Denon DCD-1000

The DCD-1000 is a mid-1980s Denon CD player that sits in the shadow of its more celebrated siblings. Denon's own period advertising framed the whole DCD series as a follow-up to the highly regarded DCD-1800, a machine that reviewers in the U.S., West Germany, and Japan were said to have called the best-sounding CD player they'd heard. The DCD-1000 was part of Denon's effort to build players that exceeded that original performance level while becoming more affordable, as Audio (December 1985, p.61) noted in its coverage of the line.

Documentation on the DCD-1000 itself is thin, and what exists contains one real contradiction. The firm facts: it uses a Burr Brown PCM54HP 16-bit DAC with a 256-oversampling digital filter, and a Sony KSS-123A laser pickup. It has a 3-beam pickup and, according to one source, a wireless remote control. Channel separation is listed as 94 dB by one source and 95 dB by another, so the exact figure is left out here.

The design description is where things get murkier. One source calls the DCD-1000 a top-loading player with a die-cast aluminum drawer, which is an odd pairing of terms. The dimensions (434 x 92 x 271 mm) suggest a standard front-loading chassis. The two descriptions don't reconcile, so the conflict is simply noted here.

Known specs:

- Burr Brown PCM54HP DAC, 16-bit with 256-oversampling digital filter

- Sony KSS-123A pickup, 3-beam

- Output level: 2V

- Signal-to-noise ratio: 100 dB

- Frequency response: 2Hz – 20kHz

- Harmonic distortion: 0.0015%

- Dynamic range: 98 dB

- Power consumption: 18W

- Dimensions: 434 x 92 x 271 mm

- Weight: 5.1 kg

No production years, original price, or market positioning have surfaced. Whether it loads from the front or the top is still an open question.