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Sound: Beyond design purity, would it be soda or water? Pure aqua. The core feature of the SPL is neutrality. I have heard many preamps with great resolution and a profusion of detail. The Volume2 adds a further degree of tonal veracity. In one sense, it seems very close to the mythic straight wire with variable gain. Unlike most tube preamps, the SPL doesn't enrich harmonics or create euphonic colorations to increase sustain and decay. Unlike a large number of solid-state preamps, the Volume2 does not sound clinical with unnaturally fast transients and limited decays. The SPL is distinctly anti excess. It delivers an uncut rendering of your records, be those good or bad. Hence it’s no joy rider which mocks up a convincing live sound with specific colorations. Certainly with the Volume2 a studio recording won’t sound live. If you are after this incomparable sensation of presence and warmth in your listening room, forget the SPL. The very best tube preamps offer better flesh on sustain and decay.


The SPL is amazingly quiet and transparent and its dynamics are fully commendable. It is able to reproduce with great accuracy low-level microdynamic shifts; to distinguish subtle tonal nuances; and to deliver fast attacks. It is not a demonstrative or impressive device but in the longer run, the SPL makes the difference when you gain greater insights into how each recording is unique. The Volume2 won't cast the giant three-dimensional soundstages of the best valve preamplifiers but nonetheless delivers good breadth and depth.

The overall equilibrium, good dynamical reflexes and stunning transparency make the SPL particularly enjoyable with live recordings. Quite often you have the choice between a very dynamic but aggressive sound with poor tone or good timbres with a big loss in dynamics and soundstaging. With the SPL, everything seems in the right place wisely calibrated. By comparison, my Wyred4Sound STP-SE has far more density, a bit more harmonic richness, a wider soundstage and less neutrality. The Wyred4Sound is a very transparent device that delivers a fine balance between quality timbres and dynamics. Still, the Californian imposes its own vision between active and passive modes and tube and transistor traits.

The German device does not impose any specific style. Every time I turned back to the SPL, I would immediately forgot its presence or action on the overall sound. The Wyred has a somewhat seductive personality, a kind of prism which magnifies reality. The SPL called up the sensation of being directly connected to the recording as though being present during the session itself. 


The SPL has the more neutral and natural feel and its timing seems close to perfection. The Wyred4Sound creates the sensation of constant tension or urgency, a far from unpleasant feature. With the SPL, this urgency disappears but I’d not call it lean. Rather, I think of its rhythmic and tonal neutrality as honest, transparent and as such, ‘forgettable’. When I spun particularly resolved recordings, my preference for the SPL became more obvious.

Listening to such albums like La Segunda by Buenos Aires formation Sera Una Noche, a 176.4kHz M.A. Recording, the subtleties of the Monasterio Granada church venue captured with just two omnidirectional microphones were easily perceptible while the overall musical climate remained unaltered. The great variety of timbres here are a highly discriminatory criteria for all preamplifiers and the SPL walked off with the lion’s share of the exercise.


On Charles Lloyd’s The Water is Wide [ECM-2000], the tone of the tenor saxophone and Brad Mehldau's piano felt extremely realistic. Larry Grenadier’s upright had the right density and tension. Everything was clean and completely in line with ECM’s recording spirit. With this type of recording, it’s hard to hit upon the right balance between tone and dynamics. With the SPL, you definitely have realistic tone and tempo. With some good tubes preamps, you have the sensation of being inside the jazz club and it would be a complete illusion for this ECM production. With the Musical First TVC silver, you always have the unwanted flavor of silver in the piano's tone whilst the Wyred definitely adds a touch of vanilla fudge. The reverberations of the recording venue were more audible with the German than American and British units.

Focusing upon La Traviata [Previtali version, Living Stereo/RCA], the voices of Violetta and Alfredo were flawless. As far as I am concerned, Italian operas are helpful to assess the level of transparency and distortion of audio gear. First, I lived in Italy for 5 years and have good comprehension of the language. When the lyrics are intelligible, that's generally meaningful. But Verdi's opera is of great help also because of the role the orchestra plays in the thundering tutti. These passages give good insight into overall distortion levels. In either case, the SPL proved to be a five stars performer.


Going more electrified, the live tribute to Miles Davis Dreyfus Night in Paris also revealed the Volume 2's stunning dynamic tracking. On "Tutu" everything was close to the perfection. Neither Marcus Miller's slap bass nor Lenny White's game lacked explosive power. Michel Petrucciani’s piano seemed completely realistic as was Kenny Garret’s tenor sax. At the close of 12 minutes, the entire band really leans in and everything remained in place amidst this loudness free from compression or distortion, really quite unbelievable. I am a Davis fan and even though I didn't attend this specific recording, I had participated in almost seven or eight live gigs during Miles’ final period (Tutu and Amand'la to be precise). The SPL succeeded in delivering the core impressions I still retain inscribed on my mind of these late 1980s' stage performances. That’s quite rare.


Conclusion: The Spartan Volume2 misses very little – perhaps some of the magic of the best valve preamps, an RCA input or output… that’s all. I prefer to avoid the remote issue as it would have a noticeable impact on the retail price to defeat the entire project brief. This machine belongs after all to the professional segment and does not specifically cater to audiophiles. After the good times I spent with this box, I’ll undoubtedly look differently upon most high-end preamps in the future. As our editor felt about the Dayens Ampino and original MiniWatt integrateds, every reviewer should own a Volume2 to know what is achievable for less than €300. It’s very enlightening!
Quality of packing: Good.
Reusability of packing: A few times.
Ease of unpacking/repacking: Effective.
Condition of component received: Flawless.
Human interactions: Like the main market segment, very professional.
Pricing: Out of sight – as in dirt cheap.
Final comments & suggestions: For European consumers, some authorized Internet dealers such as Thomann.de give a 30-day money-back guarantee to make this a worthy and easy try.