The Technics SU-R1000 is a classically beautiful piece of audio gear with some “new-school” technical innovations that set it apart from the crowd.
Technics SU-R1000, Front view.

Technics SU-R1000, Front view.

Introduction

When Technics returned to the Hi-Fi marketplace a few years ago, they basically swung for the fences and released some truly unique pieces of statement gear to mark the occasion. Since then, they have carefully fleshed out three distinct tiers of high-quality products (Reference, Grand, and Premium series) along with a line of headphones and earbuds to broaden their enthusiast reach. The Technics SU-R1000 Integrated Amplifier that we have in for review squarely fits in the Reference class of components with its decidedly elevated feature set and build quality. Besides being blessed with clean and timeless good looks, the design and engineering teams at Technics loaded the SU-R1000 with the latest iterations of several of the technologies introduced in their initial salvo of products. And as Technics has been known to do throughout its past, these technologies are executed through a unique lens that is, at once, both distinctly Japanese and distinctly Technics.

Highlights

Technics SU-R1000 Integrated Amplifier Review Highlights

  • Technics claims a fully digital amplifier design, not Class D.
  • Novel Phono Cartridge Optimization routine with included test LP.
  • LAPC system calibrates the phase and amplitude characteristics between amplifier and loudspeaker.
  • Beautiful aesthetic design with classic VU meters.
  • Top-shelf build quality.
  • No built-in steaming or Bluetooth facilities.

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Technics SU-R1000 Integrated Amplifier SPECIFICATIONS
Design:

2-channel digital Integrated amplifier.

FTC Power Output (Stereo):

150 W into 8 ohms (1kHz, T.H.D. 0.5 %, 8Ω, 20kHz LPF) and 300 W into 4 ohms (1kHz, T.H.D. 0.5 %, 4Ω, 20kHz LPF).

Input Sensitivity / Impedance:

LINE 200 mV / 22 kΩ, PHONO (MM) 2.5 mV / 47 kΩ, PHONO(MC) 300uV /100Ω.

Load Impedance:

4 Ω-16 Ω.

Clipping Power:

>210 W (0.1 % THD 1 kHz 8 ohms).

DAMPING FACTOR:

>800 (ref. 8 ohms, 20 Hz to 6.5 kHz).

FREQUENCY RESPONSE:

LINE IN and DIGITAL – 5 Hz-80 kHz (-3 dB, 8 Ω).
PHONO – (MM) 20 Hz – 20 kHz (RIAA DEVIATION ±1 dB, 8 Ω).

ANALOG INPUTS:

LINE x 2 (LINE 1, LINE2), LINE XLR BALANCED x 1, PHONO (MM/MC) x 1, PHONO XLR BALANCED(MC) x 1, MAIN IN x 1, REC IN x 1.

ANALOG OUTPUTS:

PRE-OUT x 1, REC-OUT x1.

DIGITAL INPUTS:

Optical digital x 2 (OPT 1, OPT 2), Coaxial digital x 2(COAX 1, COAX 2), USB-B x 2 (PC 1, PC 2).

HEADPHONE OUTPUT:

Stereo 6.3mm.

DIGITAL BITRATE/SAMPLING SUPPORT:

PCM – Up to 32-bit 384 kHz, DSD – Up to 22.4 MHz using ASIO driver.

DIMENSIONS (W X H X D):

430 mm x 191 mm x 459 mm (16-15/16 x 7-17/32 x 18-3/32 inch).

NET WEIGHT:

22.8 kg (50.3 lbs.)

ACCESSORIES:

Remote Control, Test tone LP, Power Cord.

MSRP:

$9,999.95 USD

Company:

Technics

SECRETS Tags:

technics, reference, jeno, integrated, amplifier

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On The Bench

Measurements by Carlo Lo Raso, analysis by Carlo Lo Raso and David A. Rich.

For THD and frequency response tests, I used my Lynx E22 professional soundcard teamed with SpectraPLUS measurement software. For square wave analysis along with SNR measurements, I used the QuantAsylum QA401 analyzer and its associated software. Other test equipment included my Surface 3 PRO tablet running Room EQ Wizard’s signal generator connected to a Topping D10s USB to SPDIF converter. Its analog and digital output were used for additional phono and digital input tests on the SU-R1000 along with a USB stick preloaded with custom test tones.

Unless otherwise indicated all tests were done at 2 VRMS.

The following bench tests cover the preamp, phono, and digital front end of the Technics SU-R1000. Measurements were taken at the RCA Pre-Out jacks. Proprietary digital processing such as LAPC was bypassed for these measurements. It should be noted that any potential measured benefits resulting from LAPC or ADCT processing would only be encountered at the speaker outputs terminals due to the design of the SU-R1000. Therefore, these measurements may not entirely reflect the final sound signature of the SU-R1000 as sent to the connected loudspeakers. I am not equipped to perform headphone power output or power amplifier tests at this time.

Here we have the first of the 16-bit 44.1 kHz tests. I did them through both the SPDIF Coax and USB inputs and measured at the RCA pre-outputs; the results proved to be essentially identical. I am showing the USB results here. Beginning with a 1 kHz test tone at 0 dBFS, it gives us a reported THD+N of 0.005093%.

A 16-bit 44.1, 10 kHz sine wave at 0 dB produces a THD + N of 0.004868%.

The 19 and 20 kHz test tones at -6 dBFS produce results with 2 sidebands, both being over 89 dB below the fundamental tones.

All my 16-bit 44.1 kHz tests were picking up some low-level repeating spurs in the noise floor of the measurements. These are completely inaudible in real listening, but I could not ascertain what was the root cause of them.

Moving to the 24-bit /96 kHz tests, a 1 kHz test tone at 0dBFS gives us a THD+N of 0.001677%. The 2nd and 3rd order harmonics register at 98 and 126 dB respectively below the fundamental tone.

A 10 kHz tone of the same bit depth, sampling, and output level shows a THD+N of just over 0.001447%. The second-order harmonic checks in at 99 dB below the fundamental, with the third-order harmonic coming in at 111 dB below.

The 19 and 20 kHz dual-tone test at 24-bit/96 kHz with a -6 dBFS level reveals several distortion spurs through parts of the spectrum. A pair of sidebands show up, both at 111 dB below the fundamental. There is also a visible B-A peak at 1 kHz checking in at 98 dB below the fundamental.

Moving to the 24-bit /192 kHz tests, a 1 kHz test tone at 0dBFS gives us a THD+N of 0.002517%. The 2nd and 3rd order harmonics register at 99 and 128 dB respectively below the fundamental tone.

A 10 kHz tone of the same bit depth, sampling, and output level shows a THD+N of just over 0.003542%. The second-order harmonic checks in at 99 dB below the fundamental, with the third-order harmonic coming in at 112 dB below.

The 19 and 20 kHz dual-tone test at 24-bit/192 kHz with a -6 dBFS level reveals several distortion spurs through parts of the spectrum. The two sidebands appear both at 112 dB below the fundamental. A visible B-A peak at 1 kHz is at 95 dB below the fundamental.

Here are the results for a frequency line sweep performed at 24-bit/192 kHz. The frequency response of the Technics SU-R1000 (preamp out) is essentially flat out to 20 kHz, at which point it is down by 0.5dB before it begins a gradual roll-off. The response is down by 1dB at 40 kHz, 2dB at 60 kHz, and 6dB at 80 kHz before steeply dropping off.

The following digital filter test, first suggested by Jurgen Reis of MBL Germany and used by John Atkinson of Stereophile, is designed to give us a look at the type and performance of the digital filter(s) that a given DAC uses. Unique to John Atkinson’s presentation is applying the Reis white noise only in the left channel. In the right channel is a 19 kHz tone. This tone will produce reconstruction spurs if the digital filter is not sharp enough to attenuate them. I’ve also combined the test results with the corresponding square wave that the filter would generate, for comparison. The Technics SU-R1000 offers a single default reconstruction filter.

Technics seems to have chosen an Apodizing filter with a fast roll-off as the only available filter option. The plot shows that we get the first reconstruction tone down by 86 dB (red trace). The passband (yellow trace) is nice and flat past 20 kHz and then the transition band falls quickly. The stopband looks to be at least 80 dB. Not exactly a textbook filter, but quite respectable.

David Rich notes:

The change in the level of the noise floor with the frequency is not ideal but it is low in level. Possibly could be artifacts from the power amp stage.

SNR measurements were done using the QuantAsylum QA401 Analyzer. Using a -90 dB 1 kHz test signal, we determined the worst-case digital SNR (A-Weighted) of the Technics SU-R1000 to be 110.3 dB. Converted to bits that means the SU-R1000 can resolve 18 bits. On the top of the spectrum, you see the SNR of the SU-R1000 and then see the signal-to-noise of the left and right channels relative to the -90 dB tone (red box). We want the ratio of the full-scale signal to the noise, so we add 90 dB to the red box figure.

The above graph shows the relative line linearity performance of the Technics SU-R1000. The architecture shows minimal amounts of deviation beginning at -80 dBFS in level. Slightly larger deviations start occurring at -120 dBFS but remain modest until -140 dBFS after which the signal gets mired in the noise floor.

David Rich notes:

While the visible linearity result is decent, the level of the noise floor where we lose the signal is not. With most DACs we are clearly able to trace the linearity down to -145 and -150 dBFS. The Technics linearity gets lost too soon.

Next is the Julian Dunn J-Test for jitter at a sampling rate of 44.1k samples/sec. The test is close to an 11 kHz tone at –3 dBFS down and is a small, low-frequency square wave that creates activity in the PCM data which makes it harder for the clock recovery circuit to produce a clock without some phase noise. I used a 16-bit test tone generated by REW introducing the square wave at an amplitude of the smallest level possible for 16-bit data which is called the least significant bit. An excellent explanation of the J-Test and the spurs the test produces can be found here (https://www.stereophile.com/content/case-jitters).

John Atkinson identifies the spur’s amplitude and frequency of the J-Test in absence of jitter. John then comes up with an innovative line to be placed on a spectrum of the analog output of a DAC box which is reproducing the J-Test. Any spur below the line is inherent in the test and not from the DAC box.

As can be seen, most of the jitter of the SU-R1000 is below the limits of the test. The small residual spurs between the lines are small enough that we cannot tell if it is jitter from the SU-R1000 or the ADC we use to translate the signal back to digital to produce the spectrum.

We begin the analog bench tests on the SU-R1000 with a 1 kHz, 24/96 test tone at 0 dBFS applied through the analog RCA inputs and measured at the RCA pre-outputs. The same tests performed with the XLR inputs proved to be essentially identical. The results show a THD+N of 0.003682% with second and third-order harmonics clocking in at 98 dB and 128 dB below the fundamental. There are a few other low-level noise spurs throughout the spectrum, but none appear to be of concern.

Here we have a 10 kHz test tone at the same amplitude and bit-depth as the previous test applied at the analog inputs. The THD+N is at 0.003781%. The same additional low-level noise spurs show up here as in the previous test along with a couple of minor humps in the noise floor. Nothing of concern.

The analog version of the 19 and 20 kHz dual-tone test at 24-bit/96 kHz with a -6 dBFS level again shows a few distortion spurs through parts of the spectrum. A visible B-A peak at 1kHz is at 80 dB below the fundamental. The sidebands both appear at 96 dB below the fundamental.

David Rich notes:

The cleaner results of this analog test vs the noisier corresponding digital test re-enforce my suspicions that power amp noise is getting into the DAC clock and modulating it.

The dual-tone IMD test (60 Hz and 7 kHz) shows an IMD result of 0.000225%. A few minor sidebands show up around the fundamentals, but again, nothing of concern.

Here we see the SNR measurement for the RCA analog input to the RCA analog output of the Technics SU-R1000 (keeping in mind that the input signal has been converted to digital and then converted back to analog before measuring). There is no pure analog signal path through the SU-R1000. Results show an SNR of 109.4 dB. Only a 1 dB loss compared to the digital SNR. With that figure, we still get a resolution of 18 bits. Same as with the digital inputs.

David Rich notes:

In components with digital volume controls, we typically like to see SNR figures of 120 dB to combat bit loss at lower volumes. This result should have been better and possibly could have been with different ADC and opamp choices.

Here are the RIAA tracking results of both the MM and MC phono stages in the SU-R1000. These were taken with the Phono Optimization Routine disabled. Note that to perform these measurements we are using a passive inverse RIAA board which introduces about +/- 0.1 dB error from the tolerances of the resistors and capacitors. The MC results show a 0.5 dB drop from 100 Hz to 20 Hz. The MM results show a 0.2 dB drop from 13 kHz to 20 kHz. Left and Right channel matching for both MM and MC are excellent.

To examine the changes that the Phono Optimization Routine was making, I saved the optimizations for three separate cartridges into the SU-R1000’s preset memory. I reran the RIAA tracking results for each of the three cartridges and have placed them together on this plot for comparison. Each pair of lines indicates corrections applied to the left and right channels of the listed cartridge in order to balance levels and reduce crosstalk.

David Rich notes:

You can see the OC9ML/II needed the least correction correlating to the flat response we’ve previously measured in that cartridge.

Bench Test Report Conclusion

In some respects, the Technics SU-R1000 can be functionally compared to the NAD M33 as all incoming analog signals need to be converted to digital for manipulation and processing in both products. Once those signals are ingested though, each unit takes a bit of a different approach as to what they do with all that digital data. DIRAC room correction for the NAD as opposed to LAPC, Phono Cartridge Optimizer, JENO engine, etc. for the Technics. From a purely objective standpoint, the NAD comes up with modestly better numbers when looking at THD and SNR results. Whether you can actually hear that or not in blind testing is up for debate. The NAD also has higher levels of odd-order distortion versus the Technics’ higher levels of even-order distortion, possibly allowing for some detectable sonic differences in such a test. The Technics also excels at its phono section performance, and its novel way of profiling cartridges and the speaker-to-amplifier connection (LAPC) is an interesting alternative to simply relying on room correction to fix all ills in the digital age.

Where I do wish Technics would have followed NAD is in the use of the step-up AKM AK5578EN ADC chip and ganged together its 8 channels into two sets of 4 (one set for the left and one set for the right) allowing for a 3 dB increase in SNR. That’s where the largest positive gain could be made. Frankly, for the price point of the SU-R1000, two of those chips could have been used in full mono mode allowing for even more SNR headroom.

To be perfectly honest, there is a heavy dose of nostalgia being leveraged by Technics in the design and marketing of the SU-R1000. That no doubt is a large part of its appeal to someone like me. However, it doesn’t change the fact that, from a subjective standpoint, the Technics SU-R1000 was a pleasure to both look at and listen to while it was in my care. There is something to be said for that.

The author would like to thank David A. Rich for his invaluable assistance.