I've been reading along here at Audio Science Review for a few years now and have used Amir's measurements to buy just about every piece of electrical equipment in my signal chain.
With an SMSL SU-9N, a Topping PA5 and now a Topping LA90D, I was pretty much at the physical limit of what is currently possible with SINAD and signal purity.
After a debate on an audio Discord server, I did some listening experiments with REW. To be precise, fired up the signal generator and tried different harmonic distortions at different levels. About -50dB at a 3rd harmonic is where it stops being audible. And that even at 1-2 Khz, where the ear is actually most sensitive. I knew that one online Klippel test before, but to determine this directly with a clean sine wave - which is also an unrealistic signal - made me see the whole thing with different eyes. Since music is always a multitone anyway, I think the audibility threshold is even more lenient there.
Thus, I currently run my whole system again on the - also very well performing - Denon 3700X and enjoy again the on board Audyssey XT with working surround, which in the current situation with High Sinad Audio only works with very complicated workarounds or cutbacks. If I get more serious at some point, I might just buy the MultiEQ-X license.
So what do you guys recommend? Just stick with the Denon and be happy? The Denon also has at least 80dB SINAD in all ranges. My speakers have a low sensitivity of 85dB, which also naturally increases the distortion and signal to noise ratio.
So I could sell the equipment and make something better out of the money of about 2500 € for equipment with top SINAD, but which now no longer bring me any added value.
Or am I missing something here? I still have great respect for the performance of these high SINAD devices, but since I just do not seem to hear the difference anymore, I prefer to take the comfort and simplicity of the good Denon 3700x.
With an SMSL SU-9N, a Topping PA5 and now a Topping LA90D, I was pretty much at the physical limit of what is currently possible with SINAD and signal purity.
After a debate on an audio Discord server, I did some listening experiments with REW. To be precise, fired up the signal generator and tried different harmonic distortions at different levels. About -50dB at a 3rd harmonic is where it stops being audible. And that even at 1-2 Khz, where the ear is actually most sensitive. I knew that one online Klippel test before, but to determine this directly with a clean sine wave - which is also an unrealistic signal - made me see the whole thing with different eyes. Since music is always a multitone anyway, I think the audibility threshold is even more lenient there.
Thus, I currently run my whole system again on the - also very well performing - Denon 3700X and enjoy again the on board Audyssey XT with working surround, which in the current situation with High Sinad Audio only works with very complicated workarounds or cutbacks. If I get more serious at some point, I might just buy the MultiEQ-X license.
So what do you guys recommend? Just stick with the Denon and be happy? The Denon also has at least 80dB SINAD in all ranges. My speakers have a low sensitivity of 85dB, which also naturally increases the distortion and signal to noise ratio.
So I could sell the equipment and make something better out of the money of about 2500 € for equipment with top SINAD, but which now no longer bring me any added value.
Or am I missing something here? I still have great respect for the performance of these high SINAD devices, but since I just do not seem to hear the difference anymore, I prefer to take the comfort and simplicity of the good Denon 3700x.