SPL - Sound Performance Lab Phonitor x Headphone Amplifier & Preamplifier + DAC768xs

SPL Phonitor x

The headphone amplifier with preamplifier.

The Phonitor x is both an outstanding headphone amplifier and an excellent preamplifier that can be used to directly drive power amplifiers or active speakers. With the optional DAC, it plays not only from analog but also directly from digital sources. The Phonitor matrix enables speaker-like listening through headphones.

Thanks to VOLTAiR technology, it offers all this in the highest sound quality.

Great sound – For all headphones

The Phonitor x offers connections for standard headphones with a jack plug and for balanced headphones with a 4-pin XLR plug.

Thanks to its high output power, it drives all headphones effortlessly and without strain, thus leveraging the advantages of SPL VOLTAiR technology and rewarding the listener with an honest, detailed, and at the same time vibrant sound experience.

Headphones or speakers

The OUTPUT switch – easily switch from headphone to speaker playback.

In the center position (mute), no signal is sent to the outputs. The VU meters light up red.

To the power amplifiers

The signal to the active speakers is available both symmetrically via XLR connectors—for long cable runs—and asymmetrically via RCA connectors. The source signal is always available at both speaker outputs.

AMP CTL allows you to turn the standby mode of devices with a 12V trigger input on and off. This allows the SPL Performer s800, Performer m1000, or Performer s1200 power amplifiers, for example, to be ideally integrated into your setup.

From the full

The solid 45mm volume knob, milled from aluminum, is a tactile highlight. Its mass, combined with the motorized Alps RK27 "Big Blue" potentiometer, creates a wonderful "spoon in honey" feel.

The red marker LED ensures good visibility of the volume parameter even in darkened environments.

Remote control

The volume control can be controlled remotely using any infrared remote control.

The Phonitor x learns how to communicate with it at the simple push of a button.

Free choice

Up to five stereo sources can be connected to the Phonitor x:
XLR, RCA and via the optional DAC768xs also USB, COAX and OPTICAL.

The Phonitor x accepts a variety of different audio connections.
Symmetrical via XLR or unbalanced via RCA sockets.

The optional DAC768xs adds three additional digital sources.
PCM audio is received in S/P-DIF format both coaxially (RCA) and optically (Toslink F06).
Both PCM audio and DSD audio can be converted via USB.

The DAC automatically adopts the sampling rate and resolution of the digital playback source, regardless of whether a streamer, computer, or CD player is connected. No further settings are necessary on the Phonitor x.

Optional: The DAC768xs

The converter chip in the optional digital/analog converter is the highly acclaimed AKM AK4490 Velvet Sound TM premium DAC chip, which reproduces the finest sound details thanks to its architecture.

It converts PCM audio with a resolution of 32 bits and a sampling rate of up to 768 kHz, which corresponds to 16 times CD resolution. Direct Stream Digital is also supported up to a resolution of DSD4 or DSD256.

Unlike the DAC768, which is installed in the Director Mk2, for example, or is available as an option for the Phonitor xe, the DAC768xs does not offer an AES/EBU digital input. The DAC768xs also lacks the SPL DLP120 with VOLTAiR technology. Nevertheless, it offers outstanding performance that is unparalleled in its class.

Good old days

Two mechanical VU meters visualize the input levels for the left and right audio channels.

Finding the middle

isn't always easy. By nature, hearing can be directed more to the left or more to the right. This is especially noticeable when listening with headphones.

This is why the Phonitor x features a uniquely fine-resolution laterality control, which restores the stereo image to balance.

Use the MODE switch to select between stereo or mono playback.
This switch also activates the laterality control.

The Revolution: Phonitor Matrix

The Phonitor Matrix is the revolution in headphone amplifiers.

Thanks to the Phonitor matrix, music can be experienced through headphones as if it were being played through speakers. The tiring super-stereo effect is thus a thing of the past.

Enjoy your music without listening fatigue and exactly as it was meant to be heard.

Music is usually produced and mixed for playback through stereo speakers.

Listening with headphones is different from listening with speakers. The biggest difference is the lack of crosstalk of the sound signal from the left speaker to the right ear and from the right speaker to the left ear. This crosstalk is absent with conventional listening with headphones, as no sound travels from one side of the headphones to the other. This creates an unnaturally wide stereo stage and the various sound sources in the audio signal are not as localized as the sound engineer intended. This effect is often referred to as the "super stereo effect." With normal listening with headphones, our brain can compensate for the misrepresentation of music reproduction to a certain extent - but this is very strenuous.

The SPL Phonitor Matrix can correct this false stereo image using an analog circuit. Thus, the Phonitor Matrix not only ensures a correct representation of the stereo stage but also a relaxing listening experience.

The two main parameters of the Phonitor matrix are Crossfeed and Angle :

Crossfeed determines the crosstalk between the channels, the so-called interaural level difference.
Angle determines the opening angle of the stereo stage, the so-called interaural time difference.

In the center of attention

To perfect the listening experience, the level of the sound sources located centrally in the stereo image must be lowered when the Phonitor Matrix is activated. The result is that not only the position of all sound sources is correctly reproduced, but also their volume.

On Professional Fidelity devices, the value is fixed at a reduction of -1 dB, which is the best choice for an authentic representation of the soundstage.

The VOLTAiR technology

VOLTAiR is composed of the terms Volt and Air .
Volt is the unit of electrical voltage and air is the English word for air.

VOLTAiR symbolizes the seemingly limitless dynamics resulting from the high audio voltage.

120V technology is SPL's benchmark technology. It is unique in the audio industry, operating at 120 volts DC. This is four times the operating voltage of IC-based semiconductor operational amplifiers. We refer to this unparalleled technology in our Professional Fidelity series as VOLTAiR technology.

The highest possible audio quality requires the highest possible audio operating voltage.

The 120V technology operates at +/- 60V. To handle such a high voltage, SPL has developed special proprietary operational amplifiers that can operate at a DC voltage of +/- 60V – the SPL 120V SUPRA operational amplifiers. This high voltage would destroy conventional components and operational amplifiers.

The 120V technology achieves exceptional technical specifications and sonic advantages. Technically speaking, in terms of dynamic range, signal-to-noise ratio, and overload resistance. Sonically speaking, in terms of richness of detail and a completely relaxed listening experience.

By the way, the "120V" in the technology's name has nothing to do with the local mains voltage from the wall outlet. It refers to the operating voltage in the device at which the audio signals are processed.

The mains voltage from the wall outlet is converted to the required secondary voltage in the device's internal linear power supply with a toroidal transformer. Rectifiers convert this alternating voltage into the direct voltage required by the audio device.