Digital-Audio Reviews

I bought my home theatre system over 6 months ago, so i would like to think i'm no stranger to dvd technology. I had my system hooked up to my PC, and figured out a way to actually bypass AC-3 dolby digital into my home theatre without any signal loss, whatsoever. so i was happy with using my dvd-rom and my home theatre system, complete with a Television set. well, i got adventurous one night and went out to buy a dvd player. figured i'll be able to use my computer AND use a dvd to watch movies at the same time (hail multitasking). So, i almost always go for the best when i actually do something. people told me NOT to buy a toslink, because it was just too... "extravagant." i BOUGHT it anyway, said i had enough of the same old copper... i hooked it up, christined my dvd player with a ritualistic playing of The Matrix, and the dynamics of my sound had just ... increased somehow. Wierd as it sounds, the signal is digital, so i didn't think there would be any difference. (digital, meaning it was raw data being fed into the decoder, so no matter how i got the data TO the decoder, as long as it got there in one piece.) Figured it out? me? not really. but i can swear by the fact that the dynamics and 5.1 signal of my hometheatre has improved by AT LEAST 10 Fold. I can tell without having to concentrate where the sound is coming from. the signal is stronger, and without any deteriation. HIGHLY Recommended. Toslink RULES. (kinda catchy, Toslink. ;P )

These cables are just plain excellent. I picked them up for my new dvd and tv and the difference is huge. You've got to get these!

If you want AWESOME picture quality you NEED this!!!

Going fiber-optic is really easy!

Benefits: 1) cleaner install -- fewer cables dangling behind the components, 2) improved sound quality, though it's tough to quantify the difference

Cons: 1) Cost vs. the free analog cables that typically come with a CD player.

I recently purchased it. It is great and certified for THX. Can you go wrong with it?

I have been looking for mp3 for several months. And finally I bought nex II from Frontier Lab a week ago.

The box has quite complete description of product's feature yet it is very informative.

I was so surprised that it was so easy to download songs from my mp3 collection in my PC to my nex II. It is as easy as 1,2,3. Since it shows as removable device, all I have to do is drag songs I want to download from local disc to the device in windows explorer environment, no hassle for downloading any software to my computer. Isn't it great..????

The sound quality is great, I never expected mp3 file can be heard so good. There are 5 options to choose sound mode that makes it perfect to be used for playing different kind of music. It also has user option so I can set the equalizer for the sound that I really want. I like the sound that is more bass and little midrange, and unbelievable it works !!! it's like hear from the real CD player.

The last thing, I like it because it uses compact flash memory so I can use the one from my digital camera. Isn't it fantastic ? one compact flash for 2 kind of electronic devices??
and beside price of compact flash has been down lately.

Well, not quite as cool as my iPod, but Bluetooth headphones people, c'mon, how cool is that?

I am a huge audio file and a fan of Onkyo. I have had an Onkyo TXSV515ProII for a long time that was a super receiver until it died recently. With a new receiver I pretty much had my mind made up to get a new Onkyo but I compared others just to make sure I was getting the best choice. I looked at Dennon, Harmon Kardon and Yamaha and none of them compared to the Onkyo for features and sound quality. Unfortunately, Onkyo has also grown to be a little more expensive than these other choices. At the three stores I went to, to comparison shop the sales people seemed upset that I was even considering buying anything but an Onkyo. (Each sales person I talked to, personally owned an Onkyo also) The only thing I liked better about the others was the styling of the Onkyo is getting very dated. In fact, I took the feet off my old receiver and put them on the new one to jazz it up a bit. This receiver has connections for everything you have and will likely have, including phonograph input. I have mine connected with two VCRs, a cassette tape player, DVD/Laserdisc player through the component inputs, HDTV receiver connected to the fiberoptic input, digital recorder through the fiberoptic output, and also, phonograph player. This receiver is also THX 6.1 receiver and I have the full set up of speakers three surround speakers, two fronts, center and subwoofer. I also have rock speakers outside connected to the zone 2 speaker output. There are also pre-outs for the zone two speakers and a 12V DC control output to work with Niles Audio speaker switch. This way you could wire up your whole house with speakers. I have used every single feature on the receiver and am very pleased with the sound. Like my old Onkyo this handles all video switching and you can dub tapes from one source to another by selecting different inputs. I read some complaints on other sites about the volume knob. It is not linear like you would expect it to be. Between 0 and 50 on the volume knob it does not get very loud but after 60 it gets very loud quickly. This is done so that you have a wider range of control for low volume where you listen to it most. I would have bought the TXSR601 which has features more analogous to my old receiver but this one has a phonograph input. And now that I got it all the other features that this has over the 601 make me feel better about spending nearly twice as much.

I bought this player almost totally because of the excellent reviews I had read about its image and sound quality, and the reviews appear to be accurate. This player replaced my old Pionneer DV-414 player, and it is much better.

The progressive output is amazing on my Panasonic Tau television. I believe this player does not exhibit the 'chroma bug' that many high-end AV magazines have found in some players, even some high-end ones.

If you don't have an reciever (or an external decoder) that can decode Dolby Digital or DTS, this player will decode them and pipe them into a reciever with 5.1 channel RCA inputs. My receiver has its own decoder, but I have decided to use the dvd player's decoder full-time as I appreciate the sound quality improvement it gives over my receiver.

I also haven't experimented with the DVD-RAM playback because as of yet I do not own a DVD-RAM drive, though I will probably remedy that in the near future.

This dvd player will also play DVD-AUDIO discs and CD-Rs with mp3s on them. The mp3 feature is pretty nice, though it won't decode id3 tags in your mp3 files. It played all of the CD-Rs that I presented it with flawlessly, however. If you play DVD-AUDIO discs on this player you'll definitely want to use its built-in decoders, as the analog outputs are the only way to get the true level of quality in a DVD-AUDIO disc (the digital outputs are downsampled to reduce the quality of a pirated copy -- it stinks, but that's how it is)

All in all, though expensive, this is a great dvd player, especially if you have a TV that can accept progressive output, and perhaps you need a DD/DTS decoder (or you'd like to upgrade the one you have). Right now the DVD-AUDIO, MP3, and DVD-RAM features are just icing on the cake, and shouldn't distract you from its extremely well-done core competencies of picture and sound quality.