Denon PMA-600NE Integrated Amplifier Review

[totti1965]

There are several glowing online reviews for this unit. This is my favorite

LMAO! New York is an expensive place! He really needs the money!

 

[Phantomuser]

I have a bedroom system with a pma600 driving kef ls50 metas , I think it sounds great.
Yes my Sabaj A30a amp does sound better but it's not night and day and its one analog input is quite hissy.
the Denon is useful to me .. a proper remote a rec out and lots of inputs . It doesn't sound at all bad to me and doesn't hiss .maybe I got a good one!
it doesn't smell either well maybe a little lol
PS , it's chanel balance is perfectly fine .

 

[Overseas]

Now that you talk about channel imbalance, I remember that too. I thought it is all in my head. You know, Denon is a too big brand to screw it... Because of Pma600NE (emphasis on NE) I was never attracted to other Denon products.

 

[DSJR]

Thirty to forty years back, on a tech test it would have been regarded as great value and highly competent! Definitely from the 'Good Enough' era of lower cost commercial/international amp design!

Thing is, I suspect this product will still be working in thirty years' time. Will the raved-over (here) little desktop sinad-special boxes be doing the same I wonder?

Apart from one golden and expensive integrated amp, we only tended to have the bottom models, which were tweaked to supposedly 'sound better' than the full feature models. I'm way out of touch now, so no idea how related amps like this are.

 

[Overseas]

Yeah, who wouldn't want to pay for poor long term performance!?

 

[telemike]

I am disappointed. Now I'm wondering if I should sell my PMA-900HNE which I have been happy with but now maybe the performance isn't up to snuff

 

[Overseas]

I am disappointed. Now I'm wondering if I should sell my PMA-900HNE which I have been happy with but now maybe the performance isn't up to snuff

Not necesarily. Depends on how it measures and sounds.

 

[Michal]

That is the shame. They could be improved with little or no cost. Just some care in design. I'd even guess there are plenty working for them who would relish the chance to show that care in design, but either aren't encouraged or are not allowed to do so. If you take a device like this and significant parts of it will be made for possibly a decade can you not make it better for not much effort? The HDAM's from Marantz have been okay, but nothing more for almost 20 years. Imagine if they'd just bothered to make them pretty good. Then again, I guess they made just as much money in their minds without the bother.

Accountants rule audio companies now?

 

[Hammeredklavier]

It is depressing indeed and that is how I felt through the review, test after test. Hopefully in the future measurements will play a more important role in the company as I am sure a lot of these results could be improved with little to no cost.

Although, as always, we might wonder whether such improvements would be audible...

I think I've got the previous version of this amplifier - looks to be basically the same but without bluetooth and the DAC. It gets used with VA Haydns, just to provide sound for the TV system. It's been reliable, has useful facilities, more than enough power for the application, looks nice... I bought it in Richer Sounds years ago for £160 if memory serves. Not state of the art by any means but does the job!

 

[Hammeredklavier]

... just found the receipt, mine's the PMA520AE, purchased in April 2015 for £134.95. The specs look to be identical to this newer model, so it's based on a very basic, budget amplifier.

So the reviewed model appears to be an ageing budget integrated, refreshed by adding DAC and Bluetooth features.

 

[ads_cft222]

I am disappointed. Now I'm wondering if I should sell my PMA-900HNE which I have been happy with but now maybe the performance isn't up to snuff

Taken from the manufacturer site : https://assets.denon.com/DocumentMaster/MASTER/Denon_PMA-900HNE_Infosheet_EU.pdf

 

[Abrise]

Thirty to forty years back, on a tech test it would have been regarded as great value and highly competent! Definitely from the 'Good Enough' era of lower cost commercial/international amp design!

Thing is, I suspect this product will still be working in thirty years' time. Will the raved-over (here) little desktop sinad-special boxes be doing the same I wonder?

I am afraid the average ASR reader doesn't need anything working another 30 years.

 

[Hammeredklavier]

View attachment 326070
Taken from the manufacturer site : https://assets.denon.com/DocumentMaster/MASTER/Denon_PMA-900HNE_Infosheet_EU.pdf

Looks alright to me. Unless you've got some special, super critical application in mind...

 

[dogmamann]

I had liked the sound of this amp when I demoed in a store. I never imagined it measured this bad. Now I dont like it anymore.

 

[jcbenten]

....

[disclaimer: this is junk comment, I just wanted to feel young for a second and sound like a teenager praising subaru in a saab forum lol..]

Now that is pretty funny...me being a former 3x SAAB owner (85 SPG, 2001 Viggen, 2008 Aero XWD...

 

[Guralex]

I've bought PMA520AE to my friend and payed something around 120-130$, used in a perfect condition.
For that amount of money it was a wonderful option while paired with some small standmount Dali's (zensor 5 if I'm not mistaken) and cheap streamer.

For me it's really hard to blame such a cheap solution that didnt have any critical disadvantages. It's just OK.

 

[ads_cft222]

I had liked the sound of this amp when I demoed in a store. I never imagined it measured this bad. Now I dont like it anymore.

I personally did not like it when I heard it. But if I liked it I would not be affected by this.

 

[Overseas]

Mine resembled the sound of an empty metalic barrel, you know what I mean.

 

[Klonatans]

Let's see how it compares against the upcoming Wiim amp that's both cheaper and includes a streamer and may become a big hit. The old guard is really not up to task compared to many newcomers.

 

[Hammeredklavier]

I've bought PMA520AE to my friend and payed something around 120-130$, used in a perfect condition.
For that amount of money it was a wonderful option while paired with some small standmount Dali's (zensor 5 if I'm not mistaken) and cheap streamer.

For me it's really hard to blame such a cheap solution that didnt have any critical disadvantages. It's just OK.

I've been very pleased with my PMA520. I bought it for a desktop system, just for a bit of music while I work, and it's now in the front room driving some half decent speakers! It's been totally reliable and ticks every 'fit for purpose' box I can think of. And if it measured any better, would I actually be able to hear the difference and would it matter anyway for watching a bit of telly of an evening?

As someone noted above, this cheap amplifier will probably provide another 30 years' service, no sweat.