In the current edition (3/21) of German Recording Magazine you can find a review about the SPL Marc One. You can read the complete review in the magazine – here we provide a short summary.
First impression:
“Completely in matte black, the compact and robust steel housing makes quite an impression. The target group is certainly home studios and small to medium-sized project studios in solo operation, where a high-quality monitor controller can be placed directly on the desk.”
Conversion:
“Through the internally installed AKM-AK4490 chip, 32-bit conversion and a sampling frequency of up to 768 kHz are possible. DSD4 and DSD256 are also supported. This DSD (Direct Stream Digital) method explains, among other things, the extremely high resolution sound for both inputs and outputs. The dynamic range here is 113 dB at typical sampling rates of 44.1 or 48 kHz; up to 121 dB at higher sampling rates. That’s impressive!”
In practice:
“I tested the Marc One with guitar recording… both balanced and unbalanced input and the signal sonically hits me with high-resolution transients. With weaker DA converters, the guitar signal sounds less treble-rich and articulate. The opposite is true here. The monitor knob is really fun, because you can always check in between if everything is okay with the input signal.”
“Besides the proaudio studio domain, the Marc One could also be used as a hifi preamplifier. Basically, the Marc One is also an interface, since an AD/DA conversion happens for analog inputs.”
Sound:
“In terms of sound, the SPL audio headphone amplifier excels.”
“Everything sounds more precise, more clearly perceptible and better locatable. The frequency ranges are absolutely in balance. The sound quality is completely convincing!”
“The controller also harmonizes perfectly with (active) speakers. I connected my familiar 16-channel interface with simple XLR cables to my KH-120-A speakers and connected a second pair of cables to the Marc One for direct comparison… on the speakers a higher resolution as well as more precise transients are perceivable with the Marc One as controller.”
“The Sub-out doesn’t have a filter, for example, so you can feel and hear a very extensive bass range down to 18 Hz.”
Conclusion:
“SPL has released a fairly inexpensive monitor and recording controller in a compact size. Sound-wise, it convinces me massively and can definitely keep up with the top-class devices… the manufacturing is absolutely solid and the overall handling is analog, simple, good.”
