RX-Z1 Listening Tests

I must say I was a bit skeptical of this new format and questioned just how significantly it would raise the bar of the fidelity of the DTS format and make it a serious contender in the high resolution format wars. To my surprise the few DVD Audio discs featuring DTS 96/24 soundtracks I had in my collection turned out to be a wonderfull sonic treat in DTS 96/24 mode. In fact, given the set-up of my system, especially with the RX-Z1 as the Processor, I actually preferred listening to these discs in DTS 96/24 mode over the MLP soundtracks.

I know many audiophiles are probably shocked to hear me say this, but let me defend my bold statements before you scold me. In this set-up, which unfortunately constitutes the majority of most of today's home theater environments, DVD Audio has no bass management or digital delay compensation via the DVD-Audio player or the Receiver. Currently, in order to get this, you have to spend considerably more on proprietary solutions from companies such as Denon, Pioneer Elite, or Meridian . Some Receivers do offer bass management and digital delay compensation via their analog six channel inputs. However, as I stated before, this is a mixed blessing. While it corrects the problems I previously mentioned, it does so by compromising resolution by taking the high resolution analog signal, converting back to digital for processing, and then back to analog again for amplification. To me this seems self defeating and I question why any serious audiophile would want to do this to an allegedly high resolution signal. In addition, I felt the DAC's and analog sections of the RX-Z1 audibly performed better than those in my Panasonic DVD-RP91K DVD Audio/Video player. Thus, listening to DTS 96/24 DVD Audio discs on a DTS 96/24 Processor sounded superbly to my ears.

CD: Brazilian Bossa Brazilian Bossa
I was stunned by the quality of the recordings of track #'s 1, 3 and 6. Incidentally these tracks were mastered in 96/24. I constantly had to convince myself by looking at the front panel of the RX-Z1 that I was listening to the DTS 96/24 layer and not MLP. The music was pristinely clean and dynamic, and the surround experience was involving, not artificial sounding, while the bass was tight and deep. This was just about one of the best multi channel audio experiences I could remember having in my home. I preferred using straight DTS 96/24 with no DSP processing because it was so clean sounding, I just didn't want to add anything to the mix that shouldn't be there. To me there was nothing missing as the surround field was fully enveloping. When I switched to the MLP soundtrack, it also sounded superbly, however the lack of bass management and digital delay compensation was apparent by the slightly thinner bass and less natural sounding panning between the front and rear channels.

SACD: Patricia Barber - Café Blue
I started my critical listening evaluation with one of the fabulous SACD hybrids from Patricia Barber. I really dig this CD. It's lumpy jazz in a smooth jazz environment. You won't find repetitive and annoying saxophone scales, single stroke drumming, and simplistic guitar rifts, instead you're showered with snappy jazz and provocative lyrics, slamming drums and memorable instrumental solos. The SACD layer of Track #2, "Morning Grace" sounded phenomenal. In fact, I found myself repeating this track several times floored by its sound quality and utter coolness of the song. The RX-Z1 in this instance sounded quite transparent, and almost on par, with maybe only a touch of edginess compared to my dedicated Preamp Processor costing considerably more.