T+A’s HV-series first appeared in 2013, and was based on thirty years of experience in the development and construction of first-class transistor amplifiers and valve devices. The series incorporates a revolutionary concept combining the sonic and technical advantages of both technologies, at the same time avoiding the inherent disadvantages of present-day tubes. The HV = High Voltage technology is employed in the amplifier stages of all the machines in this series, and is the secret behind their outstanding performance and sound quality. The source devices of the same series are just as uncompromising and superb as the amplifiers. They represent absolutely the highest level in the processing and reproduction of all digital sources.

Design Philosophy

The HV-series is the true embodiment of the original meaning of the term ‘high-end’: innovative technologies, uncompromising construction and absolutely peak performance.

For the HV-series T+A developed a whole raft of unique and superior technologies which are available exclusively to T+A: amplifier stages work at very high voltages, and are therefore inherently more linear in character than conventional circuits; the players feature separate high-performance converters for PCM and DSD, digital and analogue signal processing are kept consistently separate from each other, and specific subassemblies are galvanically isolated. All devices are fully channel-separate and designed on the double-mono principle. They are of entirely discrete construction, without operational amplifiers (op-amps). Amplifier output is more than 500 Watt per channel. The mechanical construction of all cases is extremely sophisticated, based on an internal framework of 10 mm thick machined aluminum plates. All case components are manufactured from pure aluminum, some of them machined from the solid. Absolutely no ferro-magnetic components are used.

The Streaming DAC Preamp

The SDV 3100 HV features a digital / analogue converter which is even more complex and sophisticated than T+A’s predecessors, doubling previous resolution levels: 32-bit / 768 kHz for PCM and DSD 1024 for bitstream data. This improvement required T+A to carry out meticulous refinement work on the previous converters and at the same time develop a completely new USB receiver for these high frequencies.

Technology

There are three aspects which have a crucial influence on the sound characteristics of high-quality Hi-Fi equipment: their mechanical construction, their analogue technology and their digital signal processing. Only if the development team balances all three facets perfectly can the device as a whole satisfy the most demanding requirements.

This is why all our HV devices are built of pure aluminum, without any ferro-magnetic materials at all, and features five compartments separated and shielded by aluminum dividing walls.

The current / voltage stages – crucial to sound quality – which follow the D/A converter stages are of totally discrete, channel-separate construction and feature HV technology, as does the analogue output stage. This ensures that a preamplifier or integrated amplifier connected to it are fed the ideal input signal.

Audiophile music enthusiasts like to use high-quality headphones, that’s why T+A built in a particularly good, high-performance analogue headphone amplifier.

The SDV 3100 HV is fitted with the volume control module of the P 3000 HV and has one analogue input, enabling it to be employed as pre-amplifier in a complete HV system.

Specifications