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manual abstract
Borrowing heavily from the design of N.40 Media Console and N.32 Reference Preamplifier, the N.390S incorporates our latest advances in DAC design, output buffer and volume control technologies, all implemented on a four-layer Arlon® circuit board. Fully Balanced Design The N.390S is fully balanced in both the analog and digital domains. Information from the disc and single-ended digital inputs are immediately converted to balanced signals and routed to balanced DACs by a Low Voltage Differential Signal receiving circuit. This design technique, borrowed from Mark Levinson digital processors, incorporates our Closed Loop Jitter Reduction™ technology to preserve the precise timing of the digital audio signal. A four-layer Arlon® printed circuit board provides the foundation for the critical analog audio circuit. First used in the N.32 Reference Preamplifier, this material offers superb dielectric properties and helps the N.390S achieve remarkable performance with complex, low-level audio signals. Design of the fully balanced DAC/analog output module follows the Mark Levinson tradition of rigorous component selection. An unusual hybrid design approach incorporating both advanced surface-mount and “through-hole” technologies, allows us to utilize the optimum part at each loca tion in the circuit, without the constraints on parts selection normally associated with traditional PCB assembly practices. Every active device has been painstakingly selected for top technical performance, with final device selections determined by numerous, controlled sonic evaluations. Advanced Digital Filter Techniques Just as with Mark Levinson Digital Audio Processors, the N.390S incorporates advanced digital filter techniques carefully chosen to optimize the sonic performance of its on-board digital processor. Whether playing a CD, or decoding a digital signal received through an auxiliary input, sample depth is increased to 24 bits and sample rate increased to 352.8kHz or 384kHz (input rate dependent) before conversion to an analog signal. This sophisticated processing of the digital signal before conversion (often referred to as “upconversion,” “upsampling,” or “oversampling”) is a fundamental contributor to the excellent sound achieved by all Mark Levinson digital processors. The N.390S confirms its internal conversion rate on its front panel display each time a disc is loaded, or an auxiliary input is chosen and locked. The N.390S also incorporates High Definition Compatible Digital® (HDCD) decoding to take full advantage of the resolution available from HDCD- encoded 16-bit CDs. By encoding information more efficiently within the 16-bit space available on the disc, the HDCD format retains more of the resolution inherent in modern high-resolution recordings. Digital-to-Analog Conversion Digital-to-analog conversion within the N.390S features a Mark Levinson-developed, balanced implementation of a high-performance DAC. This multi-bit Sigma/Delta DAC device delivers superb technical performance. In addition to its unusual multi-bit architecture and unlike typical Sigma/ Delta devices, this DAC has a differential current output stage, which allows us to optimize the crit ical current-to-voltage conversion stage with dedicated operational amplifiers possessing superlative rise time and bandwidth characteristics. Following this, an active analog filter circuit, implemented in a differential amplifier, sums both halves of the balanced signal and provides superb common mode noise rejection in addition to outstanding filtering. This approach to the DAC circuit block yields extraordinarily low distortion and noise levels and contributes greatly to the natural sound of the N.390S. Balanced Analog Volume Control Rather than use the digital attenuator on board the DAC, the N.390S incorporates a fully balanced analog volume control similar to that found in Mark Levinson preamplifiers. When activated, the output of the N.390S can be attenuated in precise 0.1dB steps through most of the range. Significantly, the N.390S maintains the full performance of its remarkable DACs at all volume levels — something impossible with digital volume controls, regardless of what techniques may be employed to mask the sonic consequences of that design approach. State-of-the-Art Output Buffer The balanced discrete output buffer circuitry used in the N.390S employs the same topology used in the remarkable Mark Levinson N.32 Reference Preamplifier. A hallmark of Mark Levinson preamplifier and digital processor design, this circuit has proven to be both sonically transparent and exceptionally immune to adverse interactions with interconnecting cables and unusual input impedance characteristics of power amplifiers or preamplifiers. The N.390S features an ultra- compact implementation of the Mark Levinson output buffer circuit, pushing noise coupling and parasitic effects to vanishingly small levels. This exceptionally robust output stage allows the N.390S to make ...