The following is stated in the review,
"Source Direct
Source Direct bypasses bass management but maintains channel trims and delay settings. This is the only way to get SACD in native DSD format but unadvisable in most cases unless you are connecting the player to external bass management system such as an AVR receiver with bass management on its external multi channel inputs. Source Direct automatically boosts bass by +5dB for DTS and +15dB for SACD to ensure proper format level matching when connected to a processor."
So if I listen to an SACD via the player's 5.1ch audio outs, the bass management in my AVR is being used? I thought the bass management in the AVR was only being utilized when the player's digital audio out (i.e., Denon Link) was being used.
And why is it referred to as "bass management" when Denon calls the menu "speaker setup" (an unecessary source of confusion).
And speaking of speaker setup (aka bass management), what elements does one consider when assigning the value of "large" or "small" to their speakers? The Denon manual says something like, "if your speaker can reproduce low frequencies". Well, I have a good sized center channel (see signature) that I'm sure is capable of producing relatively low frequencies, but how is "low frequency" defined? What frequency? What, technically, is changing in assigning it "large" vs "small"? As is not unusual, this has nothing to do what with I can hear. I'd just like to know how the menu "speaker setup" is properly used.
However, putting my player into "source direct", as quote above, the 15dB increase in bass is certainly heard, and is too much for me. I prefer to keep "source direct" off.
EDIT: I just ran across Clint's article Bass Management Basics – Settings Made Simple. It should answer my one speaker size question.
