John
Denon celebrate their 110th (!) anniversary with the introduction of four new products: the AVC-A110 A/V amplifier, PMA-A110 integrated amplifier, DCD-A110 SACD player and DL-A110 MC phono pick-up.
Let’s break ’em down.
The ACV-A110 (€5500) is a 13.2-channel 8K A/V receiver supporting Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, DTS:X Pro, IMAX Enhanced, Auro-3D, 8K/60Hz pass-through or upscaling, 4K/120Hz pass-through. For gamers, an Auto Low Latency Mode, Variable Refresh Rate and Quick Frame Transport. The unit’s all-black interior is surrounded by aluminium front and side panels, die-cast feet and features an 8.2kg transformer (isolated by a copper plate) and 22,000uF/80V audio capacitors for delivery of 150wpc into 8 Ohms. HDMI sockets number eleven (8 in, 3 out) to include a dedicated 8K input and eARC support. A HEOS streaming module is also specified: that gives us Apple AirPlay2, Spotify Connect and, via the corresponding app, support for Amazon Music HD, Tidal and Deezer (but not Qobuz). Voice control of streaming playback comes courtesy of Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple Siri.
For those satisfied with just two channels of audio, the PMA-A110 (€3500) carries Denon’s “patented 7th generation advanced Ultra High Current (UHC) topology” for high-current delivery of 80wpc into 8 Ohms with 0.07% THD and a frequency response that extends all the way up to 100kHz. The volume control has reportedly been designed to suppress internal noise whilst the DAC circuit 1) supports PCM up to 32bit/384kHz and DSD256, 2) carries a quad of Burr-Brown PCM1795 chips running in differential pairs for superior SNR, 3) can be fed by rear-panel coaxial, TOSLINK or USB-B sockets and 4) whose data is pre-processed by Denon’s Ultra AL32 32x upsampling engine.
The PMA-A110’s internal MM/MC phono stage invites turntablists to the party with its MC input tuned by Denon to match the DL-A110 phono pick-up — an MC cartridge (€599) hand-spun in Japan with the same 50-year-old method used since the DL-103 introductions in the 1960s. The DL-A110 weighs 6 grams and is equipped with a bayonet connector (aka SME tonearm interface). No other details are forthcoming.
Lastly, the DCD-A110 SACD player (€3000) will also play CDs plus single- and double-rate DSD or PCM 24bit/192kHz written to DVD-R/RW or DVD+R/RW discs. Handling the D/A conversion, a Quad PCM1795 DAC board, Denon’s Ultra AL32 upsampling engine plus two clock oscillators (one for each sampling rate family) and a fully discrete filter stage. The unit’s drive mechanism is built using Denon’s patented Suppress Vibration Hybrid system for “the shortest possible signal paths to reduce noise” plus “a copper plate for the top panel to strengthen rigidity, die-cast aluminium for the disc tray, and 2-millimeter thick steel for the mechanism brackets.”
Each 110th Anniversary unit wears an exclusive silver-graphite colourway, 110th Anniversary logos and comes with a certificate of authenticity and 5-year warranty. All four new models are manufactured in Japan at Denon’s Shirakawa factory. The electronics will begin shipping in October, the phono pick-up in November.
Further information. Denon
