In celebration of their 60th Birthday, High End HiFi manufacturer Rotel is giving us a present - well, really two presents - with the the first components in their new Diamond Series. The upcoming RA-6000 Integrated Amplifier and DT-6000 DAC Transport combine Rotel's trademark industrial design with a touch of modern styling to create a distinctive, yet familiar look; and perhaps more importantly, a refined and supremely accurate sound.
The new Diamond Series products are said to "honor the heritage" of the family-owned audio brand, founded in 1961 in Tokyo by Mr. Tomoki Tachikawa. 60 years later, the company is still independently operated and is currently run by the founder's great nephew, Peter Kao.
Rotel's Diamond Series RA-6000 Integrated Amplifier is rated to deliver 350 watts of stereo output power into 4-ohm speaker loads. It builds upon technical concepts and component design elements from the brand's current flagship Michi series gear, bringing a taste of that refined design and sound quality to a slightly more affordable price point. The amp's rear panel features a wide array of analog and digital inputs in order to accomodate virtually any modern or legacy source component. On board you'll find three coax digital inputs, three fiber-optic digital inputs, three analog inputs, a PC-USB input which supports MQA, an iOS USB port for Apple devices, XLR balanced inputs and a Moving Magnet phono input for vinyl lovers. Analog inputs remain entirely in the analog domain, with no digital conversion or processing. The amp also supports wireless Bluetooth connectivity with AptX HD support for high performance wireless streaming.
The Rotel Diamond Series DT-6000 DAC Transport unites legacy physical media (the Compact Disc) with digital music files and streaming media sources. The unit includes a built in tray-loading CD mechanism, PC-USB input supporting MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) and DSD (Direct Stream Digital) audio playback, as well as fiberoptic and coaxial digital inputs. The unit supports PCM lossless digital media at up to 32-bit precision and up to 384kHz sampling rate.
The "secret sauce" of the DT-6000 is its 8-channel ESS Sabre ES9028PRO Digital to Analog converter (DAC). The unit is actually configured with eight dedicated mono DACs working as one: four DACs for each of the left and right channels. Redundant signal processing of the digital data streams extracts every bit of musical detail, while pushing the noise floor below the threshold of human hearing.
The DAC array feeds custom engineered fully balanced differential output filters with sonic components individually tuned for the most realistic and accurate musical reproduction. Power for the DT-6000 is provided by a shielded toroidal transformer with high efficiency slit foil smoothing capacitors, which is manufactured in house. These caps reduce stray emissions to deliver independent, isolated, low noise power to all critical circuits, further reducing noise and distortion.
But beyond all the buzzwords and technical jargon, the proof is in the pudding... or in this case, in the listening. I was treated to a demo of the new Diamond Series components at a preview event in New York City earlier this month and I liked what I heard.
With the DT-6000 playing standard red book CDs, fed through the RA-6000 amp driving a gorgeous pair of Sonus Faber on-wall speakers and subwoofer, the system created a rock solid soundstage, exquisite detail and excellent bass control and extension. We listened to a few tracks by singers/songwriters Diana Krall and Sara Bareilles, as well as some more esoteric full range instrumental cuts. Though the speakers were installed high up on the wall, the imaging was superb, giving us the illusion of actual musicians and singers performing on a stage in front of us. I look forward to hearing more of this system as the components make it into full scale production next month.
The Rotel Diamond Series RA-6000 and DT-6000 will be available in black and silver finishes through authorized Rotel dealers beginning in the U.S. in July, 2022. Shipments to other parts of the world will follow soon after. A Rotel rep at the unveiling event told me more components will follow in the Diamond Series over time. Details on that will be forthcoming at a later date.
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More Info: www.rotel.com
