Integrated Amp Reviews

JA, can you remember or have filed away what that measurement was on the Technics GaN flagship SU-R1 or the SU-R1000?

Cheers George

J.A.:"the three DC voltage levels described by the data are completely obscured by high-frequency noise, presumably radiated from the switching output stage. With undithered 24-bit data (fig.17), what should have been a relatively clean sinewave was again obscured by high-frequency noise. It should be noted however that the noise is above the audioband."

I would think that if the reviewer listen close he would have heard "artifacts" of this almost 1v noise through such efficient speakers as the 96dB DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/96??

Cheers George

this is really depressing

Listen to what the man, JA, said.

I said "artefacts" of the fundamental.
(disappointing was used by him, not me)

Cheers George

“I compared the Technics's digital conversion to that of the Denafrips Ares II DAC, using a Sonore opticalRendu to convert the Ethernet stream to USB, the external DAC's output connected to one of the Technics's line inputs.”

Did you have occasion to play DSD files from the opticalRendu over the USB input? If so, did they play natively or did they play as DoP? I ask because I am having a tough time finding integrated amp USB inputs that can play native DSD without an ASIO driver, which Linux-based renderers like the Rendus cannot use.

Sonore has added some DAC IDs to its kernel, which is supposed to be the workaround, but I have found the implementation to be hit-or-miss. (For example, my ultraRendu is supposed to have the DAC ID for the NuPrime IDA-8’s DAC, but I can’t get dsf’s to play natively at all. That’s not necessarily an issue with DLNA players such as JRiver, Audirvāna, or MinimServer, but, with the expensive HQPlayer, I not only can’t upsample PCM to DSD, I end up with DSD downsampled to PCM.)

I know I can get external DACs that do just fine with USB and DSD from Linux, but, due to cabinet space considerations, I am in the market for an integrated that can handle these files natively.

I love reading all the reviews of Stereophile, it's a joy.

In al reviews this sentence in this review is one of the weirdest, puzzling and original ones I came across in years:

" translating analog to digital as smoothly as Rudy Van Gelder sipping a martini"

Haha, it should be added to the audiophile dictionary I suggest. But before that, shouldn't it be between quote signs because it is by Technics ? And what does it mean ?

Thank you

Hi JA,
Interesting measurements. How was the SU-G700M2 connected to the power supply? Was it plugged directly in the wall? Or connected to an EMI/RFI filter device?
The reason I ask is because when I hooked up the SU-G700M2 to an EMI/RFI device, there was a low humming noise coming out of the speakers but only when the input was set to MAIN (in my setup the SU-G700M2 provides 2 channel/front speakers to a Marantz Cinema 50), all the other inputs were dead silent. So, I connected the SU-G700M2 directly to the wall and the noise was gone.

Thanks for answering my question. I have another question about what you said in the measurements "The latter voltage implies that digital data at 0dBFS will drive the amplifier into clipping.".
This is so true because mine clips constantly if I listen loud (100-102 db peaks). It is driving me crazy (although I don't listen at over 100db, sometimes I do unintentionally - the music has a surge - and then it clips).
There is no fix for this, right?
I still have the Arcam SA-20, would I be better off with it?
Thanks!
An update: Owners have complained about the F76 has happened constantly for them too and not just at over 100db, even using the dimmer makes the unit shutdown with a F76. I saw there is a firmware update, I'll apply it.