Your last point is one of the two main points I tried pointing out to ADTG, except I am more concerned with the THD in the first watt range than at -10, though I also believe that would be less important in rooms with high noise floor. That is, when we read results such as 104 dB SINAD for the 8500, we may be led to focus on that one number, when one has to look at the varying number across the 20-20,000 Hz range and from fractional watt output to rated output level.
Below are two curves I can quickly pick out for comparison of the pre-out performance. I picked these two because you owned/own both so I can feel safer, though might still be attacked by some NAD AVR fans
Also, I know neither one was affected by the harmonics and noised in the ultra sonic range.
This is a review and detailed measurements of the NAD T758 V3 Home Theater Audio/Video Receiver (AVR). It was kindly sent to me by a member. The T758 appears to have been released last year and costs US $1,399. The T758 is quite a bit heavier than recently measured AVRs and has a serious...
www.audiosciencereview.com
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This is a review and detailed measurements of the Denon AVR-X8500H Flagship 13.2 Audio/Video Receiver (AVR). It is kindly loaned to me by a member and costs US $3999. The 8500H is a beast: it is both deep and heavy. Thankfully the transformer is centrally located so as manageable as 51...
www.audiosciencereview.com
View attachment 38791
So one can see that THD+N is not the same from 20 to 20 kHz.
Now look at the similar effects in the THD+N versus output level and you can see that at 123 W output the NAD was actually quite good with almost -75 dB THD, that is 0.0178%, but then at 1 W it already increased to 0.18%, well pass the 0.1% threshold that some experts suggested would be audible. At 0.25 W (my kind of listening level when watching movies at moderately loud level), THD would be at about -50 dB or 0.32%, even ADTG may hear it right? Compared to the Denon, even at the very low level of 0.05 W, THD was still at slightly below 0.03 %. Again, this is at 1 kHz, at 10 kHz you can expect THD to be significantly higher.
I hope ADTG can see my point why when reading S&V's simplistic THD numbers I wanted to see it lower, or the lower the better in general.
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For reference, here's the S&V curve, they didn't always show it but iirc most of the time they did, but I am not sure if most readers would take a careful look at the below 1 W range. Even they did, they would have hard time because of the scale they chose.
Test Bench Two channels driven continuously into 8-ohm loads: 0.1% distortion at 100.6 watts 1% distortion at 113.6 watts Five channels driven continuously into 8-ohm loads: 0.1% distortion at 86.0 watts 1% distortion at 95.3 watts Seven channels driven continuously into 8-ohm loads: 0.1%...
www.soundandvision.com
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The T758 V3 still make it to S&V's top pick regardless, and the reviewer said the following:
"But even with Dolby Surround switched off in the GUI, the soundfield was fine-grained and colorful, with notably clear, sumptuous, and well-integrated decays, especially with a solo clarinet part in the second movement. There was also a strong spatial sense of the venue, possibly a mixture of the RoomFeel target and information embedded in the recording. "
"Reggatta de Blanc (LP), never sounded more disciplined and satisfying. "
About Dirac, he said:
"But the room correction also excavated several distinctive high-frequency textures from his cymbal work. Andy Summers’ Telecaster was also a feast of spidery tone as he worked his way through tremolo, phase shifter, and other effects. Dirac rocked this album hard
yet subtly. "
"I compared the room-corrected stereo mode to analog bypass and tried to listen beyond the obvious sub-on, sub-off distinction. I was well into side two before realizing that the soundstage was getting a little extra focus from Dirac, though again,
it was subtle. "
And at the end he said:
"NAD’s Modular Design Construction makes V3 of the T758 a special occasion as one of the small but growing number of surround products with Dirac. Putting aside the aforementioned challenges with learning to use it, it's an empowering tool for the questing audio tweaker who wants the flexibility to experiment with room correction parameters.
Coupled here with this fine-sounding receiver, the audible results are beautiful. "
Such subjective review sections are useless to me, but entertaining to read, most of the time anyway.
