How do I not love them? Let me count the ways. So it hasn’t been lack of exposure to quality headphones that has relegated them to a distant second place in my heart. And I try to take the opportunity to listen to various current high-end units at trade shows.
#Spl amp reviews driver#
The 1MORE Triple Driver Over Ear phones ( see my review here), which aren’t state-of-the-art, but are still quite good, are my daily driver. Some really excellent ones have passed through here (most notably several versions of the Stax electrostatic headphones). I will start by confessing that I’m not an avid headphone user. The power supplies feature active regulation, with 7812/7912 three-pin regulators for the lower voltage portions and TL783 used for the ☖0V rails. Photo 3: The One d’s internal layout and component quality are excellent. Unlike digital control, this relies on tight matching between the potentiometer sections all through the rotational range to have stable channel-to-channel balance. Unusually (these days), the volume control here is implemented with an analog potentiometer controlling the preamplifier stage. The headphone output is a standard 1/4” TRS jack. The control knobs (volume and crossfeed) both feel velvety and luxurious in operation.
It has nothing of the plastic and flimsy metal of a lot of inexpensive headphone amps, but rather is solid-feeling, with an anodized black finish and a hefty all-metal case. The Phonitor One d (which I’ll just call the One d for convenience) is a solid and attractive unit (Photo 1). The VOLTAIR amplifiers are used in the One d. The higher power supply voltage potentially enables a larger output swing, and indeed, its studio gear runs signals up to 24dBu (about 12.3Vrms). In a nutshell, instead of the usual ☑2V to 15V power supplies common to most IC op-amp circuits, the SPL VOLTAIR products use ☖0V rails. One of the technical differentiators running through SPL’s product line is its 120V circuitry, which SPL calls VOLTAIR. The item under review here is SPL’s new Phonitor One d, a combination DAC, preamp, and headphone amp for consumers, which has some interesting circuit twists. Compared to its amplifiers targeted to the consumer market, it has further functions that are needed in production such as Solo L/R, Phase Invert L/R, as well as Center Level adjustments of the Phonitor Matrix (more about that shortly).
#Spl amp reviews professional#
The Phonitor 2 is targeted for professional studio and mastering. The Phonitor x and the Phonitor xe are the top models in that category.
It starts with the Phonitor se, its entry-level consumer headphone amplifier.
#Spl amp reviews pro#
SPL’s Phonitor line comprises headphone amplifiers for both the pro and consumer markets.
The products of the Professional Fidelity category are designed for the hi-fi audience whereas the products within the Studio/Mastering and Plug-Ins categories are for the professional users.” According to Hermann Gier, Managing Partner, “We have a strict separation between the hi-fi and the Pro Audio markets. Its original claim to fame was an effects device called the Vitalizer, which uses a combination of level-dependent filtering, equalization, and harmonic generation to achieve more “punch” in a mix.īut SPL is also involved in the consumer market. SPL’s products are designed and (unusually) built in Germany, and the studio gear has (for me) a very cool appearance. The company’s product line is quite extensive, and includes mic preamps, recording interfaces, mixers, signal processors… about anything needed in studio electronics. SPL electronics (its idiosyncratic non-capitalization) is a German producer of gear targeted to recording studios and prosumer users.
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