Fitzcaraldo215
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I just glanced at the latest The Abso!ute Sound. I do not care for the reviewers, except for one who is a good friend of mine. He is not the one who wrote this Technics review, however. But, I do learn some interesting new news there from time to time.
I was interested in the description of this new preamp/streamer, amp and speaker combo from Technics' reentry to the high end consumer audiophile market.
Most interesting to me is the SE-R1 amp. In addition to legacy analog inputs, it has a digital input for output from the SU-R1 "Network Audio Control Player" via their proprietary Digital Link. The amp is class D internally. But, it converts PCM to PWM digitally to drive the Class D amp with no intervening analog stages. The amp's analog inputs are also first converted internally to digital PCM. So, it performs d-to-a conversion in the amplification process directly without a separate DAC. There is also DSP in the amp to perform "Load Adaptive Phase Calibration" - LAPC - based on some sort of calibration, though there is no mention of a microphone. The rest is somewhat hazy and curious, thanks to the reviewer's poor description.
I like aspects of the ideas, except for the proprietary-ness of the digital input. The LAPC also apparently includes no comprehensive room correction. The technology may not be up to the most advanced active speakers, like the Beolab or Kii in many ways, including digital xovers. But, we do not see a lot of digital input to amps or speakers yet. I think we are likely to see more, and I would be in favor of that, ideally as part of open, rather than proprietary, standards extending back to the outputs from control units or PCs. And, direct digital drive of class D amps DAC-lessly would seem to be an idea with great promise, although this is likely not the first example. Not sure how Beolab or Kii address that. Of course, DSP is again almost essential in forward looking products.
So, I do not like some details, and there is likely to be a lot of evolution of some of these ideas. It is not a bandwagon I want to get on. However, I like some aspects of the trend and what it might help to define for the future. But, I think I would rather see it all in digitally driven, multi-way active speakers, together with comprehensive room EQ located somewhere in the playback chain.
I was interested in the description of this new preamp/streamer, amp and speaker combo from Technics' reentry to the high end consumer audiophile market.
Most interesting to me is the SE-R1 amp. In addition to legacy analog inputs, it has a digital input for output from the SU-R1 "Network Audio Control Player" via their proprietary Digital Link. The amp is class D internally. But, it converts PCM to PWM digitally to drive the Class D amp with no intervening analog stages. The amp's analog inputs are also first converted internally to digital PCM. So, it performs d-to-a conversion in the amplification process directly without a separate DAC. There is also DSP in the amp to perform "Load Adaptive Phase Calibration" - LAPC - based on some sort of calibration, though there is no mention of a microphone. The rest is somewhat hazy and curious, thanks to the reviewer's poor description.
I like aspects of the ideas, except for the proprietary-ness of the digital input. The LAPC also apparently includes no comprehensive room correction. The technology may not be up to the most advanced active speakers, like the Beolab or Kii in many ways, including digital xovers. But, we do not see a lot of digital input to amps or speakers yet. I think we are likely to see more, and I would be in favor of that, ideally as part of open, rather than proprietary, standards extending back to the outputs from control units or PCs. And, direct digital drive of class D amps DAC-lessly would seem to be an idea with great promise, although this is likely not the first example. Not sure how Beolab or Kii address that. Of course, DSP is again almost essential in forward looking products.
So, I do not like some details, and there is likely to be a lot of evolution of some of these ideas. It is not a bandwagon I want to get on. However, I like some aspects of the trend and what it might help to define for the future. But, I think I would rather see it all in digitally driven, multi-way active speakers, together with comprehensive room EQ located somewhere in the playback chain.