I am on my 4th DVD player; in order: Toshiba 2109, Sony ?, Denon 900 ($350), and now the Rotel RDV-1060 ($800.) The last two which are priced were blindly tested 2 days ago using the same Rotel 1056 receiver and B&W speakers. My testing audience consisted of a friend ,who is somewhat knowledgable, and my wife, who knows nothing about audio equipment.

My wife was the first to speak, "I've never heard that instrument in the song before." There was a blatantly obvious difference between the $350 player and the $800 player. It is obvious to all of us that the diminishing returns to audio don't stop before the $1000 mark.

Those of you saying a $30 DVD player is as good as a $300 one need to open your ears; then you'll be willing to open your wallet!


It's kind of hard to do a blind video test but we managed a video test and all found major differences. When a color changes across the screen, the Denon has some splotchy areas in the blended colors. These were gone when using the Rotel.

BTW, I didn't tell my wife how much the Rotel cost until after she was convinced it was superior; Brilliance!