SPL Mercury Mastering D/A Converter (All Black) - Manual (Page 6)

4
Technical Aspects
120 Volt Technology
SPL‘s goal was to push analog signal processing to the limits. That‘s why we combined
thebestpossiblecomponentswithahigh-gradeoptimizedcircuitdesign.
We have been using the in-house developed 120 Volt technology - the highest-ever oper-
ating voltage used for audio applications - in all our products from the Mastering series
for years. Some of the most highly respected Mastering studios today revolve around
SPL consoles and signal processors from our Mastering series (Bob Ludwigs Gateway
Mastering & DVD in the USA, Simon Heyworth‘s Super Audio Mastering in the UK, Galaxy
Studios in Belgium, and the legendary Wisseloord in the Netherlands, for instance).
The 120 Volt technology is based on op-amps developed internally by SPL‘s co-founder
and Chief Developer Wolfgang Neumann. The Hermes Mastering Router features the
most advanced generation of these op-amps. They boast with even better tech specs
thankstothethermalbehavioroptimizationtheyunderwentunderthehandsofBastian
Neu.
Ultimately, the supply voltage is key for the overall dynamic response of a processor.
Voltage is to an electrical circuit what cylinder capacity is to an internal combustion
engine:
You can‘t replace cylinder capacity with anything else, except more cylinder capacity.
DLP120
Another technological speciality of the Mercury is the DLP120.
The output signal of a DAC-IC must always be filtered with a low-pass filter.
This is done digitally on the chip in most DACs. Followed by the analog signal processing
stage. This analog circuit is typically operated with the same voltage as the DAC-IC, for
example 5V. The first stage that the analog signal finds is therefore a dynamic range
and signal-to-noise ratio, which is limited by this voltage. The Mercury uses the DLP120
insteadofthisstandardtechnology.DLPstandsfor“DualLowPass”.That’stwoseparate
analog filters in 120V technology. Depending on the type of digital signal, the analog sig-
nal passes through the PCM or DSD filter and unfolds freely into a huge dynamic range.
The complete processing stage operates with a voltage of +-60V.