What Hi Fi Sound and Vision
28 MAR 2007
Arcam DiVA DV139
True, it isn’t able to play new disc formats – but as a one-box solution, this Arcam still make huge sense
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The DV139 is pitched as both a superb DVD source, and an audiophile CD player, equal in sonic performance to a dedicated disc-spinner. It’ll also play SACD and DVD-Audio discs, as well as CDs encoded with MP3, WMA and even HDCD (remember that?)
To that end, the DV139 packs both powerful video processing from Anchor Bay, complete with 1080p upscaling, and audiophile features such as 24-bit/192kHz Wolfson DACs. Build quality is impeccable, too, the chassis being particularly resistant to vibration, thanks to its multi-layered design.
You get what you pay for
The Arcam is as impressive with DVD as almost anything we’ve seen, with simply glorious colour richness, exemplary sharpness and negligible noise, and it also shakes a very lucid leg with music.
What about that pricetag? The more we used the DV139, the less the money bothered us. If you want one box to deliver better quality from CDs and DVDs, you’ll have to spend a lot more than this.
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