Krell Industries have announced the Phantom III, the first Krell preamplifier to include either an optional digital input module or a headphone output. The digital module features AES/EBU, coaxial, and optical digital inputs for use with streaming devices or other digital sources.

The Phantom preamplifier is a dual monaural design with the left and right channels given their own power supply regulation and individual circuit boards. All signal gain is executed with surface mount technology using proprietary multiple-output current mirrors. Featuring 700 kHz bandwidth in a zero feedback, balanced, Krell Current Mode design, the Phantom III shares the same design philosophy as the Phantom preamplifier. Negative feedback is not used anywhere in the preamp. The volume control is a balanced resistor ladder and the headphone circuitry is identical to the main circuitry, “offering private listening with the same performance as speaker playback”.

The digital module supports up to 24 bit/192kHz LPCM. All digital signals are fed to an ESS Sabre DAC and then sent to Krell’s Current Mode, discrete, balanced analogue circuitry. Being a modular design, the optional digital converter module can be added in the future.

The Phantom III preamplifier is available in silver or black finish.