The inclusion of a DAC for the Rotel A14 opens up its flexibility and versatility. For this, Rotel have chosen an AKM chipset capable of decoding digital material up to 32bit/388kHz. The front Type A USB input utilises this DAC for playing from music apps via Apple phones or tablets, as well as charging them.
Inside the Rotel A14 amplifier is typically Rotel. A large, high current toroidal transformer, and all signal paths are kept equal in order to reduce any left/right channel timing issues, with left and right channels laid out in a dual-mono fashion.
The moving magnet phono stage and digital board are housed on separate circuit boards to avoid interference.
The AKM DAC also ensures high quality reproduction of digital music received wirelessly from phones and tablets via aptX Bluetooth, which is capable of supporting up to 16bit/48kHz.
Bass, treble, and other controls can be adjusted in the menu to your preference, or bypassed altogether. All nine inputs can be instantly selected directly from the front panel, as well as speaker selection. The display also shows volume and input selected, and the front USB provides digital playback from phones and personal audio devices.
The Rotel A14 provides four analogue inputs, any of which can be configured as a home theatre bypass, as well as a high quality MM phono stage for adding a turntable.
A pair of analogue pre-outputs allow for the addition of a power amplifier or a subwoofer or two.
Two optical and two coaxial digital inputs are provided, and a Type B USB input ideal for directly connecting a computer or laptop, or adding the likes of an Innuos server. The Type A USB connection can be used for powering a USB device, even when the amplifier is switched off. Two 12v triggers offer auto-power on to suitable equipment, and a second switchable set of speaker outputs can facilitate the addition of either a second pair of speakers or the low level outputs of a REL subwoofer, making it easy to switch them in or out of the system from the front panel of the A14.
The A14 shown here with the CD14 compact disc player and T14 FM and DAB+ tuner, which includes DTS PlayFi streaming capabilities
£699
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80wpc (8ohms)
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4x pairs RCA analogue inputs
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MM phono stage
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1x pair RCA analogue pre-outputs
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2x optical digital inputs [up to 24/192]
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2x coaxial digital inputs [up to 24/192]
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2x Type A USB inputs [up to 24/96]
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1x Type B USB input [up to 32/384 and DSD128]
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headphone socket
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bass and treble controls
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home theatre bypass [configurable]
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Class AB design
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H 93mm x W 430mm x D 345mm
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£899