Looking for HK dvd player or cd changer

[hershon]

[QUOTE=anamorphic96]Well at HK the MSRP for the 22 is 299.00 and yours is 349.00. Only 50.00 difference.

Oh, my mistake. I thought I read on a post that the DVD-22 cost $200 and I assumed that was the list price. The 31 lists as $350. Right now (I just checked) 2 merchants are selling the 31 new on Amazon between $226-$229 plus shipping & for $230 new including shipping, repeat includes shipping, as a Buy It Now on Ebay, item 5776255982 of which they have 10 to sell.

[bjornb17]

actually newegg.com has the dvd-22 for $179 + $4 shipping. that seems like a pretty solid price. also i couldn't careless about dvd audio. i just watch movies and listen to regular CDs should i jump on it?

[hershon]

actually newegg.com has the dvd-22 for $179 + $4 shipping. that seems like a pretty solid price. also i couldn't careless about dvd audio. i just watch movies and listen to regular CDs should i jump on it?

If everything is the same except DVD-A, and you're on some kind of budget & never plan to use DVD-A, I'd get the DVD-22. My only warning is, and this has happened to me on various matters outside of this, if you ever change your mind about DVD-A in the future you won't be able to play it on your system. If another $60 or whatever it is, isn't going to put a dent on your finances, I'd buy the DVD-31. Just remember the Dallas Mavericks could have resigned Steve Nash for an extra 10 million which they had, but didn't because they thought it was a bad investment, and now they're out of the playoffs.

[bjornb17]

If everything is the same except DVD-A, and you're on some kind of budget & never plan to use DVD-A, I'd get the DVD-22. My only warning is, and this has happened to me on various matters outside of this, if you ever change your mind about DVD-A in the future you won't be able to play it on your system. If another $60 or whatever it is, isn't going to put a dent on your finances, I'd buy the DVD-31. Just remember the Dallas Mavericks could have resigned Steve Nash for an extra 10 million which they had, but didn't because they thought it was a bad investment, and now they're out of the playoffs.

strange example but whatever floats your boat Well im still in college at the moment, so I'm trying to keep my expenses down. I would have a hard time justifying more than about $120 for a dvd player at the moment, but considering what a nice unit it seems to be, $180 doesnt seem too bad. However, paying mroe than that would be stretching it for me.

[hershon]

strange example but whatever floats your boat Well im still in college at the moment, so I'm trying to keep my expenses down. I would have a hard time justifying more than about $120 for a dvd player at the moment, but considering what a nice unit it seems to be, $180 doesnt seem too bad. However, paying mroe than that would be stretching it for me.

I'd buy the DVD-22 then You'll love the optical cable sound if its anything like the 31

[bjornb17]

I'd buy the DVD-22 then You'll love the optical cable sound if its anything like the 31

i thought the digital connection will always sound the same since the reciever does the decoding?

[hershon]

i thought the digital connection will always sound the same since the reciever does the decoding?

Interesting Repsonse From Your Question At Sound StageAV
May 16, 2005

Question:

I have the Harman Kardon DVD 31 DVD/CD player that you reviewed, and I love it. I bought this unit mainly for its CD sound. I play the HK, which I got for $250 online, by connecting it with a fiber-optic cable to my Denon 3801 receiver, which is connected to my six Orb Audio speakers and subwoofer, which are the best speakers and subwoofer I've heard.

The reason I'm writing you is that I read your excellent and very well-written review of the Harman Kardon DVD 31. I have one question that hopefully will resolve a major argument I am having with people on an online forum. Q: Did you listen to CDs via a fiber-optic connection or the analog outputs?

The reason I'm asking is that my sound is so much better with the fiber-optic cable than an analog outs, but people on the board keep maintaining that the sound of a $35 DVD player will sound the same as a $10,000 DVD player, ad infinitum, when connected by fiber-optic cable because it's just reading ones and zeroes. I maintain this is nonsense, and I am using the sound of my HK DVD 31 as proof.

SoundStage AV Response: By using a fiber-optic digital cable and connecting the DVD 31 directly to your Denon receiver, you are actually bypassing the DVD 31's analog stage and using the player as a transport. When using any player as a transport, you are relying on the digital-to-analog conversion to be done somewhere else. In your case, it's happening in the Denon receiver, with the digital stream being passed along by the fiber-optic cable. As for this sounding better than the DVD 31's own analog stage, that's quite possible. Denon is well-known for making some accomplished digital gear.

As for your next question, about whether a $35 DVD player will sound as good as a $10,000 one in the configuration that you're talking about, this topic has actually been batted around audiophile circles for years. On the one hand are the people who say that bits are bits and any transport will perform as well as another as long as it's operating properly. Others, however, find profound differences.

As for the bit-and-bits crowd, the argument falls apart when you compare transports and find that not all sound the same. There's more to it than just saying all the ones and zeroes transfer the same. That logic may work for computer hard drives, which aren't as time sensitive as CD playback, but there's more to it when you're trying to reproduce topnotch sound. I've done the experiment many times; hence, I don't use a $35 DVD player as a transport. On the other hand, you don't have to spend exorbitant amounts of money to get fine performance from a transport.

What you have going appears to satisfy you, and that's what's important. What's also important is that you don't just believe what others say. Some people get blinded by the world of digital and think everything sounds the same when, in fact, the discrepancies between pieces of digital gear are just as great as those between analog products.

...Doug Schneider

[shokhead]

i thought the digital connection will always sound the same since the reciever does the decoding?

Thats right. The digital connection is relaying on your receiver to sound good or bad,not the player,its just playing and the receiver is changing everything.