Perhaps the feature of the DVD-5900 that stands out the most, aside from its DVI output and 720p/1080i up conversion, is the inclusion of Denon's DLink to pass DVD-A in native PCM format to the mating AVR-5803 flagship receiver. Ever since Denon announced this digital solution, I longed for the day to experience it myself and experience the full potential of DVD-A with proper bass management and digital delay compensation.

At last I was hearing DVD-A in all of its glory with digital delay and bass management compensation done at the receiver, NOT the DVD-A player. I was stunned by the impeccable bass integration I was hearing between all of my speakers and the subwoofer. The bass impact was so enthralling that I actually got goose bumps when cranking the track "Liars Nightmare".

Next up was SACD. Patricia Barber's Modern Cool SACD is a great example of what SACD is all about. In my opinion, Premonition Records (the premier record company for Patricia Barber), makes some of the highest quality recordings I am familiar with - and this one was no exception. The song "Company" from Modern Cool contains a drum ballad unheard of in today's Smooth Jazz realm, and welcome in a world where two-chord rock and prefabricated lyrics seem so commonplace. The way that the DVD-5900 effortlessly played this disc was simply stunning. The snare drum snapped and the cymbals crashed without hint of compression or distortion. The trumpets were right in your face and the separation of instruments was unreal. Bass was hard hitting and tight making me lose control of the master volume.

What impressed me most about SACD playback was when I really sat down to listen to the Norah Jones Come Sail Away with Me multi-channel SACD. I was hearing a level of airiness in Norah's voice that, until now, I wasn't so blatantly aware of. The instruments seemed more fluid and dynamic when compared to listening to them on the DVD-2900. This was truly the most enjoyable multi-channel musical experience I have yet experienced. Considering both players share the same quality Burr Brown DSD 1790 DAC's, I can only attribute the sonic differences I was hearing to the superior discrete power supply and analog sections of the DVD-5900 and perhaps the dual Hammerhead SHARC processors responsible for allowing digital delay and channel trim adjustments of SACD. Note that when I listened to two channel SACD's, I utilized the AVR-5803 bass management to engage subwoofer in two channel "Pure Direct" mode by connecting another pair of audio interconnects to an unused analog input of the AVR-5803 as I mentioned in my set-up tips in the Dlink Reset Anomaly section of this review.

I spent most of the time listening to Redbook CD's via a digital connection directly to the fabulous AVR-5803 flagship receiver. For comparative purposes, I did A/B switching between the DACs in the DVD-5900 and those in the AVR-5803 and found it difficult to distinguish between the two since both employed superb converters with Denon's own AL24+ processing. At times I thought I preferred the AVR-5803, but usually when I knew which one I was switching to, thus corrupting my objective judgment (much like cable soothsayers when claiming magical sonic wonders of their latest cables and rejecting the validity of true DBT listening tests.)

Conclusion

The DVD-5900 is truly a benchmark player despite its few operational glitches and vices. It provides stellar high-fidelity SACD and DVD-A playback on par with the best dedicated players out there in my experience. It is also one of the first players to offer digital delay compensation and bass management via its analog outputs for both DVD-A and SACD (PCM conversion). In addition, the DVD-5900 has provision for subwoofer delay while many of today's costly high-end processors still lack this feature. Despite its rather complex set-up, requiring careful calibration attention, I was very pleased overall with the DVD-5900's video playback performance. I felt it had excellent black level contrast and color balance while also displaying a very impressive picture via its interlaced DVI outputs and de-interlaced component video outputs. I was mildly disappointed that minor macroblocking was observed on a select few DVD Video discs (Pirates of The Caribbean was most notable) but Denon claims their next firmware fix should resolve this issue. According to Denon, the player is actually amplifying artifacts from bad compression discs. Also realize that it takes a keen eye, appropriate disc, and well-calibrated display (and perhaps an almost anal-retentive compulsion!) for those problems to be evident.

While some of the anomalies I have reported on may seem a little grim, many of them have work around solutions, and much of my list will not affect most users. In fact my biggest gripe about muti channel SACD bass management appears to be software related, and Denon provides the solution with its very flexible bass management via the player or mating AVR-5803 receiver. I am confident Denon can resolve most of the other minor issues in future firmware releases and I will be in constant communication with them to report resolutions in a review addendum.

The DVD 5900 caters to the audiophile and videophile alike and should please even the most critical home theater aficionados willing to pain through all of the endless permutations of settings to squeeze out the performance limits of whatever format is being played back. This player sets the standard for all universal machines and is yet another example of Denon leading the pack in sophisticated high performance home theater equipment. If you are a diehard videophile and lucky owner of a digital display or projector that can benefit from 720p/1080i upconversion, make sure this player is on your short list. If you also happen to be an uncompromising audiophile, your short list just got even shorter!