Destiny 2 Integrated Amplifier

The Destiny 2 integrated amplifier is Creek’s high-end model and represents a significant improvement over the original, highly respected, Destiny model. It uses all the sound optimisation techniques and components collected by Mike Creek and his team of analogue electronics engineers during their many years in the Hi-Fi industry.

This stylish amplifier is housed in an extruded aluminium case with fine brushed finish. It is available with either silver or black front panel and polished aluminium buttons, control knob and feet. It is designed to match the Destiny 2 CD player and FM/AM tuner.

For the technically minded, here is an explanation of what makes the new Destiny 2 integrated amplifier so good:

Importantly, the Destiny 2 uses an evolution of the unique MOS-FET power output circuit, originally invented by Alex Nikitin when he worked for Creek Audio, which has now been in continuous use in many of Creek’s high-end amplifiers since 1993. Further developed recently to take advantage of newly available power transistors, linearity and noise performance has been improved. In addition, its efficiency has been improved in a cunning way to boost its power output by 20% without increasing the size of the power supply. This clever circuit continues to outperform alternatives as it has a very flat distortion characteristic and produces very tube-like sound. Loudspeaker connection is controlled locally and by remote control by 2 x 8 Amp gold contact relays.

The Destiny 2 power supply continues to use a magnetically shielded 300VA toroidal transformer with separate windings for high and low current analogue circuit requirements. 2 separate low-loss Schottky diode bridge rectifiers are used to separate the main left and right channel power supplies. In a technique used to reduce the inductance and resistance of high value capacitors, Creek use a total of 10, relatively small, low impedance high temperature 2200uF capacitors paralleled together, in each channel, to provide a total reservoir of 44,000uF to achieve maximum channel isolation and excellent dynamics. A separate power supply feeds all low voltage circuits on the power amp and pre-amp. A 50VA auxiliary toroidal mains transformer powers the microcontroller management circuitry when in standby and all the digital circuitry, including relays, when fully powered which completely isolates the digital and analogue circuitry for best sonic performance. Using this technique, standby power consumption is also less than 1W to conform to European regulations.

The Destiny 2 has 4 unbalanced pre-amp inputs – Aux/Phono, CD, Tuner, Aux 2, plus a tape loop and AV Direct – to the power amp, selectable from the front panel by solid metal push buttons or from the remote handset. The amp also has a Pre-amp output and Tape output. Connection is via gold plated high-quality RCA connectors, selected by gold contact relays and indicated by blue LEDs on the front panel. The AV Direct input separates the pre-amp and power amplifier and passes the signal directly to the power amp, without the volume control in circuit. This is especially useful if the amp is used in both a combined 5.1 front channel and hi-fi system with one pair of speakers. The front panel also offers selectable active or passive pre-amp options with 3 gain settings in active mode, adjustable with a 3-way slider switch, located on the bottom of the case.

To maintain its purist principles the Destiny 2‘s volume level is adjusted locally and by remote control by a 20k Ohm motorized ALPS Blue Velvet potentiometer. Therefore, the audio signal travels directly to the power amp from the input socket and selector relay via the volume control and nothing else gets in the way to degrade the distortion or noise. This is the essence of a passive pre-amp. To maintain the pre-amp’s isolation from outside influences, the tape circuitry is fully buffered. If pre-amp gain is required, the Destiny is able to introduce three levels of pre-amplification, by selecting the active option from the front panel or remote control.

The Destiny 2 amp can be fitted with the new Sequel Phono plug-in board. This plugs into the pre-amp circuit board and is available in 2 settings – low and high MM. To maintain low noise performance for MC applications Creek recommends either the standalone OBH-15mk2 or Wyndsor Phono pre-amplifier.

Most types of dynamic headphones can be connected to the standard size 1/4″ jack socket on the front panel for high performance reproduction. Loudspeaker connections are available for 2 pairs of speakers. 8 extremely strong, touch-proof binding posts are bolted to the rear panel and are selected either from the front panel buttons or remote control.

The Destiny 2 uses precision protection circuitry that monitors current, temperature and DC offset. If any condition is exceeded a fault signal is sent to the microcontroller which will immediately disconnect the output or mute the input signal until the error has been removed. Blue LEDs on the front panel indicate the error condition. If the level is too high, it will automatically reduce the volume setting before reconnecting the input signal.