The battle of the Denons


I had the opportunity to try these two beautiful machines side by side, two similar lampized golden Denons, yet so different.
The build of the older machine seen on the left (DCD-2562)  is a whole league better. It is very solid and nice to touch. The newer model looks great but is lightweight and a little flimsy.

The transports could not be more different. In the 2562 it is Sony's second best kss151A, truly high end transport, comparable only to Teac's VRDS 3 or Philips CDM1. In the 1450 - the Sharp plastic mechanism is probably the cheapest one they could get away with - which does not mean it is bad. It is working great.

The real difference of interest for us folks is the sound of the DAC chip.
the Analogue Devices AD1862 is a 20 bit chip from very famous family of AD18XX DACs. The 1862 (I think) is used in the best DAC machine - AudioNote 5.

It produces sound which is extremely precise , with high contrasts, deep bass, large scene, lots of details, very transparent and lively. But so far I have only heard it with op-amp in the path. I absolutely MUST re-do it with a resistor.

The 1450AR has a different chip - BurrBrown's most successful PCM1702, which can be found in Wadia 850, 860, Levinson 36, Naim, Accuphase DP65, Kenwood 's flagship 7090, Pioneer's flagship PDS-06 and many more.

The fame of this DAC is no coincident. It produces extremely beautiful sound; easy flowing, liquid, coherent, musical and transparent. Probably easier on the ear than the Analogue Devices chip but I would be really hard pressed to make my choice between them.

(a side note made 2 years later: that comparison was a close call because both players were lampized with volt out and when the 2650 was later converted to Iout - that did it. The 2650 not only looks and feels in another league, but sounds as well.)

 













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