Up to 37% in savings when you subscribe to hi-fi+
hifi-logo-footer Hi-fi+

Begin typing your search above and press return to search. Press Esc to cancel.

T+A SDV 3100 HV digital converter/preamplifier

T+A SDV 3100 HV digital converter/preamplifier

This review is all about space management. Not the physical size of the T+A SDV 3100 HV, or anything to do with room treatment. It’s just if I start listing what this DAC/preamplifier/headphone amp does in any degree of fine detail, you’ll be reading a 60-page review. There’s comprehensive… and then there’s the SDV 3100 HV. A large, expensive, technologically-advanced combination DAC and preamplifier (with a headphone amplifier option) is always going to be comprehensively specified, but even by those standards, the SDV 3100 HV is exceptional in the scope of its operation and connectivity. There is one omission (MQA), but even qualifying what the SDV 3100 HV does for a living gets long-winded simply because it does so many jobs; it’s technically a streaming digital converter and analogue/digital preamplifier with headphone amplifier. Going deeper still, the 3100 HV is a modular platform, as there is also a SD 3100 HV that omits the preamplifier circuitry.

The comprehensiveness of the headline features is impressive enough, but it’s the application of those headline features that really shows the company’s mettle. Given ‘application’ is baked into T+A at a fundamental level (‘T+A’ is short for ‘Theory + Application’, meaning the German T+A Electroakustik company set out its store from the outset as being thoroughly engineering and science-driven). This is a pinnacle project from a company that has a lot of digital engineering under its belt; the company’s engineering design department is larger than the whole team of many well-known high-end amp makers, and the brand’s lead designer, Lothar Weimann, has been with the company since 1978, joining T+A while still at university. Lothar and T+A have been working in the domestic digital audio field for as long as there has been domestic digital audio, and those decades of design skills are realised in the SDV 3100 HV, in terms of the comprehensive spec sheet, build quality, the seamless integration of soft- and hardware, and – of course – sound quality.

Let’s start with the hardware, in part because the SDV 3100 HV is such a physically significant device. Sitting larger and heavier than most integrated amplifiers, T+A’s digital nerve centre is a part of the brand’s top HV range. The suffix describes a High Voltage; most modern circuits operate at ±5V, but in the HV range, the amplifier sections run at considerably higher voltages (up to 500V in the power amplifier stages of the reference M 40 HV) and run in Class A. This is more in line with the rail voltages of valve amplifiers, and requires some careful component selection to achieve in solid state electronics. The upshot of the HV circuit, however, is greater amplifier linearity. This also necessitates some internal chambering to keep the lower-voltage digital signal paths and the higher voltage analogue stages separate from one another, which is why that big and heavy chassis isn’t just there for impressive-looking ballast.

T+A SDV 3100 HV digital converter/preamplifier, T+A SDV 3100 HV digital converter/preamplifier

A rookie error in system building here is that the HV amplifiers should only be used with other HV amplifiers for, you know, ‘reasons’. While the products are designed to work with one another harmoniously, the HV concept is there to make individual components sound better without any input/output idiosyncrasies. I used the SDV 3100 HV with a range of digital and analogue sources up-stream and connected it to both valve and solid-state power amps (balanced and single-ended) downstream. None of these had the ‘HV’ suffix, and in use the SDV 3100 HV is impeccable in its connectivity. Get used to the word ‘impeccable’ in this review…

The list of connections is comprehensive in the extreme, as can be seen both in the picture of the rear panel and in the ‘technical specifications’ box, so it’s almost academic running over them again. Suffice it to say the preamp-equipped SDV 3100 HV is very well connected in the digital domain, although just one balanced and one single-ended analogue input does limit its flexibility, somewhat. Fortunately, these aren’t an afterthought or some kind of ‘make-weight’ input block; the analogue preamp would be an above average performer in and of itself, sonically. One observation about the analogue input block, however, is that they are ‘handed’ and sit either side of the analogue output balanced/single-ended connections. This is both a little counter-intuitive when trying to wire up a system (you tend to think one side of the amp is the input, one is the output) and it’s a stretch between single-ended input connectors if your cable is conjoined.

That being said, I’m not altogether sure how many analogue inputs are needed here. The SDV 3100 HV includes an aerial input for FM/DAB/DAB+ tuner replay. So, unless you are using two turntables (it’s not really geared up for a tape loop or a traditional home cinema pass-through… for that you need the standalone dedicated P 3000 HV preamplifier), you’ll likely never need more than its digital inputs, the tuner, and maybe one of those two analogue sources. Such is the change to the way we listen to music today.

I don’t like to consider CD or SACD as a ‘legacy’ product, despite the tumble in sales of discs and players, but if you are going down the all T+A route (and frankly, if you like the SDV 3100 HV, why wouldn’t you want to complete the circle?), then the PDT 3100 HV CD/SACD transport (with its proprietary IPAlink digital pathway and Hlink control connectors) is the perfect partner, and that means you retain all your S/PDIF and AES/EBU inputs.

The brands of DAC chipsets used in the SDV 3100 HV are not listed and not immediately apparent. This is not uncommon in well-engineered DACs, primarily because our obsession with which company made the chipset is as relevant to performance as asking about the make of brake fluid in a race car. However, use of the plural when discussing chipsets is deliberate; the SDV 3100 HV uses two entirely different digital pathways, depending on whether a signal is a LPCM one (in which case its double differential quadruple DAC arrangement supports files up to 32-bit, 768kHz precision) or DSD, where its proprietary ‘True 1-Bit Converter’ can cope with up to DSD1028 (as with very high-res LPCM files, software availability notwithstanding).

The LPCM files are also treated to a show of filter force, with one of four different, T+A developed digital filters to choose from; FIR long, FIR short, Bezier/IIR and Bezier. Put (too) simply, the ‘FIR long’ filters allows greater high frequency extension at the expense of some pre- and post- ringing, the pure ‘Bezier’ filter eliminates that ringing at the expense of some HF roll-off, and the others fall somewhere between the two. In fairness, ‘ringing’ and ‘roll-off’ are relative terms (you’ll be lucky to hear those terms in reality), but the four filters do sound subtly different and are situational, contingent upon the system itself. You’ll likely find one that suits you slightly better than the others, but the listening process is not unlike being fitted for glasses (‘A or B?… How about now?… and now?’).

Moving to its possible source, you can stream from the Ethernet and the SDV 3100 HV has integral support for Tidal, Qobuz, and Deezer and Tunein internet radio. One of its USB inputs is set in ‘device mode’ for connecting the USB output from a computer or music server, while the other is set as ‘master mode,’ which can control mass-storage devices like hard drives, thumb-drives and NAS units without UPnP (when playing files stored on a NAS through master-mode USB input, the SDV is considered a ‘streaming client’). The SDV 3100 HV is UPnP (Universal Plug ’n’ Play) and DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) compliant, too. There’s also aptX Bluetooth for wireless streaming and two HDMI inputs with ARC (Audio Return Channel) if you’re using the SDV in a system with a home cinema system, and finally T+A’s own app allows you to control all this functionality from your phone or tablet. The SDV 3100 HV is also Roon Tested and Roon Ready. In short… phew!

A mark of just how seriously T+A takes things is in its power supply. Make that ‘supplies’: while almost every other company runs both analogue and digital pathways through shared power supplies (even if they are split into their own power feeds, they share the same power input), the SDV 3100 HV takes things a step further by having different IEC feeds for analogue and digital. This is a dual mono design anyway, but the two power cords do not relate to left and right channels; if you want to get really freaky about this, you can choose the ideal power cord for digital and analogue circuits. While the impact of a shared power inlet for digital and analogue sides of the same preamplifier isn’t exactly a headline hand-wringing problem for the audio community, it’s clear that this uncompromising approach goes some way toward making the T+A performance as good as it is.

It’s time to roll the ‘i’ word out again; impeccable. Because that’s how this preamplifier behaves both in use and sound. Granted installation is necessarily complex because there is a whole lot of configuration on tap, this is a ‘one and done’ process. The results after the installation are uniformly good across the board, whether streaming direct via the Ethernet connection, running a music server in through its USB input, an old-skool disc-spinner feeding its S/PDIF or AES/EBU inputs or even a turntable and phono stage into one of its analogue inputs. Once you’ve level-matched, assigned names to the inputs, and memorised which inputs are which on the hefty, good-for-hand-to-hand-combat remote control, the amplifier’s operation is (here it comes again), impeccable. All that ‘back office’ complexity is there to make the SDV 3100 HV function without tears; it makes what are essentially complex UPnP actions seem no more complicated than pressing a button marked ‘tuner’. The large, blue central display helps here, as does the two large rotary buttons and eight software-driven buttons on the front panel. Sure, that means the heavy lifting of the installation is probably best left to the experts, but that’s par for the course at this level, anyway.

Despite the description of the SDV 3100 HV taking up most of this review, it still feels like we’ve barely scratched the surface of what it can do in functionality terms. Sonically, though, that word ‘impeccable’ comes up again. The sound is extremely listenable, both in terms of extraordinary clarity and dynamics, and in being musically inviting. The sound is on the right side of refined; more about opening up the spaces around the instruments and focusing in on the beauty of Joyce DiDonato’s voice [Stella di Napoli, Etato]. The dynamic range of her voice and its place in a 3D soundstage is extremely well presented, but perhaps most of all the recording has the right combination of sounding at once rich and full-bodied, and extended from deep bass to top treble.

Switching over to something with more impact and drive [‘The Ghetto’ from Donny Hathaway Live, ATCO], the syncopated pace of the audience hand-claps, the excellent conga and drum lines and that sparkling Fender Rhodes all combine with ease and (here it comes again) impeccable timing. Normally, this can sound a little bass light, but there is a deceptively deep underpinning of bass from that rhythm section, and here it’s given the kind of control and dynamic energy that makes it soar, while the T+A teases out a rhythmic structure that makes it an infectious track to play. You can’t help but foot-tap at the best of times, but here you are playing air conga seconds into the music. That’s good.

The T+A SDV 3100 HV is a refined and elegant player with an honesty and speed that challenges the hyped-up sounds of many systems. That’s almost a double-edged sword; to those who are searching for an accurate, detailed and dynamic sound that isn’t edgy, forward or forced… T+A makes a very compelling argument for itself. However, there are many who say such things, but are actually looking for something a little more arch and spectacular, and the T+A is too smart for that, and never sounds fatiguing in the way such ‘fireworks’ products inevitably end up sounding over time.

We often put on a good show in audio, but this T+A SDV 3100 HV is the real deal. The balance of energy and sophistication of sound will appeal to many and it’s engineered to see out the next millennium. You need to audition T+A products carefully, because they will be yours for a very long time, thanks to being an extremely well-made and well-thought-out package. I’m afraid I have to roll that word out one more time; the SDV 3100 HV is an impeccable performer.

 

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

  • Digital inputs: 1 AES/EBU, 2 coax, 2 BNC, 2 TosLink, 2 USB DAC in, USB Device Mode, LAN, WLAN, Bluetooth, 2 HDMI, 1 IPA-Link transport interface
  • Digital outputs: S/PDIF on RCA, HDMI
  • Analogue inputs: 1 balanced XLR, 1 unbalanced RCA
  • Analogue outputs: 1 balanced XLR, 1 unbalanced RCA
  • Control: H Link (for integrated control of other T+A products with H Link)
  • Formats: MP3, WMA, AAC, OGG, Vorbis, FLAC, WAV, AIFF, ALAC
  • Data rates: PCM to 384kHz/24-bit, DSD up to DSD1024
  • Streaming: Tidal, Qobuz, Deezer
  • Conversion: Double-differential quadruple DAC, 768kHz (PCM); T+A True-1Bit native DSD converter with upsampling to DSD1024 PCM upsampling: Programable DSP with four selectable filters, 705kHz or 768kHz
  • Signal-to-noise ratio: 117dB
  • Channel separation: 110dB
  • Dimensions: 17cm × 46cm × 46cm
  • Weight: 26kg
  • Price: £23,400

Manufacturer: T+A Electroakustik GmbH

URL: ta-hifi.com

 

UK Distributor: Kog Audio

URL: kogaudio.com

Tel: +44(0)24 7722 0650

 

Back to Reviews

Tags: DIGITAL CONVERTER PREAMPLIFIER T+A SDV 3100 HV

Read Next From Review

See all

Adblocker Detected

"Neque porro quisquam est qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit..."

"There is no one who loves pain itself, who seeks after it and wants to have it, simply because it is pain..."