SPL Phonitor se Headphone Amplifier (ON DISPLAY)

SPL’s VOLTAiR technology has raised the bar for professional headphone amplifiers. If lofty prices and exhaustive feature sets have kept you from experiencing this world-class level of headphone monitoring accuracy, Sweetwater has a product you should know about. Spec’d with a streamlined feature set and the same top-notch performance as its more expensive bigger siblings, the SPL Phonitor se + DAC now gives you easy entrée into the VOLTAiR universe. Precision crafted in Germany, the Phonitor se + DAC also has the same impeccable build quality, operational feel, and elegant visuals that will look amazing in your studio or home entertainment system. Equipped with SPL’s state-of-the-art DAC768xs digital-to-analog converter module, the Phonitor se + DAC provides gold-plated RCA analog inputs, along with USB, Coax, and Optical digital inputs.

A headphone amplifier like no other
Under the hood, the groundbreaking headphone playback technology you’re about to experience is the Phonitor Matrix, which makes monitoring on headphones sound like you’re monitoring on speakers. This is important because most music is mixed for playback on speakers, not headphones. SPL’s proprietary Phonitor Matrix makes Pro-Fi Series headphone amps unlike any other, sidestepping the tiresome “super stereo” effect and the hyped reproduction of reverberation and effects to deliver music exactly as it should be heard.

The Phonitor Matrix
Speakers and headphones present music very differently. That’s why music mixed on headphones doesn’t “sound right” on speakers (and vice versa). The Phonitor Matrix evens the playing field with three parameters: Crossfeed, Speaker Angle, and Center Level. In Phonitor se + DAC the Center Level is preset to -1dB and the Speaker Angle to 30 degrees — values that SPL has determined to reflect the most common real-world conditions. The Crossfeed setting determines the crosstalk between left and right channels, the so-called inter-aural level difference. You can select the intensity of the Crossfeed via two front-panel switch positions, C1 and C2.

Top-drawer components
The goal is unerring headphone monitoring accuracy, and SPL equipped Phonitor se + DAC with an elegant, uncluttered interface that gets the job done. For analog input, you have two gold-plated RCA connectors. For digital input, the Phonitor se + DAC provides three digital sources: USB, Coax, and Optical. On output, the The Phonitor se + DAC’s powerful amplification stage provides ample power to drive even the most demanding electrostatic headphones. The SPL Phonitor se + DAC, like every SPL product, uses only the highest-grade parts. You’ll savor the “spoon-in-honey” feel as you turn the big milled aluminum Volume knob that’s connected to a genuine Alps RK27 Big Blue potentiometer. If you’ve been on the fence about getting a proper headphone amplifier, now’s the time: pick up an SPL Phonitor se + DAC from Sweetwater, and hear what you’ve been missing.