Too bad we have to guess, due to the conflicting sources such as in this case, facebook vs the Anthem technical advisor's response. If it is the 9038Pro, then I think Anthem can claim they have the best DAC IC for AV preamp/processors regardless of price! Even if they only use the 9038Q2M, it is still hard to beat, I can only think of the D+M's ES9018K2M that apparently the Denon AVR-A1H and the corresponding Marantz AVP will have, that have comparable specs.
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Anthem AVM70 Review (AV Processor)
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Too bad we have to guess, due to the conflicting sources such as in this case, facebook vs the Anthem technical advisor's response. If it is the 9038Pro, then I think Anthem can claim they have the best DAC IC for AV preamp/processors regardless of price! Even if they only use the 9038Q2M, it is still hard to beat, I can only think of the D+M's ES9018K2M that apparently the Denon AVR-A1H and the corresponding Marantz AVP will have, that have comparable specs.
I don't understand where you precisely see the conflict here. Could you be more specific?
Oh, I thought I was being specific, you mentioned your facebook source that said it was the 9038Pro for the 90, vs post#418's that it was the 9038Q2M.
Well, with more careful reading you could already know better. In my post that you quoted I already pointed out that @ban25 gave a quote but without keeping the proper context.
For your convenience, here is the original question from post 273 that contains the answer from Anthem that you quoted (feel free to check the original post):
"Just repeating what Anthem support told me two weeks ago when I asked what DACs were in the AVM70 and MRX 1140 after the shift from AKM."
Obviously, the answer is about DACs in the AVM70 and the MRX 1140, but NOT the AVM 90. If we take "respectively" in the Anthem answer to maintain the sequence from the question, this would mean that the AVM70 contains the 9038Q2M and that the MRX 1140 contains the 9010K2M.
As for the facebook source, I am sorry that you seemingly did not care to look it up before voicing your doubt. In fact, it appears to be from the official manufacturer page. Again, for your convenice this time I like to provide a snapshot:
As you can take from the snapshot, somebody entitled to post in the name of Anthem on their facebook page gave that answer. If you want to uphold your claim that we still have to guess, you should provide evidence why the answer on facebook is not reliable whereas the one quoted by you is.
In my view, this information is complementary, not conflicting to the answer you quoted (because different product are covered) and seems to stem from a source that is equally "official" (coming from some person who is entitled to speak for Anthem).
Okay my mistake on this one, happy to know the 70 in fact has the 9038Q2M that is better than the 9010K2M that has also been mentioned, probably got mixed up with the 1140.
I read at least one post that mentioned the 9010 K2M was in the AVM70 that might have been an earlier batch after the AK4490, hopefully that is not true.
*Official Thread* Anthem AVM 70 & 90 and MRX 540, 740 & 1140
AVM 70 DAC - originally AK4490EQ, newer batch ES9038Q2M (Anthem social media post) or ES9010K2M (picture of internals from user) AVM 90 DAC - originally AK4499EQ, replaced with ES9038PRO
avdisco.com
Thank you for taking the time to correct me.
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ban25
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Thanks for clearing that up! So it does look like they are using a higher-end part in the AVM90 after all.
Okay my mistake on this one, happy to know the 70 in fact has the 9038Q2M that is better than the 9010K2M that has also been mentioned, probably got mixed up with the 1140.
I read at least one post that mentioned the 9010 K2M was in the AVM70 that might have been an earlier batch after the AK4490, hopefully that is not true.
*Official Thread* Anthem AVM 70 & 90 and MRX 540, 740 & 1140
AVM 70 DAC - originally AK4490EQ, newer batch ES9038Q2M (Anthem social media post) or ES9010K2M (picture of internals from user) AVM 90 DAC - originally AK4499EQ, replaced with ES9038PRO
Thank you for taking the time to correct me.
Thank you for the kind words. Being interested in the current Anthem lineup myself, I just tried to clear some cobwebs that seemed to result from a simple misunderstanding but might perhaps confuse forum members.
In your latest quoted reference I see the ES3038PRO mentioned for the AVM 90 as well. We might take this as an additional piece of evidence that justifies some more optimism. I completely agree with your statement that the ES3038PRO represents a superb choice (put in my words) and does put the AVM 90 high on my list.
Ok I think we should ask if someone already owns this AVM90, pop the hood and take a picture of the DACs!
Yes, I can only agree with @peng that the DAC choice is top notch. Although additional information or evidence wouldn't hurt, I tend to put some trust in the existing evidence for the AVM 90 to contain the ESS3038PRO.
Agreed but I don't have the budget for it so I'll have to be happy with the 70.
Did you see any pictures of the DACs? Also if this and the four subs are the only differences, not sure it is worth double the price!
By the way the AVM 90 dealer cost is 40 points off the MSRP! ($4,500)
I must admit that the AVM 70 caught my eyes first. And I can only agree with @Descartes that the price difference is significant whereas the additional value is not so clear.
No photos, unfortunately. I agree that "hard evidence" would be nice. And it is not clear enough for my taste whether the additional benefits can justify the price difference. I seem to remember that Anthem claims that the AVM 90 has a superior circuitry. But this is a very vague statement and even if it is true, I would like to know more details about that to have a better impression what kind of improvement I might expect.
IIRC, some reviewers mention that they perceived superior audio quality (more details etc.) when comparing the AVM 90 to the AVM 70. This would of course nicely match with a superior circuitry. But those statements are subjective and might even be biased because the reviewer perhaps felt the need to justify the existence of the AVM 90 over the AVM 70. And even if those statements were unbiased it is not clear whether a different person with different ears will share the same perception. Without further information, I'd say that choosing between the AVM 70 and the AVM 90 has some aspects of a gamble.
But e. g. for somebody who is convinced that 4 subs are clearly superior to 2 subs that might already be the decisive difference.
I hope Amir can review the AVM 90 soon so that we can see how much better it is than the AVM 70
Just need some generous friends to send him one, along with some up-market D&M gear!
Where is the proof for these statements, let’s see the pictures and the scientific measurements demonstrating these claims! After all this is Audio Science Reviews not What Hifi marketing BS!
kmidst
Member
My experience with Anthem has been that they're too expensive for what they offer! I "downgraded" to Marantz and am very happy with the sound quality still. New unit cost less money and had more channels. Anthem, you could have a great product, you need to price your stuff more appropriately though. And fix the bugs that your production units still suffer from even after the newest updates.
That's just the 90, the 70's price seems reasonble for what it offers.
MacCali
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Well we will see, I already ordered it. I still got my marantz 7013, that suckers going into the living room to replace my old onkyo.
I contacted them to ask for return policy just in case I do not get that extra immersion I desire, because it seems like what everyone said is out of the box with room calibration the AVM provides the best experience in home theater. Not sure if that's just reviewers trying to create hype or not, but at 3000 it's not bad and I do not need 4k/120.
Still my only concern is what the RCA outputs are doing. Not sure why Amir didn't measure that or maybe you guys know what the expected sinad would be just based off of those XLR measurements.
The only unfortunate news is that I only use 7 channels so this is beyond overkill and probably dumb. However, the 3700 seemed risky with the new dac and the 6700 is the same price and 8500 is even more. In addition I do not know what dacs those guys had originally when they were reviewed and if they changed too. So I am just considering this a way out with some level of future proofing
So it won’t work with the PS5!
