Digital Copy

Product specifications should help you make an informed purchase. But sometimes, says Mark Craven, all those numbers add up to nothing but marketing sleight of hand

- Mark Craven

CONSUMER ELECTRONICS HAS long been playing the numbers game. Product spec sheets are littered with them, and it's up to the prospective buyer to read the runes and work out what's what. Some numbers you want are small, like input lag or distortion. Others you want large, such as contrast ratio or HDR brightness. And then there's power.

I'm not talking here about power consumption. This is a whole other kettle of fish and one that we're all now taking a keener interest in, as energy bills rise faster than the helium balloon you just bought your child at the fair and forgot to tie down (sorry, painful memory). Instead, my concern is amplifier power, and what it means.

The subject came up during a conversation with Achim Schulz, a senior product manager at Sound United, the home of brands including Denon, Marantz, Classe, and Bowers & Wilkins. A Belgian tech journalist friend of mine asked Schulz an interesting question: 'Why doesn't Denon give a power rating for its soundbars?'