Micro HiFi - Third Time Lucky?
Added 2023-05-21 09:09:41 +0000 UTCThis week I’m finishing off the Micro HiFi Mini Series with a Denon CEOL N11 - Denon’s latest (and I suspect, last) device of this kind.
While shooting this I discovered that the only thing more difficult than making an interesting video about something that doesn’t work - is making one about something uninteresting that works perfectly fine.
You’re aware I like my spinning reels, flashing lights and bouncing needles, partially because it’s just something that I can show moving while talking about the device. Well there’s none of that going on here and there’s a lot of features to cover. I tried my best to keep things moving along, but this 40 minute video really stretches the viewers patience.
In other news I’m looking forward to being disappointed the new Sony ZV-1 camera update announcement on Tuesday. I use a ZV-1 for my hands-on shots. When I bought my camera back in April 2021 I was in two minds as to whether to hold on for an update as it had already been on sale for almost a year. It turned out the wait for a successor was far longer than I could have anticipated.
I do have a list of updates I’d like to see on a new version, but I have my doubts how many of these will appear. Based upon camera manufacturers’ recent form it’s far more likely to be a mediocre effort, with the biggest new feature being a massive price increase.
In order of importance for my requirements I’d like 4K60, a closer minimum focal distance, headphone socket, USB C power, relocated SD card door and no overheating while charging. I'm not holding my breath.
Anyway that’s all I’ve got going on here, I do need to try and catch up on emails, comments, messages, posts as they’ve all fallen behind this week while I finished this long video. Apologies if anyone is waiting on a reply.
Take care and enjoy your week.
UDPATE: I found the remote batteries in the bottom of the box when I was packing this up, so I've snipped out the bit about there being no batteries because it was just a bare faced lie.
Also despite the video being 40 minutes about something that no one wants to buy, there appeared to be a demand to see some of the redundant sections I snipped out, so I’ve added some of them back in. Now it’s an even longer and duller video about something that no one wants to buy.
Comments
It's stuff like this that makes me hate new tech. I hope there are some other quality new units out there with at least *actual buttons*.
George the Dead Hard Drive
2023-05-25 19:25:34 +0000 UTCAnd this video at around 4mins shows how 'close' you can focus at 18mm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7HVCl7_tno
antzpantz
2023-05-23 14:28:36 +0000 UTCThe camera you've been waiting for has been announced! At least one of your desired features is there... guess which one! https://amateurphotographer.com/review/sony-zv-1-mark-ii-review/ https://petapixel.com/2023/05/23/sony-zv-1-mark-ii-review-the-vlogging-you-love-but-wider/
antzpantz
2023-05-23 14:24:02 +0000 UTCGotta say I liked the format of this series. The same basic idea from three different eras about 20 years apart really showed an evolution, for better or worse, and was a very interesting ride. Also, I think it helps with the whole "it didn't work in the end" problem, because it's just a piece of the larger story instead of the summation of the whole video. I don't have a problem with unhappy endings, but since others do this may temper their agitation, especially since the brand new in box item in part 3 is obviously going to function. Very well done on all three parts, as usual. I totally wouldn't be opposed to seeing a similar series on a different topic in the future. Record players seems like it could be fertile ground, from automatic changers in the 60's-70's to the much more manual stuff of the modern era.
Jason Adams
2023-05-23 12:54:12 +0000 UTCThat looks a LOT nicer, even if the features are pretty much the same.
Stephen Cairns
2023-05-23 12:50:17 +0000 UTCAudio technica don’t have a date yet for the new sound burger :-(
Richard Back
2023-05-23 12:46:12 +0000 UTCIronically I just came across the channel of someone with only 10% of normal vision who has difficulty using touch controls, and then I see this stereo where the touch controls are so low-contrast that it's difficult for even someone with normal vision to use them. The lack of a physical volume control knob would also be an annoyance to me. Automakers like Honda learned that lesson when they moved to a touch screen volume control but then added back a volume knob after people complained about it.
VWestlife
2023-05-23 12:43:58 +0000 UTCGreat video. It might be dull but you made me grin.
Rick Parsons
2023-05-23 11:40:57 +0000 UTCThe design language is quite a turnaround from the heydays of hifi as a status item. The budget-grade component had maybe two knobs, three switches, and a headphone jack on them, apart from the tuning scale. The high-end receiver had SO MUCH ***STUFF!*** Would you just LOOK at all that STUFF!!! Go on! I got a rolled-up hundred-dollar bill here that says you can't figure out how set these seventy knobs, pushbuttons, and baton switches so that music starts at the reel-to-reel and comes out through this here set of speakers!!!
Andy Ihnatko
2023-05-23 03:06:38 +0000 UTCSame feelings here: I miss the spinning record, the turning reels, even the click-clack sounds from a cassette deck...
MrHammond
2023-05-22 19:16:30 +0000 UTCThank you for this demo. Loved your "not for me" comment. To me, what it lacks is BUTTONS! I want to feel a rewind button, I want to open the tray, put a CD and program tracks 3, 6 and 12 while drinking a beer without having to look or think, I want to be able to pause the CD, listen to the radio then resume CD playback... Unfortunately this all disappeared, unless using separate components. I remember my aunt's tuner, one good spin of the button would go up 1/3 of the scale, loved it so much.
CheeseParis
2023-05-22 18:57:46 +0000 UTCThere is a lot of that nowadays ain't it? I mean,interfaces have always been a design feature, but all this touch featureless buttons are annoying. I find it enraging that such type of controls have gone into car climate control, as you (at least I) have no clue where the thing is and to set it without taking your eyes out of the road
Raul Ramos
2023-05-22 18:09:50 +0000 UTCMarantz seemed to like to put them 90 deg off the normal so that you'd spin it left or right but otherwise worked as you describe. Presets on a digital tuner are probably better but the lack of gizmosity makes me sad.
Peter Laws
2023-05-22 17:00:13 +0000 UTCFunny how I still remember the objectively awful Panasonic 8-track player my parents had in the 1970s. It has a vertical tuning wheel that probably weighed 200 grams. You could flick it and it would spin through the dial—and unlike today's "advanced" technology, it would play a blip of every station in-between.
Jason Olshefsky
2023-05-22 16:33:58 +0000 UTCThese holes are much too narrow - only a couple of mm wide at most.
Techmoan
2023-05-22 15:59:37 +0000 UTCJust a thought but sometimes you can get banana plug sideways into those binding posts. That's how it works on my old Sonos.
Rick Parsons
2023-05-22 15:57:27 +0000 UTCIt could use some flashing LEDs and "Power Pump Meters" like the boombox that Cassette Comeback recently reviewed.
VWestlife
2023-05-22 15:39:13 +0000 UTCGreat! Now how do I erase that mental image?
David Boddie
2023-05-22 13:15:39 +0000 UTCI thought your summary had a lot of old top gear summary feeling. And I liked it and appreciate a lot your insights and review. Great series. I have myself a denon blue ray that was my first proper device of adulthood after many years living out of a suitcase and mp3. It sounds great, but it is terribly full so I, even unknowingly, I am in your camp too. Also I am very glad about the comenta regarding "Music consumption device" and the "stereo" thing. As I said, listening to the mp3 on my 2005 Walkman was cool but on a speaker they sound like garbage. I absolutely refuse to listen to music on the phone speakers and all that Bluetooth thingy. They are not for me. Unless, I guess, I play my 64kbps atracs
Raul Ramos
2023-05-22 11:13:47 +0000 UTCIt does resemble the CT scanner I went through a couple of weeks ago, yes!
Brad Jones
2023-05-22 07:29:41 +0000 UTCMy dad was a massive Dire Straits fan, and always used to take Private Investigations along to Hi-Fi shops when testing their equipment. If he could hear the milk bottle smashing sound effect clearly, it was a decent bit of kit.
Brad Jones
2023-05-22 07:28:11 +0000 UTCIt does play MP3s from CD it was mentioned near the beginning but not tested because it’d work like the USB stick…just slower. As for network music, I don’t have any network music servers…because the last time I tried setting one up, playing any track was like pulling teeth. But yes you’re right - whatever is missing is whatever people will want to see - the same people who would never buy one of these if it did all those things and washed their car too.
Techmoan
2023-05-22 06:46:54 +0000 UTCI have no idea how the same group went from one to the other. Boogie Down Bronx is one of my favourites.
Techmoan
2023-05-22 06:44:11 +0000 UTC"Where is the emotion?" Thank you, sir, and God bless frivolity.
Joseph Dougherty
2023-05-22 06:12:48 +0000 UTCLast words: "It's not 'me'." I'm not sure I want to meet the person for whom this devices is 'them.' I imagine Stellan Skarsgård in a threadbare, power blue wool pullover sitting on the deck of cabin overlooking a fjord. His wife's just died and his dog isn't looking too good. He's reading through a Lars von Trier screenplay and gray Denon is playing Benjamin Britten on a loop.
David Fulton
2023-05-22 02:10:00 +0000 UTCThe bright red Sound Burger on top of the matte gray Denon unit is like seeing Katy Perry sitting on Gordon Brown's lap.
David Fulton
2023-05-22 01:56:00 +0000 UTCI've never been a fan, but I have to say "Sultans of Swing" must be one of the most recognizable tunes of the 20th century. I mean, you played about 2 seconds and I was like "oh yeah..."
David Fulton
2023-05-22 01:27:13 +0000 UTCThere’s a couple of things you didn’t test …... The UPnP/DLNA music server and if the CD player can play files, e.g. mp3s from a disc ! Do I care. No. I’m just mentioning it because you could get questions from your YouTube crew.
Adrian Whitfield
2023-05-22 00:49:56 +0000 UTCThe project team really seemed to have something against color! The quality of gray reminds me of institutional equipment, like at a medical imaging lab. (Something to look forward to, kids!)
David Fulton
2023-05-22 00:49:25 +0000 UTCBeing an audiophile is a mug's game. It's a rabbit hole that becomes a perpetual sinkhole. Once you hear studio-quality audio it's hard to go back and the next think you know you're buy acoustic tile and totem-pole sized speakers... then your moving to the valley because the ground is bedrock instead of sand... then you can listen to anything in the car because of reflection so you stop leaving the house... etc.
David Fulton
2023-05-22 00:42:52 +0000 UTCThe effort that goes into achieving functionality that we used to take for granted but is now hidden, missing, or difficult use (tuning the FM with the touchpad for example) is what I call "The Dongling." Whenever doing something that used to be dead easy becomes a maddening labor, I just think of having to buy a mother f*cking (or flipping, if you like to flip your ma) dongle for wire headphones to work. Does the younger generation just take it in stride? When I say "back in the day" I just mean maybe 18 months ago!
David Fulton
2023-05-22 00:36:23 +0000 UTCYour "ephemeral" comment represents a chilling and sobering realization of something that us older folk probably got a hint of when we first started buying personal computers. My first desktop computer, a Mac Plus, was something I kept for 10 years without complaint or irony (the POWER unit died before I lost any functionality!). Then it was a Window's PC which was on the desk for six years. Since then, it's been one new laptop or tablet every 3-4 years. There's a certain level of exhaustion blended with frustration when obsolescence is no longer about wear-and-tear but about functional abandonment by producers who end support, get bought out and disappear into the mainline of a conglomerate, or simply go belly up.
David Fulton
2023-05-22 00:30:00 +0000 UTC*goes to search for that Boogie Down track, thinking Man Parrish only ever did that Male Stripper song...*
Brad Jones
2023-05-21 23:18:24 +0000 UTCOn the topic of these mini hi-fi systems, I was recently given a JVC EX-A1. Pretty neat little thing - it’s gimmick was wood cone speakers which sound, fine, I guess.
Shawn
2023-05-21 22:45:04 +0000 UTCI've have it's almost twin bother - A Marantz MCR-612, which is almost identical, even down to the screen, menus and app.. The only difference I can see is that the Marantz has real buttons on the front panel and a 4-channel amplifier (which you can use as 4x30W or 2x60) . Denon and Marantz are both owned by the same parent company
Gary Bleads
2023-05-21 22:15:15 +0000 UTCThe little aside at the end puts me in mind of a video series called "When Phones where Fun", exploring all those quirky niche ideas before we all settled on the boring black rectangle covered in fingerprints. Maybe you need to start your own "When HiFi's where hip", Though come to think about it that does sum up your AV content pretty well already... Out of interest btw, how scuppered do you think someone would be losing the remote for the CEOL N11? I've had some terrible devices in the past so reliant on the app / remote that losing either effectively cuts off a third of your features.
FluffStuff
2023-05-21 22:04:17 +0000 UTCGracenote. My car, older car with a cd transport, shows cd artwork only because Honda pays the gracenote subscription fee for the car. I assume denim didn’t want this liability.
Steven Raber
2023-05-21 21:23:25 +0000 UTCI’ve often been intrigued, I suspect I’d find it frustrating or dull, but I’d still like to try one. However at the prices they are I can’t justify buying one for a video.
Techmoan
2023-05-21 20:51:05 +0000 UTCDenon CEOL N-10 in the US market, apparently. No DAB/DAB+ because that's not a thing here. HDRadio is, but the N-10 doesn't decode that. Instead of DAB, the US version includes AM (MW to you ...) ... though the manual says you can't assign an AM station to a preset (you can on FM). To see how much vendors care about radio these days, the owners manual lists the RDS PTY codes (News, Current Affairs, Information, etc) ... except that in North America, it's RD*B*S and while the tech is the same, the PTY digital codes correspond to different program types - the ones I listed above in North America would be News, Information, Sports respectively. (Wikipedia has a list of both sets). Does it matter? Not really - half the stations never seem to have their RDBS stream correctly set! And how many listeners would ever think to search by PTY? 7? 10? Out of 400 million people ... But it's not grey - the US version seems to be black. And I'm with you - lack of gizmosity is a turn-off. Another great show - thank you!
Peter Laws
2023-05-21 20:49:48 +0000 UTCHas anyone tried a Brennan system? I still see online adverts for them. Having once been at a point where the CD collection was by far the most expensive / valuable thing in my house I am not a fan of streaming, especially when you know that 90% of the U.K.s streaming money money will be split between Adele, Ed Sheeran and, and Queen.
Duncan
2023-05-21 20:42:38 +0000 UTCIt’s the same company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%2BM_Group
Techmoan
2023-05-21 20:19:48 +0000 UTCLooks very similar to a marantz system. The rear panel especially. Maybe they shared tech for a while. There's just so little to say about it. Great video of a barely interesting hifi. I'd more than likely use it as a soundbar replacement / front room stereo.
Jimmy Mounsey
2023-05-21 20:18:17 +0000 UTCThis is basically a music appliance. Like a fridge you just expect it to sit nicely and do it’s job without any drama. For an office or a bedroom or someone who doesn’t like dealing with too much “fancy stuff” this is perfect. The grey sums it up though…like you said “no fun”. 😎
Freeman Connell
2023-05-21 18:35:25 +0000 UTCSeeing this reminded me how far “smart” or connected audio systems have come in 15 years. I would love to see you dive into something like a Logitech Squeezebox or similar network audio player — no Bluetooth, no Google or Alexa but has support for different radio APIs like BBC and even Pandora! They discontinued these long time ago but is still supported with an interface that lets you change the settings via a web controller. You can even set up a private server to have it stream music from a computer’s audio library. It is so laughably impractical and difficult to use in 2023 — but I think it’d make for an interesting video
Kenan Bennett
2023-05-21 17:23:08 +0000 UTCDenon lost me at Amazon and Google. This unit sounds too smart for its own good.
OzRetrocomp
2023-05-21 17:15:49 +0000 UTCYet another excellent Video, sir. As you say, a bit....bland. Sadness at the end for the downward spiral of standard [but fun] music equipment.
Stephen Hamme
2023-05-21 16:49:37 +0000 UTCDuring disassembly you missed one of the screws on the rear. I suspect the rear comes off, then the top/sides slide off towards the back, like on a PC case. Having said that, I'm not in awe of seeing what's in there. Just thought you may get comments when it goes public about that.
Big Car
2023-05-21 16:36:30 +0000 UTCMy current system isn't quite "mini", but it's a Denon. https://www.denon.com/en-au/shop/hometheatresystems/dht1312xp
Allan Clipperton-Boyer
2023-05-21 16:34:11 +0000 UTCI’m not sure I understand but it’s just normal in its operation - it plays through playlists or folders one track at a time in sequence.
Techmoan
2023-05-21 15:44:46 +0000 UTCYou mention that if you have a single mp3 (or other file format) with an entire concert and it makes for your favorite song. But if you would put each separate song of a concert in a separate file, would it play the tracks continuously or would it pause while it closes the first file and opens the second file? I expect the latter tbh.
Jac Goudsmit
2023-05-21 15:40:53 +0000 UTCYes I know it's not unique to Sony's and heck even my Denon AVC-X6700H overheats and thermal protects when pushing my Klipsch speakers and it's in the open air and has massive heat sinks but still not even it can keep itself from going over the edge. What strikes me is the DJI Pocket 2 that I bought can record for hours on end, yes it's using a smaller sensor and doesn't have nearly the bitrate as the Sony but for me all the features of the Sony and it's quality are meaningless if it can perform them without having a problem so I use that Pocket 2 and my X3 360 as my main shooters when out and about while the Sony sits in its box.
Edward Streiff
2023-05-21 15:25:10 +0000 UTC33:30 Who needs schematics!
Mike Mansfield
2023-05-21 15:16:13 +0000 UTCThat would certainly colour one’s opinion of the camera. It’s amazing how many cameras still overheat, you’d think all these years later things would have moved on, but will all sorts of models from multiple manufacturers it’s still an issue.
Techmoan
2023-05-21 15:00:14 +0000 UTCAh the ZV-1 a camera that has disappointed me many times with the worst being my trip across America on Amtrak's California Zephyr. You know when your on a trip where the main selling point is the view, as it's certainly not the experience of tight quarters and the worst tracks in the western world, a camera that doesn't overheat while recording the landscape roll by is sort of important. I had a once in a lifetime chance on that trip. I had talked to the train engineer before we departed California about possibly having my ZV-1 mounted in the cab of the engine pointed out the front window for a driver's view of the trip. To my great surprise they said it would be fine for their leg of the trip prior to a crew change. I got to go into the cab which was incredible and got everything mounted with the ZV-1 plugged into a power bank so that it could record for hours. Well after the crew change and retrieval of my ZV-1 I went to my roomette and went to pull the SD contents as I was excited to see what it captured. Queue the massive disappointment on the SD card was a corrupt video file and a crash log file. After posting the log file on Reddit I was informed that the camera had overheated around the 55 minute mark of recording and shutdown which led to the corrupt video file as well. A true legend on Reddit asked me to post the corrupted video file where they could get it which I did and to my delight he was able to send me back a working video file that had 44 minutes of usable video, the rest of the video was a hot mess as you could see the camera was starting to struggle as the frame rate drops off a cliff and there are lots of artifacts towards the end. I was thankful I was able to get some video but the video I got was us crossing the desert which was interesting but it was going to the Rockies that I had wanted. When we did another crew change that was a full hour my wife and I took an Uber to Best Buy and I bought a DJI Pocket 2, a very nice little camera by the way, and used it the rest of the way. It recorded hours of video hanging from a suction cup on my window without a single issue the rest of the trip. I was floored that my expensive Sony could not do this yet this DJI product could without an issue. My ZV-1 has sat mostly unused since then as it still overheats even with all sort of firmware updates and the temperature tolerance set to high. I have found if I record in 1080p it does take a lot longer before it overheats but I bought it to record in 4K not 1080p. Live and learn I suppose. Cheers mate for the excellent content!
Edward Streiff
2023-05-21 14:41:07 +0000 UTCI’ve got half a dozen cameras that do different jobs - but the ZV-1 is the hands-on camera.
Techmoan
2023-05-21 14:30:27 +0000 UTCYou might be able to get a Lumix G9 for a good price, these do high quality video and stills, with external microphone input etc.
Paul Mansfield
2023-05-21 14:24:13 +0000 UTCIt’s falling between two stools for me design-wise. I’m not sure what they were going for or whether it achieved it.
Techmoan
2023-05-21 14:17:56 +0000 UTCI have a slightly different view on the aesthetics: yes, it's maybe a little dull, but this might be a deliberate choice by Denon to tell the customers "Hey, I'm not one of those AliExpress blue-led-ridden cheaply copied devices". It might appeal to a certain (perhaps somewhat snobbish) audience.
ENP
2023-05-21 14:15:40 +0000 UTCThis Denon is a good device for playing music from the various sources that are commonly used and would be a welcome item in anyone's home. At the same time, it shows what music technology has come to at long last. It's basically just an appliance for playing music, not to be noticed for it's cool design, dynamic sound, controls for various audio qualities, visualizations, etc. The next thing will be AI generated music delivered to your speakers with no more interface than an on/off button. There will always be people who enjoy listening to music on interesting devices with some of the old formats even if it's nothing more than a CD player and the only feature is watching the time left on the track counting down (Personally, I'd like to see a music visualizer that shows a spinning Techmoan cup). 😃
Mark Hesse
2023-05-21 13:47:41 +0000 UTCSeemed appropriate.
Techmoan
2023-05-21 12:16:59 +0000 UTCYes the focus on open was intentional, good spot. Also yes for me the pinnacle was a decade or two back, this definitely feels like the downward slope.
Techmoan
2023-05-21 12:16:26 +0000 UTCGaelic, interesting
Grace Robbins
2023-05-21 12:12:06 +0000 UTCShame Denon quality isn’t as solid these days, I’m still using my 1990’s slot loading Denon cassette deck, which has just had new belts but nothing else. The accompanying 3 disk cd changer died a few years ago, but the tuner amp and speakers are in daily use with a friend.
Phil Collins
2023-05-21 12:07:19 +0000 UTCAs a bit of trivia, Ceol is the Irish for music :)
Peter McQuillan
2023-05-21 12:00:12 +0000 UTCMusings: • "Nightmarish hellscape" - yes, it is • "Maybe it's legislation or something" - stingy on the batteries, gotta save somewhere, come on 😛 • The 'squeaky setup time-lapse' and the 'super metal mug spin' literally had me rolling, very nicely done there. • 10:59 - 'Pleasant touch' had me thinking of 'Slow Hand' by the Pointer Sisters, for some reason. And of course I had to listen to it on YT Music, thanks for that. 😄 • 15:24 - the camera focus on 'Open' flipped my brain out for a moment; whether intended or otherwise, that is a nice shot through the CD platter. • 26:53 - my kind of genre - 🤬 YT and content matches, I would have liked sitting and enjoying this music with you • 34:42 - I knew it; I thought to myself, "it's the Sound Burger" 😀 You're right - this is no fun (I don't like it) - no music meters, no cassette window visuals, no brushed aluminium (only dust-attracting plastics), no buttons or toggle switches, no album art, and I have to get x-ray vision to see the internals. Robots probably constructed the entire thing. What will tomorrow's world bring? I am afraid to find out; have we already reached the pinnacle of consumer audio entertainment production? Nonetheless, thanks for showing us this. You've affirmed my prior feelings about this sort of thing. Take care 🤍
Grace Robbins
2023-05-21 11:50:40 +0000 UTCThank you for all the effort you put into these videos!
MVVblog
2023-05-21 11:41:34 +0000 UTCA bit of dire straits, lovely
Neil Tonks
2023-05-21 11:33:38 +0000 UTCBland.... and grey ... and ugly, Denon really missed something here, or just the new generation likes this DDR inspired design.... hope not. :) Great video.
Pin Swede
2023-05-21 11:30:21 +0000 UTCBit of a Ronseal of a system, does everything it says it does, no more, no frills. A few years ago I bought a Sony mini hifi that was very similar to this, I wanted it to be able play and control music even when I had left my phone in another room. Works well enough, does what I bought it for. But I have no emotional connection to it. I doubt I'll be remembering it fondly in years to come like I do with the hifis of my youth. Maybe it's just because I'm in my 40s now, and not a teen anymore, but I just struggle to get excited by any modern technology anymore.
Brian Condron
2023-05-21 11:10:46 +0000 UTCI think it would be nice if the screen/buttons had some options to make them more interesting. Alternative colours, a VU meter etc. No point displaying album art or anything like that on it though as I've found out with my music streamer..
Steven harris
2023-05-21 11:09:56 +0000 UTCIt's very rare to see something on a Techmoan video that I wouldn't want to own, this might be the first. Dull. Great video though.
CBits Tech
2023-05-21 11:08:45 +0000 UTCGreat summation Mat. It is great they still produce systems like this for those that know they need them. That more people won’t know that they do is a bit of a shame, but, as you perfectly observe, everything appears to be about apps and updates, for good and for ill. I have a UDM90 and it just works well - the speakers are pretty much much decent Mission units. If only Denon had some marketing chutzpah to go with the technical delivery…
Gareth R
2023-05-21 10:35:42 +0000 UTCI don’t understand (also never made any effort to) Google Chromecast and Alexa assistant integration - the logo is on loads of things but when you turn them on there’s no mention of it. You can’t speak to the amp to tell it to do stuff so I assume you need a separate voice assistant to speak to and say “Hey Google, play something rubbish by a modern day mumbly rapper who rhymes words with the same word due to a total lack of talent on the Denon CEOL”…but I don’t know.
Techmoan
2023-05-21 10:22:26 +0000 UTCThat was the find for me too. Never seen one, will probably never see one, and it’s weird…so yes I’ll take one of those please.
Techmoan
2023-05-21 10:18:41 +0000 UTCI like that the back has some info on how long the speaker wires should be.
Holger P Kleinert
2023-05-21 10:17:36 +0000 UTCWell, after watching all 3 videos I now know which system I want - it's the orange Uher CG 305. I don't care if it doesn't work, I can just sit and look at it while listening to music on headphones, streamed from my phone.
David Peaker
2023-05-21 10:17:33 +0000 UTCThis didn't try my patience at all because it was a thorough review of something I was curious about. I quite like my current Denon D-M40 DAB, which spends the vast majority of its life making up for the terrible sound quality of my TV speakers. It has no wireless options at all but that doesn't matter too much because it's connected to a (sadly obsolete) Chromecast audio. There's a newer model, with Bluetooth, but it has a horrible reputation for reliability. It's hard to determine whether this is justified or if there are many silent satisfied owners who have no reason to whinge in forums. I'm really torn by this review. It looks unbelievably dull and the ergonomics of the controls look dreadful. On the other hand, it does everything that most people would want and probably sounds good enough. The other reservations are around future-proofing. Is it better to have a simple amplifier, which may last for decades and offload the wireless and Internet - related stuff onto a separate gadget? People have been raving about Wiim devices recently. After typing all that, I've just realised that the vast majority of my waffle is redundant as it's pretty well-covered in the video. One question: does the Google logo mean it does Chromecast audio?
Stephen Cairns
2023-05-21 10:14:56 +0000 UTCFor those who want to see inside here are pictures of the predecessor: https://www.av-online.hu/hifi/denon-ceol-rcd-n10-mikro-hifi-rendszer-teszt_2650/1
Holger P Kleinert
2023-05-21 10:13:30 +0000 UTCSorry to hear about your mum - I've only just got to the end of sorting out the admin that resulted from my mums passing, over a year ago. There was so much to do that I never even had a moment to think about it being sad, there was just a massive in-box to wade through first. As for cameras, or any new product announcements for that matter - the worst part is that after something has been announced you know 'that's it' - that's all there is and you'll be three years older before they come out with a follow up.
Techmoan
2023-05-21 10:03:25 +0000 UTCI'll make another comment regarding the actual video. I considered buying one of these Denon units for the tremendous utility in HeOS. You can get satellite radio and Radio 4 and everything. But, ultimately, I chose a much kludgier system for physical media that works much better with internet media. I have 2 echo studios and subwoofer. I have them set up as a stereo pair. Those, through voice control, can do everything the Denon can do, and also have app control. So how do I listen to tapes? Well, I have an 8 way AV switcher, with left going to line in on the left speaker and right going into line in on the right speaker. I have that split out to the Teac deck as well, in case I need to record. I have a Yamaha deck, an AT record player, the Teac of course, the modern Teac CD/tape player, the updated Pyle cassette deck, the Sangean HD Radio Receiver, a Sirius XM receiver, and a shortwave radio. So, I've found it much easier to just get consumer level components designed frequently as standalone units and use a dumb switcher to get that to smart speakers. However, the Amazon Echos are so smart that I truly don't need to ever use any of those components, and only do so if I get a new album physically anymore, or if I get bored and want to scan the radio dial. Ultimately, I have utilized this through much of my house. I have a set of echo devices in each room of my house now, and those are the mini systems or boom boxes I use most of the time. I even have Edifier wifi speakers in the living room that connect to Alexa. That's why I haven't bought into the Denon system. I get decent enough quality from the Amazon speakers and can upgrade to quite good quality for less than the Denon price. I have enough things to play legacy media already, from the Panasonic boombox of Techmoan fame to a bunch of old weird radios to 3 record players, it's just easier to hook them up to a new set of WiFi speakers as opposed to a mini system. You can't lose the remote either. :P
Funkmon
2023-05-21 10:01:07 +0000 UTCFelt compelled to pop in here with a standing ovation for the Batman-spinning-cup-transition while waiting for the Denon to update the firmware. Good job sir.
Brian Gerfort
2023-05-21 09:55:18 +0000 UTCLooking forward to being disappointed by camera announcements is my life - I work a day a week at a camera store. We are an authorized Leica dealer and genuinely those are the only announcements we all have universal praise for. Each time they announce a new camera and lens we are excited. We got in a new M6, a multi thousand dollar FILM camera and all gathered round like it was Christmas. However, I think it's because the price tag is so unfathomably high we just don't care about that part, and we just get excited about the new camera and features. I say this as a Leica shooter who thinks $6000 is cheap for a camera (yes, I double fist Olympus and Leica, we exist). There's something to be said for that. Just the Leica-esque price-be-damned, it's just good to have a new feature attitude. Joy for a product getting better. Joy for progress. Joy that things are looking up, and ignoring the negatives due to a sunny outlook on the situation. I've enjoyed that a little bit with buying the accessibility tech for my mom that I've commented on here. Yeah, I bought her a stupid robot cat that cost $150, and a radio that only has 4 buttons for the same. But for my mom, the price didn't matter much. I was so pleased someone made something for her, I got great enjoyment out of the overpriced technology. She just died earlier this month. Surprise heart attack. It hasn't hit me yet I don't think, but I'm starting to be really hit by how much money I wasted on a lot of things for her, accessibility tech or otherwise. It wasn't really wasted though. It was for my mom. I guess what I'm saying is that if Sony manages to crap out worthwhile updates but charge a lot for it, well, over the course of the next 2 years you'll be improving your channel, so, isn't it worth it? Sometimes it's not: I'm using a Leica M10P from 5 years ago, and some of my Micro 4/3rds cameras are 15 years old. But, that just means it's okay for you to skip the upgrade and feel good about your buys. I'm just rambling. I think it's great to see cameras so good lately and I wish they were innovating at the level smartphones are, but sometimes can't help but feel disappointed by it. I try to keep upbeat as much as I can about our dying interests, but it's sometimes hard. It's usually more fun to convince yourself it's all good though.
Funkmon
2023-05-21 09:34:07 +0000 UTCActually, yes I am wrong. I'm confusing them with NAD and their green power buttons.
Keir Thomas-Bryant
2023-05-21 09:16:08 +0000 UTCI might be wrong but Denon stuff has always been low on the wow factor. I think that was their whole deliberate aesthetic. My first separates amp in the 1990s (as a teenager!) was a Denon and had very few knobs, and no lights. I used to boast about this to mates. Clear signal path and all that. Somehow.
Keir Thomas-Bryant
2023-05-21 09:14:20 +0000 UTC
