Measurements and Conclusion
Contents
We measured the Denon, of course. For that we use a Prism dScope III. We measured both the amplifier and the dac board of the Denon. The dac board is a challenge because the REC-OUT is not that great in this Denon. The amplifier output is better, but that creates some challenges. You can see in the naming of the screenshots on the REC-OUT or AMP was used in measurement.
Measurements Denon PMA-1700NE – amplifier
The amplifier side of the Denon PMA-1700NE measures up very nicely. We do see an increase in noise when going from 1 to 10 watts. But more amplifiers do that. Frequency response is nicely flat from 5 to 50 kHz. After that it rolls off a bit, but not significantly. The residue measurement shows that we have little crossover distortion in this amplifier. Also, the Denon reaches its power nicely and we measure even more power with an 8 Ohm load. In short: neat measurements. (NB: we measure the power at the ‘intersection’ where the graph shoots up. That is not always at 1% THD!)
Measurements PMA-1700NE – DAC
The dac side is a little less great, we think. We initially measure through the rec-out and that doesn’t go well. There is a channel difference and the noise is high. Through the speaker outputs it is already better. That was the same as with the Model 40N from Marantz. Whether the dac-implementation is a consequence of the supply-chain issues or not, we do not dare to say. Fact is: the amplifier is of better quality than the dac. Is the dac bad? No… not at all. We see that Denon has certainly done its best to make something of it. But at the end of the day it can be better. And we hear that in the listening tests as well. The differences between the Sonnet / Grimm and the internal dac are pretty clear. On the plus side, there is a clear upgrade path!