RSP-1098 vs RSP-1068 and THD question

[vertigo]

Hi everyone. I've been looking seriously into Rotel components for the HT setup I'm wanting to get together. As of now I really like the features, etc. of the RSP-1098 and from what I've read on here, the better performance (?) it offers along with it's possible upgradability.

The one issue I have with it is that it lists its THD as <0.05% which is obviously good, but nothing all that great.

On the other hand, the considerably less expensive RSP-1068 lists its THD as <0.008% which is impressive.

So, I guess my question is why does Rotel's top of the line pre/pro have 6 times the amount of THD as it's less expensive sibling? Is it a typo on their part? Is it supposed to actually read <0.005%?

Thanks for any advice, tips, help and words of wisdom!!

Cheers.

[vertigo]

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Thanks!

Cheers.

[mars]

Frankly I'd be amazed if you could discern even 0.1% of THD.
Very low THDs can also indicate that a lot of negative feedback is used in the circuit.

[vertigo]

I agree 0.1% would be very little, but I wasn't asking about what is audible. Besides, run your signal through enough components and that THD figure will increase each time as each component adds it's amount of distortion to the signal. For instance, your CD or DVD player will add some, then the pre/pro, then the power amp. If the 'goal' is to stay under 0.1%...having one component on it's own adding half of that (especially considering the expense of the item) is just something I find interesting. I am just curious why their top of the line pre/pro has a (IMO) significantly higher amount of THD compared to their less expensive model...unless the figure stated in their specs is a mistake. I would just expect that their flagship model would have the best specs.

Cheers.

[PiDD]

I agree .. Andrew any insight?