Hello Everyone,
This a review and detailed measurements of the Denon PRA-S10 preamplifier.
Denon PRA-S10 - Presentation
Released in 1995, the PRA-S10 was top of the range preamplifier from Denon, supposed to be used with the mono-blocks POA-S10. It was expensive, and I calculated it would be around 2500$ in today's money. That's a lot only to select inputs and adjust the volume, all in analog domain. That said, it is much less than the Accuphase C-280 I recently reviewed, so let's see if we get much less performances too.
Unlike the Accuphase, the Denon offers a phones out, which I think is mandatory on a preamplifier, tones control and a remote control. Like the Accuphase, it host a high performance phono preamp for MM and MC cartridges, but forgot a subsonic filter...
As you can see from the front face, we don't get much more than what I just wrote, only tape monitor function. I'm also missing a gain attenuator button, but the remote control offers an additional mute button. By the way, the remote allows to control of other Denon devices, but when it comes to that preamp, we can only switch sources, adjust the volume, and mute the output.
Compared to the Accuphase, the Denon has a different approach, putting emphasis on some functions (eg tones control) rather than others (eg subsonic filter). I think they both try to achieve high precision in different ways.
The back of the PRA-S10 shows RCA connectors and one stereo XLR input/output (input only for the CD Player entry, switchable with RCA):
Denon was providing the below specs and I'll talk about them:
This preamp has been designed the good old ways, to me, and that's what I read above. Indeed, the rated input is 150mv meaning that max output will be obtained from that low level from line input. The rated output is 1V, and that means the line level gain is 16dB. It is 2V for balanced output, 6dB more gain.
The reason I mention this is because the rest of specs are given for rated input/output, so if I want to verify they are respected, I need to test the same way.
That said, I also need to test in a pseudo standardized way for all preamps, else how can we compare them? In the end, it is important to understand these data as they can and should drive your decision to go for one item rather than another because they don't necessarily have the same objective and might have very different performances based on how you'll use them.
Being design with a rated input of 150mV has noise constraint, and this is to offer compatibility with older devices, such as a cassette deck, that the customer might still be using. At the same time, the Denon accept high voltages input/output, said to be 10V each. And indeed, I could not clip the input nor the output (my measurement interface was the one to clip before the Denon).
MM and MC input offer very high gain, up to 58dB!
Let's go quickly inside:
We are very far from the crazy internals of the Accuphase
User Experience
I bought this unit 2 years ago and I have been using it since then with satisfaction.
Having a remote is convenient, although I tend to use the volume control of the digital interface connected to it. As opposed to the Accuphase, the volume knob is not one that I enjoy touching.
I got it as part of a full stack from someone who bought all the below units new, at the time:
The POA-10 THX stereo power amplifier was not supposed to be the one to use, but it looked nicer than the two dedicated mono-blocks, I must say. The associated Tuner was a beautiful piece of engineering, too bad I can't measure it, I'd have loved testing it. The CD Player DCD-S10 is on the list of those to review.
Denon PRA-S10 - Measurements (Unbalanced)
I realise it is time demanding to review these units. And unfortunately, I now have a noise issue (pack of noise at 9kHz) in my setup preventing me from completing all measurements. Luckily, I already measured it a year ago, so I can at least share what I recorded at the time and what I managed to record before having the issue.
All measurements were performed with an E1DA Cosmos ADCiso (grade 0), and the Cosmos Scaler (100kohms from unbalanced input), for capturing analog outputs of the Denon. I used a high performance DAC, the Topping D50III, as the generator with REW Software from a laptop. All these devices run on batteries, and the D50III was behind a USB isolator, to prevent as much as possible any ground loops.
I won't be following Amir's way of measuring such an item because I don't use an AP, and I wanted to check the claims of Denon. So you can't directly compare this preamp review to what Amir usually shows, although it's not completely deviating as I tried to align some of them.
Unless otherwise noted, all measurements are from RCA in/out. The two channels were matched a 0.2dB in the worst case, which is good (0.01dB mismatch only at max output). Phase is flat. The two channels have near exact same performances.
----
So, let's start with the SINAD view to verify the specs of Denon. That means the input is 150mV and the output is 1V:
For once I set the distortion to %, as Denon says 0.002% with that measurement. I get a little better with 0.0011% THD+N. Distortion is vanishingly low and you see from the dashboard that we are at maximum gain (16dB).
The below is the same but with 500mV input:
This time we get 18bits of resolution but the output is a high 3.2Vrms, which should satisfy all amplifiers.
Let's push it a little more, for the pleasure, with 1Vrms input, still max gain, and let's include noise up to 90kHz. The below is a view in linear scale, up to 80kHz:
The Denon is still really cool with that higher level signal.
Now, for the sake of compatibility with Amir's review, let's try at unity gain, that is 2Vrms input and so 2Vrms output:
I kept the same view on purpose to show the difference. See the noise floor raison past 15kHz? If that'd be a DAC, I'd say we have an agressive noise shaping system in action
THD+N dropped because of that.
Let's have a look at the same measurement, but this time with noise included up to 20kHz and in a more standard log scale (up to 20kHz):
The resolution is back to above CD Audio, but the rise of noise floor before 20kHz is still what kills it.
If you think that is an issue, then you must hate any recent CD Audio released with shaped dither, as it generates much more noise than that. Proof? Of course, the below is a 16bits/44.1kHz pseudo 1kHz @0dBFS with shape dither, from the excellent Sony CDP-559ES that I reviewed last week:
Yep, that's the type of noise you get from recent masters that are created from a 24bits master. Many studios apply shape dither of that type (or close enough) when decreasing the bit-depth, to get a higher resolution before 6kHz.
Thing is that the Denon will not go that low at unity gain, it's not been designed for that purpose. Conclusion? If you can, and if you use a modern DAC, you better attenuate the output volume from it, in digital domain, so to increase the gain with this Denon (well, if you want to use this preamp). The Topping D50III I used for testing the Denon still offer 18bits+ of resolution at 0.5Vrms output...
----
I guess you saw some power supply related leakage from mains (50Hz in Europe), and I like to show it "à la" Stereophile:
The two channels are shown, and that noise is below -120dBr, so that will stay unnoticed.
----
Let's continue with the famous Multitone that a lot of you, including me, like so much, here at max gain:
Besides the spike at 150Hz, this is very good result as we get from 18 to 20bits distortion free range (max gain). By the way, do you see that pack of noise around 8k-9kHz? This is new and that annoys me...
Ok, let's be a bit nasty and run the same test at unity gain, since the Denon does not like that, and with an input of 600mVrms:
Oh well, it still is offers 18 bits to 20bits of distortion-free range
----
Let's move on to bandwidth. I show below the worst case scenario of 0.2dB channel imbalance:
It is better than specs, and note that at 20kHz, 0.1dB attenuation is due to the Topping D50III that I used as the generator (shame on me, I forgot to calibrate REW to adjust that).
----
Oh, yes, another measurement that you can use to compare with other devices. It is the THD+N ratio vs frequency, with an extended bandwidth to capture all distortion and noise components up to 90kHz:
This is at max gain, and that is a very good result!
That said, and like I showed before, at unity gain, we get a punishing flat -85dB constant result because of the rising noise floor. I still don't think it an issue, because if would measure an SACD player with the same, we'd get scary result... way below 10bits...
The Denon offers better performances than any SACD player...
----
The below IMD SMPTE sweep vs input level is not comparable to the same test from Amir, because it is excluding noise:
That's an interesting view as we can appreciate that intermodulation distortion rises when at unity gain, but as you can see, the two curves join past 1Vrms (input). This low level of IMD will remain hidden to your ears.
In the worst case scenario, this is "only" 10dB higher distortion than the crazy Accuphase C-280.
Note for self: it is unnecessary to extend the BW to 90kHz for that test, 20kHz is enough since the wanted distortion is at the foot of the second tone of the IMD SMPTE test (60Hz & 7kHz 4:1).
----
Other measurements (not shown):
Ok, that was a lot of data and information, only for the unbalanced line input. What I saw, although not as beautiful as the big Accuphase I mentioned so many times, is still very good, very close to the definition of straight wire with gain. And at max gain, this is exactly what it is!
Denon PRA-S10 - Measurements (Unbalanced)
Let me edit the review to add most of the same measurements taken from balanced input/output. In that case, the gain is 6dB higher.
Let's start with the SINAD view to verify the specs of Denon. That means the input is 300mV and the output is 4V:
Exact same performance as with RCA on that test.
The below is the best "SINAD" measurement I got from the Denon, and that is at max gain with 700Vrms input, roughly 9.6Vrms output:
We get less PS leakage but the noise floor is a little higher than best case with RCA (4dB loss in SINAD compared to RCA in/out (106dB vs 110dB)), but that is still very good. I think it can do better than that, but beyond that output voltage, it clips my input interface
When at unity gain, the XLR in/out deliver better performances (4Vrms in/out below):
Like I did with RCA, the below is Unity gain, but with noise up to 90khz (80kHz BW graph, linear scale):
We get 0.8bits less random noise compared to unbalanced in/out, which is good news.
----
As you saw we get less Power Supply leakage (less harmonics of 50Hz):
Note the higher overall random noise floor on that view, but that is because I can't send more input voltage into the Denon, since my ADC is near clipping here. But it would probably achieve the same as with RCA.
----
Multitone improved with balanced input/output:
This is a very clean trace.
----
Let's have a look at THD+N vs Frequency with noise included up to 90kHz:
This is nearly all noise dominated because I could not send the max input with max gain. The -100dB limitation is due to noise floor that rises at higher frequencies. Results are better with XLR than what it would have been with RCA, like I explained before. And same comment as with RCA, this is not a concern.
Note the increasing level starting at 3kHz, this is where distortion is above noise, in this measurement.
----
The below is a sweep of IMD SMPTE vs level at unity gain and max gain:
Max performance is lower than with RCA but the two lines are closer, meaning that the performance is more consistant accros the gain range when using balanced in/out.
----
I forgot to add the crosstalk. The below is a sweep of Left to Right channel crosstalk vs frequency at Max Gain and Unity Gain:
I would have preferred to see less, but it's still ok. There's no difference Right to Left Channel.
----
I don’t add other measurements as they are identical, eg the bandwidth.
The balanced input / output have overall better and more stable performances than unbalanced. It won’t make an audible difference though, but it is nice to witness.
Denon PRA-S10 - Measurements (Phono MM)
I must repeat what I said about the big Accuphase: the Denon has been designed to be a Phono preamp, before everything else. I invite you to read/use the Accuphase review as the master to beat or approach (if possible).
That said, problem is that I have an obvious problem with my test setup at the moment (and I'm afraid I found why
), so I have to rely on older measurements that do not align with what I wanted to show.
Shame on me, but I might have damaged the phono stage, by wrongly sending too much voltage into it
So, here you go with what's left of what I measured before being stupid and also after.
On 1kHz test perspective, this is all I can show now (1kHz 40mVrms input, 40dB Gain):
The Denon still shows very good intention, but that pack of noise at 9kHz is weird as well as the elevated noise floor at low frequencies. All that said, the above results are better than many recent phono stages...
----
Next important set of measurements for a phono preamp is related to knowing at what point it will clip, depending on the frequency l’and voltage input. We need a good headroom, and all ancient phono preamps were known to perform well on that perspective.
This is measured with a sweep of THD vs input level, at different frequencies. Let's check what the Denon can do:
No surprise, this is more than so many recent phono stages. Like I said in the Accuphase review, it is good to know we have a massive headroom because some dynamic cartridges (eg: Shure M44-7 - 9mVrms for 5cm/sec), together with over-cut records, would be reaching a speed velocity of 30cm/sec, meaning they'd be at or beyond 60mVrms. At 1kHz, the Denon clips past 200mVrms, we are more than safe! This is not as crazy as the Accuphase but still way over what we need by many dBs!
----
Ok, bandwidth, as we need to check the respect of RIAA curve:
The descending curve is the one of the phono stage and the flat one is with standard RIAA cuve applied to verify compliance. And this time, I did not forget to calibrate my test gear... It is not much zoomed in and we see .something dB deviation at lower frequencies.
----
Oh, yes, for the fun, as @amirm likes the below measurement. It is a sweep of THD only (no noise) with an extended bandwidth up to 90kHz to capture distortion at high frequencies too (both channels shown, plot at 1kHz to show the distortion level in the legend):
The Denon is still in good enough shape to deliver nice results here.
Conclusion
I bought this preamp 2 years ago and I've been using it to drive my big Accuphase P-600 amplifier with great satisfaction. And I must admit that this review not only required unusual involvement from me, but I was nearly afraid to talk about the unit I've been enjoying for so long, in fear of deceptive performances.
It is not as good as the Accuphase C-280 that I mentioned too many times, but for the price I paid, it really is a (very) good choice, if you need such a device.
On a pure performance perspective, it still delivers more than what Denon announced at the time, and I think this is very good news. I see no reason not to continue enjoying this unit.
Time has now come for the Denon to go back to its place, being the "Head" of my beloved amp... until one can do better
And I’m not concerned that the Denon lacks a subsonic filter, as the Accuphase elegantly provides one
I hope you enjoyed this review and I wish you a happy weekend!
Flo
This a review and detailed measurements of the Denon PRA-S10 preamplifier.
Denon PRA-S10 - Presentation
Released in 1995, the PRA-S10 was top of the range preamplifier from Denon, supposed to be used with the mono-blocks POA-S10. It was expensive, and I calculated it would be around 2500$ in today's money. That's a lot only to select inputs and adjust the volume, all in analog domain. That said, it is much less than the Accuphase C-280 I recently reviewed, so let's see if we get much less performances too.
Unlike the Accuphase, the Denon offers a phones out, which I think is mandatory on a preamplifier, tones control and a remote control. Like the Accuphase, it host a high performance phono preamp for MM and MC cartridges, but forgot a subsonic filter...
As you can see from the front face, we don't get much more than what I just wrote, only tape monitor function. I'm also missing a gain attenuator button, but the remote control offers an additional mute button. By the way, the remote allows to control of other Denon devices, but when it comes to that preamp, we can only switch sources, adjust the volume, and mute the output.
Compared to the Accuphase, the Denon has a different approach, putting emphasis on some functions (eg tones control) rather than others (eg subsonic filter). I think they both try to achieve high precision in different ways.
The back of the PRA-S10 shows RCA connectors and one stereo XLR input/output (input only for the CD Player entry, switchable with RCA):
Denon was providing the below specs and I'll talk about them:
This preamp has been designed the good old ways, to me, and that's what I read above. Indeed, the rated input is 150mv meaning that max output will be obtained from that low level from line input. The rated output is 1V, and that means the line level gain is 16dB. It is 2V for balanced output, 6dB more gain.
The reason I mention this is because the rest of specs are given for rated input/output, so if I want to verify they are respected, I need to test the same way.
That said, I also need to test in a pseudo standardized way for all preamps, else how can we compare them? In the end, it is important to understand these data as they can and should drive your decision to go for one item rather than another because they don't necessarily have the same objective and might have very different performances based on how you'll use them.
Being design with a rated input of 150mV has noise constraint, and this is to offer compatibility with older devices, such as a cassette deck, that the customer might still be using. At the same time, the Denon accept high voltages input/output, said to be 10V each. And indeed, I could not clip the input nor the output (my measurement interface was the one to clip before the Denon).
MM and MC input offer very high gain, up to 58dB!
Let's go quickly inside:
We are very far from the crazy internals of the Accuphase
User Experience
I bought this unit 2 years ago and I have been using it since then with satisfaction.
Having a remote is convenient, although I tend to use the volume control of the digital interface connected to it. As opposed to the Accuphase, the volume knob is not one that I enjoy touching.
I got it as part of a full stack from someone who bought all the below units new, at the time:
The POA-10 THX stereo power amplifier was not supposed to be the one to use, but it looked nicer than the two dedicated mono-blocks, I must say. The associated Tuner was a beautiful piece of engineering, too bad I can't measure it, I'd have loved testing it. The CD Player DCD-S10 is on the list of those to review.
Denon PRA-S10 - Measurements (Unbalanced)
I realise it is time demanding to review these units. And unfortunately, I now have a noise issue (pack of noise at 9kHz) in my setup preventing me from completing all measurements. Luckily, I already measured it a year ago, so I can at least share what I recorded at the time and what I managed to record before having the issue.
All measurements were performed with an E1DA Cosmos ADCiso (grade 0), and the Cosmos Scaler (100kohms from unbalanced input), for capturing analog outputs of the Denon. I used a high performance DAC, the Topping D50III, as the generator with REW Software from a laptop. All these devices run on batteries, and the D50III was behind a USB isolator, to prevent as much as possible any ground loops.
I won't be following Amir's way of measuring such an item because I don't use an AP, and I wanted to check the claims of Denon. So you can't directly compare this preamp review to what Amir usually shows, although it's not completely deviating as I tried to align some of them.
Unless otherwise noted, all measurements are from RCA in/out. The two channels were matched a 0.2dB in the worst case, which is good (0.01dB mismatch only at max output). Phase is flat. The two channels have near exact same performances.
----
So, let's start with the SINAD view to verify the specs of Denon. That means the input is 150mV and the output is 1V:
For once I set the distortion to %, as Denon says 0.002% with that measurement. I get a little better with 0.0011% THD+N. Distortion is vanishingly low and you see from the dashboard that we are at maximum gain (16dB).
The below is the same but with 500mV input:
This time we get 18bits of resolution but the output is a high 3.2Vrms, which should satisfy all amplifiers.
Let's push it a little more, for the pleasure, with 1Vrms input, still max gain, and let's include noise up to 90kHz. The below is a view in linear scale, up to 80kHz:
The Denon is still really cool with that higher level signal.
Now, for the sake of compatibility with Amir's review, let's try at unity gain, that is 2Vrms input and so 2Vrms output:
I kept the same view on purpose to show the difference. See the noise floor raison past 15kHz? If that'd be a DAC, I'd say we have an agressive noise shaping system in action
THD+N dropped because of that.Let's have a look at the same measurement, but this time with noise included up to 20kHz and in a more standard log scale (up to 20kHz):
The resolution is back to above CD Audio, but the rise of noise floor before 20kHz is still what kills it.
If you think that is an issue, then you must hate any recent CD Audio released with shaped dither, as it generates much more noise than that. Proof? Of course, the below is a 16bits/44.1kHz pseudo 1kHz @0dBFS with shape dither, from the excellent Sony CDP-559ES that I reviewed last week:
Yep, that's the type of noise you get from recent masters that are created from a 24bits master. Many studios apply shape dither of that type (or close enough) when decreasing the bit-depth, to get a higher resolution before 6kHz.
Thing is that the Denon will not go that low at unity gain, it's not been designed for that purpose. Conclusion? If you can, and if you use a modern DAC, you better attenuate the output volume from it, in digital domain, so to increase the gain with this Denon (well, if you want to use this preamp). The Topping D50III I used for testing the Denon still offer 18bits+ of resolution at 0.5Vrms output...
----
I guess you saw some power supply related leakage from mains (50Hz in Europe), and I like to show it "à la" Stereophile:
The two channels are shown, and that noise is below -120dBr, so that will stay unnoticed.
----
Let's continue with the famous Multitone that a lot of you, including me, like so much, here at max gain:
Besides the spike at 150Hz, this is very good result as we get from 18 to 20bits distortion free range (max gain). By the way, do you see that pack of noise around 8k-9kHz? This is new and that annoys me...
Ok, let's be a bit nasty and run the same test at unity gain, since the Denon does not like that, and with an input of 600mVrms:
Oh well, it still is offers 18 bits to 20bits of distortion-free range
----
Let's move on to bandwidth. I show below the worst case scenario of 0.2dB channel imbalance:
It is better than specs, and note that at 20kHz, 0.1dB attenuation is due to the Topping D50III that I used as the generator (shame on me, I forgot to calibrate REW to adjust that).
----
Oh, yes, another measurement that you can use to compare with other devices. It is the THD+N ratio vs frequency, with an extended bandwidth to capture all distortion and noise components up to 90kHz:
This is at max gain, and that is a very good result!
That said, and like I showed before, at unity gain, we get a punishing flat -85dB constant result because of the rising noise floor. I still don't think it an issue, because if would measure an SACD player with the same, we'd get scary result... way below 10bits...
The Denon offers better performances than any SACD player...
----
The below IMD SMPTE sweep vs input level is not comparable to the same test from Amir, because it is excluding noise:
That's an interesting view as we can appreciate that intermodulation distortion rises when at unity gain, but as you can see, the two curves join past 1Vrms (input). This low level of IMD will remain hidden to your ears.
In the worst case scenario, this is "only" 10dB higher distortion than the crazy Accuphase C-280.
Note for self: it is unnecessary to extend the BW to 90kHz for that test, 20kHz is enough since the wanted distortion is at the foot of the second tone of the IMD SMPTE test (60Hz & 7kHz 4:1).
----
Other measurements (not shown):
- Input voltage clipping: above 10Vrms (I can't measure more!).
- Output voltage clipping: above 10Vrms (I can't measure more!).
- Dynamic Range (CCIR 2k weighted): from 100dB at unity gain to 110dB at max gain.
- IMD AES (18kHz + 20kHz 1:1) : constant -100dB from unity gain to max gain.
Ok, that was a lot of data and information, only for the unbalanced line input. What I saw, although not as beautiful as the big Accuphase I mentioned so many times, is still very good, very close to the definition of straight wire with gain. And at max gain, this is exactly what it is!
Denon PRA-S10 - Measurements (Unbalanced)
Let me edit the review to add most of the same measurements taken from balanced input/output. In that case, the gain is 6dB higher.
Let's start with the SINAD view to verify the specs of Denon. That means the input is 300mV and the output is 4V:
Exact same performance as with RCA on that test.
The below is the best "SINAD" measurement I got from the Denon, and that is at max gain with 700Vrms input, roughly 9.6Vrms output:
We get less PS leakage but the noise floor is a little higher than best case with RCA (4dB loss in SINAD compared to RCA in/out (106dB vs 110dB)), but that is still very good. I think it can do better than that, but beyond that output voltage, it clips my input interface
When at unity gain, the XLR in/out deliver better performances (4Vrms in/out below):
Like I did with RCA, the below is Unity gain, but with noise up to 90khz (80kHz BW graph, linear scale):
We get 0.8bits less random noise compared to unbalanced in/out, which is good news.
----
As you saw we get less Power Supply leakage (less harmonics of 50Hz):
Note the higher overall random noise floor on that view, but that is because I can't send more input voltage into the Denon, since my ADC is near clipping here. But it would probably achieve the same as with RCA.
----
Multitone improved with balanced input/output:
This is a very clean trace.
----
Let's have a look at THD+N vs Frequency with noise included up to 90kHz:
This is nearly all noise dominated because I could not send the max input with max gain. The -100dB limitation is due to noise floor that rises at higher frequencies. Results are better with XLR than what it would have been with RCA, like I explained before. And same comment as with RCA, this is not a concern.
Note the increasing level starting at 3kHz, this is where distortion is above noise, in this measurement.
----
The below is a sweep of IMD SMPTE vs level at unity gain and max gain:
Max performance is lower than with RCA but the two lines are closer, meaning that the performance is more consistant accros the gain range when using balanced in/out.
----
I forgot to add the crosstalk. The below is a sweep of Left to Right channel crosstalk vs frequency at Max Gain and Unity Gain:
I would have preferred to see less, but it's still ok. There's no difference Right to Left Channel.
----
I don’t add other measurements as they are identical, eg the bandwidth.
The balanced input / output have overall better and more stable performances than unbalanced. It won’t make an audible difference though, but it is nice to witness.
Denon PRA-S10 - Measurements (Phono MM)
I must repeat what I said about the big Accuphase: the Denon has been designed to be a Phono preamp, before everything else. I invite you to read/use the Accuphase review as the master to beat or approach (if possible).
That said, problem is that I have an obvious problem with my test setup at the moment (and I'm afraid I found why
), so I have to rely on older measurements that do not align with what I wanted to show.Shame on me, but I might have damaged the phono stage, by wrongly sending too much voltage into it
So, here you go with what's left of what I measured before being stupid and also after.
On 1kHz test perspective, this is all I can show now (1kHz 40mVrms input, 40dB Gain):
The Denon still shows very good intention, but that pack of noise at 9kHz is weird as well as the elevated noise floor at low frequencies. All that said, the above results are better than many recent phono stages...
----
Next important set of measurements for a phono preamp is related to knowing at what point it will clip, depending on the frequency l’and voltage input. We need a good headroom, and all ancient phono preamps were known to perform well on that perspective.
This is measured with a sweep of THD vs input level, at different frequencies. Let's check what the Denon can do:
No surprise, this is more than so many recent phono stages. Like I said in the Accuphase review, it is good to know we have a massive headroom because some dynamic cartridges (eg: Shure M44-7 - 9mVrms for 5cm/sec), together with over-cut records, would be reaching a speed velocity of 30cm/sec, meaning they'd be at or beyond 60mVrms. At 1kHz, the Denon clips past 200mVrms, we are more than safe! This is not as crazy as the Accuphase but still way over what we need by many dBs!
----
Ok, bandwidth, as we need to check the respect of RIAA curve:
The descending curve is the one of the phono stage and the flat one is with standard RIAA cuve applied to verify compliance. And this time, I did not forget to calibrate my test gear... It is not much zoomed in and we see .something dB deviation at lower frequencies.
----
Oh, yes, for the fun, as @amirm likes the below measurement. It is a sweep of THD only (no noise) with an extended bandwidth up to 90kHz to capture distortion at high frequencies too (both channels shown, plot at 1kHz to show the distortion level in the legend):
The Denon is still in good enough shape to deliver nice results here.
Conclusion
I bought this preamp 2 years ago and I've been using it to drive my big Accuphase P-600 amplifier with great satisfaction. And I must admit that this review not only required unusual involvement from me, but I was nearly afraid to talk about the unit I've been enjoying for so long, in fear of deceptive performances.
It is not as good as the Accuphase C-280 that I mentioned too many times, but for the price I paid, it really is a (very) good choice, if you need such a device.
On a pure performance perspective, it still delivers more than what Denon announced at the time, and I think this is very good news. I see no reason not to continue enjoying this unit.
Time has now come for the Denon to go back to its place, being the "Head" of my beloved amp... until one can do better
And I’m not concerned that the Denon lacks a subsonic filter, as the Accuphase elegantly provides one
I hope you enjoyed this review and I wish you a happy weekend!
Flo
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