It used to be an audiophile was an audiophile, a videophile was a videophile, and the twain shall never meet. In fact, a real audiophile never mixed his video system with his audio system. Things are changing in the post-CD world, and with the advent of a high resolution multi-channel DVD based audio format in the form of DVD-Audio, the combination home theater and music system is becoming well established.

Additional Resources
• Read more Denon DVD-Audio and SACD player reviews here.
• Read audiophile source component reviews here including SACD and DVD-Audio players, turntables, DACs, CD transports and more.

This is the target market that Denon seems to have in mind with the new DVD-1600, the least expensive of their new line of progressive scan DVD players. The 1600 has an MSRP of $549.00, and a street price of below $500.00. It comes only
in black, and plays DVD video, DVD-Audio, DVD-R VCD, redbook CD, and has Dolby Digital, DTS, and DVD-Audio decoders on board. Interestingly enough, even though the player says that it cannot play DVD+R and DVD+RW discs (see the review of Philips DVDR985), they played just fine.

Unique Features - Denon started out with the video section of the Panasonic RP56 (MSRP $300.00), already established as one of the better low-cost progressive scan players, and upgraded it with a significantly better audio section by adding DVD-Audio. This is accomplished via new Burr Brown 24 bit/192 kHz DACs (digital to audio converters). The 1600 retains the excellent Faroudja RI2200 de-interlacing chip with DCDi (which reduces jagged edges on diagonal lines). There is a 3 MB buffer to minimize layer change delays. The cosmetics of the player have also been upgraded. The classic Denon look with black metal faceplate has been added, and it looks very elegant and pleasing. The remote is also black and, although not back-lit, is fairly well laid out with the player controls on top, and an open/close button for the disc drawer. The front panel of the Denon DVD-1600 has an LED display below the disc tray, a headphone jack with level control to the left along with the power switch, and player controls on the right. There is also a progressive scan switch on the front that allows you to immediately switch from progressive to interlaced modes, which is extremely useful for those with televisions that automatically lock into full mode when fed a progressive scan input. The back of the player has composite, S-Video, and component video outs, as well as 6-channel analog outputs for DVD-Audio and the onboard Dolby Digital and DTS decoders. Surprisingly, the digital audio out to the processor is Toslink, and not coaxial as most other players in this price range. This probably does not have any serious consequences on performance, as Toslink works very well, but coaxial cables are more rugged, and have become the defacto standard on better DVD players. Setup menus are very clear, and easy to use. The onscreen menu uses pictographic icons, and therefore is a bit more cryptic, but overall it works very well.

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