Denon DCD-900NE Review (CD Player)

[Gracchiolo]

Does the Denon DCD-900NE output hi-res (e.g. 24/96 or 24/192) over coax/optical when playing hi-res FLAC files from USB, or is it limited to 16/44.1?

It does output 48, 96 and 192 KHz. I didn't check if it reduces the resolution to 16 bits and if it supports non standard sampling rates.

Does the AL32 Processing work on the analog output when playing 16/44.1 FLAC files from USB on the Denon DCD-900NE?

Yes, although I only did a quick test with 3DC signal.

 

[Gracchiolo]

I tried to replicate the "3DC" measurement.
Please note that I do not have proper equipment to measure the signal accurately. I own an RME babyface PRO FS card. It a really nice card, but the sampled signal is not clean. It adds a fair amount of shaping noise that I had to filter out in order to get something visually pleasing. I used Audacity to do so which is not a good tool for this task.
All test signals are not dithered.
All of them were recorded on a CDRW.
I captured the analog out at 192/24.

Indeed, the dcd-900ne turns the 1KHz 3DC signal into a sine wave.
Then I investigated further. I created a 3DC frequency sweep from 14.7 Hz to 14700 Hz. I choosed 14700 because it is 44100/3. And yes, it still tries to improve the resolution of that signal by smoothing 1-bit transitions out.

In that point the frequency is about 126 Hz. The ramp is 70 samples wide (@ 192 KHz), so it is 365 uS long. Obviously the smoothing depends on the signal, otherwise such a slow rise time would destroy any high frequency component.

As the frequency rises and the period shrinks down the wave turns into a nice sine up to 14700 Hz. I can't see where the smoothing algorithm stops being applied.

I also prepared another test signal. It is a 1 KHz sine with varying amplitude from 0 to 4.
The interesting part is where the amplitude reaches the next integer value, so 1 sample wide spikes appear in the signal:

Denon's algorithm does not smooth them out. It begins doing so as the spikes grow wider. There isn't a clear threshold. It happens very smoothly.

The last test involves the famous 3DC signal (again) summed to a 10 Hz low amplitude sine. In this case the 3 levels are not perfectly hidden anymore:

Finally, this is the frequency response of white noise recorded on a CDRW with the pre-emphasis bit set:

de-emphasis.png

It does not reach 22 KHz because sox generates band limited signals.
The out of band rubbish is caused by the very slow Denon's filter, as NTTY explained in his review.
The same file recorded without the pre-emphasis flag has a flat response.

 

[HiFiTinker]

Practical test: does Denon DCD-900NE really output 24-bit over optical?


Hi all,


Denon doesn’t state clearly whether the DCD-900NE sends a full 24-bit signal over its optical SPDIF output. I’d like to do a practical test to find out.


The idea is to create a signal that sits well below the 16-bit noise floor but is still valid in 24-bit. For example, using SoX you can synthesize a –100 dBFS sine wave:



Windows/Linux command line (SoX can be found at sourceforge.net) :

sox -n -r 44100 -b 24 sine_1kHz_-100dB_24bit.wav synth 60 sine 1000 vol -100dB


Test procedure would be:

1. Load this 24-bit WAV onto USB and play it back with the DCD-900NE.
2. Record the player’s optical output with a 24-bit capable audio interface.
3. Analyze the capture (e.g. ffmpeg -i sine_1kHz_-100dB_24bit.wav -af "astats=metadata=1:measure_overall=1" -f null NUL ).
   • If the –100 dB tone is still visible in the analysis → the Denon is passing a true 24-bit stream.
   • If it vanishes into quantization noise (~–96 dB) → then it’s likely truncated to 16-bit.

This would give us a clear, real-world answer without relying on specs or assumptions.


Has anyone here already tried something like this with the DCD-900NE, or would anyone be willing to capture such a test file through their setup?

 

[Gracchiolo]

Practical test: does Denon DCD-900NE really output 24-bit over optical?
[...]

I did a slightly different test. I used a 997 Hz sine wave that fades in from 0 to 4 (at 16 bits).

sox -D -n -c 2 -r 44100 -b 24 997_24b_44_vol0-4.wav synth 10 sine 997 fade t 0 10 10 reverse vol 0.00012207 amplitude

Or -b 16 for 16-bits resolution.

The resulting waves are:

which I captured from the S/PDIF optical output.

At the same time I did other tests. I tried to play wav files at 44.1, 48, 64, 88.1, 176.4, 192 KHz. It refused to play the 64 KHz file. Only very common sample rates are supported.

I prepared an USB pendrive that also had some subdirs and sub-subdir with some files inside.
NTTY wrote:

But it would painful since the Denon "plays" the USB content like it would play a CD, tracks in the order that it sees them. There's no interface to select folder/subfolder or search for an album/artist/etc... So that's only to be used as an extension of a CD / SACD. Instead of burning a CD, you put one or couple of albums on the drive and listen to it/them.

This is also what the manual says, but it is not true. Perhaps on older units is worked as described, but mine allows me to navigate the directory tree with only minor caveats. From the USB pendrive very long directory and file names are truncated. Files with unsupported extension are ignored: they are not listed at all. Empty directories are hidden too, as well as directories that host only unsupported files.

I recorded the exact same directory tree in a data CD. It works in the same way, but very few files formats are supported. At least WAV and FLAC are not supported and those files are not listed anymore.

Two rows display is not the best, but it is usable. Once playback is started, it plays files in the order described in the manual. You can stop, move to a different dir and restart from another file. No search function is available.

 

[HiFiTinker]

I did a slightly different test. I used a 997 Hz sine wave that fades in from 0 to 4 (at 16 bits).

sox -D -n -c 2 -r 44100 -b 24 997_24b_44_vol0-4.wav synth 10 sine 997 fade t 0 10 10 reverse vol 0.00012207 amplitude

Or -b 16 for 16-bits resolution.

The resulting waves are:
View attachment 477487

which I captured from the S/PDIF optical output.

At the same time I did other tests. I tried to play wav files at 44.1, 48, 64, 88.1, 176.4, 192 KHz. It refused to play the 64 KHz file. Only very common sample rates are supported.

I prepared an USB pendrive that also had some subdirs and sub-subdir with some files inside.
NTTY wrote:


This is also what the manual says, but it is not true. Perhaps on older units is worked as described, but mine allows me to navigate the directory tree with only minor caveats. From the USB pendrive very long directory and file names are truncated. Files with unsupported extension are ignored: they are not listed at all. Empty directories are hidden too, as well as directories that host only unsupported files.

I recorded the exact same directory tree in a data CD. It works in the same way, but very few files formats are supported. At least WAV and FLAC are not supported and those files are not listed anymore.

Two rows display is not the best, but it is usable. Once playback is started, it plays files in the order described in the manual. You can stop, move to a different dir and restart from another file. No search function is available.

Hi,
could someone please run the following SoX command and check the result with their Optical or Coax audio interface?

sox -n -r 44100 -b 24 -c 1 fade_test.wav synth 10 sine 1000 vol -40dB fade h 0 10 10


This will generate a 10-second 1 kHz sine wave at -40 dB with a fade-out over the full duration.
I would like to know if your setup can correctly play and measure this very low-level signal in 24-bit.

And please share the captured WAV file from your audio interface?

 

[Gracchiolo]

Hi,
could someone please run the following SoX command and check the result with their Optical or Coax audio interface?

sox -n -r 44100 -b 24 -c 1 fade_test.wav synth 10 sine 1000 vol -40dB fade h 0 10 10

The screenshot I posted shows the difference between a 16 bits and a 24 bits file. Anyway I tried AGAIN using the suggested test file. The data I captured from the S/PDIF optical interface was byte to byte identical to the original file. I did this test using two WAV files (mono and stereo) and the result was exactly the same with both of them. The player converts monoaural audio files to stereo.

BUT I also found a problem. The player truncates the last part of the file. At 44/24 approx. 40200 bytes (i.e. 6700 samples = ~150 ms) are missing at the end of the file. So I investigated further by creating another test file made of a 1 KHz tone followed by a short 2 KHz tone. The 2 KHz part is perfectly audible when it's recorded on a audio CD, but it disappears when the file is stored on a USB pendrive. I repeated the test with WAV, FLAC and MP3 files and several sample rates. There is no difference between analog digital output either. It looks like a software bug. How to file a bug report to Denon?

 

[WaynesterUK]

So… I’m about to buy a new CD player

is the consensus that the Denon DCD-900 is better than a Marantz CD6007? lower noise floor? Better disc tray mechanism?

Thoughts?

 

[antcollinet]

So… I’m about to buy a new CD player

is the consensus that the Denon DCD-900 is better than a Marantz CD6007? lower noise floor? Better disc tray mechanism?

Thoughts?

@NTTY has reviewed both - see below.

The Denon performs slightly better in measurements - but not enough to make an audible difference. And bear in mind if you use digital out to a DAC or integrated amp there will be no difference at all - measured or otherwise.

Make your choice based on features you need, on price, on the perception of quality etc.

Here (Denon)


And here (Marantz)

 

[ads_cft222]

Thanks for the comprehensive review. I am also considering this player due to the exceptional technical performance. However, I am more concerned if this unit is going to last for many years. So is anybody having any issues with the drawer mechanism like noise etc or any other issues that cause concern?

Regarding the sound, did anyone experience distortion/discomfort/fatigue caused by inter sample overs with this player while playing music on cds? I am quite sensitive to inter sample overs since I always decrease digitally by -3db the volume on my streamer to make the sound calmer , cleaner and easier on the ears.

The alternative for me would be the matching roksan attessa cd transport but it is more expensive and it does not have a dac obviously.

My current chain is : Router WiFi → TP-Link AC750 (Client Mode) → QED Eth (3m) → Netgear GS108E v3 (pwr: iFi iPower X) → Supra CAT 8 (1m) → iFi LAN iSilencer → Bluesound Node Nano (pwr: iFi iPower 2) → AQ Cinnamon Coax (1.5m) → Roksan Attessa (pwr: Supra LoRad 2.5SPC 40th Anniv) → ELAC Carina BS243.4 (on wood slabs w/ Iso-Pucks mini) || All components powered via AudioQuest PowerQuest 2

 

[cyclo]

I decided to get the Denon DCD 900NE partly after reading the review here... I am very happy with it. No issues whatsoever playing dozen of CDs and one CDR that I recorded to backup another deteriorating CD. Sound is great... at least as good as the WiiM Pro Plus streaming Spotify lossless music. I have also connected the Denon to the WiiM with an optical cable to compare the Denon's DAC to the WiiM's. All I could say is both DACs sounded great with the Denon as the CD transport. I have the filter on the WiiM DAC to #6 Low Dispersion Short Delay. I kind of slightly prefer the Denon DACs sound... I thought I detected more low end resolution... but it could probably just be due to a mild difference in output volume.

I have been mostly streaming the last few years but I decided I was going to rediscover my more than 500 CDs in my collection. I also figured CD players might not be around for much longer. I have a Sony 4K Blue Ray player I bought 3 years ago and that model is now harder to find in retail. This Denon is probably my end game CD Player.

 

[Sublimity of Analog]

Hello Everyone,

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Denon DCD-900NE stereo CD Player and Transport.

View attachment 388802

I previously reviewed the Marantz CD6007 which is in the same category. So much so that the packaging is identical, as well as the remote control, as well as the user guide. All look to be sourced from the same third party company.

I like testing CD Players, especially older ones, but I'm still in search of a modern one which I could use as kind of reference. So far the Onkyo C-733 has this role, but it's extremely difficult to source since it's 20 years old. So let's see what this Denon has to tell us.


Denon DCD-900NE - Presentation

This is the latest iteration from Denon (as of August 2024) of this player, replacing the previous DCD-800NE. As you can see on the above picture, the look has not changed and has been the same for a long time. Similar to Marantz, I like it a lot.

On the front face no phones output, which is too bad. I guess this explains the lower price when compared to the Marantz. Also, no selection of different filters but we get the now famous Denon specific filtering in an advanced version called "Advance AL32 Processing Plus". We'll deep dive into that.

As with the Marantz, there is also a USB input which will accept a USB drive and higher resolution files (up to PCM 24bits/192kHz and DSD 5.6MHz).

Back panel shows the essential:

View attachment 388808

We have RCA out and digital (Otpi + Coax).

Here is a picture of the inside:

View attachment 406765

We find two power boards, one for the digital section with servo control, decoding and the Denon AL filtering, and one for the analog section with the ESS DAC. Everything seems well organized and looks qualitative.

As opposed to the Marantz, no refined output stage (HDAM) of course, but the audio board is nice with the ESS9018S and OP1692 in the output stage (for I/V and LPF, I guess), to make us happy:

View attachment 406767

In terms of usage, first impression was rather good. But again similar to the Marantz, I was annoyed by the slowness of the drive. Indeed, if going forward is relatively fast (but no where near older players), going backwards was a little nightmare. less so than with the Marantz though.
It took 9sec to read the TOC of my 40 tracks CD, which is a bit slow, but common with modern drives. And like a friend told me, none of this is of importance if you like to listen to album in full.


Denon DCD-900NE - Measurements (Analog out - From CD)

All measurements performed with an E1DA Cosmos ADCiso (grade 0), and the Cosmos Scaler (100kohms from unbalanced input) for analog outputs, and a Motu UltraLite Mk5 for digital.

From now on, I will be consistent with my measurements as I described them in the post “More than we hear”, and as I reported them for the Onkyo C-733 review. Over time, this will help comparing the devices I reviewed.

The Denon DC-900NE outputs 2.402Vrms, that is 1.6dB above the standard 2Vrsm. The two channels were perfectly matched, this is rare. The single-ended outputs respect absolute polarity. Phase is dead flat.

Let's start with the standard 999.91Hz sine @0dBFS (without dither) from my test CD (RCA out):

View attachment 470075

Left and right channels are shown but only one gets evaluated in that view. The distortion is extremely low and the calculated SNR in presence of this highest level test tone is best in class. The trace is very neat, and is the best I got so far from the internal DAC of a CD player.

THD+N is limited (and so is the SINAD/ENOB) by the resolution of CD Audio. It's the best we can get.

Same view but at -6dBFS now:

View attachment 470076

Again, this is the best trace I have to report!

I guess you saw the Denon is a silent CD player, doing even better than the Marantz:

View attachment 470077

We can't see any power supply–related spuria in its output. This is what I like to see.

----

Bandwidth measurement (now measured from periodic white noise) shows a significant roll-off at 20kHz (-2dB) starting very early (at 4kHz):

View attachment 409235

Of course, this is due to the oversampling filter which we will analyze soon. The two channels are perfectly matched, well done.

----

Before talking filter, multitone test showed no issue:

View attachment 470081

CD Audio content is safe from distortion, no surprise considering the previous results.

----

Jitter is absent too, exhibiting a beautiful trace:

View attachment 470082

Red trace is what is on the test CD (digital output), it can’t be better. The Denon (blue trace) can barely be seen because it does not add any jitter and the noise floor is very low. I did not change the scale of that view, since I always use the same, but I usually can see the noise floor, but not with the conversion of this Denon. I suspect the ALPHA processing for very low level signals to have a positive impact here too (bit-depth increase).
I invite you to check the same view with the equally recent Yamaha CD-S303, as one more proof that the Denon is really at ease on this test.

----

And I forgot to add one of my favorite measurements, and that is the THD (excluding noise) vs Frequency at @-12dBFS:

View attachment 470001

The Denon achieved the best results I've seen on this test. I overlaid with the Yamaha CD-S303, for comparison. Appreciate that the two channels have really identical performances, which is what I've seen all along my testing.

----

Started with the Teac VRDS-20 review, and on your request + support to get it done (more here), I'm adding now an "intersample-overs" test which intends to identify the behavior of the digital filtering and DAC when it come to process near clipping signals. Because of the oversampling, there might be interpolated data that go above 0dBFS and would saturate (clip) the DAC and therefore the output. And this effect shows through distorsion (THD+N measurement up to 96kHz):

Intersample-overs tests Bandwidth of the THD+N measurements is 20Hz - 96kHz	5512.5 Hz sine, Peak = +0.69dBFS​	7350 Hz sine, Peak = +1.25dBFS​	11025 Hz sine, Peak = +3.0dBFS​
Teac VRDS-20	-30.7dB​	-26.6dB​	-17.6dB​
Yamaha CD-1 (Non-Oversampling CD Player)	-79.6dB​	-35.3dB​	-78.1dB​
Onkyo C-733	-79.8dB​	-29.4dB​	-21.2dB​
Denon DCD-900NE	-34.2dB​	-27.1dB​	-19.1dB​

I kept some references and will keep the same for other reviews, so you can quickly compare. The results of the Denon DCD-900NE mean the oversampling filter does not have headroom to prevent intersample-overs. The Yamaha CD-1 shines here because it's old enough not to have an oversampling filter.

----

Let's continue with the good old 3DC measurement that Stereophile was often using as a proof of low noise DAC. It is from an undithered 997Hz sine at -90.31dBFS. With 16bits, the signal should appear (on a scope) as the 3DC levels of the smallest symmetrical sign magnitude digital signal:

View attachment 470002

HaHa! We don't get the standard 3DC view but a very nice sine. This is unusual and is the benefit of the Denon AL32 processing (ALPHA). It indeed increases the bit-depth in real time to extend the resolution beyond 16bits. This means that better representation of very low level signals is achieved by the Denon. This has been one of the benefits and key feature of the ALPHA filtering.
Of course it will not create data that does not exist (below 16bits) but it will refine the existing signal by extending the resolution. That implies a processing of the digital stream before conversion. This is well engineered because I could not spot mathematical errors (via additional distortion or noise) in that processing.

----

Other measurements (not shown):

• IMD AES-17 DFD "Analog" (18kHz & 20kHz 1:1) : -102.5dB
• IMD AES-17 DFD "Digital" (17'987Hz & 19'997Hz 1:1) : -105.9dB
• IMD AES-17 MD (41Hz & 7993Hz 4:1): -118.5dB
• IMD DIN (250Hz & 8kHz 4:1) : -105.6dB
• IMD CCIF (19kHz & 20kHz 1:1) : -105.4dB
• IMD SMPTE (60Hz & 7kHz 1:4) : -108.3B
• IMD TDFD Bass (41Hz & 89Hz 1:1) : -124.1dB
• IMD TDFD (13'58Hz & 19841Hz 1:1) : -122.1dB
• Dynamic Range : 98dB (without dither @-60dBFS)
• Crosstalk: <-137dBr (100Hz & 1kHz), -120dBr (10kHz)
• Pitch Error : 19'997.01Hz (19'997Hz requested) ie 0.5ppm
• Gapless playback : Yes

The IMD scores are best in class, the DR reached the theoretical max with undithered signal. But note that the IMD Tests with high frequencies test tones are potentially artificially improved a little by the automatic filter selection of the AL32. See later in the review for more information.
The clock is a the limit of my measurement interface.
The crosstalk is calculated with a low level signal going to the opposite channel too, to prevent the unsolicited DAC to shut down. And even with that, I was unable to calculate crosstalk at 100Hz and 1kHz because it is below -137dBr. Only at 10kHz I was able to see a crazy low -120dBr.

----

As I did with the Sony CDP-597, I add a "max DAC resolution" measurement test. It is performed from a 999.91Hz sine @-12dBFS with shape dither (from Audacity). I restrict the THD+N span to 20Hz - 6kHz in REW not to account for the noise of the shape dither beyond 6kHz. I take the calculated ENOB and simply add 2bits to it (due to the -12dB attenuation, as 1bits=6dB). The potential maximum, when calculated from the digital WAV file, is 18.7bits under this test. A "transparent" DAC should achieve 18.7bits, ie 100% in this test.

Here are the results compared to others:

CD Player model or DAC	Calculated ENOB (999.91Hz sine @-12dBFS with shape dither, THD+N span = 20Hz - 6kHz)	Percentage of max resolution achieved (higher is better)
OPPO BDP-95	18.7bits	100%
SMSL PL-200	18.7bits	100%
SMSL PS-200 (from CD player)	18.6bits	99.47%
Denon DCD-900NE	18.5bits	98.93%
Onkyo C-733	18bits	96.26%
SMSL PL150	18bits	96.26%
SMSL PL100	17.9bits	95.72%
Sony CDP-597	17.5bits	93.58%
Onkyo DX-7355	17.3bits	92.51%
Denon DCD-3560	17.2bits	91.98%
Yamaha CD-S303	16.8bits	89.84%
Accuphase DP-70	16.6bits	88.77%
Sony CDP-337ESD	16.6bits	88.77%
Teac VRDS-25x	16.5bits	88.24%
Marantz CD-73	14.9bits	79.68%

The Denon nearly achieves the best possible score on this test.


Denon DCD-900NE - AL32 measurements

I think the Denon proprietary oversampling filter deserves a specific section, as it finds its roots back 3 decades ago.

Besides the bit-depth increase that I already mentioned, and as @bolserst wrote some time ago ago about Denon filtering, the first iteration of ALPHA processing by Denon featured an automatic filter selection based on LSB toggling, and which I could replicate too. Subsequent version of ALPHA processing included further intelligence in terms of filter selection.

I'll try to keep this section as simple as I can, but it's a challenge.

First, this is the filter response (from periodic white noise) overlaid with the standard AES IMD test (18kHz + 20kHz) which a lot of reviewers like to use:

View attachment 388994

For the moment, please forget about the filter response (in red) between 60k and 72kHz (it's because the filter is slow, in nature).

Those of you used to perform and look at these tests will see an impossibility here. It is an obviously slow filter, and so it's not logical to see total absence of aliases of 18kHz and 20kHz (which would be at 26.1kHt and 24.1kHz respectively). That is because the Denon (its AL32 filter) recognizes the typical test tones and switches to a sharp filter in that case, which would make people like me theoretically happy. Fail

To counter the test detection by the AL32 filter, it is enough to add a third test tone with this standard AES test. So adding a 80Hz test tone defeats the detection of the filter, and here below we get what we should:

View attachment 388996

And tadaa, this time we see what's logical with a slow filter response, aliases of 18kHz and 20kHz replicate around 22.05kHz. So you find them 26.1k and 24.1k respectively. I tested all standard AES, DIN, etc..., and when necessary, the AL32 filter switches to a sharper mode to exhibit what testers like to see : absence of aliases out of band. But the standard filter, when playing music, is a slow one.

Also, as with the first iteration of ALPHA processing, it detects square signals and switches to NOS (Non Oversampling) mode in that case. This allows Denon to show perfect square waves. When looking at the same in frequency domain, we get this:

View attachment 470036

This is beautiful and could be used by a teacher at the university to talk about D/A conversion and its effect on creating aliases, enveloped into a sinc function. This garbage is on purpose, again to show perfect square waves, when requested, on a scope. This does not help to play music, of course, but is just a trick to shine on a specific test.

So we see that the Denon has three filters with automatic selection:

1. A slow one, which is the standard one when playing music (attenuation -50dB, stop band: 30kHz)
2. A sharp filter for typical AES or DIN high frequencies IMD tests .
3. A NOS (Non-oversampling) mode when playing square tones.

How long as it been going on? I don't know, but I can tell you that the SACD DCD-SA1 (22kg of tech from 2005) exhibits the exact same behavior. I am your father:

View attachment 389000

Proof? Yes of course, my pleasure:

View attachment 389001

Same slow filter, and same action switching to sharp filter when detection an AES IMD test, haha.

By the way, good to see that the son (DCD-900NE) improves the filter attenuation overall (see the green spikes of the SA1 going higher), even if keeping that strange bump between 62k and 72kHz. On one side it is good to see high end technology of 20 years ago, sold at a crazy price at the time, making its way to budget CD player, thanks Denon. And if you think the DCD-SA1 was a killing machine (I do), go grab a DCD-900NE and enjoy!

Oh, I almost forgot the essential, with music as well as with white or pink noise, the Denon uses the standard slow filter, there's no switching between filters when playing music. Below is an overlay of long term capture (peaks) of the song "Fast Car" from Tracy Chapman and pink noise:

View attachment 389004

This shows what happens in real life, with real music content (dark green). The remaining energy of aliases at 62k-72kHz are at -100dBr, basically not of any concerns.

I think it closes this chapter.


Demon DCD-900NE - Testing the drive

What would be good measurements if the drive would not properly read a slightly scratched CD, or one that was created at the limits of the norm? The below tests reply to these questions.

The Denon took 9sec to read the TOC of my 40 tracks test CD, this is relatively slow. Other resistance tests shown below:

Test type	Technical test	Results
Variation of linear cutting velocity	From 1.20m/s to 1.40m/s	Pass
Variation of track pitch	From 1.5µm to 1.7µm	Pass
Combined variations of track pitch and velocity	From 1.20m/s & 1.5µm to 1.40m/s & 1.7µm	Pass
HF detection (asymmetry pitch/flat ratio)	Variation from 2% to 18%	Pass
Dropouts resistance	From 0.05mm (0.038ms) to 4mm (3.080ms)	Up to 2.4mm.
Combined dropouts and smallest pitch	From 1.5µm & 1mm to 1.5µm & 2.4mm	Up to 2.4mm.
Successive dropouts	From 2x0.1mm to 2x3mm	Up to 2.4mm.

The drive of the Denon DCD-900NE was able to consistently continue playing, and without generating typical digital clicks, with dropouts of up to 2.4mm. The interpolation effect remained hidden to my hears when it kicked-off and the Denon did not fail to maintain a constant flow with up to 3mm dropouts (with lots of clicks). The DCD-900NE had no issue with variable linear velocity and/or track pitch, as well as with HF detection. This is a very good drive.


Denon DCD-900NE - Measurements (Optical Out - From CD)

I've seen several of you reviewing CD players using their digital outputs, in case the results could be improved from an external DAC.

So let's go with the 999.91Hz @0dBFS:

View attachment 470072

No issue here, as well as with the 3DC view (997Hz @-90.31dBFBS):

View attachment 470073

You can clearly see the three DC levels -1, 0, +1 repeating. Indeed, at such a low digital level, there's only one bit to represent the signal, and so it's either negative, positive or 0. So the system cannot reproduce a sine wave, because there's just one bit on and off for a period of time. It therefore creates a square wave, which we see "suffering" from the Gibbs Phenomenon due to the band limited (22.05kHz max) representation of the Audio CD.
You can appreciate the difference when the above is processed by the ALPHA filtering of the Denon.

But I think that from now on, I will just use the intersample overs test at 5512.50Hz, with a phase shift of 67.5°, like I did for the TASCAM CD-200 review. This signal generates an overshoot of +0.69dB and so if the signal would be modified before being sent, it would show either a reduction of amplitude or we'd see some sort of saturation/increase noise/distorsion. So here we go, the below is a comparison between the WAV File directly processed by the PC, and when played by the Denon via the optical out:

View attachment 470074

The traces are identical. The Denon DCD-900NE is a "perfect" transport.


Conclusion

To keep it simple, this is, as of today (August 2025), the best results I've measured from a CD player. All measurements are very close to what's on the test CD, so it can't really get better.

The Denon DCD-900NE is also flawless as a transport, only the slowness of the drive could be annoying.

When compared to my older Denon DCD-SA1, the little DCD-900NE did better absolutely everywhere (from CDA), wow! It is really nice to see older mega expensive technology becoming available at a much lower price.

The behavior of the AL32 filtering is funny, designed to shine under measurements. It's been ongoing for a long time, the DCD-S10 was already including some tricks. But I have to admit that the bit-depth increase is obviously increasing the precision of the conversion without drawbacks. This is the true value proposition of the Denon AL filter.

To me, this DCD-900NE has been a keeper for quite some times now. And it remains the low cost reference CD Player, awaiting for the one that will beat it. Good luck to the contenders, because besides the too slow digital filter (on my perspective, feel free to disagree), it's already flawless.

I hope you enjoyed the long review!

--------
Flo

Thanks for the great review

How you compare it to Marantz cd6007 as transport and other players?

 

[Kaakberg]

So… I’m about to buy a new CD player

is the consensus that the Denon DCD-900 is better than a Marantz CD6007? lower noise floor? Better disc tray mechanism?

Thoughts?

Is it performing better than a ifi dac plus 100 usd sony bdp?

 

[antcollinet]

Is it better than a ifi dac plus 100 usd sony pdp?

The only reference I can find to Sony PDP are DAT players. Or are you referring to something else?

 

[mRqS]

Flo, I've registered on the forum actually only to say "Thank you for your review".
I've been looking for a replacement cd player for my Pioneer PD-S507 which doesn't seem to be "the best one" looking at it's reviews (I also have Marantz UD5005 as an SACD source).
I'm using a Denon PMA-600NE amplifier so one of the current CD's from their line seemed pretty natural choice.
The problem was - which one
Thanks to your review of DCD900NE the choice was easy.
I'm happy with it now (I don't even need it as a DSD player, since I use a moodeaudio software solution with HiFiberry Digi Pro card connected to coax in of my amplifier).
Thanks again and greetings from the Netherlands

 

[Chris_VIE]

thanks a lot for the good review of the DCD900NE here!
Has anyone compared the DCD900NE to the old DCD1510AE?
I'm thinking of getting one of them, either the new one, or a pre-used DCD1510AE, and would be interested in advantages and disadvantages. I'm not using any SACDs. It should be mainly for CDs and eventually now and then a USB Stick with Audiofiles.

Greetings from Austria

 

[DSJR]

thanks a lot for the good review of the DCD900NE here!
Has anyone compared the DCD900NE to the old DCD1510AE?
I'm thinking of getting one of them, either the new one, or a pre-used DCD1510AE, and would be interested in advantages and disadvantages. I'm not using any SACDs. It should be mainly for CDs and eventually now and then a USB Stick with Audiofiles.

Greetings from Austria

Not a direct answer, but I have a working DCD 1520 here as well as a DCD 1015 which came later. Subjectively, they're all but identical, the latter machine significantly simpler inside. The only 'difference' is in feel and the cruder drawer 'grating noise' as it trundles in and out on the 1015 (not a fault, but the best machines of yesteryear were so slick in comparison). Adding a dac to either makes no real difference sonically. make of that what you will

Not sure lasers and so on can be got for the 1510 now. The current model will have a warranty and should 'sound' as transparent as the disc played allows.

 

[Chris_VIE]

Not a direct answer, but I have a working DCD 1520 here as well as a DCD 1015 which came later. Subjectively, they're all but identical, the latter machine significantly simpler inside. The only 'difference' is in feel and the cruder drawer 'grating noise' as it trundles in and out on the 1015 (not a fault, but the best machines of yesteryear were so slick in comparison). Adding a dac to either makes no real difference sonically. make of that what you will

Not sure lasers and so on can be got for the 1510 now. The current model will have a warranty and should 'sound' as transparent as the disc played allows.

Thanks a lot for the feedback. I was thinking of using them without additional DAC, and wondering if the "old school" one of the 1510AE would be better than the new 900NE. But since a used DCD1510AE would be minimum 12-13 years old it would also be a risk about the laser. as you say there will not be any maintenance parts available anymore

 

[DSJR]

Thanks a lot for the feedback. I was thinking of using them without additional DAC, and wondering if the "old school" one of the 1510AE would be better than the new 900NE. But since a used DCD1510AE would be minimum 12-13 years old it would also be a risk about the laser. as you say there will not be any maintenance parts available anymore

My two are the likes of twenty five to thirty five years old. The 1015 may have lasers available, but the older one, currently in storage, is almost certainly landfill basically should it fail, despite the lightning-fast track access and so on.