At the online HiFi magazine fairaudio you can find a review of our premium DAC with VOLTAiR technology – SPL Diamond. The complete review (in German) is available online – here we have compiled some highlights for you.
“The SPL Diamond hardly raises any questions in terms of operation and connections. With its optical and electrical S/PDIF inputs and of course a USB-B interface, it offers nothing more or less than simply practical entry ports for incoming digital sources. The two knobs on the front are used for input selection and volume control – just like you would find on a classic power amplifier.”
“… the SPL DAC provides some special features: For example, its appetite for PCM data up to 768 kHz/32 bit (DSD up to 256x). Its affection for high-fidelity ‘haute cuisine’ is also expressed in the possibility to connect the SPL Diamond with an external clock as a kind of ‘assistant chef’.”
“But even beyond the apparent specs and upgrade/adjustment options, the DAC, which is not even 28 centimeters wide, has audiophile delicacies in store. For example, in the form of SPL’s special 120V technology (VOLTAiR): The entire analog circuit spectrum of the SPL Diamond operates on the basis of a DC voltage differential of +/- 60 volts. This applies including the output low-pass filters (implemented separately for PCM and DSD), resulting not least in improved dynamic behavior.”
“Sensitive sound gourmets will certainly appreciate – and with good reason, as I can already reveal – that the SPL Diamond’s potentiometer-based volume control (Alps RK27) can be removed from the signal path by means of a DIP switch on the rear, if the D/A converter is connected to a power, pre or headphone amplifier, for example, and the Diamond’s own control is not needed.”
Sound:
“Sonically, the SPL DAC’s unerring tonal neutrality may be a clear indication of its studio genes.”
“The SPL Diamond exposes the textures of instruments and voices in a wonderfully authentic and organic way – one of its particular strengths, especially at this price. Nevertheless, details and nuances are by no means drawn with a very hard, sharp pencil. The resolving power has something about it that I would rather describe as ‘gentle’ than as ‘sharply defined’.”
“The resulting absence of any sharpness or harshness audibly pays tribute to the music’s emotional appeal. This is further promoted by the clean, nicely dissolving and opening spatiality as well as the dynamic, rather perfectly balanced than sharp and edgy.”
Conclusion:
“I’m sure that you won’t get an objectively better, but only different sounding pure D/A converter for the money elsewhere – the SPL Diamond is already one of my personal highlights of this year.”
