Venkat has that.

 

[psychotropic]

I have a feeling this is going to be a lot of fun, and i won't be surprised if there are a few divergent opinions.

 

[moserw]

Bestway to shootout-
1.WD> ana stereo out> st amp/Onkyo875
2.WD> opt out> Onk875
3.Oppo983> ana stereo out>st amp/Onkyo875
4.oppo983> dig out> Onk875

Similarly other DVDp can be reviewed.

To my knowledge Venkat sir already is using a PC to listen to music. You can check that too with same content/CD and give us your views/thoughts.

I have a feeling this is going to be a lot of fun, and i won't be surprised if there are a few divergent opinions.

Quite sure it will be lots of fun and too bad I will not be around to play/fiddle around too.

 

[spirovious]

To my knowledge Venkat sir already is using a PC to listen to music. You can check that too with same content/CD and give us your views/thoughts.



Quite sure it will be lots of fun and too bad I will not be around to play/fiddle around too.

WD is with MBR.

 

[sushanthace]

Some of the observations after 1 month of usage of DVD99

1. It doesnt play MP3 discs or MP3 formats
2. I connected to the AVR thru analogue outputs and played in direct mode and played around with the settings of the player and the audio seemed to be more clear and crisp but not loud and the bass was a little less. Could be because of my speaker limitations.
3. Copied a DVD to a USB drive(VOB) and played through USB and it played as good as from the Disc and i somehow felt the sound was much better ( is it possible ??)
4 .Also played some DIVx movies from pen drive and used the AVR for amplifying and the player did a fantastic job of upscaling the movies for my Panny PV8
5 .There is no movie resume function(it was there in my Sony NS78 ..grrrr). I miss this function a lot since i used to watch movie in parts. So if power goes off or you have to stop the movie for some reason... tadah... you have to start from the beginning.
6 .You need to stop the play functions to change the upscaling settings
7 .When viewing images from USB drive you have many options of sizing and rotating of images and also transition effects( small thing but brings a smile on my face )
8 . And i played some DVD audio CDs and the effect was great when played in stereo mode
9 . Couldnt manage to get a good SACD(didnt have the heart to spend huge money on some unknown artist)


Thats all for now...the exploration still continues....

 

[spirovious]

It does play MP3,you need to either finalise disc properly(in 128kpbs) or other firmware which plays it.

 

[sushanthace]

It does play MP3,you need to either finalise disc properly(in 128kpbs) or other firmware which plays it.

will check it again tonight . The MP3 disc was not burned by me, it was bought from Planet M.

 

[psychotropic]

The DVD99 doesnt' play MP3s out of the box. It needs a hack, the one below (originaly for the 540D) MIGHT work, you can try it out:

Turn the unit on
Press Setup
Once in the setup menu move the cursor over the speaker set up menu
Press Angle on the remote
Switch the Support mode from OFF to ON
Press Setup again
Turn the player off and then on again

If it doesn't work, do trawl the web for an appropriate hack.

The difference in the sound between your digital out and analog out is probably on account of the difference in the type of DACs used in the player and your AVR.

The improvement while playing from a USB sounds plausible, the same advantage that a computer based tranasport has over an optical drive based transport. The transport-induced jitter will be minimised.

The lack of a resume function does sound like a bit of an irritant

Good to know you're enjoying the player

Some of the observations after 1 month of usage of DVD99

1. It doesnt play MP3 discs or MP3 formats
2. I connected to the AVR thru analogue outputs and played in direct mode and played around with the settings of the player and the audio seemed to be more clear and crisp but not loud and the bass was a little less. Could be because of my speaker limitations.
3. Copied a DVD to a USB drive(VOB) and played through USB and it played as good as from the Disc and i somehow felt the sound was much better ( is it possible ??)
4 .Also played some DIVx movies from pen drive and used the AVR for amplifying and the player did a fantastic job of upscaling the movies for my Panny PV8
5 .There is no movie resume function(it was there in my Sony NS78 ..grrrr). I miss this function a lot since i used to watch movie in parts. So if power goes off or you have to stop the movie for some reason... tadah... you have to start from the beginning.
6 .You need to stop the play functions to change the upscaling settings
7 .When viewing images from USB drive you have many options of sizing and rotating of images and also transition effects( small thing but brings a smile on my face )
8 . And i played some DVD audio CDs and the effect was great when played in stereo mode
9 . Couldnt manage to get a good SACD(didnt have the heart to spend huge money on some unknown artist)


Thats all for now...the exploration still continues....

 

[rallynut]

sushanth,read the same about the inability to play mp3s without the hack.try psychotropics suggestion,should work.enjoy.cheers

 

[gobble]

5 .There is no movie resume function(it was there in my Sony NS78 ..grrrr). I miss this function a lot since i used to watch movie in parts. So if power goes off or you have to stop the movie for some reason... tadah... you have to start from the beginning.

Does the oppo 98x have that?

TIA

 

[spirovious]

Does the oppo 98x have that?

TIA

Hi Globble ,oppo980 has resume function,pls. read the rev-
OPPO DV-980H DVD Player Review - Home Cinema Reviews - TrustedReviews

 

[rallynut]

guys,the mp3 hack is as follows:
1.with no disc in player switch on
2.press SETUP
3.move to speaker setup
4.press 9210 on remote,this brings up support mode
5.switch support mode to on
6.press SETUP
7.switch off then on,and ur good to go
to put doubts to rest its a damn fine cd player,so much so that ive been just listenin to cds and havent watched any movies yet .the level of detail apparent to me playing james taylor/lee ritenour/norah jones/spyrogyra/and many others is exceptional!!!if budget players are built so,would be mindboggling to experience great dedicated cd players( ca 640c next buy.cheers

 

[jaudere]

As i mentioned earlier the SQ is definitely better than the conventional budget DVD players i have listened to ( not sure about other brands but i have used LG, SONY and Philips and i can safely say this is better than the former)

i am yet to go through whole thread but i have a question. if you are using digital out,you are using your AVR DAC. i used to think that if you use any digital out (optical/coax), the SQ will depend on the AVR and not on CDP.

 

[jaudere]

The improvement while playing from a USB sounds plausible, the same advantage that a computer based tranasport has over an optical drive based transport. The transport-induced jitter will be minimised.

Thanks to both of you, Sushanth for the observation,and psychotropic for the logical explanation for that idea.i don't like the idea of using PC for music alone and needed something better than CD. now i would look for a budget DVDp with USB handling capability. it think that should solve my problem.

 

[sushanthace]

guys,the mp3 hack is as follows:
1.with no disc in player switch on
2.press SETUP
3.move to speaker setup
4.press 9210 on remote,this brings up support mode
5.switch support mode to on
6.press SETUP
7.switch off then on,and ur good to go
to put doubts to rest its a damn fine cd player,so much so that ive been just listenin to cds and havent watched any movies yet .the level of detail apparent to me playing james taylor/lee ritenour/norah jones/spyrogyra/and many others is exceptional!!!if budget players are built so,would be mindboggling to experience great dedicated cd players( ca 640c next buy.cheers

Thanks Rallynut..it works now

Cheers
S

 

[sushanthace]

i am yet to go through whole thread but i have a question. if you are using digital out,you are using your AVR DAC. i used to think that if you use any digital out (optical/coax), the SQ will depend on the AVR and not on CDP.

Hi Jaudere,


When we use the RAW mode the AVR DAC is used. But when we use the PCM mode of the player and play in direct mode the DAC of the DVD player is used. In my case i felt the DAC of the DVDp is better than my AVR(i guess).

Cheers
S

 

[rallynut]

Thanks Rallynut..it works now

Cheers
S

ur welcome sushanth.BTW how did the shootout go??did read psychotropics initial impressions.still waitin for venkats review tho.hows the amp comin along?do keep me posted.cheers