T+A MP 2000 R MKII

Multi-source
player
MP2000R MK II
T+A was one of the first High-End manufacturers
to expand its CD players to
include additional digital sources. This was
an unusual idea, but has proved to be a
consistent and logical approach. We refer
to this category of machine as multi-source
players, and have introduced them into all
our equipment ranges.
The sound quality of a digital music source
is largely determined by the quality of the
digital–analogue converter employed.
Since T+A disc players have always had
very good converters, it made obvious
sense to equip them with additional internal
digital sources–such as a network
streaming client, a tuner and various inputs
for external digital sources–instead of
building a separate case for each individual
source. This makes economic as well as
technical sense, since it saves the expense
of additional cases, converters, mains power
supplies and cable connections.
The MP2000R features a high-quality
CD mechanism boasting very fast access
times, and its error correction is outstandingly
good. Although the CD has been very
largely superseded by streamed content,
it is very clear that our customers still
harbour the wish to be able to play CDs. We
have developed a sealed disc mechanism
featuring refined mechanical design. The
mechanism itself is carried in a floating
suspension, and is powered by heavy-duty
motors. The mechanism housing consists
of resonance-damped multiple laminations
in order to prevent any form of interaction
between the moving parts of the mechanism
and the remainder of the player. The
CD drawer runs on two accurately machined
stainless steel pushrods, while the
disc rests in a high-quality cradle made of
aluminium and ABS.
The machine’s second digital source is
the streaming client (SCL), which takes
the form of a network-enabled processor
board designed with audiophile sound
performance in mind. It features USB
Master mode ports (one on the back panel,
a second on the front panel) as well as
WLAN and LAN ports. The board creates a
high-quality connection to networks and
the Internet, and is capable of streaming
audio data using UPnP at up to HD quality
(192/24). We deliberately eschewed a standard
computer solution, as its high-frequency
interference signals would have
had an adverse effect on sound quality. The
SCL is a T+A development and supports
high-resolution formats, music services
and media servers, and includes the convenient
airable Internet radio service at no
charge.
The digital tuner is the third of the
MP2000R’s digital sources. Fully digital
intermediate frequency (IF), demodulation
and stereo decoder stages ensure that the
tuner provides outstanding sound quality.
It has excellent sensitivity, high crosstalk
attenuation and overload margins, and
sounds excellent when using cable and
aerial systems. The tuner delivers FM,
FM-HD and DAB+ radio services, and offers
Radiotext, presets and various supplementary
functions depending on the service
selected.
A high-quality Bluetooth receiver module
forms the fourth digital source. Its purpose
is to transfer music files from mobile
devices at very high quality using aptX®
technology. This process makes it possible
to transfer data–such as uncompressed
FLAC files–even using the limited bandwidth
available with a Bluetooth radio link.
The fifth digital source is the digital connecting
board featuring five digital inputs.
This is used to connect any external sources–such
as set-top boxes, drives, digital
recorders and players–at HD quality. The
computer PC USB input offers particularly
high quality, and processes high-resolution
PCM data at up to 384 kSps, as well as
DSD data streams at up to DSD 512. The
following inputs are available: four SP/DIF
(two high-quality RCA co-ax, two optical
TOS-Link) and USB Class 2 Mode up to max.
384 kSps / 32-bit and DSD 512, including
support for asynchronous data transfer, for
High-End PC connections.
Within the MP2000R the data from the
five digital sources pass through the same
digital signal processing route, which offers
all the usual ground-breaking T+A features:
T+A DSP oversampling with optimised
algorithms, and clock generation with jitter
elimination and re-synchronisation. Jitter
is one of the most severe problems, and is
generated in the source device–especially
in computers–and at the data transfer
point between source and converter. For
high-quality reproduction all traces of jitter
must be removed from the data before the
information is converted into analogue
signals by the DAC. That is why we have
developed a unique two-stage process for
clock generation (jitter elimination): in the
first stage the received data are processed
and decoded. In this stage a basic clock is
extracted from the received data stream,
which undergoes an initial cleaning process
in a PLL circuit aimed at removing coarse
jitter generated by the source device and
the transfer. This clock is now analysed
extremely intensively by the micro-processor.
If it fulfils certain minimum criteria in
respect of frequency and stability, the D/A
converters are switched to an internally
generated, extremely precise Master Clock
with extremely low phase noise. This clock
is completely isolated from the source
device, and therefore carries no trace of
the jitter interference from the source and
the transfer link. The local Master Clock is
generated by two separate quartz oscillators
which are adjusted to extremely
precise tolerances: one for the clock family
44.1/88.2/176.4/352.8kHz, and one for
48/96/192/384 kHz. This extreme sophistication
ensures that the clock is absolutely
precise for all frequencies from 44.1kHz
upwards.
If the received signal cannot be switched
to the local clock oscillators, a second PLL
stage (2nd jitterbug) is employed instead of
the crystal oscillators. This second process
puts the final polish on the first jitterbug
stage, reducing the residual jitter after
the first stage by a factor of four. Once the
clock has been generated, the PCM data
are converted by the quadruple converter,
which itself has undergone further
improvement. The converter is based on a
high-performance 56-bit signal processor,
and offers four switchable oversampling
algorithms. Each channel is assigned four
of the latest 32-bit converter chips in a
quadruple, double symmetrical circuit,
which compensates very accurately for any
lack of linearity, and reduces the residual
noise–which is actually absolutely minimal
with the 32-bit converters employed–by
about a further 6 dB. The result is a level of
dynamism, linearity and freedom from distortion
which is virtually matchless–even
in critical music passages, and with the
most minute of musical details.
To cater for DSD data which arrive via the
PC USB input we have fitted the MP2000R
with the unique T+A True 1-bit DSD converter
– a genuine analogue single-bit converter.
Other manufacturers use the DSD
mode of a PCM converter, but we eschew
that route to ensure that DSD data are
processed in a genuine one-bit stream absolutely
without coloration and the harmful
effects of additional conversion. Like our
converters, the analogue output stage also
takes the form of separate channels (double-mono),
and is galvanically isolated from
the digital section by means of jitter-free
transformers. This arrangement ensures
that external source devices cannot
possibly deliver interference, and even the
hideous computer interference is rendered
innocuous. The output stage offers
an extremely wide bandwidth of 100kHz.
Clearly this design is extremely sophisticated,
but the results are worth the effort:
totally natural, uncoloured sound, free of
all the limitations usually associated with
digital sources. The MP2000R constitutes
a universal and genuinely audiophile device
for digital music sources.