Jazz Speaker Digital Audio Decoders

To see how this little thing sounded I first set up the DE – 006 with my usual six speaker system incorporating dipole surrounds and low sensitivity L/R front speakers, the center & the sub , an array that demands a lot from any amplifier. With two channel recordings I heard clean dynamic sound reproduction with detail & bass. In Dolby Digital mode with my powered sub added to the mix the DE – 006 delivered the goods. I mean it really delivered the goods!!. The Eagles DVD sounded squeaky clean & broadly spacious. The same excellence pertained to DTS 5.1 playback; I mean you hardly know a DVD movie could sound so good with an added decoder.

I only had the “Bone Collector” DVD with me at the time I received this Decoder, and since this movie doesn’t include any spectacular sound effects (Basically it includes dialogues and hardly any special sound effects, so all the other five speakers are simply non functional right throughout the movie) I wasted no time in heading straight to my local video store and borrowing some movies with super sound effects. At least in my opinion I think “The Rock”, “Aliens 5”, and “Star Ship Troopers” produce some incredible sound effects. So with the movies in hand I sat down to enjoy a little bit of Aliens 5, only to be stunned by the sound effects. The DE-006 separates the digital sound information so well only experiencing it will make you know how good it really sounds. You could literally feel the sound moving from one speaker to the other when a space ship moves from one side to the other. The only advantage of going to a theatre is that you’re offered a wider screen. When it comes to sound effects the DE-006 is well capable of delivering the goods.

After thoroughly enjoying the movie even though I have watched it over ten times now I replaced the DE-006 with the DE-005 expecting much degraded performance to the DE-006. Boy was I wrong… in fact if I actually didn’t physicaly look at it, I really wouldn’t know whether it’s the DE-006 or the DE-005 doing all that work. The only noticeable cons of the DE-005 is that it doesn’t look as cool as the DE-006 and its output is less than the former. To be honest if I actually was going to buy one of these I would be really confused as to which one to opt for. If there was a huge price gap between the two then theirs a definite criteria to base your decision on, yet the price difference of these two is only $6. So it all ends up to your individual tastes since performance wise, neither me nor my colleagues could find a definite contrast between the two.
Conclusion

If you’re a hardcore DVD buff or an audio enthusiast who enjoys good music, then why not add some spice into it by opting for one of these decoders. If the $145 price tag of the DE-006 seems too high go for the DE-005, which is offered at $139(hmmm…6 bucks make a difference anybody?) . As I mentioned before I really couldn’t find any significant difference between these two products other than their looks. Performance wise they both are really good and both have the same set of features. Of course the DE-006 looks a lot cooler than the DE-005 and most probably the De-006 will have a higher output, however due to the use of amps this variation is unnoticed. Keep in mind however that both these decoders are not only for set top DVD players. They can also be used in PC-DVD systems, Game systems such as Play Station or any other DVD device, which outputs digital decoded audio. I tested both these out with my Sony Play station and it really rocks. However I’m more of a DVD buff than a gaming fan so after testing it out I switched back to the former configuration.

If you currently don’t own a DVD system and plan to do so in the near future, make sure to include one of these decoders in the list as well. Believe me it’s well worth the $145 (Or $139) you spend. I’m telling you this since I know what I have been missing all this time without a decoder. The experience is simply exquisite and it brings in a whole new world of realism into your DVD movie arena.

DE-006 DE-005

Some of you might wonder why I gave a 92% rating when their’s no significant difference in performance between the two. Well the reason is my personal taste, I just lke the looks of the DE-006, so it got a higher rating.