Affordable Luxury - Denon DCD-50 CD Player/Transport Review (vs. Denon, Marantz)

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Denon Designer Lineup

I strongly believe that anything you buy should reflect your personal taste, values, esthetics and etc. Usually with HIFI, being an audiophile, I always choose a product which offers me the most value in features and sonic capabilities, regardless of looks and esthetics.   

And I am happy to say that, that is not the case with Denon DCD 50.  

This gorgeous machines looks very luxurious, and you don’t even have to brake bank to have it.  So lets dive deep into what else you get with this cd player. 

Denon DCD 50 is a part of the same lineup of products like PMA 50, and PMA 150h.

All of them combining to create lineup that covers all your digital needs while listening to music. Design philosophy of this products is the same, very modern and luxurious.  - 

So how does DCD stacks in this lineup? To me the only black sheep in this lineup is the PMA fifty, who for the price was just underperforming, even thou it gave a lot of flexibility with addon of headphone jack, USB B and Bluetooth. It is just that Denon had better products in this lineup, for same or less money with PMA 600 or 800.

But cd player and Network streamer both had a lot to offer. While I think the biggest value in this product lineup is Network streamer who beside good looks, offered decent amplification, and good range of streaming services.  While nowhere to compere to product like Cambridge Audio CXN, or Bluesound Node, it gave value with versatility, amplification, looks and ports, and that it was cheaper than both options.  

Ergonomics, Looks and Materials

But how does CD player stacks upon that. Well something to mind right away this product is not build for audiophiles first, which means you can get better sonic capabilities with similar priced gear. But you get one decent CD player in small form factor and beautiful form facto and materials. 

And that looks is the star of the show, it almost feels with its finely brushed metal, sophisticated lines and just sturdy well build, that it is something that Bang and Olufsen would do, my favorite brand look wise for audio products. The buttons feel sturdy with a great tactile feeling that feels premium. Ergonomics of product is also just right, not too big, not too small, it has a presence in space but it will not take a lot of space.  

So it could easily fit on a lot of different surfaces and even can be placed both horizontally and vertically.  

Some grapes that I have with design of this product it is that OLED display screen while nice, is very small and almost impossible to read once you are on a listening distance from device.  And that it is slot loading mechanism not a trey.  

Slot mechanism while follow the same philosophy of esthetics, are less reliant than treys.   

Sometimes, if the print on CD is too tick, I had problem reading some CDs.   

It is a minor grape but something I had to note.   

But this device is epitome of form over function. And me, I am a sucker for nicely designed stuff so that is why I really enjoy this device, but we must speak about sonic capabilities. 

Sound Quality

I honestly wish that sonic capabilities can be as impressive as the looks of this machine, but unfortunately, there are aspects to be desire while listening to this cd player. This CD player feels surefooted, it brings very even balanced presentation, but lacks a dynamic of similarly priced devices. 

It is not something you can notice if you are first time listening to this player, but it becomes obvious when you compare it to similarly price devices of likes of Marantz and Denon.  

For sound processing it takes Denon AL32.  

What that means is that Processing, thoroughly suppresses quantization noise associated with D/A conversion to reproduce the low-level signals with optimum clarity. 

It is not that Denon sounds dull, while listening to different genres from rock to jazz on it. You can pick out strumming of guitars, hits of snares and they really transcend their presence in overall mix lifting the emotions of the song. Soundstage is not grand, but it allowed instruments to have their presence in space, and give them shape and presence. 

 I had a lot of fun listening to music, it did everything good, it just did not excel at any point whatsoever.  The sound of Denon is on the warm side, with response being little bit tilted backwards. There is very good control of bass, very it has its own presence while not being boomy.  

Connectivity and Overqualified DAC

Connection wise you have your standard RCA analog connection,  with Coaxial digital output for connecting to external DACs.  And while we are on a subject of DACs, lets speak about onboard DAC in this player.  Which is overqualified for what it does, and it is Burr Brown 32 bit/192 kilohertz DAC.  Which is a really good DAC, and little bit of overkill for a CD Player with its thirty two  bit conversion.  

Why I would recommend DCD 50

Now, it seems that I have been really critical of Denon, but let me end on a note why I would now recommend this device. This is now a legacy product in Denon Lineup, which means that Denon is not manufacturing or selling it, and you can now find some new or used cheap. And if you find one on a cheaper side that what it used to sell for fifty hundred euros, it is a bargain.  Too me the greatest minus of this device is that the price was not realistic for this device, and it was slowed down by other competition.  

But now that it is being sold for half of this price, it is incredible how much value you can get from this player.  

And one thig more, add a great DAC here like Cambridge audio DAC Magic 200m,  

or Project pre box S2 or  legendary Chord Mojo and sound quality will rise dramatically.  

And you will have a capable machine, that not just looks good but sounds good.  

Comparison to other Denon and Marantz devices

If none that I told you now sold you on this device, let me tell you about its close competition and how does it stack. Mainly Denon DCD 800 and 900 and Marantz 6006 and 6007. 

All of this devices have a stronger more open dynamics, and that Marantz have this very smooth and warmth sound. Denon being more balanced, and with a tad more emphasis on punchy low end. While Marantz having this creamy mids, and deeper dynamics response. 

All of this CD players are fantastic in the price range. With newer of course being more refined and expressive. But this devices cost much more than DCD, and are ergonomically far larger devices that needs more space in your rack. And don’t let me that Denon’s look very dull, and Marantz is your typical HIFI box affair. But at the half of their price, Denon DCD 50 is not that much trailing off from his more expensive brothers.  

Conclusion

So in the end the conclusion is that if you can find this on a discount or second hand for decent money is a must buy. If you are purely into sonics, than it is good to shell out a little bit more money and stay in regular lane of Denon 900 and Marantz 6007, which are more mature and rounded HIFI devices.