Denon AVP-A1HD - Page 13

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SACD: Patricia Barber
Night Moves
Track#1“ByeBye
Blackbird” revealed
that the Denon
combo could
handle delicate
musical passages
with authenticity.
Piano music is
very hard to accurately reproduce as the
harmonic overtones are quite complex.
The combined low noise floor of the
AVP-A1HDCI and POA-A1HDCI revealed
all of the nuances with plenty of depth at
airiness. I heard all of the presence in the
cymbalsofTrack#2“Invitation”withplenty
of body in the music. Bass was abundant
andwellextendedintrack#3“Yesterdays”.
I switched the processor to pure direct
and just sat back listening to pristine two-
channel audio that would make even the
most critical of audiophiles drool over.
The Denon gear was driving my speaker
system with ease and adding no sonic
nasties that would distract my enjoyment
of the listening session no matter what
power level I was running at. DEQ engaged
boosted the bass on this already bass heavy
recording a bit too much for my liking so
I ultimately left it off. I was again tossed
between my preferences of Audyssey on/off
as I felt like the vocals were improved with
it on, but the stereo separation and depth of
soundstage seemed slightly diminished. By
now I was realizing the subtle differences
of Audyssey on/off were more noticeable
in two channel recordings than they were
in multi channel. So my advice to doubters
is to run “Audyssey Bypass L/R” for two
channel sources should you face a similar
dilemma to what I have reported here.
HD DVD:
Pat Metheny
The Way Up Live
Pat Metheny is
one of those select
guitarists that
have a signature
sound only he
can produce. He
surrounds himself
with some of the world’s best musicians
and produces complex rich music few can
master. His playing is so effortless and fluid
that you tend to forget about the musicians
and just focus on the sonic nirvana you’re
being surrounded by. This HD DVD is one
of the reasons why my HD DVD player still
occupies shelf space on my rack.
The symphonic performance of this
disc can best be described as a classical
masterpiece composed with progressive
jazz styling. The disc is basically one long
song divided only by name (“Opening”, “Part
One”, “Part Two” and “Part Three”). Leave
it to Pat to keep the names simple and
distinct. With DEQ engaged in conjuncture
with “Audyssey Bypass L/R”, I was fired up
to spend an evening with the Pat Metheny
group in the comforts of my theater room.
My brother – a classically trained jazz
guitarist, was with me in the audience and
we sat back to take a listen. The sound
quality was quite good considering the disc
was only limited to Dolby Digital Plus. I did
note some areas of compression, but overall
the surround envelope was excellent and
the bass plentiful. No matter how loudly I
turned it up, the sound remained clean and
effortless. I sat in sonic delight while my
brother was in awe at the picture quality of
this 1080i HD disc upscaled to 1080p and
processed by Realta via the AVP-A1HDCI.
He was enthralled that he could see Pat up
close and better learn the finger positions of
his guitar work. Incidentally within a couple
of days, my brother was playing some of the
most complex passages on this disc on his
guitar and he commented that this wouldn’t
have been possible so quickly without such
a nice birds eye view. Needless to say, the
picture and audio quality being reproduced
on the Denon system in my theater room
was nothing short of stunning.
HD DVD:
The Phantom of the Opera
The picture and sound quality of this HD
disc is excellent. The opening score for
Phantom of the Opera sounded marvelous
and the surround field was even more
expansive with DEQ engaged. I didn’t
detect vocal recession with Audyssey and
DEQ engaged like I did on the Diana Krall
disc and overall the
experience seemed
more enveloping
with very natural
panning between
surround channels
and front to back.
The visuals were
as stunning as the
audio and I had
a difficult time
turning the disc off despite I was initially
using it for quick reference for this review.
No matter what source material I threw
at the Denon separates combo, it was
reproduced with the highest level of fidelity
I’ve heard in my theater room. While I
didn’t always prefer the sonic attributes
Audyssey and DEQ had to offer, I did find
they greatly enhanced my listening pleasure
depending on source material, especially for
movies where I felt DEQ worked best. I
plan on recalibrating my setup again to see
if I can improve the overall results. I am
confident that the Audyssey Pro upgrade
will further allow me to fine tune the
results and achieve an even higher level of
enhancement.
Suggestions for Improvement
There is little to improve on a “does
everything” product that happens to do it
all quite well. That being said, I did find a few
things I’d like to see adjusted or added to
the AVP-A1HDCI as tabulated below.
• Solutiontovolumescalingissue
• Provisionfor“3SPL/R/LFESuper”
setting in bass management
• AbilitytoenableAudysseycorrection
for subwoofer channels only
• EasierusabilityofAM/FM/HDtuners
Considering this is a fully firmware
upgradeable product, most of my criticisms
could likely be addressed should other uses
agree with my assessment and motivate
Denon to make some changes.