Denon Replaces AKM AK4458 DAC IC in X4700H and X6700H

I’ve been going through some of the pictures I was able to collect the last few weeks on this forum and elsewhere. What I see is Denon advertised with a DAC-board picture of the earlier 4500 at the launch of the 4700. You can determine based upon the lay-out. The picture Denon Japan now is showing on it’s website is indeed of the 4700 but is the initial AKM equipped DAC-board. You can see by comparing the picture of one of the forum members who took it of his DAC-board in his 4700. If you compare the lay-out ánd the code on top of the board you can see they are almost identical up to a few last characters behind the dash. It’s something like ‘CUP13103Z-………’ You can just see it on top of the picture.

This, and the forum members who got response from local/regional United Music distributors about the DAC changes, unfortunately makes the case stronger for assuming the whole 2020-> range of Marantz and Denon now is equipped with inferior DAC’s. Since I don’t like being mislead before sourcing a (at least here in NL) € 1.649,00 costing AVC, I consider at least bringing this up with the European or NL distributor. Like many said; in real life one can wonder about the net result of such a change. However it does matter if you go through pre-out to a ‘clean’ power amp and some high-end speakers. Or perhaps when listening through a wired headphone of particular quality. Anyway, I don’t like being mislead. So the only thing for me that could, sort of at least, give me some comfort, would be knowing that in real life the revised 4700 plays (about) in the same ballpark as the one I thought I was buying.

Since Amirm’s evaluating the performance of AVR’s on DAC-performance, it definitely would be great to hear from him and better; get som updatet test results. Because also, until today at leats, Amirm is continuing to recommend the 3700, 4700, 6700 and the Marantz 8015. It would make sense to reconsider witnessing such expression of ‘worry’ on your own forum. For me as a consumer forums like these are so much more reliable than the ones related to magazines and commercial websites. So please Amir; share your thoughts and even better, updated test results.

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Forum member’s 4700, you can, when you expand, just read the code on top of the board. Right next to it the DENON.jp picture of the so called modified board. The lay-out is the same and different from the 4500 DAC-board. Almost same code on top; CUP13103Z-……..

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The 4500 DAC-board
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The picture of the launch of the 4700 showing, apparently at least, the 4500 DAC-board

The EU fact sheet:

So, not that it really matters or helps, I decided to do some further researchIt is clear Denon still also in the EU (Netherlands) is advertising for AKM DAC’s in the 4700.I’ve been going through some of the pictures I was able to collect the last few weeks on this forum and elsewhere. What I see is Denon advertised with a DAC-board picture of the earlier 4500 at the launch of the 4700. You can determine based upon the lay-out. The picture Denon Japan now is showing on it’s website is indeed of the 4700 but is the initial AKM equipped DAC-board. You can see by comparing the picture of one of the forum members who took it of his DAC-board in his 4700. If you compare the lay-out ánd the code on top of the board you can see they are almost identical up to a few last characters behind the dash. It’s something like ‘CUP13103Z-………’ You can just see it on top of the picture.This, and the forum members who got response from local/regional United Music distributors about the DAC changes, unfortunately makes the case stronger for assuming the whole 2020-> range of Marantz and Denon now is equipped with inferior DAC’s. Since I don’t like being mislead before sourcing a (at least here in NL) € 1.649,00 costing AVC, I consider at least bringing this up with the European or NL distributor. Like many said; in real life one can wonder about the net result of such a change. However it does matter if you go through pre-out to a ‘clean’ power amp and some high-end speakers. Or perhaps when listening through a wired headphone of particular quality. Anyway, I don’t like being mislead. So the only thing for me that could, sort of at least, give me some comfort, would be knowing that in real life the revised 4700 plays (about) in the same ballpark as the one I thought I was buying.Since Amirm’s evaluating the performance of AVR’s on DAC-performance, it definitely would be great to hear from him and better; get som updatet test results. Because also, until today at leats, Amirm is continuing to recommend the 3700, 4700, 6700 and the Marantz 8015. It would make sense to reconsider witnessing such expression of ‘worry’ on your own forum. For me as a consumer forums like these are so much more reliable than the ones related to magazines and commercial websites. So please Amir; share your thoughts and even better, updated test results.Forum member’s 4700, you can, when you expand, just read the code on top of the board. Right next to it the DENON.jp picture of the so called modified board. The lay-out is the same and different from the 4500 DAC-board. Almost same code on top; CUP13103Z-……..The 4500 DAC-boardThe picture of the launch of the 4700 showing, apparently at least, the 4500 DAC-boardThe EU fact sheet: