Director Mk2 The director sets the tone. The central unit of the HiFi system is the preamplifier. With remote source selection and volume control, retro-look-VU-meter, premium DA-converter and the all superior VOLTAiR technology, the Director Mk2 caters for musical blockbusters. Milled from solid is the big 45mm Volume control. Its mass together with the motorized Alps RK27 “Big Blue” potentiometer enhances the “spoon in the honey” feeling even further. The red marker LED makes the setting visible even in darkened environments. Volume RC The volume can be remote controlled with any infrared remote control, that the Director Mk2 simply learns. Learning made easy This video explains how you can use any infrared remote control to remotely control the volume and the source selection. Source of joy Up to ten (10 !) stereo sources can be connected to the Director Mk2. Six of them are for analog and four for digital input signals. The source selection is shown in the dot matrix LED display: IN 1 through IN 6 for the analog inputs. AES, USB, COAX, OPTI for the digital inputs, where the detected sample rate is displayed after about two seconds. For example U768 = USB input with 768kHz sampling rate. The source selection can also be operated remotely if the rotary switch is set to the “Remote” position. The Director Mk2 offers two pairs of balanced inputs with XLR connectors and four standard inputs with gold-plated RCA connectors. On the digital side there are four additional inputs. PCM audio is received in S/P-DIF format via coaxial Cinch, optical Toslink and balanced XLR (AES). Both PCM audio and DSD audio can be converted via USB. The DAC768 The highly acclaimed AKM AK4490 Velvet Sound™ premium DAC chip is used as the converter chip in the digital-to-analog converter, which thanks to its new architecture reproduces the finest sound details. It converts PCM audio with a resolution of 32 bits and a sampling rate of up to 768kHz, which is equivalent to 16 times CD resolution. Direct Stream Digital is also supported up to a resolution of DSD4 or DSD256. The DLP120 The analog output of the DAC chip must be filtered by a low pass filter. Director Mk2 has two of them: One for PCM audio and one for DSD audio, since different roll-off frequencies are required. And in contrast to all other DACs in the world, the low pass filters here are built using VOLTAiR technology, which provides a plus in dynamics and headroom. Tape Monitor A tape monitor circuitry is quite retro. Who still owns a cassette recorder or a tape machine? Who still has an equalizer? To put it another way: Who would like to do it and cannot do it because no manufacturer offers a tape monitor circuit anymore? Well, those who want can again. Today’s audio levels are much higher than in the past and many recorders will be overloaded by them. In that case simply press the switch and the level to the recorder is lowered by 10 dB. To compensate, the level from the recorder is increased by 10 dB. Et voilà. Preamp & Direct Out On the output side, power amplifiers or active loudspeakers can be connected to the preamp output sockets using XLRs. The Direct Out via RCA picks up the output signal before the volume control and thus offers the possibility to connect a headphone amplifier.
