DAC £2500
SPL Audio is a small German brand that has been quietly making professional and home audio equipment for around four decades. It specialises in electronics, making an extensive range of studio processors, DACs and amplifiers.
We first came across the brand when we tested its rather excellent Phonitor xe analogue headphone amplifier just over a year ago. That product left a great impression on us with its useful range of features, lovely build and natural sound quality. So, when the new SPL Diamond DAC became available, we had high hopes of a similar dose of goodness.
There is a welcome aura of functionality about the Diamond. It is a well-specified premium digital-to-analogue converter with plenty of inputs – USB (type B), coaxial x 2, optical x 2 and AES/EBU – and an impressive file compatibility that tops out at 32-bit/768kHz for PCM and DSD256. Reflecting the SPL brand’s pro heritage, there is even the option of adding an outboard clock to upgrade performance.
Switching to analogue outputs, there is a choice of both single-ended RCAs and balanced XLR. Look on the back panel and you will find a couple of small dipswitches that govern whether the DAC has a fixed or variable output through those analogue outputs on an individual basis. This allows the Diamond to either drive a pair of active speakers or power amplifier directly, or bypass the volume control and feed straight into a preamplifier or integrated.
SPL hasn’t complicated usability by offering a choice of digital filter settings or other ways to tweak this DAC’s sound. While such choices are generally touted as a good thing, in our experience the differences between the settings are usually small and tend to encourage the user to play around with their hi-fi in a neurotic way. There’s always a nagging feeling that maybe you haven’t made the very best choice. For most people, as opposed to those who just like tweaking, having the SPL’s engineers choose the optimum settings seems a better option.
The Diamond is a beautifully built product. It feels reassuringly solid; the front-panel dials and switches work with precision and give the impression that they will continue to do so for years. We suspect that SPL’s experience in the professional arena, where reliability and durability are essential, has filtered through here.
It is hard not to be impressed by the care taken in the Diamond’s circuit layout. It is pleasingly neat and arranged with obvious care. We note the use of an Alps Blue
