The Article

DIAMOND DAC FROM SPL

18th May 2026

This German pro audio company has released a home HiFi DAC unit. Paul Rigby looks at the Diamond

Based in Niederkrüchten, North Rhine-Westphalia which is up near the Dutch border, SPL is a Pro audio outfit who has decided to bring that expertise into the audio sphere. I have high hopes for it because, on the whole, I have had good experiences with Pro audio companies releasing their DACs and amplifiers, for that matter, into the home.

Situated in the company’s Professional Fidelity range of components, the Diamond runs on an AKM AK4493 DAC chip. I am a fan of AKM so I’m looking forward to hearing it. I’ve always found that AKM chips are rather balanced affairs than, for example, ESS.

This one supports files up to 32bit/768kHz or DSD256. A super low pass filter, called VOLTAiR, is also incorporated within which reportedly enhances dynamics. We’ll see about that.

SOLID

Being from a Pro background the Diamond has a solid, practical feel to the design. In operation, the unit provides a front-mounted LED display showing the input of choice or the sampling rate. You get chunky rotary knobs including an Alps Big Blue RK27 volume knob and another for input selection and a toggle switch for any attached word clock. I didn’t include a word clock, incidentally. This review looks at the basic DAC unit.

Oh and while we’re talking about volume. The volume control for both outputs can be individually switched out of the signal path via a DIP switch on the rear of the chassis. So, if you’re using a headphone amplifier with its own volume control, for example, it can be connected to one of the outputs.

Around the back is a pair of coax inputs, a pair of opticals, AES, USB B, that word clock socket, single-ended and balanced outs plus an IEC power socket and rocker power switch.

This is a low-slung, compact unit spanning 278 x 57 x 300mm and weighing just 3.15kg, available, from what I can make out, in black, silver or red. No remote control is included.

So how does this one sound? Lets have a little listen.

SOUND QUALITY

To begin, I compared the Diamond to the similarly priced Benchmark DAC2 HGC, hooked up a CD source via my Audiolab 6000CDT and played the acoustic guitar of Adrian Legg and the album, Wine, Women and Waltz.

I listened to the track Norah’s Waltz which includes bass, percussion and backing, wordless, vocals.

CD PLAY

First thoughts? Transients. My goodness, the Diamond output is precise. Turns on a penny. Notes start and stop with tremendous accuracy. There’s also a sense of clarity here. A freshness and openness across the midband and treble regions. Midrange frequencies are pushed towards their limits I would say, although there is no sense of brightness here at all. But the midrange push does eek out oodles of detail.

Bass is tight and mobile. I have heard elsewhere that bass, via the Diamond, is reportedly pretty weighty but I would disagree. For me, bass has impact sure but is also balanced and integrates well into the mix and does not impose itself at all.

BALANCED MODE

I then flipped from single-ended to balanced mode and found balanced mode to be sublime! Where you could argue – by comparison – that the higher frequencies in single-ended mode may have produced a slight tension, balanced mode was supremely relaxed with an open midrange, light and airy treble and tonally accurate bass. Overall, music sounded relaxed and at ease in balanced mode.

MOBILE DAP PLAY

I then connected my Astell&Kern Kann Alpha via optical and played the high-energy rock of Carousels by The Doves at 24bit/96kHz.

To me, pushing any DAP through a quality HiFi system is slightly troubling in sound quality terms and I could certainly hear that effect on this track: the relative lack of midrange control, relatively thin bass and the rest. Even so, via balanced mode, the Diamond managed to corral the music into a disciplined, coherent whole, making sense of the complex and sprawling arrangement. Which was a relief to the ears.

CONCLUSION

I must admit that I love receiving home HiFi products from Pro-level hardware manufacturers. Principally because they tend to bring something different, something new to the sonic table. The results are not ways successful, I have to say but in this case, I think SPL has a winner on its hands with its Diamond DAC.

Compact and offering a relatively low footprint, with a slightly industrial aesthetic, the Diamond provides connectivity options that should please most users plus sound quality that should also impress.