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Denon vs. Sony Brands: Past, Present, Future (split from Denon DL Link thread)

1K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  cfraser 
#1 ·
Denon is obviously considered an "elite" brand where a sale of only 1 receiver is the equivalent of 10-20 receivers for other manufacturers which is why they can afford to sell less units. However, things like these never last and we have seen "elite" brands go down big time.

Look at Sony. They were once considered "the brand" to get. Not anymore (I'm not giving Sony hate here as I have many products of theirs, I'm just stating fact)!
 
#2 ·
There is a significant difference between Sony and Denon. Sony sinks all its research into new technology with the hope of a big payoff when it gets accepted. (Witness the potential big payoff for Blu-ray, despite all the other failures before it.) Meanwhile, Sony makes many poor quality products and sells them for premium prices. (I know there are good quality Sony products but they are becoming relatively rare.) Denon prides itself on building higher quality products using relatively standard technology and they succeed most of the time. IMHO, Denon Link is a misstep for Denon and I hope they learn from the experience. Otherwise, Denon equipment is typically very high quality and often worth the price, if you can afford it. There is nothing special about their low end equipment, which can often be matched by other brands. OTOH, it's typically better than Sony's equipment at any price.
 
#4 · (Edited)
It is interesting how things change. It is true Sony had a very good rep for mass-market stuff many years ago, and I mean many. They still had/have?? their elite lineup which you will rarely see or hear of in NA, very expensive and not very competitive, but still quite good stuff. Just talking pres and amps and receivers here.

Pioneer used to be a low end receiver brand. I'm talking decades ago. They were very popular and quite decent though. They still have their lower-end stuff, very different and mass-market compared to their Elite series.

I didn't even know Denon was supposed to be an elite brand. LOL, it was about the only common brand I had never owned since I started buying hifi gear in '72; I have a Denon AVR now, among several others. I didn't choose it because it's Denon, but because of what it did and what I wanted. I do not think it's built any better than other stuff *in its price range* (which is a bit high!). These manufacturers are very competitive. It might work better though, and it *may* be better built, but looks equal to my eye until you get over ~$5k. That seems to be the AVR price level where they start to build decently, a few years ago it was ~$4k. Otherwise IMO their build quality (all brands) is nothing to crow about. In fact, they are all so disgustingly cheaply built it makes me cry to spend any $$ on them...open 'em up before comparing build quality...don't go by the outside or how they work, things can be cheaply built and work just fine. Depends on if you like things built to be disposable or to keep, but admit build quality is something most people will never look at.

Edit: I think if you want something better-built but don't want to go as high in $$ as you have to with the mass-market brands to get their "elite" lines, you have to go to brands in the NAD/Rotel (etc.) league. The thing is too, if you want all the current decodings etc., there are rather large licensing fees compared to the last generation of AVRs. Every logo you see on that AVR means somebody has to be paid... And it's the build quality (and sonic quality especially, the analog and DAC section which uses expensive parts) that takes a hit when the price-point has to be met.
 
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