I chose my Denon PMA-50 some years ago. I'm a digital audio person, so I liked that it drives the speaker voltage directly from PCM audio ("DDFA" design, like a high voltage DAC, avoiding low voltage analogue audio entirely.) It also got a decent review here.
I connect a Behringer DEQ2496 processor to it (S/PDIF coax or optical). Sounds great and does its task of room correction, but it's not a very practical device for home hifi; it is fiddly selecting sources, and doesn't have the range of features (bluetooth, USB) of the Denon.
I mused that it might be possible to loop PCM audio out of the Denon, via the processor, and back into the Denon. All the usabilty of the Denon but with DSP, for a very elegant home hifi solution.
Has anyone tried anything like this?
A Denon service manual is available. The block diagram on page 43 shows:
* a PCM9211 chip (source selection, and ADC for analogue sources); into
* EPCS4SI8N FPGA processes the PCM audio signal (EQ perhaps?); into
* CSRA6601 digital modulator (drives the analogue speakers etc.)
The data sheet for the PCM9211 states that inputs and outputs are S/PDIF. That implies to me that intermediate PCM audio at each step inside the Denon is S/PDIF (not some bare PCM format)
I couldn't quite believe that it may be within reach; by breaking a track and soldering onto some choice connections, perhaps. But I may be vastly underestimating the task at hand?
PCM could be looped through the Behringer and back in for the modulator, or just out to the processor and onward to a separate (more powerful) digital amplifier.
I connect a Behringer DEQ2496 processor to it (S/PDIF coax or optical). Sounds great and does its task of room correction, but it's not a very practical device for home hifi; it is fiddly selecting sources, and doesn't have the range of features (bluetooth, USB) of the Denon.
I mused that it might be possible to loop PCM audio out of the Denon, via the processor, and back into the Denon. All the usabilty of the Denon but with DSP, for a very elegant home hifi solution.
Has anyone tried anything like this?
A Denon service manual is available. The block diagram on page 43 shows:
* a PCM9211 chip (source selection, and ADC for analogue sources); into
* EPCS4SI8N FPGA processes the PCM audio signal (EQ perhaps?); into
* CSRA6601 digital modulator (drives the analogue speakers etc.)
The data sheet for the PCM9211 states that inputs and outputs are S/PDIF. That implies to me that intermediate PCM audio at each step inside the Denon is S/PDIF (not some bare PCM format)
I couldn't quite believe that it may be within reach; by breaking a track and soldering onto some choice connections, perhaps. But I may be vastly underestimating the task at hand?
PCM could be looped through the Behringer and back in for the modulator, or just out to the processor and onward to a separate (more powerful) digital amplifier.
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