Beautiful Day

Firstly, I’ll let you know that I did listening tests, going between Denon and Azur several times. I used Kef Cresta speakers. I don’t like a subwoofer as it spoils sound quality in my opinion. My 5.1 system is setup so that all speakers are full range.

I have to say that listening to the Denon was disappointing in my opinion. I thought that the bass was quite muddy, and my general impression was that the amplifier, while fully featured and capable, was lacking in speed and elegance.

Initially, I was drawn to the Denon because of its features. This was my first mistake. I was thinking “Wouldn’t it be great to just run one HDMI cable to my projector instead of Component + Composite + HDMI”. I was thinking “Won’t it be great to upscale Wii to 720p, and have very flexible video switching.” I was thinking all these features would make things easier and better, but actually, nothing could be further from the truth.

Denon is a complex beast, and while I don’t have direct experience, many have commented that it’s menu system is difficult to use. Denon also is a capable amplifier in that it has plenty of power.. but you have to notice that for example, they have a square transformer (this is what I noticed when I was looking inside the amplifier) rather than a toroidal, which is often regarded as being better at producing cleaner power for later amplification stages.

So, I have to say, when they first hooked up the Azur, it was absolute bliss. The sound was so much more accurate. I was listening to a very nicely recorded Jazz piano. On the Denon, the individual key presses were not very clear, but with the Azur, the sound was placed so clearly and accurately, it was a pleasure to listen to. The bass reproduction and control exerted by the Azur effortlessly produced what I can only express as a deeply calming listening experience, while the Denon had me struggling to hear the music clearly.

I even second guessed myself. The first day I listened to them both, I just couldn’t believe how much of a difference there was. A day later I returned and had them hook it all up again. I was convinced in the morning that the Denon was the way to go. Denon has support (at least the one I was looking at) for the latest HDMI 1.3 specs, which include Deep Color and also the high quality audio streaming via HDMI cable (rather than coax/optical 5.1 Dolby Digital).

However, this isn’t a big issue. The Azur model I was looking at has a 5.1 pre-input, so it is future compatible with any A/V decoder.

In the morning of the second day, I was ready to buy the Denon. I’d printed out a bunch of notes I’d made including specs and so on, and got to the shop. I was really close to buying the Denon.

And then I listened to it again… and then the Azur, and it was like going from hell to heaven in about 30 minutes. The Azur is such a pure and simple design. It doesn’t do HDMI audio (a bit of a pain, but heck I don’t think I’ll have a player that does that within the next 5 years anyway). It doesn’t up-convert from Composite to component or HDMI. BUT- why would you want to any way? How much money do you think they can invest in up-conversion circuitry inside the Denon units? Half the cost? I’d rather have the purity of the original signal then some tacked on feature. Everyday usage is exactly the same, whether its one or three cables… so in the end, the Azur was the obvious choice.

Generally, I think that if you are not an audiophile, you might be happy with the Denon and you will probably be attracted to its 100 of features you will never ever use. But, I say, do your ears a favor and give them space to grow and enjoy a sound produced by excellent engineering and a fundamentally simple approach to audio equipment.