TIDAL Audio Prisma

Technical specifications of Tidal Audio Prisma

Power supply unit

• Connection to the power supply: 3 solid conductors made of silver with air core (silver tubes) with (Oyaide) connection, which undergo a burn-in process before assembly as a complete cable harness and are also the only wires in the preamplifier.
• 3x 25 VA toroidal transformers
• Galvanic isolation between the control section (for the entire ADC-processed level control) and the entire analog section, divided into left and right.
• A total of 20 (twenty) separate linear regulated power voltages
• Low-noise power supply unit (left and right) for the analog amplifier, directly integrated for shortest signal paths where necessary.

Reinforcement

• The entire amplifier section consists of individual components that are selected by hand and discretely matched to each other (discrete match-up).
• Balanced amplifier design with only two stages in the signal path
• Low distortion and almost complete lack of a distinct sound signature due to a complementary circuit topology based on the concept of the ideal for the shortest signal path, a truly balanced design in a mirror-balanced layout on a 4-layer PCB.

Volume control

• 32-step volume control with inert gas-filled mini-reed relays and super-short signal paths that are fully balanced. This means that audio plus and audio minus have their own level control, so there are no compromises in the cascade. Furthermore, there are no open contacts to avoid corrosion, dust etc. and only a metal film resistor in the signal path in the best (and direct) position between signal input and signal output.
• Galvanically and optically isolated ADC control via a motor-driven ALPS potentiometer to control the relay itself. The resolution is adjusted for each volume level (higher for lower levels, lower for higher levels).

Properties

• 3x true balanced XLR inputs and 1x MC phono XLR input
• When the balanced input is switched off, the matching ground connection is also in a high resistance (100 Ohm) to reduce the ground loop.
• 2x balanced XLR output
• 2x remote on/off switching via RJ45 for switching amplifiers on and off
• The loop-through mode can be freely configured to ensure either input 1, 2 or 3 for the connection of an external AV processor in a home cinema system.

Phono module

• MC phono input with a unique two-stage concept between the MC module and the line stage itself, for the shortest possible signal path from the pickup to the balanced output for the power amplifier.
• Phono heater for low distortion and perfect temperature of (sound) sensitive components.
• Fully balanced input impedance that can be set from the rotary switch on the rear panel (ELMA precision switch that controls the mini-reed relay directly in the circuit from position 1 to 12: 50, 80, 100, 130, 160, 200, 266, 330, 400, 570, 800, 2000 Ohm).
• High-gain / low-gain selector switch for a level difference of 10 dB (also in the sound).
• Direct solder connection to the motherboard using solid silver conductors with air core
• Voltage amplification: 10 dB (line mode) 20 dB (phono mode)
• Gain bandwidth: 1 Hz to 350 kHz (-3 dB)
• Distortion: < 0.005%
• Noise: 100 dB (0.5 V output voltage)
• Input impedance: 10 kOhm
• Output impedance: < 40 Ohm
• DC-coupled fully balanced MC class A amplifier: voltage gain: 55 dB (at 1 kHz), noise: > 80 dB (0.5 mV input voltage), input impedance: 10 – 1.2 kOhm, output impedance: 150 Ohm.
• Dimensions (width x height x depth): 44 cm x 13 cm x 39 cm
• Weight (without packaging): 14 kg
• Weight (including packaging): 32 kg