Denon DVD-A1UDCI Universal Player

Although it may be difficult to see in the photo, the massive component on the center shelf is Denon’s DVD-A1UDCI universal player. It is the first Blu-ray player to also feature SACD and DVD-Audio playback, and it is designed to be used with Denon’s matching AVP-A1UDCI processor and POA-A1UDCI multichannel amplifier. It features video processing using the Silicon Optix Realta chipset and is said to offer the first fully balanced two-channel transmission in a Blu-ray player for analog audio signals. The DVD-A1UDCI is $4200.

A massive universal player deserves a massive transport mechanism, and the DVD-A1UDCI delivers in that respect.

If you look closely at the circuit board on the back of the transport, you can see the DSD chip for SACD decoding in the lower right-hand corner.

The large number of circuit boards and power-supply components that go into a DVD-A1UDCI were laid out on a table to illustrate the player's impressive construction.