Denon DP-3000NE Turntable Review

[gene]

The Denon DP-3000NE blends vintage broadcast turntable heritage with modern engineering, offering precise speed control, advanced tonearm design, and exceptional resonance damping. Designed for both audiophiles and newcomers, it delivers rich, detailed, and fatigue-free analog playback that rivals higher-priced competitors.

It's truly a no-compromise turntable built for the discerning listener, thoughtfully engineered without gimmicks and purposefully reimagined for long-term analog performance with minimal maintenance. Nearly every vital calibration parameter is available (barring azimuth on the stock head-shell), making this deck a joy to fine-tune and tailor to your system’s strengths.

Read our: Denon DP-3000NE Review

 

[TLS Guy]

The Denon DP-3000NE blends vintage broadcast turntable heritage with modern engineering, offering precise speed control, advanced tonearm design, and exceptional resonance damping. Designed for both audiophiles and newcomers, it delivers rich, detailed, and fatigue-free analog playback that rivals higher-priced competitors.

View attachment 74403

It's truly a no-compromise turntable built for the discerning listener, thoughtfully engineered without gimmicks and purposefully reimagined for long-term analog performance with minimal maintenance. Nearly every vital calibration parameter is available (barring azimuth on the stock head-shell), making this deck a joy to fine-tune and tailor to your system’s strengths.

Read our: Denon DP-3000NE Review

That looks to be a really nice, well thought out and built turntable. With the quality of the machining and overall build quality the price seems very much in line with that. I would suggest that most outfits would have priced it higher.

 

[PENG]

I think only someone like Denon (a mass producer of hifi gear) can produce a turntable of this calibre at $2,800. If even the popular brand such as Pro-Ject, price would have been at least twice as much.

 

[highfigh]

AND even though they still offer some of their great moving coil cartridges, none of their integrated/preamps or AVRs have a MC preamp.

That looks to be a really nice, well thought out and built turntable. With the quality of the machining and overall build quality the price seems very much in line with that. I would suggest that most outfits would have priced it higher.

Like this?

Statement Series – Sota Turntables

sotaturntables.com

 

[PENG]

AND even though they still offer some of their great moving coil cartridges, none of their integrated/preamps or AVRs have a MC preamp.


Like this?

Statement Series – Sota Turntables

sotaturntables.com

Of course they do offer integrated amplifiers that have MC input preamp, just that they don't seem interested in competing with Marantz (looking after their little brother I guess) in the Americas, here's just one example:

SoundStage! Hi-Fi | SoundStageHiFi.com - The Best of the Tokyo International Audio Show 2019

The PMA-SX1 Limited is a big, beautifully built, exquisitely styled integrated amp capable of outputting up to 50Wpc into 8 ohms or 100Wpc into 4 ohms. On its rear panel are one set of balanced (XLR) and four sets of single-ended (RCA) line-level inputs, and two more sets of single-ended (RCA) inputs for the built-in moving-magnet and moving-coil phono stages.

For only about US $6,000 (BEFORE Tariff, so...)

You do get as much as 50 WPC, 2 channel driven stereo, but "high current" capable lol.. If one wants their less power output integrated, one could opt for their lower models in the PMA line, Gene reviewed one of those lower end product and seem to like it, I don't remember if their have MC input, probably not, as those seemed to be listed for under $3,000.

 

[highfigh]

Of course they do offer integrated amplifiers that have MC input preamp, just that they don't seem interested in competing with Marantz (looking after their little brother I guess) in the Americas, here's just one example:

SoundStage! Hi-Fi | SoundStageHiFi.com - The Best of the Tokyo International Audio Show 2019

The PMA-SX1 Limited is a big, beautifully built, exquisitely styled integrated amp capable of outputting up to 50Wpc into 8 ohms or 100Wpc into 4 ohms. On its rear panel are one set of balanced (XLR) and four sets of single-ended (RCA) line-level inputs, and two more sets of single-ended (RCA) inputs for the built-in moving-magnet and moving-coil phono stages.

For only about US $6,000 (BEFORE Tariff, so...)

You do get as much as 50 WPC, 2 channel driven stereo, but "high current" capable lol.. If one wants their less power output integrated, one could opt for their lower models in the PMA line, Gene reviewed one of those lower end product and seem to like it, I don't remember if their have MC input, probably not, as those seemed to be listed for under $3,000.
View attachment 74466

Let me re-phrase the comment about not having MC input- they don't have an MC input that provides enough gain for a non High Output moving coil. The output voltage from the 103 variations is exceptionally low and it's hard to find a preamp that provides enough gain without adding noise or requiring that the volume control be turned so high that the preamp/AVR/Integrated amp's own noise becomes a problem. Parasound added 10dB of gain in the MC section in the P6. I had called and Richard Scramm answered the call, so I offered my comments and they could have tested it, but the stylus on their own 103 was bent. I explained that the P5's volume control needed to be at 12:00 or higher to achieve a decent level and at that point, the noise was annjoying. I also told him that I was able to use an Audio Technica MC cartridge with a 1970s Sony integrated that was rated at 30W/ch and had no MC section. The next Sony integrated had an MC section and it had absolutely no problem with the level AND it had a subsonic filter, which the Parasound didn't. The P5's S/N in the MC was 55dB, 65dB for the P6, the Sony TA-F6b was 75dB (MC) and 85dB (MM).

I don't know why Sony could do this in the 1970s and Parasound couldn't do it in the 2020s.

FWIW- that TA-F6b was rated at 100W/ch @8 Ohms, but since I was working at a stereo store with a service department, I had it tested on the BPi distortion analyzer- both channels driven, the output was 176 W/ch at rated distortion of .03% and at the bottom of the specs, ir showed Frequency Response- DC-100KHz +0/-1dB.

That's the reason I'm critical of modern integrated amps- I don't see the performance that was common/not scarce in the 1970s.

 

[Mikado463]

I think only someone like Denon (a mass producer of hifi gear) can produce a turntable of this calibre at $2,800. If even the popular brand such as Pro-Ject, price would have been at least twice as much.

agreed, a sub 5k offering to compete with the various offerings from Technics, the 1300G being IMO the sweet spot