Features
| Warranty length | 2 Years |
|---|---|
| Brand | Sugden |
Tech Specs
- Analog Inputs: One pair of Balanced Inputs; Four Pair of Phono / RCA Inputs; One Pair of By-Pass Inputs Phono / RCA
- Digital Inputs: One X USB type B; Two X Toslink Optical SPDIF; Three X Coaxial SPDIF
- Analog Outputs: One pair of XLR Balanced Outputs; One pair of Phono / RCA Tape outputs
Product Description
The Sugden Sapphire DAP 800 is an analogue pre amplifier featuring a separate inbuilt DAC to allow playback from digital sources. As is to be expected from Sugden, build quality is supreme, while sound quality, thanks to the Class A operation and design, is excellent - sweet and rich. The sense of headroom, imaging and soundstage is to be believed.
Sugden have gone to great lengths to isolate the individual analogue and digital sections of the amplifier, constructing them as self-contained stages which utilise their own power supplies, voltage regulation and circuit board assemblies. A 50W toroidal transformer is featured on the analogue stage, as well as a 15W E core transformer. Digital facility power supplies are fully isolated from the analogue stage.
The pre amplification stage utilises a Sugden VCV circuit in its most technologically advanced form. This circuit utilises a high impedance input section as well as a current gain stage (without attenuation problems) which drives a folded cascode stage into a Class A output stage. This folded cascode circuit enables a wide bandwidth with maximum dynamics and low capacitive connectivity.
The on board DAC is what really sets the Sapphire DAP 800 apart from other Sugden products and most other pre amplifiers. Enabling connection with a wide range of digital devices, there are inputs for USB, optical and coaxial SPDIF signals. The DAC itself is a non-oversampling DAC with no digital filtering. The DAC includes Post-Conversion Filtering in the analogue output stage, and the USB signal is converted via a circuit utilising a Texas Instruments Universal IC whose SPDIF output signal is re-clocked and de-jittered by the Wolfson interface transceiver.
This DAC configuration has been adopted for Sugden’s digital processing after many hours of actual auditioning of a wide sample of DSPs. The auditory perception / musical performance in terms of dynamic balance, tonal balance, voice and emotion, are so much more satisfying and the company’s preference.
Custom Colour Options
