The Rotel RC-1590 MKII
Stereo pre-amplifier
A preamplifer is not just a preamplifier, and the RC-1590 MKII is the proof of this. With a dead-serious construction, and a 32-bit high quality DAC, the RC-1590 MKII is born ready to control even the biggest power amplifiers.
Power is nothing without control, and many sadly get to use even good power amplifiers, with a less-than-ideal preamplifier, because it has been deemed “just a volume control”. This results in a dramatic decrease in sound quality; muddy and imprecise, and a lack of dynamics. So nothing could be farther from the truth, and Rotel knows this. The RC-1590 MKII is one of the most serious preamplifiers in this class, and treats the signals with the utmost precision and controls the amplification stage competently.
With two toroidal-transformers, there is a separate power supply for both the digital and the analogue stage, which helps to separate them even further than if they only had each their board. This gives you a much clearer and more wholebodied sound. Rotel also utilizes the well-sounding slit-foil film capacitors, which have a markedly faster reaction time than regular electrolytic capacitors, which makes for more agile and immediate sound. The DAC is an advanced 32-bit type of high quality, which upsamples inputs to 768kHz, and makes it possible to connect devices via optical TosLink, coaxial S/PDIF, and a computer via the asynchronous USB input.
This serious approach to the construction gives a marvelous immediacy to the music, which translates to a sound which can not be said to have any special tonal colorization, but merely reproduces voices, instruments and the room in which the audio was recorded with remarkable accuracy. This is not a machine dressed to impress, but rather a masterfully crafted piece of equipment which might not blow you away immediately, but it will withstand the test of time.
| Measurements | WxHxD 43,1 x 14,4 x 34,8 cm |
| Weight (net) | 9.2 kg |
| Input, optical (TosLink) | 3 |
| Input, coaxial (S/Pdif) | 3 |
| Input, USB | 2 |
| Input, network (RJ45) | Yes |
| Input, Stereo RCA | 4 |
| Input, Stereo XLR | 1 |
| Input, Main in | No |
| Input, Home Theater | No |
| Input, Phono pre-amp | Yes, MM compatible |
| Output, optical (TosLink) | 1 |
| Output, coaxial (S/Pdif) | 1 |
| Output, Stereo RCA | 2 |
| Output, Stereo XLR | 2 |
| Output, LFE (Sub out) | 2 |
| Output, Headphone | Yes, 3,5 mm TRS |
| 12v. trigger input | Yes |
| 12v. trigger output | Yes |
| Pre-out (stereo) | Yes |
| Wi-Fi | No |
| Wired network | Yes |
| Network features | Bluetooth aptX |
| Audio decoding | MQA decoder |
| Supported sample rates, kHz | 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4, 192 |
| Supported bit depth | 16 bit, 24 bit |
| Audio chipset | 32-bit / 384kHz Texas Instruments |
| Upsampling | Yes |
| Tone control | Yes |
| In the box | Remote control, Power cable, Users guide |
| Power consumption when standby | <0.5 Watts |