Z-Systems (Gainesville, Fla.) announced its new z-Qualizer, a high-end, 6-band, stereo digital parametric EQ. The half-rackspace unit boasts an exceptionally wide dynamic range and an MSRP of $1,200.
“Our z-Q2 and z-Q6 digital equalizers are cherished by many top mastering engineers and have found their way onto scores of Grammy Award-winning recordings,” said Z-Systems president Glenn Zelniker. “Yet, Z-Systems’ EQs have remained an elusive dream for many engineers due to price points that put them out of reach. The z-Qualizer, however, changes that by offering the exact same world-class EQ algorithms at a price everyone can afford.”
Like its siblings, the z-Qualizer has a 40-bit floating-point DSP chip running the company’s proprietary digital-filtering algorithms. Capable of handling up to 24 bits at sample rates of up to 192 kHz, the unit can output 24, 20 or 16 bits, and features both TPDF and POW-r wordlength reduction. Dynamic range is greater than 135 dB; THD+N is better than -130 dB.
The new digital EQ supports both M/S encoding and decoding in addition to stereo-linked and dual-mono operation modes, allowing the unit to handle separate processing on the mid and side components.
Users can save and recall presets from a computerrunning any MIDI sequencing program. Center frequency, gain and bandwidth all feature wide variability, while filter bands are fully overlappable. Rear-panel connections are AES/EBU I/O and MIDI in and thru.
Find out more at www.z-sys.com.
