News

T+A Unveils a SACD Player with a Touch of Glass (22/6/2005)

T+A has launched a unique, high-end Super Audio CD/CD player - with a valve-based output stage - that delivers a level of sound quality that it believes equals that of the very best vinyl turntables in the world.

The new D 10 player is truly a statement product from T+A, one of Germany's longest-established and most highly respected hi-fi manufacturers, designed to play 2-channel stereo SACDs (Super Audio CDs) and CDs - not DVDs. Its launch means that T+A can now offer a high-end digital player to partner the EISA award-winning V10 Valve amplifier and G10 turntable.

'This is a device that has been designed to reproduce stereo music and stereo music alone,' says Dr Siggi Amft, owner of T+A ElektroAkustic, 'Despite the massive popularity of DVD, creating a high-end player that played movies as well as music would have lead to inevitable performance compromises. Compromises of any sort were never going to be on the agenda for this device...'

Weighing in at a massive 12kg the D10 uses a Double Mono Quadruple DAC (digital to analogue converter) arrangement for decoding CDs, using 4 x 24-bit/384kHz Sigma/Delta Burr-Brown devices, widely acknowledged as being the best available today. SACD signals benefit from a Double Mono Quadruple DSD Differential Converter.

What's more, the signal processor used in the D10 is fully programmable and allows users to select between T+A's switchable CD oversampling algorithms, so altering the sonic response to suit their taste. SACD discs, meanwhile, benefit from a four-stage oversampling and noise-shaper circuits so there's plenty of fine-tuning potential there.

But perhaps of most interest is the fact that T+A has elected to use a valve-based output and filter stage. This uses 12AX7 double triode valves in the pre-amp stage plus ECC 99 double triodes in the output stage. These glowing glass bottles endow the player with an incredible sound quality that's totally free of the digital 'glare' that often affects lesser players.

With the player delivering a maximum possible upper frequency response of 120kHz with SACD, the output signals could trip up some lesser amplifiers, causing them to warm up or generate distortion effects. To allow for this T+A have provided two user-switchable SACD playback modes - normal (60kHz) and wide (120kHz).

Anybody who's been up close and personal with T+A's V10 valve integrated amplifier or G10 turntable won't be surprised to discover that the jewel-like standard of build/engineering quality that's present here.

Billets of solid aluminium, for instance, have been machined and turned to create the top-loading disc mechanism. The disc sealing ring is also machined from a single piece of metal, bonded permanently to the acrylic top plate while the metal disc cover is opened and closed with a damped vinyl turntable-style arm. Tres retro...

The T+A D10 CD-SACD player is available now from authorised T+A retailers at a suggested retail price of £4599.99.

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