Price Paid:  $800.00 from magnolia hifi

Summary:
great sound, horrible reliability and hopeless service from Denon. It is really too complicted for its own good.

Strengths:
The capacity and sound quality

Weaknesses:
The disk labeling started to get funky after about a year then it totally locked up. We had it "repaired" three times (twice by Denon) in a period four months we had it at home for a total of a couple of weeks. Fortunately we had the extended warrantee and have finally gotten rid of the piece of junk under the lemon clause. These things are no longer in production and I would not suggest anyone else buy the ones that remain out there. Good idea but they have some serious problems that machines of this cost should not have.

Similar Products Used:
there is nothing else

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Truly a great product. Exceptional transport. With the right source material, and an outboard DAC like the one from Meridian, sounds as good as a $20.000 Linn CD player. Totally relaxed presentation. Phenomenal bass.

Strengths:
Extraordinary sound.

Weaknesses:
Rythmically a little slow.

Similar Products Used:
There is nothing like it, nothing to compare.

Price Paid:  $2000.00 from Videopro

Summary:
This is the "Duck's Nuts" of CD changers. Got the 5001 slave as well for a total of $4000 Aus (that's about $2000 US). Out of the box quite easy to set up. Some of the functions are a bit hard to figure out - partly due to the manual, partly due to my expectations being a bit different. Once you figure it all out it is really really cool.

And the sound... Nothing compares. I have it going through my Electrocompaniet ECI 4 amp with B&W 805s - the sound is sensational.

Other natty functions are also pretty cool - cross fade, delete (for those songs you just can't stand) and so on.

All up - brilliant.

Strengths:
Beautiful clarity of sound, two transports, music grouping feature.

Weaknesses:
Will only play 1 song from each disc in random mode unless on repeat when it will play 1 from all then come back and play another from each - weird. Also can only 'delete' 100 songs.

Similar Products Used:
none

Summary:
I have both the Denon 5000 and 5001 units. As others have mentioned, the sound in analog is phenominal. The digital connection - via coaxial - is superb. This unit has capability to decode HDCD and has a 24 bit Alpha processor. It also plays DTS CDs that I have in there. An example of the brilliant sound is when I play Sting's "Brand New Day" DTS version. A 24 bit CD that delivers big time. I deliberated a lot before buying this, but I am glad I went with this. The build is awesome and the 2 drives make for smooth transition to next CD.

Some have mentioned it is slow. If you are playing one CD and then set it to the CD you want to play after the first one, the change is instand. The second CD starts in less than 2 seconds. This is because of the 2 drives and the 2nd drive already has the next CD in its grasp.

The only negative is price. However, you get what you pay for. I am looking to add 2 more 5001s soon for a total of 400. That will set me back a bit

Strengths:
Sound, Build Quality, Plays 2 separate CDs into 2 zones simultaneously, attractive look, on screen display: song name, artist, CD #, track #, time elapsed, next CD, and other stuff. Very comprehensive.

Weaknesses:
Price, nobody has in stock. You have to wait for them to get it in.

Summary:
Purchased this from the UBID site for a total of $700 dollars. Out of the box it would not play more than one disc without displaying a funky error code (manual no help). Tried contacing Denon (worthless) so I used their web site to find local service center near Tampa. The one place in Tampa the dumbass would not service because "I didn't purchase it from him". Had to drive the unit to Sarasota where it was fixed within in week. Had it playing all day and night and I have to say that it was worth the trouble. The sound purity is incredible. I hear everything and the sound is very crisp and clean. The cross fade function is really nice and even the random play functions kick serious butt. The changer mechanism is very high quality and hopefully will provide me with years of enjoyment. I think this would be a nice addition to anyone's audio setup. Check to see if you have a local service center before you buy in case of problems. Later Gators

My setup is
Denon AVR5700
Denon DCM5000
Sony 650D Changer
Pinnacle Classic Gold Towers

Strengths:
Sound, Build Quality, Price

Weaknesses:
Instruction Manual

Similar Products Used:
Sony Changers, Toshiba Changers