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REVIEW: Sony DVP-NS3100ES SACD Player

Model:	DVP-NS3100ES
Category:	SACD Player
Suggested Retail Price:	$499
Description:	DVD and SACD player with multichannel analog outputs
Manufacturer URL:	Sony
Model Picture:	View

Review by author@escapeclause.net on July 16, 2008 at 05:57:22 IP Address: 68.214.116.86

Add Your Review for the DVP-NS3100ES

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After crossing over to the dark side of home theater, I'd been casting about for a DVD player with multichannel analog outputs (I only own about six SACD's, depending on how many of them I'm prepared to admit to). I tried the Oppo DV-980H but had a less glowing experience with that player than most people, largely because the Oppo choked in one way or another on almost every personal backup disc I tried to play in it. One wouldn't spin-up at all, then the next would spin up but play with no audio, then I'd get one with every fifth or sixth frame of video, so that the whole thing looked like it was shot in clay-mation.

I considered the Denon 2930ci until I read the C/Net review, in which they couldn't get *it* to play any personal backups, either. I owned a Marantz DV7001, which was a lush player with lush sound and lush picture quality, that never ever choked on a single personal backup over any of the five and a half days that it was in my system, before it failed completely and had to be sent back.

Then I discovered the Sony DVP-NS3100ES (hereinafter, "3100"), a specimen of which could be had -- on EBay, factory-sealed box, no surprises -- for $180 including shipping.

If there's anything more ironic than the fact that a company known for starting silly format wars is also the company to trust when it comes to reliably playing personal media, then I can't think of it just at the moment. But it happens also to be true: if you've got a wide and various assortment of home-made, standard definition DVD's and redbook CD's, and you need multichannel analog outputs, then you want either this player or its big brother, the NS9100ES, without exception, period. Not a large sampling of the population of asylum inmates, I'll grant, but for those who fit the description my recommendation is completely unqualified. These two are *the* players to buy, period.

The first thing you notice about any new piece of electronics, whether you want to or not, is its cosmetics. And to say that not everyone likes the cosmetics of Sony equipment is a little bit like saying that there have been some problems with civil unrest in Iraq -- but with the looks on the 3100 I must say I am very happy. It's a much more minimalist design than the narrower players of the previous generation, with very few front-apron buttons and a thick tray, all of it set against a gun-metal-gray (er, sorry, "TITANIUM") faceplate that, in my opinion at least, gives away nothing to the looks of some of the finest UDP's on the market. There's also a black version, for those among us who just can't quite bring themselves to part with their legwarmers and Duran/Duran collections.

Setup is intuitive and forgiving and just multifaceted enough to make me feel like I've got some control without overwhelming me in a tsunami of semipointless jargon. (I'm sure there are people reading these fora who care about the difference between PCM and Dolby Digital; I am equally certain that I will never be one of them.) The 3100 also affords me a couple of important settings -- most notably hdmi a/v sync -- that were conspicuous in their absence on either the Oppo or the Marantz. (Incidentally, the Maratnz, in particular, baffled me in this regard: where the Oppo had hdmi1.2 which "automatically" synchronizes video and audio... er... more or less, the Marantz and its 1.1 protocol afforded me absolutely no ability to adjust the A/V sync. And before you say, "Aren't you supposed to be doing that at your processor?" let me repeat that these are all players chosen for the 5.1 multichannel analog outputs, supposedly rendering the nasty tradeoffs of a processor unnecessary.)

Meanwhile, back to the Sony: I suppose it had an enormous unfair advantage going in with this particular reviewer because it's quite probable that I am the least-resistant-to-change audiophile to have ever walked planet earth, and this particular player had exactly the same setup menus -- and even essentially the same remote -- as my "old" DV-NS70H, which meant that plugging it in and playing with it was like coming home to a warm fireplace after a long walk in the snow. With the screen resolution set to 720p up-convert, the picture quality is, I am bound to say, "very very good without being excellent," with jaggies making their presence known from time to time but not enough to cause any particular consternation from a fellow just happy to be able to watch his personal collection at *all*.

And how does it sound? Well, gosh -- remarkably, nay *surprisingly* good. Pitted head-to-head against my "that's not really a reference" Arcam CD23, the Sony's deportment of redbook CD's gives up only the tiniest last drop of inner detail resolution and perhaps a smidge of soundstage depth, but in return its command of the bottom octave is actually quite a bit better, with a bit less boom and slightly better discernment between closely-spaced low-note instruments.

Interestingly, in my particular rig it's also possible to "compare" (note the quote marks) the performance of the two players handling multichannel SACD output, even though the Arcam isn't a multichannel player. The way I accomplished this was by piping the Sony into the DVD inputs on my McCormack MAP-1, and then running the Arcam (in the 2-channel CD inputs) with McCormack's proprietary "ambiance retrieval" circuit activated. This is a patently unfair test, I hear you saying, because the McCormack is making up the multichannel material as it goes along, while the Sony is endeavoring to loyally reproduce what's already there -- but you know, as unfair as that test sounds at first blush, consider the idea of re-selling the Arcam and using the Sony as a universal disc player, vs keeping the Arcam and using it for music playback. Under that sort of either-or proposition, the two approaches will represent an either-or choice for listening to SACDs.

I won't keep you in suspense: the Sony, playing SACD material in multichannel mode, does a far better job than the Arcam playing 2-channel SACD output into the McCormack.... but *ONLY* after the Sony has been painstakingly re-trimmed. Fortunately, the good folks at The Death Star were kind enough to think one step ahead of the problem, and provide two completely separate sets of trim settings in the trim menu -- one for DVD playback and the other for SACD. You can even change the actual speaker configuration between the two, which is a definite plus for me, personally, since I *H*A*T*E* center-channel content in my music, for some unfathomable reason.

My one complaint with the Sony, aside from the fact that it doesn't (at least I think it doesn't) play DVD-A, which I don't own any of anyway, is that it doesn't have a detachable power cord. And this is no small complaint, in the end, as it strands the player in a mid-fi product space where it doesn't belong, and by that measure eats into the top end of the customer's contentment with what is otherwise a fine example of a well-practiced company, doing something it knows how to do, and doing it very, very well indeed. Highly recommended.

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Product Weakness:	No DVD-A, no detachable power cord.
Product Strengths:	Surprisingly impressive sound, picture good enough for all but the most committed videophiles, intuitive setup, flexible with personal backups. C*H*E*A*P

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Associated Equipment for this Review:

Amplifier:	McCormack DNA HT-5
Preamplifier (or None if Integrated):	McCormack MAP-1
Sources (CDP/Turntable):	Arcam FMJ CD-23
Speakers:	Salk Songtowers
Cables/Interconnects:	Element, Signal, Blue Jeans
Music Used (Genre/Selections):	Cast Away, Fight Club, Godfather II
Room Size (LxWxH):	14 x 12 x 8
Room Comments/Treatments:	D-I-Y bass traps and corner HF traps
Time Period/Length of Audition:	1-3 months
Other (Power Conditioner etc.):	Dedicated A/C line
Type of Audition/Review:	Product Owner

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