I've just unpacked the S-301, run it through a handful of tests, and made a few observations that I hope people will find helpful.
- The DVD picture quality is flat-out fantastic, and the high point of the system. My wife and I were shocked at the difference in appearance between this system and our previous DVD player. While I can't speak to the quality of the S-101, I've got to believe that the S-301's Faroudja processing is a difference-maker. It handled the frenetic speed of the massive and complicated combat scenes in Return of the King without any hint of artifacting. The lush colors of Amelie were recreated in glorious detail. I can't speak highly enough of the transfer quality.
- Each speaker consists of two mid-ranges and one tweeter. Be aware that the speakers stand a whopping 16 high, which some will find counter-intuitive since many pains were taken to make the main unit compact, like the Bose 3-2-1. My wife would have preferred the smaller Bose-style speakers. The sound is bright and clear. Those that want to hear grungy rock (ala Klipsch) may be disappointed. But, since many listeners will be spending a majority of their time hearing spoken voice from TV and DVD, it's a worthwhile tradeoff.
- When I unpacked the subwoofer, I was pleasantly surprised with its heft. The subwoofer is surprisingly meaty, easily powering through LOTR battle scenes and Beck's new album with solid earthy tones.
- The 2.1 system is designed to simulate surround sound, including DTS. Two front speakers will never equal five speakers, but the system does an adequate job of creating a center-speaker sound field. Rear sounds is fairly non-existent.
- There are three digital audio inputs, two coaxial and one optical. Denon made a major blunder here, because the one optical input cannot be mapped to a video input. In my experience, many more consumer electronics have digital optical outs than coax. This was nearly a deal-breaker to me. Is there such a thing as an optical-to-coaxial cable?
- Also disappointing is the lack of hi-def inputs. Would it have killed Denon to allow video pass through of a component signal?
There you have it. I hope you found this helpful.