 Kenwood Sovereign DV-5700 DVD Player
On my recent trip to the UK, I went out for some pub food
one night and found myself waiting in line behind a regular. "I'll have the prime
rib," he told the bartender.
"How do you want it cooked?"
"Uhhh, medium-well, I suppose."
"Soup or salad?"
"Ummm, salad."
"What kind of dressing would you like?"
"Italian?"
"French fries or baked potato?"
"Uhh, baked potato."
"Sour cream or beurre blanc?"
The man in front of me threw his hands into the air in
frustration. "All those choices -- what is this, America?"
I see that same frustration when people are confronted with
the panoply of consumer electronics choices these days. Scanning the list of features for
the Wiztech Cosmophonic 7011, some folks respond with a knee-jerk, "I don’t need
that!"
Kenwood's Sovereign DV-5700 DVD Player probably elicits
that response a lot. To begin with, it's a five-disc carousel changer, which means that
while you play one disc, you can change the other four. It lives up to the versatile
in Digital Versatile Disc, playing DVD-Video discs, DVD-Audio discs, CDs, audio
CD-R/CD-RWs, and MP3 CDs. It sports a 54MHz 10-bit video D/A converter and selectable
interlaced/progressive-scan component-video output, in addition to composite and S-video.
It's one of the first players to incorporate Faroudja DCDi deinterlacing with 3:2 pulldown
processing and adjustable Faroudja digital video enhancement. It has built-in Dolby
Digital and DTS decoding with 5.1-channel output and built-in bass management for Dolby
Digital, DTS, and DVD-Audio. For the particular music lover, it offers optical and
coaxial digital outputs for Dolby Digital/DTS/96kHz/24-bit-capable PCM. And for
multichannel music discs, it even features 192kHz/24-bit DACs for the front left and right
channels, as well as 96kHz/24-bit DACs for the others. All for $950.
The question is, do you need all that?
I'm the jack of all trades, I love every lick I get
Let's start by taking a peek under the DV-5700's hood. It
is, of course, a five-disc carousel player -- and many people fail to comprehend why
anyone might need a DVD changer. There are a few compelling reasons. For one, you might
have kids. With a carousel, you can load up their five favorite discs and not have to
worry about what those little fingers might be doing to your optical discs. Or you could
go the Bijou route -- load up an animated feature and a multidisc DVD set and sit
through a cartoon, movie, and assorted short extras without having to feed the player more
than once.
But the real reason is closely connected to another of the
player's functions -- it's close to a universal player, lacking only SACD capabilities to
qualify. The Kenwood is packed with audio features, ranging from digital outputs (so it
can serve as a digital transport) to DVD-Audio. In addition, it contains internal
high-resolution D/A processors (and also internal Dolby Digital and DTS processing). When
used as a music transport, whether playing some permutation of CD or DVD-Audio discs, the
DV-5700 can be programmed to skip all DVD-Video discs in the carousel (SEQ2 on the
remote).
Most DVD-Audio players have an Achilles' heel -- bass
management. Bass management is one of those problems that didn't exist back in the days of
two-channel audio and full-range loudspeakers. But home theater, specifically Dolby and
DTS encoding/decoding, requires a subwoofer to reproduce low bass tones and -- obviously
-- some means of extracting those low notes from the signal and assigning them to the
subwoofer and not the main speakers. This bass routing is included in the surround
processing, which means it doesn't work with DVD-Audio, and most DVD-Audio players don't
incorporate any form of it themselves -- which is why separate bass-management components
such as Outlaw Audio's $249 ICBM were created.
The DV-5700 is one of the few DVD-Audio players that does
include bass management, which can be configured to manage the bass for the player's
internal DD and DTS processing as well.
Kenwood is incredibly chuffed that the DV-5700 is capable
of providing progressive-scan output because of its Sage FL2200 deinterlacing and
enhancement chips. Faroudja, like Sage, is now part of Genesis Microchip, and developed
the chips for Sage, before the acquisition flurry confused matters even further. The chip
is a 10-bit motion-adaptive processor that encompasses Faroudja's DCDi (Directional
Correlation Deinterlacing), which eliminates the zigzag edge distortion called
"jaggies." The deinterlacer creates smooth, distortion-free images, while
another Sage/Faroudja chip (FLI2220) enhances the image horizontally and vertically to
improve perceived depth by sharpening large edges without distorting the image.
In NTSC (National Television Standards Committee) video
(the old analog standard), pictures are interlaced. In other words, the picture is
broadcast in frames and each frame is divided into two half-frames, each of which contains
every other line of the complete image. Those two images are switched back and forth 60
times per second and persistence of vision mixes them together in a viewer's mind into a
single image. Computer monitors and ATSC (Advanced Television Standards Committee) video
(the new digital TV standard) employ a system called progressive scan, which
displays a complete full-screen image containing the same amount of information as both
half-screens combined. The picture is sharper, more detailed, and unwavering. Of course,
you need a TV that accepts progressive-scan inputs in order to use the technology.
But if you have an HDTV-ready monitor, plasma screen
display, or a top-quality projection unit, progressive scan makes a remarkable improvement
in the picture. (The DV-5700 even has a switchable output for five different types of
display: Standard (CRT direct view), CRT Projector, LCD Projector, Projection TV (RPTV),
and PDP (plasma display panel). I didn't have all of these on hand, but I did try changing
the output type while watching the Seleco SIM2 HT-200 and I couldn't pick up differences
among any of the settings.
 The DV-5700 comes with a full
complement of audio and video outputs. Video: two composite, two S-video, and one
component output. Digital audio outputs: coaxial, optical. Analog audio outputs:
two-channel stereo, six-channel multichannel.
If I ain't got the job done, son, I might not want to
quit
The DV-5700 was fairly simple to set up -- once I figured
out that the setup menus are only accessible when the player has a disc in the drawer and
is in Stop mode. Silly me -- I figured I could do it while actually playing a disc.
Eventually I sussed it out and then things proceeded smoothly.
Well, mostly. This brings to mind my only major gripe --
and the DV-5700 is far from the only guilty party on this one -- I hate the remote.
It has no backlighting, is tiny, has teensy little buttons all jammed up together. (I kept
hitting several of them whenever I tried to do anything other than Play, Stop,
and Chapter Skip -- actually, the button I always seemed to hit no matter
what I meant to do was Stop. Argghhh!) Now I realize that designing remotes is an
arcane art, but the video age of complex, multifunction remotes that must be used in
darkened rooms is, what, more than a decade old -- when will manufacturers wise up? After
all, my $99 TiVo has a remote that fits so nicely in my hand and is so logically laid out
I haven't had to look at it in about a year. Shouldn't a thousand-dollar DVD player have a
user interface at least half as good?
Sorry -- that particular gripe really pushes my hot
buttons.
But mamma mia, all was forgiven once I saw what
progressive-scan images looked like! What a great picture. Films that I had previously
enjoyed became even more compelling with the enhanced resolution of progressive scan --
the deep blacks and sharp contrasts of Citizen Kane were intoxicating, while the
bright colors and rich mise en scène of The Fellowship of the Ring were all
but mind-altering in their realism.
In my setup, I found I needed to turn the Faroudja/Sage
video enhancement controls down to their minimum settings or things took on a hyper-real
"edginess," where objects' borders seemed knife-sharp and almost
two-dimensional. Of course, the Seleco Sim2 HT-200 also has internal video processing, so
most users will probably find the broad control range of the Faroudja/Sage chipset a
genuine boon.
If you have yet to experience progressive scan, you really
need to check it out. The DV-5700 outputting progressive-scan video simply stomped every
other DVD player I've used into tiny little pieces (of course, all of the others were
producing interlaced images).
The Kenwood's internal DD and DTS processing were very
good, although I preferred the surround capabilities of the far more costly TAG McLaren
AV32R surround-sound processor. This is far from an indictment of the Kenwood, since its
built-in processing is designed to accommodate consumers who use older processors that
only have Dolby Pro Logic processing, for instance. If you have a new preamp/processor or
A/V receiver, you should try using both the Kenwood's and your component's digital
processing and go with the one that sounds best.
One very good reason for using an external surround
processor is that the DV-5700's internal bass management has a fixed low-pass crossover
setting of 100Hz, which is highish -- it didn't cut the mustard in my room with the
Axiom Epic Grand Master
surround speaker system and Polk
PSW650 subwoofer combo I employed. Perhaps Kenwood thinks the DV-5700 will be
attractive primarily to people with small main speakers, but it does seem odd that the
company would have the awareness to include bass management in the DV-5700 and then not
give it the flexibility to actually manage the bass in a variety of situations.
The unit's two-channel CD performance was also quite
satisfactory -- which sounds like faint praise but isn't. At this point in the digital
age, Red Book CD performance ought to be a given. Many early DVD players gave CDs harsh,
arrhythmic sound reminiscent of the early days of digital. They got better -- and the
DV-5700 acquits itself very well with its CD reproduction. Is this the result of the
unit's built-in high-res D/A converters? I assume so, but who can say?
However, if you use the DV-5700 as a CD transport and
employ a re-clocking DAC, you can get even better sound. I used the Perpetual Technologies
P-3A and the sound was sweeter, more liquid, and more detailed. Discs with the audio
verite of Cantus's …Against the Dying of the Light [Cantus CTS 1202]
gained an even greater specificity -- the sound was less generic and more like these
singers in one specific space. However, the unit's unaugmented two-channel sound was
extremely good. I still find the CD sound of Arcam's DV-88 among the very best I have
heard from a DVD player, but the Kenwood's sound, while slightly coarser and less tonally
assured, comes awfully close.
I'm the jack of all trades, that makes me the boss
However, it is the Kenwood's DVD-Audio abilities that will
most interest music listeners, I suspect -- and the high resolution offered by DVD's 96kHz
sampling rate (192kHz in two-channel mode) is hard to criticize.
I've long been a fan of the Chesky and Classic Records
96kHz/24-bit two-channel releases, which are playable on all DVD players and offer music
lovers the closest thing to master-tape sound quality I have ever heard. Listening to an
old favorite such as Muddy Waters’ Folk Singer [Classic Records DAD 1020]
becomes a completely new -- and almost religious -- experience with the Kenwood's two
channels of 192kHz/24-bit processing. Waters' voice has the authority appropriate to a big
man -- and a master of his craft. Buddy Guy's guitar stings like a wasp and the harmonic
overtones of his rapidly picked notes have all the buzzing complexity and
"clang" of a real instrument in a specific room. This kind of
high-resolution source material is what taking the audio experience to the next level is
all about.
In terms of sheer sound quality, high-res DVD-A music discs
offer more of the same -- with the added inducement of 5.1 multichannel music
reproduction. And there's the rub.
I don't have any kind of principled objection to
multichannel music reproduction per se. I know many audiophiles who do, but I've
been to AT&T's research facility in Florham Park, New Jersey and heard Jim Johnston's
Perceptual Soundfield Reconstruction (PSR), so I know how completely realistic
five-channel audio can sound.
However, with a few exceptions, that's not what you get
from multichannel DVD-Audio. Disc after disc has instruments banging, plucking, and
tooting away in the rear channels, which is not realistic, it's annoying. Didn't the great
Quad debacle of the '70s teach the recording companies anything? (I suppose I'm
simply showing my naiveté by assuming anyone in charge of an audio company actually remembers
the '70s.) Even the otherwise wonderful Both Sides Now [Warner 47620-9] by Joni
Mitchell has the odd soloist popping up here and there in the surround channels and the
superb-sounding You're the One [Warner 47844-9] from Paul Simon has percussion in
the rear.
Bleuch! Ptui!
A few labels, producers, and artists get it, however.
Teldec's Beethoven Symphony series featuring the Berliner Staatskapelle and Daniel
Barenboim is a case in point -- the sound is enveloping and so liquid it might promote
mildew, but there's nothing coming from the rear speakers except ambience and wall
reflections. As a result, listening to the discs is very like being in a huge room,
listening to a great piece of music. And isn't that the point of it all?
The Berlin/Barenboim Beethoven Symphonies No.4 and No.5
[Warner 82891-9] is a near-perfect model for DVD-Audio releases. The Fourth Symphony is
polished and assured, with lovely string sound and loads of dynamic control. For some
reason, Barenboim is grossly underrated as a conductor (I heard him lead the VPO in a
performance of the Mahler First Symphony in the final performance in the "old"
Carnegie Hall that had all 2800 of us in the audience holding our breath for its final 15
minutes). Perhaps it's because he so frequently completely serves the score -- in the
Fourth, he gives the trickiest parts an effortless grace that sounds deceptively simple.
It's not one of Beethoven's "big" symphonies, but its apparent geniality does
not prevent it from having an explosive final movement and Barenboim milks it for all its
worth. And then, we are treated to his interpretation of the glorious Fifth.
It's almost an article of faith among hardcore classical
music lovers that Carlos Kleiber's Fifth with the VPO ranks as the quintessential
recording of the work -- although some of us with very long memories place a lot of stock
in his daddy Erich's 1953 recording with the Concertgebouw. Barenboim's is a contender --
he keeps turning up the tension in the first movement until you feel as though you might
snap, and then releases it, not in an explosion, but with a languorously ripe second
movement. The finale has all the hysteria and muscularity of Kleiber's, but stretched even
tauter. Of course, all of that would be apparent on a CD, or even a cassette --
what distinguishes the DVD-A is its intoxifyingly rapturous sound, from the sonorous
richness of the cellos to the fury of the tympani and the disc's overwhelmingly touchable
recreation of acoustic volume.
This, for me, is what multichannel music
reproduction should be -- yet, if you surf the Internet, you will discover that most
people consider these discs a failure because the surround effects are so subtle!
It's enough to make you despair for the future of the format.
It seems there are no standards concerning how bass
information is handled on DVD-As -- or, it is possible this is a problem with the
Kenwood's bass management. Some discs assign low frequencies to the subwoofer, but others
send the bass to the speakers no matter what. Still others seem to dump all deep bass
information completely.
You gonna get your money's worth, no matter what it
costs
The Kenwood DV-5700 is an ambitious machine, incorporating
many features that are normally only available in separate audio and video processors, in
addition to serving as a digital source capable of playing just about every digital
optical storage disc currently available, aside from SACD. And it offers all of that for a
price that, while not insubstantial, seems quite economical for a unit that offers so much
superb performance.
As a straight DVD player, it is superb and its
progressive-scan output and Faroudja-sourced video enhancements deliver video performance
previously available only in much more expensive units.
It also offers DVD-Audio, which is a format a lot of people
find attractive. I'm not all that smitten by the DVD-A format, but my objections cannot be
laid at the feet of the Kenwood, which delivers high-resolution sound worthy of any hi-fi.
My only real complaints concerned the Kenwood's remote --
and that strikes even me as bordering on the petty, despite the very real frustration it
caused me -- and the bass weirdness caused by DVD-A's lack of a bass-management standard,
which is no fault of Kenwood's.
I do feel the DV-5700's bass management might have
offered greater flexibility. However, criticizing its bass management at all, considering
the format's failure to establish a standard and the complete absence of bass management
features on most DVD-A capable players, seems a tad unfair.
In almost every vital particular, the Kenwood DV-5700
delivered all the high-resolution audio and video performance I could ask for and, while
I'll be the first to concede my experience in this area is not vast, its picture quality
was the finest I've ever experienced in my system.
Great performance and great value -- who wouldn't
want all that?
...Wes Phillips
wes@onhometheater.com
(The section headers are all taken from the chorus of Guy
Clark's "Jack of All Trades.")
Kenwood Sovereign DV-5700 DVD Player
Price: $950 USD
Warranty: Two years parts and labor
Kenwood USA
P.O. Box 22745
Long Beach, CA 90801-5745
Phone: 1-800-KENWOOD or (310) 639-9000
Fax: (310) 604-4487
Website: www.kenwoodusa.com
|
