Denon Total Harmonic Distortion [THD]

[Teetertotter?]

I looked at 3 Denon AVRs, with having the same audio specs. I currently have, their 5 year old S-960, and looking at their X1700 and X2800, all with the same audio spec. With having the same audio specs, does that mean the units will all produce the same sound output? Meaning, will the bass, mids, and highs, produce the same sounds through my speakers? Is there something that the audio could be different in each AVR.?

 

[Teetertotter?]

Denon got back to say that audio software can be different, which was the case with S960 and the X1700. X1700 software is better and AVR available at Denon website. I might buy, as within my budget. There was one reputable YT reviewer that had tested the S-960 in a separate review and said the S-960 was audio junk, Later, he reviewed the X1700 and audio was a world of difference over the S-960.

 

[highfigh]

Denon got back to say that audio software can be different, which was the case with S960 and the X1700. X1700 software is better and AVR available at Denon website. I might buy, as within my budget. There was one reputable YT reviewer that had tested the S-960 in a separate review and said the S-960 was audio junk, Later, he reviewed the X1700 and audio was a world of difference over the S-960.

Who is this 'reputable' YT reviewer?

 

[lovinthehd]

Reputable and YT reviewer often don't go together; there is not a world of difference between those two models in any case. The difference IME with various avrs will be primarily in the eq/dsp for different "sounds" and if the amp section is sufficient for your use. A thd rating alone doesn't tell you a lot, either, altho most have sufficiently low thd where that's not a concern.

 

[m. zillch]

THD of .0001%, .001%, .01%, and .1%, all sound the same to the human ear playing music, inaudible, so where a product falls between those doesn't much matter. Heck even 1% is often tricky to detect with most music material and back when studios used analog tape recorders (nearly all music recorded before the 1980s) it was not unusual for them to allow the musical peaks to occasionally even hit 3% THD, albeit for only a tiny fraction of a second.

Also if you knew how much harmonic distortion your speakers were pumping out into the room, even very expensive ones, you'd realize worrying about your amplification stage distortion (when properly kept below clipping) seems rather trivial in comparison.