SPL Phonitor Mini Headphone Amplifier

The Model 1320 Phonitor Mini from SPL is a headphone amplifier which utilizes 120 volt technology for headphone monitor listening. This is a scaled-down version of the SPL Phonitor. It's smaller, designed to be easy to use, and features a solid housing, and, of course, is at a lower and more affordable price. This amp can be utilized by home studios, hi-fi enthusiasts and due to its diminished size, mobile recording mixing.

The Phonitor Mini features the Phonitor Matrix, to help recreate speaker-like working conditions through headphones, and has evolved as the second generation SPL 120 volt amplifier technology. As the little brother of the Phonitor 2, its sonic characteristics were translated into a more compact and less-expensive format to help create the Mini.

Home users can now get a headphone amplifier to enjoy sound reproduction with headphones in a different way. Headphones usually provide a 180-degree stereo image (the Super Stereo effect). Generally speaking, music is mixed so that all instruments are reproduced correctly in their position when the loudspeakers form a stereo triangle. Thus, headphone reproduction is different then what was intended during the recording process. The side component becomes too important during playback, and effects like delay and reverb are reproduced in an exaggerated way. The position of instruments and vocals in the stereo image is pushed further apart. All in all, the sound is not as authentic anymore. With the Phonitor Matrix, music playback with headphones is engineered to become more as it is meant to be heard.

Studio engineers will find in the Phonitor mini a useful amplifier. On the one side, there is the traditional, analytical work with headphones as with a magnifying glass, which can be done always bearing in mind the lack of room influence. Working with a magnifying glass has its advantages when it comes to discovering noises, clicks and crackles, assessing edits, or spotting problems of single tracks. So this can work well with quality controlling a project. On the other side, the Phonitor Matrix is designed to make it possible to correctly determine the position of sound sources in the mix closer to the sound that would come from a set of speakers. Spatial information and effects are more easily appraised, since the impression of the stereo width created is not the 180-degree one usually heard with headphones, but rather that like music being played back through monitoring speakers in the control room.

The foundations of this development is SPL's 120 Volt reference technology: developed and manufactured op-amps that run on an operating voltage of 120 volts, which corresponds to approximately twice that of most modern analog audio semiconductor technologies. Due to the approximately double voltage of the 120-volt circuitry and processing, higher dynamic range and headroom are possible, with less noise.

Another feature is that unbalanced connections can be established without adaptors - for example from CD-Players with RCA outputs, or to (HiFi) power amplifiers with RCA inputs. In any case we recommend using readily configured cables from XLR to the respective RCA or TS/TRS connector to dispense with adaptors. Ask your dealer for configured cables. It is important to pay attention to the correct polarity of the three XLR wires. With the XLR pin configuration diagram in our manuals any audio expert can ensure to select or configure appropriate cables.