Classé has apparently built upon the original Delta Pre's proven platform, which we lauded as "a technical tour de force, with flawless performance, handling both digital and analogue sources with equal finesse" when we reviewed the Delta PRE Mk II's pre and power forebears.
The headline update sees the Delta PRE MkII able to receive high-resolution digital audio in a wide variety of formats and from multiple different digital sources—both connected and streamed. Classé boasts that "the Delta PRE Mk II is now one of the most versatile and capable digitally enabled preamplifiers in its class."
The brand promises "imperceptible levels of distortion and truly world-class performance". Moreover, owners of the OG Delta PRE units can also benefit from the performance enhancements available in the new PRE Mk II by upgrading their existing PRE to Mk II specification.
The PRE Mk II features HEOS, the multiroom platform used by Massimo stablemates Denon and Marantz. The upshot of this inclusion is that the Delta PRE Mk II can stream music from Amazon Music, TIDAL HiFi Plus, Deezer, Pandora, and much more. Furthermore, DLNA and Roon Ready support blesses the Classé with equal flexibility when streaming from a NAS drive. The Delta PRE Mk II supports all the popular format flavours, including WAV, AIFF, ALAC, FLAC, DSD, and MQA.
As if grabbing your networked music library wasn't enough, you can also add local music sources via the front-panel USB-A and rear-panel USB-B sockets. Rounding things off is AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect compatibility, and the ability to playback 768K hi-res audio/DSD512 over USB-B thanks to the dual 32-bit / 384kHz AKM AK4497EQ DACs running in Differential Mono mode.
The new stereo pre-amp includes processing features such as bass management, a five-band parametric EQ per channel, and a flexible tone/tilt control.
The PRE MkII also offers a comprehensive list of cabled connection capabilities, including two pairs of balanced XLRs, two pairs of RCA, and an MM/MC Phono RCA pair. You also get a trio of SPDIF Coax and Optical inputs, as well as AES/EBU. Outputs include five configurable XLRs (2 pairs + 1 sub) and one pair + 1 sub RCA. There is also the option to add an HDMI module, accommodating up to four HDMI devices.
The Classé Delta PRE Mk II is available today for £11,000/ €12,000, while owners of the original Delta PRE can upgrade their unit for £2,600/ €3,000.
Visit Classé for more information
Posted in: Hi-Fi
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