Got this player just this weekend from a fellow member at very reasonable price. I had to convince my wife though, and with the help of my 10 years old boy whom I also convinced, because I have 3 players already at home and this will be the 4th.
Compared this with my pio 676, hooked to the AX100 - quickly, I cannot decide which is better. I have yet to observe significant difference of the 600 in terms of PQ. Both players are good - they just have a slight variation in PQ such that the 676 has still to my eyes, better colors via component, the 600 however, has blacker blacks via HDMI; both in their default settings. Such a slight difference may be adjusted and appropriately compensated by toggling with the video settings and adjusting preferred color display of the players, one feature that I like with the pioneer players.
I haven’t fully gone through the various available settings of the 600, like the FULL RGB, or RGB setups or the different available levels of HDMI Resolution that may also possibly change my flat assessment on the 600 compared with the 676 in terms of PQ; component vs HDMI. One opinion I read indicate that the HDMI is better in terms of speed. This is a matter that I will have to see in coming days.
Having effectively brainwashed my boy that the HDMI of the 600 is best than the component of the 676, he questioned and cross-examined me on what I told him about HDMI vs component.
Nevertheless, having been able to view excellent images directly from my fat 32 USB flash drive, at least my wife appreciated and was a welcome relief for me.
I insisted on getting this because of the good reviews in various online forums. Incidentally most users are using LCD displays. I haven’t read yet a comprehensive performance review of this player on a pj setup. Maybe I still have to test all available adjustment options. If after all, my expectations are not meet, ill just have to sell this, of course with another price cut, and just save for an HD player.
