Denon DVD 3910 - DVD player
By: Denon Average Rating: 4.5 Total Reviews: 5
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 On: 2008-07-01
I bought a Denon DVD 3910 in January through Amazon. Price was $599 from an authorized Denon dealer. So far, I have been very pleased. I use the Denon to feed an Audio Research REF 1 preamp, NAD power amp, and Dynaudio Contour S5.4 speakers. I mainly listen to jazz and classical and try to buy DVD-A and SACD discs whenever possible. I have also used the Denon for movies. Both sound and visuals are excellent. My TV is an old Sony Vega CRT so I cant say a whole lot about picture quality, but I usually dont watch the glass t**t (Harlan Ellisons term) more than a few minutes a week. I have no doubt the 3910 will meet my DVD needs (I have a lot of DVDs but just dont watch movies much anymore and cant stand commercial television).
The reliability of the 3910 has been great. I have not normally found the transport to be noisy, but the transport is sensitive to disc placement. The few times that the Denon has balked at reading a disc, I have been able to correct the problem by making sure the disc is centered. I wonder if a lot of problems reported are because folks place the disc slightly off center. It doesnt take much to cause the 3910 to not be able to read a disc. Otherwise it has function flawless on SACDs, DVDs, DVD-As, and CDs. I probably have averaged 3 hours of play per day.
My other player in my main system is a Music Hall CD-25a. The Music Hall is also excellent but cost about the same as the Denon and only plays CDs.
On: 2008-01-02
Ive had my Denon DVD-3910 player now for a month and it sounds superb. I have not had the noisy problem with the transport that reviewer justacoder had. I listen to mostly classical music. The sound with regular CDs is smooth but detailed and is even better than my Denon DCM-380 CD player. This improved sound on regular CDs is due to the AL24 Processing Plus which smoothes out the PCM stair-step wave form to make it more like live audio waves which is similar the up sampling used on super high end CD players. However, AL24 Processing Plus does something the up sampling players dont do. It converts the CD PCM signal to 24 bit depth reducing the noise floor. I did an A/B comparison with Bachs Cantatas on Teldec and the sound was smoother and more detailed AND easier to listen on the Denon DVD-3910 compared to the Denon DCM-380. The sound from HDCDs and SACDs is incredible! It sounds realistic, as if I was sitting in front of a live orchestra. The timbre of the instruments is particularly more realistic than what you hear on regular CDs.
I found the video picture to be superb, almost as good as HD-DVD. This Denon up-converts regular DVDs.
On: 2007-01-13
I use the Denon unit to up-convert older DVDs for play on a 60" SONY HDTV. It does a great job, better than the up-convert function of the SAMSUNG bluray player (which is also quite good). The picture quality is not as good as the true HD when playing a Bluray disc, but the differances are subtle and my investment in the older discs is preserved. I have been told that this unit is the "standard" and I can see why.
On: 2007-01-12
I use the Denon unit to up-convert older DVDs for play on a 60" SONY HDTV. It does a great job, better than the up-convert function of the SAMSUNG bluray player (which is also quite good). The picture quality is not as good as the true HD when playing a Bluray disc, but the differances are subtle and my investment in the older discs is preserved. I have been told that this unit is the "standard" and I can see why.
 On: 2005-12-13
You will hear the motor of the transport as it spins the disc if you sit too close to this DVD player. I sit about 3 to 4 feet from the player, which is on a rack and connected by long cables to the rear projector about 12 feet in front of me. During quiet parts of movies and music, I would hear the player grinding away.
Most of the front-loading players these days seem to have this problem unless the builders of the player pay special attention to mechanically isolate the transport sonically so the listener does not have to hear this, what I find to be, very distracting noise. (And my other DVD player needs to go on my desk about 2 feet from my ears - and this 3910 aint gonna be it!).
That said, many audiophiles swear by the sonics of this beast - especially after a 3rd party modifies the electronics some (usually adding a tube to the output stage). All I can say is they must be sitting far, far away from it at the time.
On: 2005-01-25
Beautiful picture and Great sound. Plays DVDs, CDs, SACD, and DVD-Audio with amazing clarity and resolution. Denons signature electronics make CDs sound almost like Vinyl. I Paired it with Denons AVR-3805 and got great results! Listen at a local high-end audio store.
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