The Phison PD2 DAC/Preamp

[Mivera]

Hi guys,

I would like to introduce a new DAC/preamp that I will be distributing in North America called the Phison PD2. It's made in Denmark by the same engineers who designed the DAC/preamp boards for AAVIK. It's built in a completely modular/upgradable form factor, and is designed to never need the case replaced. Any upgrade will just require upgrading a small board inside the unit.

Mike Hi, I had a look at your site but details are a little sparse, who makes it ?
Keith

Yes I'll be updating it soon. It's the Phison PD2. Made in Denmark. It's a very nice fully modular DAC/PRE with 100% discrete class A gain stages. No opamps in the signal path. The discrete gain stages and servo's are on modular boards. It's designed to never need to replace the case. If a new DAC upgrade comes out, just replace the single DAC board. Even the DAC output stage/discrete DSD filter board is modular and separate. Has optional phono stage as well, but not really pushing that option

 

[Thomas savage]

is this in NADAC territory mike? it seems the NADAC is DSD focused how do the 2 formats (PCM DSD)compare on this?

 

[amirm]

So what is the pricing again? And is this the partial review of it at 6 moon? http://www.sixmoons.com/audioreviews2/phison/1.html

What are the screwed on modules?

Love the extreme via stitching all over the board.

 

[Purité Audio]

Thr designers appear to be distancing themselves from the Aardvik designs, if I recollect the class D module they used wasn't that special?
Keith

 

[Mivera]

So what is the pricing again? And is this the partial review of it at 6 moon? http://www.sixmoons.com/audioreviews2/phison/1.html

What are the screwed on modules?

Love the extreme via stitching all over the board.

The introductory pricing is $7500. The screw on modules are SOTA discrete class A Jfet folded cascode gain stages with discrete servo's. Yes the PCB's are the highest quality stitched together with 2 separate copper ground planes. He uses a technique called "virtual grounding" to eliminate ground loops.

Yes that's it. Review is coming soon.

 

[Thomas savage]

sounds good mike i am excited for you (genuinely, not circle jerk insincere BS). i like what you're doing.

 

[Mivera]

Thr designers appear to be distancing themselves from the Aardvik designs, if I recollect the class D module they used wasn't that special?
Keith

Yeah he wasn't impressed with AAVIK's decision to use the Pascal class D PA grade amps. Nor the IC opamp based RIAA. The DAC board is also limited to 24/192 PCM only on the U-300. No fancy discrete modular preamp section either.

 

[Mivera]

sounds good mike i am excited for you (genuinely, not circle jerk insincere BS). i like what you're doing.

Thanks Tom! If you're looking for a unit that will stand the test of time, and SOTA to the extreme, this is it.

 

[amirm]

Thanks Mike. Are the plug-in gain stages their design?

Also, what is the final pricing?

 

[Mivera]

Thanks Mike. Are the plug-in gain stages their design?

Also, what is the final pricing?

Everything is 100% their design from scratch. Sonny (the electronic engineer behind it) has been doing OEM work for years for many companies. He finally decided to do his own line without any compromises, or constraints enforced by bean counters. Pricing is super cheap right now at $7500. But expect it to go up.

 

[amirm]

Understood. So are they available for sale yet?

 

[Mivera]

Understood. So are they available for sale yet?

Yes I sold 1 to your friend in Seattle already, and I have a deal pending on another one. He just got it last night, hasn't even hooked it up yet. He bought the matching amp to go along with it too, but it won't be ready until April 15th. So he's amp-less right now just admiring the beautiful CNC machined casework, and mentioned he might try to hit you up for an amp loan

 

[Thomas savage]

the KING OF AUDIO (Grammy Award winning) needs to listen and measure this. that's if your not too busy with your modeling work

 

[Mivera]

The A2.120 matching amp:

The amplifier has been published nowhere and it outperforms any other current feedback design. I have once shown a little part of the circuit to Michael Børresen from Raidho and he copied it right away. So it not a public design.
The Audio power amplifier is as stated a Dual mono design. We have choosen to use classic transfomer design above SMPS. We hear a more well defined controlled bass section using a classic power supply above SMPS.
It is 2x500VA and 2 x 60.000uF with stealthtype diodes giving a ultra low noise powersupply.
The amplifier itself has balanced input as well as singleended RCA. The input uses virtual ground technologie like the Preamp PD2.
It is a two stage design. The two stages are both single gain stage. First one is using the same amplifier modules as the PD2 preamp giving the same sound signature. Second stage is a Current feedback design i have developed over the years. it gives wide bandwidth and good low impedance performance meaning good control over the speaker drivers. It gives you tons of air and clarity in the soundstage..
Why would i use two gainstages instead of one? In many cases amplifier designers insert a resistor in the ground between speaker and the input to prevent ground loops. Meaning that the offset this resistor gives in noise will be added to the signal.
We have this resistor but as the input runs in virtual ground mode the signal GND is sensed on the Source side of this resistor. This eliminated the bad effect on the GND resistor but keep the good things intact from the resistor goal to prevent ground loops.
To give you an idea of the complexity of the A2.120 the amplifier section alone per channel is counting 381 parts.

 

[amirm]

the KING OF AUDIO (Grammy Award winning) needs to listen and measure this. that's if your not too busy with your modeling work

As it turns out, I am in the market for a DAC+pre-amp. I just don't know if I can trust this Minerva guy....

 

[amirm]

What does he mean by "classic transfomer design?" Is that a linear power supply?

 

[Mivera]

As it turns out, I am in the market for a DAC+pre-amp. I just don't know if I can trust this Minerva guy....

Well if you want a demo I'm sure it can be arranged. But it's best when using my Superstream unit and upsampling to Quad DSD with Hqplayer. My first client has it all setup good with fibre optics and everything, and that's my preferred way to demo it.

Or you can wait till I get the next batch and I can bring it in person to demo.

 

[Mivera]

What does he mean by "classic transfomer design?" Is that a linear power supply?

Yes Linear supply. He meant as opposed to using a SMPS. SMPS's are a better match with class D amps.

 

[Thomas savage]

As it turns out, I am in the market for a DAC+pre-amp. I just don't know if I can trust this Minerva guy....

well i reckon if mike can get your face lasered onto the casework somehow you will be ALL IN maybe CNC a grammy motif on the side, make you feel extra special.

 

[Thomas savage]

He meant as opposed to using a SMPS.

TAD do that too on the M2500 amp. class D but TX not SWMP