Swiss & German Engineering. Made in US

Founder, CEO, and Engineer Andreas Koch is not only one of the foremost specialists in Digital but he’s also the developer of the Sonoma DSD recording, editing, and mixing system, an integral part of SACD production. He started his audio career working for Studer ReVox in Switzerland back in 1982. It was his task to build the world’s first fully asynchronous digital audio sample rate converter, patent granted in 1984. Also, in 1984, he designed one of the first filter banks for digital audio. Some of the same ideas were used later in audio compression algorithms such as MP3, AC-3, and others. Next, he went to work with Dolby Labs in San Francisco. In 1986 he built the hardware for the very first incarnation of what is today the widely used AC-3 compression algorithm. In 1987 Studer ReVox in Switzerland required his return to manage the development of a professional DASH digital audio tape recorder.

In 1993 Sony in Florida needed his services and Andreas oversaw product development for professional audio products and launched various mixing consoles. Sony asked Andreas to relocate to San Francisco in 1997 where he started and managed the development of the world’s first 8-channel DSD recording/editing/mixing machine. “Sonoma” is still used today in studios throughout the world and has been used for most SACD releases. Andreas designed all the digital parts of A/D and D/A converters that helped establish DSD as a superior-sounding audio format in SACD and also participated in all standardization committees for SACD in conjunction with Philips.

In 2003 Andreas decided to go into business for himself as an independent contract engineer. For the next four years, he designed all of the digital componentry, algorithms, and architecture for EMM Labs digital audio products, both professional and audiophile. He designed and implemented various revolutionary algorithms for sample rate conversion (SRC) and also developed a discrete D/A converter and unique architecture for clock management from digital audio transmission inputs. In 2008, he formed Playback Designs and launched an integrated SACD/CD player with a variety of digital inputs that incorporates all the experience, knowledge, and algorithms gathered and developed over the last 25 years.

All analog circuitry of the Playback Designs products is developed by Bert Vogt. After his medical studies, which gave him a deep insight into the human anatomy, including the functionality of the ear and its analyzing part that we call the brain, Bert received a diploma in electrical engineering. In 2004, he worked together with Andreas Koch for the first time during his semester as an intern, when he embarked on creating a digital format converter. After finishing his studies in 2005, Bert started building his own products, foremost the analog pre-amplifier Puralio, which he showed at the High-End show in Munich in 2007. As a lucky coincidence, Andreas Koch also visited this show and became enamored with the sound of the Puralio.

Once Andreas decided to start Playback Designs, he brought in Bert to design an analog output stage for what would become the Playback Designs 5 Series. During this process, Bert also re-designed the D/A converter stage. With its discrete filtering and discrete output stage without any chips or OP-amps, Bert’s analog circuitry fits well into the discrete architecture of the 5-series D/A converter.

Since 2005 Bert has been working also as Head of Electronic Development at ILA in Jülich, a company developing solutions for optical volume flow measurement based on Laser Doppler Velocimetry and Particle Image Velocimetry. This specialized equipment requires challenging analog HF designs, digital FPGA systems, and board layout techniques. This unique experience helps Bert in the design of the PCB layouts for the analog and digital circuits for Playback Designs with optimal attention to signal integrity far above the audio range.

Courtesy of Hifi-Advise.com

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