Audio Video News

No, Marantz hasn't gotten a jump on everyone and released the first Blu-ray player. In what is supposed to be the twilight of the DVD format, this latest Marantz flagship offers one of the most complete and compelling arrays of features the format has ever seen. If it won't save your soul it will shine your shoes, folks.

The Marantz DV9600 is a universal player that converts SACD's DSD stream to analog in its native format, with no conversions to PCM for processing or D-A conversion. Two i.LINK (IEEE1394) multichannel audio outputs are included, implying but probably not guaranteeing compatibility with other i.LINK-equipped components. PCM is handled by 24-bit/192kHz DACs, and full bass management is available for all formats. But hey, if hi-res isn't your bag the DV9600 plays MP3 too.

Full Dolby Digital and DTS decoding is on-board, and DTS 24/96 decoding is included as well. Like a growing number of components, the DV9600 also offers a lip sync feature, which as the name implies provides a means of syncing up mismatched audio and video so you. So, the only time you feel like you wandered into a Hong Kong martial arts movie festival is when you're actually watching a dubbed Hong Kong martial arts movie. Dolby's Headphone feature allows users to experience simulated 5.1-channel surround sound through a set of headphones, which could certainly prove valuable to any home theater parents out there (like me).

Like any newfangled player worth its salt, the DV9600 is sporting the trick video processing and scaling, with HDMI outputs connected to full 10-bit scaling and processing powered by Anchor Bay Technologies (ABT), creator of the vaunted DVDO line of video processing. In addition to 480p, 720p and 1080i outputs the DV9600 also outputs 1080p to support 1080p displays. Let me reiterate here that no matter what you read about "HD resolution" in the marketing lit for these upconverting DVD players, as long as standard definition DVDs are the source you're not watching true high definition video. What you're seeing is "upconverted" standard definition video, which can look excellent but is not true HD by another name.

Those still watching analog component video shouldn't be disappointed either. 14-bit/216MHz oversampling video DACs are included and the ABT processing still handles the 3/2 pulldown and other deinterlacing chores with 10-bit precision.

For better all around performance, separate power supplies are included for the audio and video circuitry, the chassis is overbuilt with a dual-layered bottom plate and the transport is heavily damped to eliminate performance degrading vibrations.

The DV9600 is available now and all this can be yours for $2099. www.marantz.com