T+A SDV 3100 HV digital converter/preamplifier

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.