Integrated Amplifiers

Compact it may be, but the Platina Integrated packs a real punch – rated at 200W/8ohm and 300W/4ohm, it delivers 2x222W and 2x340W, respectively, with enough in the tank to support 288W and 540W into 8/4ohm under dynamic conditions. There's some tailoring into tougher 2 and 1ohm loads where dynamic power nudges up to 661W but then falls back to 405W, respectively, as the Platina's 20A current limit is reached [Graph 1]. That said, it's beefy enough to handle all likely partnering speakers. Distortion, too, is very low at 0.0002-0.001% (re. 10W, 20Hz-20kHz) and steady with level at 0.0003-0.0006% from 1W-150W (all re. 1kHz/8ohm). The response is very flat at –0.1dB/20kHz and –1dB/100kHz, with some treble roll-off into low loads (–0.35dB/20kHz into 2ohm). Gain is a low +24dB, but sensible with today's 2V+ line sources, and the A-wtd S/N ratio is a very generous 93dB.

The ES9038PRO-based DAC board offers a maximum 3.92V via the balanced XLR outputs from a moderate 54ohm source impedance. Digital jitter is a low ~11psec (all sample rates), increasing to 140psec with the 'Wide' PLL, and the A-wtd S/N ratio is a very wide 114dB. Distortion is very low at 0.00001-0.0001% over the top 10dB of its dynamic range [see Graph 2] and linearity is good to ±0.2dB over a full 110dB [red trace]. As ever, response and stopband rejection are determined by which of the five digital filters are selected. The linear and min. phase 'fast' filters reach out to –0.0dB/20kHz, –0.25dB/45kHz and –1.1dB/90kHz with 48kHz, 96kHz and 192kHz files, respectively, while the minimum phase 'slow' derivative rolls off to –5.0dB/20kHz, –7.2dB/45kHz and –7.5dB/192kHz. PM