DVDFILE.COM Forum - View Single Post - What to get once they're out, Panasonic BD50 or Sony BDP-S550

zepherman · 03-07-2008, 04:09 PM

Some posters will most likely have a field day with this, but here's goes.

As I mentioned in my Holy Grail pre/pro thread, when I picked up my pre/pro, I had the opportunity to get a Denon Blu-ray transport also. After putting the machine through its paces with various BD movies, I decided to go for it. My first concern was the reported low LFE issue. So I did some careful A/B comparisons with BD's that had both TrueHD and uncompressed PCM soundtracks on the same disc. This way I could change the audio on the fly to compare.

So what did I find? Well there was a very small difference in bass level, and from what I heard it was not the night and day difference that other posters had reported. The TrueHD had a tad more authority, but the uncompressed PCM LFE track IMO still sounded very good. Now I have yet to try it out in my own system though the Denon pre/pro (hope to do that either today or tomorrow), so I will report back once I get to try it out.

Now since I already own a Sony S300 that I know has no known issues with uncompressed PCM, I could always use that player for uncompressed PCM and use the transport for TrueHD, DTS-HD high res, and DTS-HD MA. And with regard to PQ, I know that the transport and Sony S300 do not offer Reon or Realta processing, but that's pretty much a non issue as the Denon pre/pro does have Realta processing for connected HDMI devices.

Now while I know that the Denon transport is not profile 2.0, in all actuality for my needs, profile 2.0 isn't an absolute necessity. The key things I am looking for is a well built player (in this case transport), that delivers a spectacular high def image and will bitstream TrueHD, DTS-HD high res, and DTS-HD MA. Things like Ethernet connectivity and PIP are not important to me and is something that I will most likely never use anyway. I mean I've had my Toshiba HD-XA2 for over a year now and not once did I ever use the Ethernet port.

But I will say this about the Denon transport, it's one gorgeous looking and sounding machine. The transport is whisper quiet, and even with my ear nearly pressed to the thing I could hardly tell that it was running. So for what I need I believe that it will be perfect.

Once I get it installed and connected to the Denon pre/pro I'll report back with my findings on uncompressed PCM LFE.

Seth

03-07-2008, 04:09 PM	#13 (permalink)
zepherman DVDFile HT Award Winner Join Date: Jan 2007	Some posters will most likely have a field day with this, but here's goes. As I mentioned in my Holy Grail pre/pro thread, when I picked up my pre/pro, I had the opportunity to get a Denon Blu-ray transport also. After putting the machine through its paces with various BD movies, I decided to go for it. My first concern was the reported low LFE issue. So I did some careful A/B comparisons with BD's that had both TrueHD and uncompressed PCM soundtracks on the same disc. This way I could change the audio on the fly to compare. So what did I find? Well there was a very small difference in bass level, and from what I heard it was not the night and day difference that other posters had reported. The TrueHD had a tad more authority, but the uncompressed PCM LFE track IMO still sounded very good. Now I have yet to try it out in my own system though the Denon pre/pro (hope to do that either today or tomorrow), so I will report back once I get to try it out. Now since I already own a Sony S300 that I know has no known issues with uncompressed PCM, I could always use that player for uncompressed PCM and use the transport for TrueHD, DTS-HD high res, and DTS-HD MA. And with regard to PQ, I know that the transport and Sony S300 do not offer Reon or Realta processing, but that's pretty much a non issue as the Denon pre/pro does have Realta processing for connected HDMI devices. Now while I know that the Denon transport is not profile 2.0, in all actuality for my needs, profile 2.0 isn't an absolute necessity. The key things I am looking for is a well built player (in this case transport), that delivers a spectacular high def image and will bitstream TrueHD, DTS-HD high res, and DTS-HD MA. Things like Ethernet connectivity and PIP are not important to me and is something that I will most likely never use anyway. I mean I've had my Toshiba HD-XA2 for over a year now and not once did I ever use the Ethernet port. But I will say this about the Denon transport, it's one gorgeous looking and sounding machine. The transport is whisper quiet, and even with my ear nearly pressed to the thing I could hardly tell that it was running. So for what I need I believe that it will be perfect. Once I get it installed and connected to the Denon pre/pro I'll report back with my findings on uncompressed PCM LFE. Seth __________________ My Martin Logan Theater My DVD Collection My CD Collection Last edited by zepherman : 03-07-2008 at 04:14 PM.