It does this by using a proprietary high speed, Class-A all discrete transistor, low noise audio circuitry using topologies  gathered from the R&D gathered from our past DAP (Discrete Analog Processing)  program and the TITAN Pro II phono stage.

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Brief History

Our background in the recording industry both in the recording and product design arenas has shown us that although the 16 bit and 24 bit processing format used in ALL CD players and many streamers are decent, their driver and output stages completely fail them. Most mid-band/high-end CD players and streamers use very good quality IC chip designs for their driver and output stages and even if they use a complete discrete transistor type output stage ALL OF THESE designs fail to look at the actual requirements of driving the following preamp/amplifier input stage. On ‘paper’ the output stages look absolutely required to pass the signal from these sources to the following amplifier.   We at whest audio set about trying to resolve more information from these formats for a completely different project we were working on for a worldwide known UK based   musician. In that project the musician wanted far better audio from his already high-end pro-spec digital audio interface and taped based back catalog.

Forward thinking

Because of our very close links with the music recording industry we were able to measure several pro-grade ADC audio interfaces, high-end domestic audio ADCs and CD   players. All exhibited the same thing - their outputs were all being driven incorrectly in that the signal amplifier stages did not take into account what the post DAC signal   needs to get to the following amplifier. A good quality 16 bit processed signal can in reality sound very good but only if the DAC output drivers can do their job properly....and we mean properly!

With the results and the research acquired from the DAP program we then went   about designing a phase corrected, ultra wide band, high-current, all discrete Class-A final output model for our test CD player. The bandwidth of the prototype extended to 245khz and had a phase deviation of just 2degs broadband which was also channel matched.

The complete lack of amplifier switching due to the Class-A topology, near zero phase   deviation, high current drive and an extended HF response enabled us to hear further into the soundstage while extracting SO MUCH MORE information. Even our test subject    £400 CD player running through the prototype Mastering Final Output Stage sounded like a high-resolution monster. Most of the listeners in the studio thought they were   listening to a 24/192 file, while other thought it was a DSD file or better !!!

For the final production version we decided to extend the frequency response, lower the phase deviation, increase the operating voltage while keeping the noise levels   vanishingly low. The version you will be listening to is far far better than our prototype.

Technical

The internal design of the Mastering Buffer BII is all discrete and designed using high   speed transistor Class-A technology. All of the components are hand and channel matched with further trimming at the setting stage of the production. This is the only   way we can achieve such a tight channel matched phase response and channel tracking response.

Apart from the 2 bespoke high current low noise power transformers - one for each channel, the Mastering Buffer BII incorporates a new power supply configuration which enables the circuitry to occupy the same case as the transformer without the need of a separate box. This means the high speed critical electronics can now utilize the ultra stable, low noise and high speed power source in an instant – no delay lines - just ultra low noise/ high current on tap! This translates into the type of noise floor that is required for extracting large amounts of micro detail, far better image stability and soundstaging which allows you to get closer to the recorded performance.
 

The Mastering Buffer Series does not represent any significant loading characteristics on   the CD/ Streamer output stage or interconnect so this last stage in the source device can work ‘uninhibited’. With this in mind the Mastering Buffer BII can then do all of the   work adding current drive, allowing high levels of dynamic contrast to feed through and resolve the smaller details to be heard properly during louder musical passages.

ALL this while resolving more in the soundstage.