The new Rotel A14 MKII integrated amplifier is the most efficient one from the manufacturer’s new range. It represents the Japanese manufacturer’s expertise with a quality-price ratio that has been recognised for years.
ROTEL A14 MKII: CHARACTERISTICS
The Rotel A14 MKII amplifier offers an 80 real watts power per channel at an 8 ohms impedance. It is able to deliver 150 watts per channel at 4 ohms.
To do so, Rotel didn’t spare any expense with the power supply. This manufacturer produces their toroidal transformers themselves and apply high tolerance thresholds while using carefully selected materials. It allows to keep a dynamic sound reproduction even with speakers difficult in terms of load.
Thus, there’s no problem pairing it with a large number of bookshelf or tower 2/3-way speakers comprised in 900 to 3,500 euros ranges.
ROTEL A14 MKII: CABINET
The cabinet has a nice sobriety. We have here a 9 cm high housing with a black or natural aluminium finish. On the right, there’s a large volume button accompanied with a panel of push buttons corresponding to the sources and the speaker selection.
The functions are displayed on a beautiful blue LCD screen on the control panel’s centre. A menu allows the access and modification of the balance and tone (bass and treble). It is possible to disconnect the tone correction via the “Tone Bypass” function.
ROTEL A14 MKII: CONNECTION
The Rotel A14 MKII amplifier features 5 analogue inputs on its back panel, including an MM phono and a pre-out input. There’s also 2 optical, 2 coaxial and 2 USB/PC inputs. On the front panel, there’s a 3.5 mm Jack player input, a mini-Jack headphone output and a USB/Apple IOS input.
This integrated amplifier also features a wireless and streaming aptX and AAC Bluetooth connection via its DAC! It is equipped with a 32-bits/368 kHz Texas Instrument digital/analogue converter!
An IOS and Android compatible app allows to manage the streaming functions. The Rotel A14 MKII is Roon Tested certified via Roon software.
The speaker terminals are quite good and this amplifier is perfectly compatible with good quality cables and banana connectors. It allows to connect two Hi-Fi speaker pairs of minimum 8 ohms for this product.
ROTEL A14 MKII: TESTING AND LISTENING
The A14 MKII reproduces music with dynamism and authority. The tempo is very pronounced and perfectly stable. The bass lines are very readable and punchy, no matter which Hi-Fi speaker is paired.
The soundstage is very authentic and accurate enough for a good localisation of the different sections and musician placement. Yet it remains very “enticing” without losing in transparency and readability.
The Bluetooth connection quality is enough surprising and rare to be highlighted.
In terms of connectivity and usability, the Rotel A14 MKII integrated amplifier features more than any other product within this price range.
Would recommend!
FranckPower: 80W per channel/8 Ohms
Class: AB
Harmonic distortion: 0.03%
Bandwidth response: 10-80 kHz
Line signal-to-noise ratio: 100 dB
Line input sensitivity: 220 mV
Damping factor: 180
Minimum impedance: 4 Ohms
Analogue inputs: 4
Output: 1 x pre-out
A/D converter: 32-bits/368 kHz Texas Instrument
USB-PC inputs: 1 x Class 1 Audio USB (up to 24/96), 1 x Class 2 Audio USB (up to 32/384)
Coaxial inputs: 2 x LPCM (up to 24-bits/192 kHz)
Optical inputs: 2 x LPCM (up to 24-bits/192 kHz)
Phono input: MM
Phono input impedance: 47 kOhms
Phono input sensibility: 3.4 mV
Phono signal-to-noise ratio: 90 dB
Weight: 8.9 kg
Dimensions: 430 x 9.3 x 345 mm
Customer reviews
Ampli Parfait
Bonjour, suite à un upgrad d'un A14 vers un model MK2 oui y a du changement en analogique. Le prix n'est pas le même non plus!! Plus de rondeur, basse et médium plus présent que l'ancienne génération tout en gardant un son chaleureux et précis. On gagne en gain au niveau des entrées analogique, donc volume général moins poussé. La partie Phono rien à voir, le timbre est beaucoup pétillant moins plat et surtout 15 DB de plus. Je suis obligé de baisser le volume lors de l'écoute d'un vinyle et plus besoin d'un Préampli Box S2. Là j'apprécie vraiment. Pour la partie numérique je l'exploite pas vraiment, sachant que j'utilise CXN V2 relié en optique. Je n'ai pas vraiment remarqué de changement entre le DAC Texas et AKM.
Je remercie au passage, l'accueil et l'échange avec Valentin lors de ma visite à Ma platine.com. Belle continuation à toute l'équipe de passionné.