Craig Joyce is charmed by this stripped-down, minimalist DAC with professional audio roots…
SPL
Diamond DAC
AUD $4,299 RRP
The blurring of strains between professional audio and hi-fi is nothing new. It has been happening for the reason that early days of amplified audio by innovators like JBL and, extra not too long ago, with producers like Benchmark, Bryston and Kii Audio. SPL’s new Diamond DAC faucets into the corporate’s professional audio pedigree to supply a client model of what you’d sometimes solely discover in skilled recording and mastering services. So, does it ship?
UP CLOSE
The Diamond DAC is the most recent addition to the SPL’s ‘Skilled Constancy’ portfolio, which incorporates preamplifiers, headphone amplifiers, energy amplifiers, an analogue crossover and a phono preamp primarily based on SPL’s proprietary VOLTAiR expertise – extra of which later.
It is a simple, old-school design with little greater than a fascia-mounted quantity management when it comes to comfort options. Alongside two coaxial and two optical digital inputs, you get USB-B and AES digital ins, plus an exterior BNC clock enter. There is a alternative of unbalanced RCA or balanced XLR outputs, every with 75-ohm output impedance, which will be set to mounted (unity achieve) or variable – by way of a pair of dip switches on the rear panel.
With no Ethernet connectivity or inbuilt streamer, the general aesthetic of the gadget is utilitarian and purposeful – this DAC exists solely to alter digital knowledge into analogue audio. Must you search a preamplifier with analogue and digital inputs, the sister Director Mk2 product is nearer to what you need.
The Diamond DAC has a compact kind issue (278x57x300mm, WxHxD) and weighs simply 3.15 kg. Its pleasing chassis design has a neat brushed silver fascia, though black and purple are additionally obtainable. The amount management is a pleasure to make use of, and the enter selector rotary encoder is suitably strong and reassuring. The rest of the fascia includes a clock supply change, an on/off toggle change and an informative LC show exhibiting the enter supply, clock supply and rendered bitrate.
SPL has chosen AKM’s high-end ‘Velvet Sound’ AK4490 chip for digital-to-analogue conversion functions. The corporate’s consultant, Sascha Flocken, says: “We did many listening classes with totally different DACs over the previous years. In all exams, we most popular the AKM chips together with our VOLTAiR expertise output phases. We attempt to hear and hear as an alternative of solely taking a look at specs. Most of us at SPL have a background in audio, as a musician, mixing or mastering engineer, so sound is admittedly vital to all of us.”
Due to the AKM chip, the Diamond DAC presents spectacular number-crunching talents. For USB, this implies PCM audio as much as 768kHz, and 11.2MHz (DSD256) for DSD (DSD over PCM DoP) audio indicators. AES/EBU, S/PDIF and coaxial inputs help PCM as much as 192kHz. Throughout listening, a relay clicks when switching between enter codecs; though not obtrusive, this will hassle some customers in a headphone or near-field configuration.
Helpful for these of us with exterior clocks, the clock supply will be switched from the chosen enter supply or an externally linked phrase clock. The DAC is calibrated to an output stage of 15dBu at 0dBFS. To achieve the boundaries of the DAC in a Home windows-based laptop audio configuration, SPL presents drivers for Home windows 7 by Home windows 11. For a similar macOS or iOS connectivity, no gadget drivers are vital.
SPL labored with an exterior developer on the board’s design for the Diamond DAC. The corporate says: “In our expertise the analogue implementation is the important thing to creating digital sources sound ‘excessive finish’. A major design characteristic of the Diamond DAC is the VOLTAiR expertise that permits the DAC to supply ±60V DC rails to course of analogue audio indicators.”
This equates to 12dB extra headroom within the sign path, and SPL claims this allows all parts to function constantly of their optimum working vary. Such an strategy required innovation from SPL, creating proprietary operational amplifiers to deal with the excessive DC voltages that will ordinarily fry typical op-amps. The strategy is claimed to ship wonderful measured efficiency (134.5dB dynamic vary), and the upper working voltage additionally positively impacts the distortion restrict and signal-to-noise ratio inside the gadget. A low cross filter should filter the analogue output of any DAC chip. There are two DLP120 filters within the Diamond DAC, one for PCM and one for DSD, since totally different roll-off frequencies are required.
With a simple management panel, intuitive connectivity, and logical controls, organising the DAC is a breeze, showcasing its impeccable engineering. I streamed hi-res audio over USB from Qobuz utilizing Roon to guage the SPL Diamond DAC in my system. The Diamond DAC acted as a preamplifier for my Barefoot Audio Micromain 27 energetic studio displays.
THE LISTENING
From the second you begin utilizing the SPL Audio Diamond DAC, its skilled audio high quality is clear. Fashionable digital music sounds incredible by it, benefiting from the most recent manufacturing methods to ship a extremely immersive listening expertise. On extra intimate recordings, the SPL lets the emotion flood by, whereas harsher, extra simple rock comes throughout warts and all – in a satisfyingly tactile, visceral and earthy means. Whereas it faithfully presents uncooked and unfiltered rock music, it by no means sounds abrasive. Older, well-recorded tracks really feel refreshed, with the DAC revealing nuances that breathe new life into acquainted songs.
The current Roisin Murphy album Hit Parade is an actual winner on this family. The album opener What Not To Do was produced with DJ Koze and is a good leaping level for the collaboration. It opens with sampled vocals, percussion and synths earlier than the hovering vocals lower by the combo. Through the SPL DAC, bass was very correct but liquid, with a stunning roundness that jogged my memory of my trusty reference MSB Premier DAC. The total width of the stereo soundstage was used to perfection right here, with this product ably demonstrating its professional audio pedigree. I might think about Trigger mixing this on gear not too dissimilar to this, such was the Diamond DAC’s glass-clear sound.
Shellac’s Regular As She Goes showcases the band’s distinct minimalist and uncooked strategy to rock. The monitor employs a stripped-back instrumentation, sharp angular guitar riffs, and a rhythm part that punches with each precision and energy. The manufacturing is deliberately bare-bones, permitting for a gritty, nearly confrontational audio expertise. Steve Albinithe band’s frontman and famend audio engineer, is understood for his analogue recording methods, which give his songs an natural, tactile high quality. Leveraging this meticulous recording strategy, the Diamond DAC served up a vivid and expansive soundscape, permitting a deeper immersion into the band’s distinctive sonic world. It made the monitor resonate with extra depth and authenticity than anticipated. With out including obtrusive sibilance or different such distortion, the SPL DAC let me play this aggressive-sounding monitor at excessive quantity ranges in a satisfyingly fatigue-free means.
Certainly, the Diamond DAC has a splendidly open and nuanced midband. Chan Marshall is understood for her intimate songwriting and emotive manufacturing high quality. On Wanderera hauntingly minimalistic musical strategy is taken, with every instrument given ample house to breathe, and her vocals exude a way of vulnerability and uncooked emotion. The very good manufacturing emphasises the lifelike nature of her voice, placing the listener in a quiet room with the artist herself. The Diamond DAC ensured that the ambient nuances in Marshall’s vocals have been captured of their full, impassioned glory. Each breath, whisper, and vocal inflection was offered with readability, the SPL capturing this lifelike nature of the monitor’s manufacturing in all its glory. For instance, her atmospheric vocals have been rendered with eerie precision and complemented the backing vocals in a most beguiling means.
Diving into Runnin’ Down A Dream from Tom Petty’s seminal Full Moon Fever album is a vibrant journey by traditional guitar rock’s coronary heart. The magic right here lies in Jeff Lynne’s manufacturing, which seamlessly melds uncooked vitality with polished sophistication. In my dwelling studio, I normally hear by a Presonus 16-channel digital mixer or a Matrix Audio Mini-I 3 Professional DAC. Neither of those gadgets is a slouch, however introducing the Diamond DAC to this combine was transformative – it was like enhancing a cinematic masterpiece with high-definition readability. This monitor got here alive in new methods. Each guitar strum, beat of the drum, and timbral resonance of Petty’s voice seemed to be amplified and enriched.
Stereolab’s Miss Modular weaves an intricate aural narrative, drawing upon a wealthy palette of analogue synthesisers, vibrant jangly guitar riffs, and hypnotic pulsing rhythms. The Diamond DAC elevated this listening expertise to a different dimension. Appearing because the virtuoso conductor of this symphony, it revealed this wonderful recording in its full glory. Such impeccable precision made for very good instrumental texture – every sonic aspect gleamed – additional including to the monitor’s distinctive retro-futuristic atmosphere. This little digital-to-analogue converter unfolded the monitor’s layered magnificence in a splendidly satisfying means.
Total, this little DAC delivers distinctive accuracy with out compromising on the pure heat and richness of a recording. It presents ample headroom, guaranteeing readability even in essentially the most dynamic of tracks or when pushing your system to the boundaries. Listeners can anticipate a non-fatiguing auditory expertise, making this DAC good for prolonged classes. The soundstage is expansive, positioning devices and vocals distinctly inside a three-dimensional house, including depth to music. Moreover, this DAC shines in its skill to obviously separate and current intricate layers inside advanced compositions, making them accessible and satisfying for listeners.
CONCLUSION
SPL’s Diamond DAC is an unashamedly conventional digital-to-analogue converter with stable skilled audio DNA. It has a comparatively minimalist consumer interface, wonderful connectivity, and a particularly succesful audio core primarily based round a extremely regarded proprietary DAC chip. The analogue output stage may be very well-engineered, too. The result’s a superb-sounding product with forensic element retrieval capabilities however with a clean and pure tonality. Extremely clear, very dynamic and a very good communicator on an emotional stage, it makes music magic.
As such, this product is a critical challenger to significantly costlier DACs – and meals for thought for the most recent product releases from PS Audio and different up to date market rivals. The advantages of a long time of pro-audio engineering prowess are clearly displayed right here, so individuals looking for their endgame DAC would do effectively to audition it. This is not for everybody – followers of built-in streamers and different such luxuries ought to look elsewhere – however it completely hits the spot for purist audiophiles.
