High End 2015 • Hot Product

The U300 integrated amplifier (€24,000) marks the debut of Aavik, sister company of the established Raidho loudspeaker brand. In this case, "U" stands for unity, reflecting both the nature of the product itself, which includes a DAC, phono stage and amplification, as well as the collective nature of the design team behind it. The internal topology is unusual, combining a discrete front-end and high-quality DAC with a 300Wpc ICEpower-derived output stage. Styling is perhaps best described as “early school of Terminator,” the massive central control surrounded by a multifunction, annular display. Given the care and attention that have gone into the highly configurable front-end circuitry and its sophisticated power supply, we suspect that this is designed as a preamp/stepping-stone product, with internal amplification included just to keep you going until you can afford the separate power amp(s) that will doubtless be along shortly.

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