RATING
LIKE MANY, I’ve embraced music streaming, but refuse to give up my CDs and LPs. As a result, my stereo system contains multiple components and a thicket of wires. For people who won’t tolerate such complexity, Panasonic’s Technics has thankfully introduced the SA-C600 streaming CD receiver ($999). This impressively small component features an integrated amplifier, a streamer, a CD player, a phono stage, an FM tuner, and a headphone output.
When Technics offered up a C600 review sample, I noted that despite being jammed-packed with features, it would be by far the most inexpensive one-box player that I have reviewed. I was therefore eager to find out whether it could offer anything approaching audiophile sound.
FEATURES
Today, almost all one-box players utilize analog amplifiers, whether Class-AB or the more commonly found Class-D. However, the C600’s internal integrated amplifier, which uses Technic’s proprietary JENO (Jitter Elimination and Noise-Shaping Optimization) Engine, is fully digital. The company says that, compared to analog amps, their digital integrated amps with JENO can handle high-resolution signals more accurately and are less affected by outside noise. The product literature also asserts that due to the JENO Engine’s use of sophisticated anti-jitter technologies, the amplifier doesn’t sound “digital” and instead preserves the “soft textures” of analog sources.
All incoming analog signals, including that of a turntable, are converted into 24-bit/192kHz digital streams for processing by the C600’s amplifier. Although there’s no digital-to-analog conversion performed within the unit, the JENO Engine uses a pulse-width modulation output stage. That stage’s filtered
