SPL Director MK2 DAC/Preamp Reviewed

So I get a phone call from a fellow audiophile friend who is known for un-Earthing some of the more high performance and often value-oriented brands in the audiophile world and he’s ranting and raving. He recently found a German pro audio company that makes a preamp that sounds so good that he’s selling his highly-respected $10,000 stereo preamp for one that costs a fraction of that price. He was really excited about this SPL brand and this guy doesn’t generally screw around when it comes to audio and especially over-hyping things, so I knew that he might be on to something with SPL. My initial editorial outreach was sadly lost somewhere between Los Angeles and Germany but I was able to find these guys at a recent AXPONA show thus being able to procure not just their killer 520 watt-per-channel class-AB power amp, the SPL Performer s1200 (reviewed here) as well as their Director M2 $4,110 DAC which is the topic of this review. They make a no-DAC version of the same preamp for $2,999 which might appeal to some audiophiles more on a budget or for those who already own a pretty slick external DAC. 

The SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp is the type of audio gear that audiophiles just drool over. It is built out of thick aluminum and has the feel more of a fine Swiss-made timepiece than a robot-made, consumer-grade AV component. There’s a physical heft and gravitas to the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp. There are also a ton of input options which is great. The audio circuitry shares some the same design DNA as the amp thanks to high internal voltage in the design. The DAC chips are upgraded to a modern, high performance AKM chipset. Hell, the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp even comes in three exterior colors. Can the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp dethrone the Anthem STR stereo preamp/DAC at the same price that is my reference preamp as well as the reference for Mike Prager as well as Andrew Dewhirst? That’s a tall order. 

What Makes the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp Special? 

• The SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp sounds so much better than I could have ever expected that I am simply blown away. I’ve owned so many incredible AV products over the years, it can sometimes be hard to get that excited about the sound of a new product. That isn’t the case with the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp as it is the best sounding stereo preamp that I’ve heard in my system since the Pass Labs XP-22 which is a two-chassis stereo preamp with no DAC for $10,000. To mention a $4,100 DAC/preamp in comparison to one costing five figures is high praise. 
• There are up to 10 input options on the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp. I struggle to envision a system that needs that many inputs but it is nice to have as an option assuming that it isn’t breaking the bank and in this case with the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp, it is absolutely not. 
• The SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp delivers audio jewelry like you should expect from a component costing many, many times more money. Most audiophile or AV components are pretty mundane black, silver or white rectangles by design. The SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp comes in silver, red or black. It has cool-as-hell looking gauges (I don’t care if they don’t do anything), have heavy-solid feeling switches, a volume knob that has substance to its feel, excellent feet and more. Somebody is really thinking about all of the little details over in Germany.
• The DAC chips inside of the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp are top performing AKM chips that allow for very high resolution and/or high sampling rate data to easily flow into the DAC section of the component. An external DAC might perform incrementally better as I used a number in my review when listening to the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp as just a preamp but know this, the internal DAC is very capable and musical. 
• The SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp offers both balanced and unbalanced operationwhich at these prices isn’t always a guarantee but in the pro audio world, where SPL has its roots well-planted you better provide fully balanced connections and SPL delivers.
• As of 2023, SPL America has been reworking its dealer network and have been steadily adding dealers across the U.S. and Canada over the past year looking to add even more in the coming months. I know of many dealers who are looking at this line and I’ve recommended that they open SPL. They are like an even more high-end (but still reasonable) ADCOM or Parasound but with products made for the modern era.
• The SPL guys have clearly been bugging my phones as they’ve included a tape loop on the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp. I don’t currently own a tape deck but I badly want to find a used, vintage Nakamichi Dragon cassette deck or possibly a Studer or Nagra reel-to-reel? Why, you ask? Because they are cool looking and important elements of my audiophile journey/career. The fact that SPL already thought about that is just another cool detail that the German pro audio company can deliver to audiophiles like me. 
• For audiophiles who are rocking surround sound, the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp has a home theater pass-through option. This is another sign that people are thinking about how their end users might possibly use a full-feature preamp like the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp. 
• There are some thoughtful controls on the remote as well as triggers to turn an SPL amp on or off on the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp. This brings a little bit of home automation control to the audiophile world and that is always a good thing. 
• The technology that SPL is known for is called VOLTAiR which is also used in SPL’s power amps. The basic concept is to run very high voltage inside the unit (reportedly four times higher than normal) which requires the use of specific op-amps to handle the high voltage. This is the SPL special sauce for audio performance and it doesn’t take long to notice its sonic benefits. 

Why Should You Care About the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp?

The audiophile who is going to be into the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp is one who has a taste for the highest performance, best sounding gear but also lives in the real world. They will listen to a $50,000 preamp from a Swiss company at a show but they wouldn’t consider spending that kind of money on an audiophile component no matter what because there are mortgages to be paid, college to save for even when there are lots of songs left to be enjoyed. 

The audiophile who cares about the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp is not likely new to the hobby but value is a major part of his or her high performance music playback system. They want the goodies from the most lauded, cost-no-object gear but at a price that they can aspire to own. 

Some Things You May Not Like About the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp …

• There is no built-in phono stage in the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp. SPL does make a matching, stand-alone phono stage that can be color matched and stacked on top of the SPL preamp/DAC or amplifier but it isn’t provided in this component. 
• Room correction isn’t part of the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp feature set. This is a huge advantage for the competitive Anthem product at about the same price. The listening for room correction isn’t cheap nor is the design time needed to make it work right. 
• The SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp isn’t a full-width, 17-inch component. Some people don’t mind smaller form factor audiophile components and they are sure trendy these days but to me, they don’t look as good in an equipment rack, despite how well-dressed all of the SPL components are. 

Listening With the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp …

The track that I’ve been listening to for resolution of detail is “Gold Dust Woman” from the all-time classic (and perhaps a little cliché) audiophile classic Fleetwood Mac Rumours via QoBuz.This track hasn’t sounded this open and detailed in my system since the $10,000 Pass Labs XP-22 two-chassis stereo preamp (no DAC) was in for review. The less-is-more approach to the sound is addicting and often best noticed when you take the high performance preamp out of the loop. The same goes for the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp which I was happy to place back into my rig upon switching between other in-house preamps. The imaging is so wide but it is the openness and space in the center imaging that caught my attention. And WOW, by the way. You can sit there and just sonically dial in to “jamming out” acoustic guitar solos, twangy and more distorted guitars, group percussion and so much more. There’s so much to hear and with the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp in the loop you feel like you can hear more of what is on the recording. That’s what a great preamp can deliver for you. 

I had to switch back and forth between preamps a bit during my review of the also ground-breaking SVS Prime Evolution Pinnacle floorstanding speakers when they were recently in for review. This gave me a chance to hear what the preamp was doing (or not doing which is often an even better thing sonically when talking about a preamp). The modern track that I’ve been listening to a lot lately on QoBuz is the ambitious Beatles cover of “Blackbird” by Beyonce’. This COVID-era recording is done with the best gear and the biggest budget in the modern era and gives you the most high octane fuel for your audiophile racecar. It is a killer demo specifically because of the layering and overdubs on the track. With the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp running, again the openness was apparent and simply fantastic sounding. The soundstage is presented in such a way that I found myself leaning forward and with my jaw hanging open. Anybody, not just your audiophile buddies, can hear the true-to-the-recording presentation that you hear on this pristine recording. 

Where I might be most sonically impressed with the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp is on historically important but not 100 percent pristine recordings. The Bob Dylan cover of “Like a Rolling Stone” by Jimi Hendrix in his first U.S. show in May of 1967 at the Monterey Pop Festival is a perfect example. Hendrix’s voice had more space around it with the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp in the loop. The internal DAC did a great job but didn’t perform as well as my under $2,000 Benchmark Media DAC3 B professional audio DAC and was bested by my reference Bricasti M3 which is a $6,000 DAC. Those DACs should sound better but the internal DAC is no slouch, to quote Judge Smails in Caddyshack. The way that this vintage recording came across as resolute and coherent was simply impressive. I found myself bumping and bumping and bumping the volume up until it had gotten very loud on the old SVS or Bowers Wilkins 802 D4s.

Does the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp Have Any Resale Value?

SPL isn’t yet an audiophile “call-brand” at this point which doesn’t benefit its resale value as if their gear were sold at say Magnolia in the United States. With that said, they are adding dealers. They need to get the word out in terms of marketing their product better and over an extended period of time to build up years of consumer demand for their product as you see with more developed product lines in order to get very high resale prices. That feels like a safe bet here. 

The performance of the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp is your main hedge for value going forward. The insanely solid build quality and kick-ass industrial design helps too. Also, at $4,100 there isn’t all that much money to lose in the deal as the preamp will likely be relevant for decades to come. Scarcity comes into play as well in that there isn’t much used SPL gear out there and audiophiles are getting the message about this hot, new pro audio crossover brand. I am just not that worried about resale on the SPL Director MK2. 

What Is the Competition for the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp?

The aforementioned Anthem STR at $4,000 is the closest and best comp that I can think of for the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp. This Canadian designed preamp has everything but HDMI in its feature set. The SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp has a more open sound, especially in the midrange, but it lacks ARC room correction, an internal phono stage and so on. Anthem is a blue-chip player in the audiophile space when SPL is a somewhat new player in the space. 

The Classe Delta PRE for about $12,000 comes to mind as an expensive comparable that is very well-built and thoughtfully has HDMI inputs which is rare in audiophile components – even today. Sonically, I would give the nod to the SPL despite it costing a fraction of the price. That is amazing praise for the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp in that no stereo preamp should be able to hang sonically with one costing 300 percent more. The SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp does. My concerns for the Classe brand under the mismanagement of owner, Masimo, is another detriment here in that Classe’ was just forced to close its long-time Montreal design offices at a time when the brand is barely alive. 

While the Pass Labs XP-12 at $6,500 doesn’t have a DAC, it is the closest thing sonically to the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp that I have heard. They both boast a uber-detailed, open-sounding, closer-to-the-master-tape sound from a preamp. They both are very much “less is more” sonically and that is just what I like. The single chassis Pass Labs preamp is a Wayne Colburn design and is a full-width component that is hand-made in California. Pass Labs amps have cool gauges but their preamps do not thus a slight difference with SPL. 

Final Thoughts on the SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp …

Being blown away by an audiophile product doesn’t happen very often for me but this is a fair example such an experience. The SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp is one of the best sounding and coolest audiophile components that I’ve ever encountered anywhere near its price. The SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp is built to last forever and designed with a beyond-thoughtful approach that covers nearly ever base. While, I would prefer to use a higher end, external DAC, the internal DAC sounds fantastic thus providing a consolidated DAC/preamp solution that will improve the sound (and lives) of many an audiophile. 

SPL isn’t an audiophile household name but it could be and likely will be soon. If you are anywhere near in the market for a DAC/preamp at these prices – you would be well suited to order up a version that best meets your needs. This is like sharing a newly opened restaurant with your foodie friends. You know that in a few weeks when the word gets out that there will be a line around the block. The SPL Director MK2 DAC/preamp is an audiophile component that delivers more performance and design that I ever thought was possible in a $4,100 stereo preamp at this stage. I am likely going to order a preamp-only unit for my reference system in the coming week while sending this component to some of my colleagues (assuming SPL allows it) so that they can experience the hype and excitement.