Denon AVP-A1HD Product Review page 5

Denon AVP-A1HDCI Surround Sound Processor and POA-A1HDCI Power Amplifier - Page 5
is pretty awful because of the compression.
One station from overseas, after playing some
music that was barely listenable, said they
were broadcasting at 36 kbps. No wonder it
was terrible.
The AVP-A1HDCI also has the capability
of using a Rhapsody account (you have to
sign up and pay a fee) for quality on-line
music. The network connection will allow
you to connect to music files on one of your
computers in the network, or a dedicated
media server. The problem with media servers
right now is that they don't let you store Blu-
ray movies or high resolution audio. When
that happens, I will use my media server
through the Denon SSP. You can of course,
just listen to FM/AM broadcasts through the
tuner.
I did not use any of the extra zones that the
AVP-A1HDCI has to offer because I have
full audio setups in several other rooms.
There is an optional iPod dock that can be
purchased to connect your iPod to the SSP,
and the SSP will show the iPod contents
which can be operated with the SSP remote
control.
The AVP-A1HDCI has a video processor,
offering basic features such as contrast,
brightness, chroma level, hue, and sharpness.
You can also scale incoming video to a
preferred output resolution. In the SSP
manual it is stated that THX recommends
leaving the scaling option turned off. In my
own case, if I use a video processor at all, it is
an external one.
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First, the SSP. Except where specified, I used
the CD input, configured for XLR (balanced
analog audio). I set the input as CD Direct,
which bypasses all signal processing attributes
including Audyssey Room EQ. Analog input
signals were supplied by our Audio Precision
SYS-2722 analyzer.
At 1 kHz and 2 volts output, THD+N was a
very low 0.19%.
For comparison, I used a Philips SACD test
disc, played from a Denon 2930CI DVD
player with Denon Link, so that the signal
was sent to the processor as a DSD bitstream,
and processed as DSD all the way through,
not converted to PCM at some point. For
this, I used a different input on the SSP and
set it to DSD Direct. Here is a 1 kHz sine
wave from the SACD test disc, recorded at
0 dB. It produced an output of 2.67 volts
with THD+N at 0.034%. However, notice
the noise differences. With the SACD
connection, the 60 Hz and its harmonics
are not present. In other words, no hum
that so often gets into systems with various
components connected together.
Back to analog with the CD input again,
here is a 10 kHz sine wave at 2 volts output.
THD+N was 0.02%.
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Our IMD test, using 60 Hz and 2 kHz, 2
volts output, resulted in 0.021% IMD.
Notice the AC noise at 120 Hz and above.
Now, compare the graph above with an IMD
test taken from the SACD test disc. It uses
60 Hz and 7 kHz because that is an SMPTE
standard. I use 2 kHz instead of 7 kHz
because I can see the side peaks next to the
fundamental more easily. Again, the SACD
signal was passed to the SSP via the Denon
Link as a pure DSD digital signal. The IMD
graph above was through the CD input as
an analog signal, CD Direct, no extra signal
processing. See how the AC harmonics are
not there in the SACD test signal. IMD is
slightly less as well, although by a negligible
amount.
THD+N vs. Frequency indicated a constant
amount of distortion through the audible
band, which is good. This means a neutral
sound.