Radial Nuance Select Studio Monitor Controller with Dual Headphone Amps

Radial Nuance Select: Hear the True Mix, Not the Box

The Radial Nuance Select is a reference-grade studio monitor controller that manages two sets of powered speakers, a subwoofer, two stereo sources, and two independent headphone mixes from a single desktop unit. What sets it apart is its transparency: built around the Clarity Circuit, it introduces a total harmonic distortion figure of just 0.00001%, so low that most audio analyzers cannot measure it. The result is a controller that disappears from your signal path, letting you make mix decisions based on what your speakers actually produce rather than what a box adds or subtracts. For engineers who have chased that last layer of detail, it is the moment the veil finally lifts.

What the Clarity Circuit Actually Does

Most monitor controllers color the signal in small but audible ways, usually through the capacitors and op-amps in the audio path. The Nuance Select removes those variables. It runs 100% Class-A circuitry, including its headphone amplifiers, to eliminate the zero-crossing distortion inherent to Class-A/B designs, and it places zero capacitors in the signal path, using DC servos instead so there are no coupling caps acting as unintended high-pass filters. An ultra-low-noise internal power supply feeds the entire circuit. Together these choices push total harmonic distortion down to -140 dB and deliver a frequency response of 2 Hz to 200 kHz within a quarter of a decibel, far beyond the range of the music itself.

A True Stepped Attenuator for Perfect Balance

Volume tracking is where ordinary potentiometers fail, drifting left from right as you turn them down and skewing the stereo image at low levels. The Nuance Select instead uses a true stepped attenuator: a 21-position gold-contact switch paired with a string of hand-selected precision resistors. Every click sets an exact, repeatable level with the left and right channels matched to a tolerance a carbon pot cannot approach. That means the center image stays locked and your mix balance stays honest whether you are monitoring loud or at a whisper late at night.

Flexible Speaker and Source Switching

On the monitoring side, the Nuance Select feeds two pairs of powered speakers over balanced TRS outputs and adds a dedicated full-range subwoofer output that you can engage with either pair or solo on its own as a mono reference. Two stereo input sources let you A/B between your interface and a second device, such as a reference playback source, a phone, or a second workstation, without repatching. A rear-panel Aux output, assignable to either source, can drive an additional headphone amplifier so a live room full of players stays fed while you work.

Two Independent Headphone Amplifiers

Built into the front panel are two reference-grade Class-A headphone amplifiers, each with its own assignable source selection. That independence is the point: you can monitor the main mix on one output while sending a completely separate cue mix to an artist tracking in the control room. With 100 mW per channel into 68 ohms and a 2.5-ohm output impedance, the amps drive demanding studio headphones cleanly, holding the same vanishingly low distortion as the speaker path so headphone decisions translate to the monitors.

Who the Nuance Select Is For

The Nuance Select belongs in the mastering suite, the mix room, and the project studio where monitoring accuracy is non-negotiable. Mixing and mastering engineers rely on its transparency to trust what they hear; tracking engineers use its dual headphone paths and Aux out to run cue mixes for performers; and producers value the fast source and speaker switching for referencing across systems. Housed in a milled aluminum and steel chassis with oversized chrome level knobs, it looks the part on any desk and, more importantly, gets out of the way of the music. Its included internal power supply means it is ready to integrate the moment it lands on your desk.