Classic Sound with Streaming Smarts

THE TWENTIETH century had its Roaring Twenties; welcome to the twenty-first's Streaming Twenties.

- Daniel Kumin

Integrated amplifiers equipped with on-board streaming facilities and software, and the requisite digital-toanalog conversion hardware, have taken the place that the stereo receiver once held, back in the 1960's, '70's, and '80's. They are today's entry-level drug to the world of serious music repro, just as network streaming has become the agent of music discovery, the role played by alternative FM radio back in the day. (Though we didn't have algorithms to pick tracks for us....)

Technics' new example, the SU-GX70 Network Audio Amplifier, thus announces its function right in the name. Technics, the seriousaudio brand of mega-manufacturer Panasonic, has an illustrious history. Most notable for its direct-drive turntables accepted as the standard by generations of DJ's, the brand has also produced most every important class of audio component at one time or another, before Panasonic retired the name around the beginning of this century.

Panasonic elected to revive the Technics brand about a decade ago, and has produced a select few decidedly high-end-oriented designs since, of which the SU-GX70 is the latest. The new amp boasts a deep list of high-tech bona fides, including something they call a Jitter-Elimination Noise-shaping Optimization amplifier (JENO), which as best I can tell is a proprietary Class D amp incorporating substantial noise-shaping (Technics shows its clock frequency as 368 KHz). JENO is claimed to be "...less susceptible to signal degradation caused by external noise, ensuring more precise signal transmission.Accurate signal processing not only delivers high-resolution digital audio but also maintains the soft texture inherent in analogue recordings." Uh, whatever. I also discovered an unexpected room-EQ system, and a speaker-phase-correction tech the firm labels LAPC, both of which are discussed a bit further on.