Denon PMA-1500AE vs Iota VX vs NAD 356bee vs Onkyo 9150

[@tb17351]

Hi my friend. I think Denon sound the best. Its true the Nad sound a little more open but its because the lack of bass.

[@carldaniel3155]

NAD 356bee clear winner for the open vocals - wow!

[@vasyapupkin3300]

In terms of sound quality, the first Denon, the second NAD, and the third place are shared by IOTA and ONKYO. If Schiit Aegir had been in the test, then it would have been the best in terms of natural timbres and musicality.

[@mykeldg]

I agree regarding your ranking regarding Denon and especially Aegir.

[@legion2252]

NAD 👍

[@claudiobaldin5363]

possiedo un Onkyo 9150 ma devo dire che nella tua prova il NAD lo preferisco per i miei gusti..... 👍complimenti

[@anlemcsa132]

@mykeldg You have an opinion?

[@mykeldg]

from what I hear in real life (not basing from video clips), the Denon is way ahead of the others. it has depth, power, layering and roundness to it that I only heard from much more expensive amps (like roksan). the others were nice too but the denon felt like a class of its own when i compared in real life. it controls the speaker the best. The Nad is neutral with lots of power but it is not to my taste, I find it clinical. The Onkyo is my budget favorite being closer in tone to the Denon. (rich and holographic). The Iota is my pick for the neutral sounding amp. according to my personal preference and system : 1)denon 2) iota (neutral) / onkyo (rich / musical) 3) Nad (for powerful insightful sound)

[@anlemcsa132]

@@mykeldg Thanks for the feedback about the real-life sound!

[@srisaikat]

1.NAD, 2.IOTA, 3.DENON, 4.ONKYO

[@Splashadian]

I concur!

[@泱泱大国-f7n]

1nad 2denon 3iota 4onkyo

[@PedjoGT]

Onkyo is really bad sounding.....Nad have nice open space an imaging....Iota is plastic but detail...Denon is good allrounder but....

[@anlemcsa132]

IOTA🤔

[@Splashadian]

The trouble with this demo is that the track being used has a hollow production on the vocal. It sounds like he's singing into a cardboard box and they recorded it. the NAD does a better job of covering the poor recording being used. The Onkyo does the best job eliminating the terrible production on the vocals but does hide the instruments to some degree. Overall that first track is pretty poor on all the units. The second track on the Denon is bright not my sound signature of choice. I like the IOTA VX far more as it presents with more depth in the bottom end. Again the NAS is superior overall in it's presentation of the instruments. The Onkyo is just awful. NAD wins by far as presented here.

[@Jil8840]

The Nad sounds terrible. Extremely bad stereo image!!!!!

[@Splashadian]

I don't know what you were playing this test on but that's not how it played here.

[@Jil8840]

@@Splashadian it plays through my stereo system. The other two amps sound good. The Nad although is tonally correct has very bad stereo image with most instruments glued to the left channel. I have noticed this kind of problem before with other tests. The suggestion to listen to these tests through headphones is totally wrong in my opinion. You can't hear much about the stereo image accuracy through headphones.

[@mykeldg]

You are absolutely right. I think there is a room issue with my old nad recording. I also noticed it is using a cheaper dac while the rest were using chord mojo. I uploaded a new recording or nad vs denon with all factors the same now.