Copland CSA100 Hybrid Integrated Amplifier

CSA100 Integrated Amplifier

The CSA100 integrated amplifier is a part of the latest work by Copland, aiming to combine the advantages of tubes and transistor amplification using the synectic design concept that previously has made Copland hybrid amplifiers widely acclaimed.

The CSA150 provides four digital inputs, five analogue inputs and a 100 Watt per channel power amplifier.

One tube is responsible for the CSA100 line amplification and the efficiency of this single tube layout is astonishing. The double triode tube runs at high voltage in a setup for maximum linearity, taking care of the voltage amplification only.

A MOS-FET circuitry delivers the brute force driving the line stage output and feedback circuitry, thus securing a firm handshake between the world of electronic tubes governed by voltage and the current controlled transistor technology.

If you prefer the warm and nice coloured charm of some older tube designs look elsewhere, the CSA100 tube line stage is made for monitoring. In this application the tube provides life, headroom and dynamics hard to find in amplifiers relying on solid stage technology only.

A single chassis made of aluminium alloy to avoid magnetic interference. For the vinyl enthusiast the CSA100 has RIAA input for moving magnet or high output moving coil cartridges.

The amplifier also employs an excellent D/A converter with multiple S/PDIF inputs, PCM, and DSD capabilities using the ES9018 Reference 32-bit DAC in quad-mono configuration, 8 mono to 2 stereo configuration.

The CSA100 USB input implementation is featuring USB 2.0 PCM 24/32 bit data transfer to 384 kHz, including native DSD64 and high resolution DSD128.

The asynchronous USB-B port connects to your computer’s USB-A port. Once connected, the computer recognizes the CSA100 and routes the digital audio data to it, bypassing the source device’s internal audio circuitry.