SPL Diamond - Stereo Preamplifier

Diamond - Stereo Preamplifier/DAC

D/A Converter and Digital Preamplifier with VOLTAiR technology. AKM AK4490 Velvet Sound 32bit/768KHz D/A converter for PCM and DSD256, filterable with selectable low pass PCM or DSD. Alps RK27 Big Blue motorized volume potentiometer. Dot matrix display . 6 digital inputs: 2 coaxial, 2 optical, 1 AES and 1 USB. Variable XLR and RCA analog output (RCA also fixed). External clock input. VOLTAiR +/-60V technology with proprietary discrete operational amplifiers. Shielded toroidal transformer .

A high-level DAC/Pre, versatile, high-performance, and with a great sound SPL, a German company with over 33 years of history, was born from the passion for music of the two founders, Hermann Gier and Wolfgang Neumann. Many products in the catalog, based on the unsurpassed musical qualities of analog technology, which for SPL are the starting point in the optimization of digital products.

Diamond has the classic aesthetics of all SPL products, and is available in the three classic colours, black, silver and red, the latter particularly original and much appreciated by the public.

Inside beats the heart of an AKM AK4490 Velvet Sound™ DAC, with 32/768 capacity and up to DSD 256, and adopts VOLTAiR technology, exclusive to the German manufacturer, for both the low-pass filters and the output buffer.

Extremely sophisticated, it is based on the use of proprietary operational amplifiers that work with a +/- 60V power supply and therefore 120V total, which means a notable increase in dynamics, from approximately 124 dB obtainable with a normal operational amplifier powered at +/- 15V to over 141 dB, with an appreciable improvement in the signal/noise ratio.

SPL Diamond automatically detects the sampling frequency and resolution of the source, and displays it on a very attractive red dot matrix LED display. In addition to the volume knob, mechanically linked to the potentiometer, there is the input selection, with 6 inputs, one USB, two optical, two coaxial, and one EAS / EBU, and finally the selector for the clock frequency, which can be that of the internal generator or an external third-party one.

The analog outputs are XLR or RCA and on the rear panel there is a dip switch that makes one or the other pair either variable, therefore under the control of the volume, or fixed, so that it is possible to connect a power amplifier in the first case or, for example, a headphone amplifier already equipped with volume.