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. |