The Aavik Acoustics I-280 Integrated Amplifier is from the same middle tier (180, 280 & 580) of components that include the Network Music Player, the DAC and the Phono. All 280 level components, including the I-280, are €10,000 each. Audiophilia has now reviewed all the 280 components.

The components are designed and built in Aalborg, Denmark by Aavik’s parent company, Audio Group Denmark (AGD). We’d like to thank AGD for shipping the I-280 to the island for review.

All the Aavik components, no matter the tier, look identical. Only the innards differ. More on that later. Note: the brand-new, and just now shipping I-880 is much larger, heavier and very expensive; a completely different integrated. As far as the I-280 is concerned, the one visual difference from the other 280 components is a large, very shiny control knob on the front—used primarily for volume but also to change features of the unit when in “menu” mode. All the Aavik components use the same striking, large, red dot matrix text on their screens.

If you’ve read any previous Aavik or Ansuz reviews at Audiophilia, you’ll already know the magic coils and other “advanced technologies”, as designer Michael Børresen call’s them, that make up the bulk of inner alchemy that shape the Aavik components’ primary sound direction.

You can look at the I-280 during our unboxing video here.

My Use

The I-280 in for review would be taking the place of my reference and much loved MBL N51 Integrated Amplifier. At USD $17,600, it is considerably more expensive than the Aavik, larger, much heavier, and more powerful (400W/per channel into 8Ω compared to the I-280’s 300W/per channel into 8Ω) and also like the I-280, designed by a genius, Jürgen Reis. The Aavik’s 300W is said to have distortion of less than 0.006%.

I used three of the 280’s five line inputs—streaming, CDs (sourced from my MBL CD/DAC) and vinyl (sourced from my Phasemation EA-350 Phono Amplifier). The speaker terminals are very high quality.

I asked the Aavik Facebook users group (fun, kind and very knowledgeable people) how long it was typical for break-in. 500 hours was one of the answers! For a busy reviewer, impossible. So, I gave it a solid 200-hour break-in and went from there. I usually have time for 50 to 100 hours, but here, I kind of split the difference. Only the Aavik R-280 Phono (reviewed today) seemed to take some time to get all the nuances. Maybe the same here? Interestingly, the D-280 DAC and S-280 Streamer sounded very impressive right out of the box and only improved somewhat over the next 100 hours. Bench burn-in, possibly?

Initially, the I-280 was shy, harsh and a little anemic. After an hour’s warmup, a little better, but 24 hours of solid CD playback at a good volume level improved things greatly. Now a very fine, high-end sounding machine. Shyness and most major imperfections were gone. Gradually, with the next 75 hours, things improved even more, treble smoother, mids clearer and the 280’s whopping bass even more impactful and controlled. The break-in is imperative on most gear, very much so on the I-280.

During the review period, the unit behaved perfectly, silent, quick to react and cool to the touch even after a hard drive.

Features and Specifications

Like all fully functional integrateds, the 280 has a pre-out so you can bypass the preamp section and use the 280 as an amplifier.

The line inputs (no phono input on the 280) are RCAs; much like the other Aavik components, designer Børresen eschews XLRs. I’m hearing through the grapevine that Børresen feels RCAs are sonically superior. From talk at shows, especially behind closed doors, he’s not the only major designer swimming against the mainstream tide. For instance, ask these serious digital guys about the inferiority and inherent weakness of the SACD drive compared to Red Book.

A recent post on the Facebook group by Børresen answers some questions:

I respect balanced (differential) cabling has an advantage as noise is a common mode and thus cancelling. But there are also some drawbacks mainly on the electronics design side that tilts the performance in favour of a single-ended connection, mainly the fact that it’s harder to match two opposed signals, especially through volume controls. Also, a balanced circuit has by topology 6 dB worse noise performance, so most electronics manufacturers opt to make the balanced inputs and outputs through conversion and then retain the single-ended topology through switching and volume controls. So when you add it all up the favour is truly on the single-ended side. Another thing is the balanced cables may have good noise rejection in the low-frequency area (audio band) but fare much worse in terms of picking up RF noise. And as far as I’m concerned high-frequency noise is a far worse enemy of audio quality in HiFi systems. Where balanced cables are better is on-stage use with long parallel cable runs, here not for audio quality but simply to avoid the signals from the kick drum bleeding into the signals from the guitar. With bundles of signals in long runs there no way around balanced, but for simple purist HiFi setups my firm believes is the single-ended comes out on top.

Is there anything better than a big shiny volume knob?

As for the sexy volume control, I knew nothing about how they can degrade sound before chapter and verse from the Allnic Audio gang educated me. All their preamps and integrateds include their “61-step Silver Contact Constant Impedance Attenuator”. Chief Allnic designer Kang Su Park Park deems this advanced design essential for the best sound. It feels and sounds like Aavik has spent time getting theirs right. Unlike the Allnic, the I-280’s large volume control knob does not move when using the Apple Remote. However, manually turning the knob clockwise and back for volume and in menu mode is an effortless affair.

The left side of the front fascia has three control buttons, in case you lose the remote. The bottom button with a short press changes inputs and a longer press will reveal the main menu. Here, one may adjust preamp gain and channel balance, disable or enable pre-out, set display brightness or dim its delay among other functions.

The bottom red light indicates standby mode. A quick press of the top button turns the unit on and you are ready for action almost immediately. Full on/off is a rear panel rocker switch. I was on standby or fully on for the entire review period.

Ah, the ubiquitous Aavik/Apple remote control symbiosis! Long-time readers will know my views about including a well-made, boutique, solid metal remote. But actually, the streamer, Phono and DAC have one set-and-forget setting—simply set it once and leave the specifically-paired Apple remote in the box. The Integrated has two important functions after setup (volume and input choice). Happily, using the Apple remote a lot more for the I-280 worked well.

The I-280 in its long break in position until graduation to the rack for serious auditioning.

AGD encourages you to listen to their components with their resonance and noise control accessories in place. If you’ve heard their demos at shows or their dealers, you’ll know why. Here, no Ansuz Darkz resonance control pucks or SORTZ were used in the review. A plain vanilla I-280.

All cabling was from sister company, Ansuz Acoustics, either C2 or D2 level (review forthcoming). Very high-quality ancillaries.

The alchemy mentioned previously is the noise reduction “advanced technologies” that appear in all Aavik components and many Ansuz accessories. I know of no other high-end company employing this marvellous, effective tech. And after several reviews and many hours of experience using AGD products, I can attest to their superior functionality. Børresen’s implementation works. Not simple, but incredibly effective in bringing the noise floor way down and cleaning up any heard or unheard noise within your system. The standard Aavik composite case helps in reducing invasive vibrations. As mentioned, silent operation.

The 180, 280 and 580 function price-wise and perform in good, best, and better categories. The higher up you go, the more advanced tech is included. Please refer to the image below for the details on what gets what, the I-280 specifically.

Inside includes 72 Active Tesla Coils, also included are Active Square Tesla Coils in addition to AGD’s dither technology. The I-280 also has Anti aerial resonance coil technology which prevents airborne noise. So, much like the other family members, there is a house sound. Super clean, rich, defined and detailed with almost unlimited dynamics. Sophisticated sound personified.

Please refer to the Aavik-specific site page for a deep dive into how this tech works.

In addition to those technologies, an integrated amplifier requires additional tech to create a superior product. Aavik uses a modified Pascal UMAC™ Class-D amplifier module. Aavik goes on to say :

At Aavik we utilize the patented UMAC™ amplifier technology. This technology was developed to avoid the design flaws of traditional switching amplifiers. UMAC technology primarily targets two areas of modulated amplifier design. Firstly, the Pulse-Width Modulation generation is produced with sine wave modulation rather than the more common triangle modulation. The benefit is that sine waves create far less high-frequency noise than triangles, have no sharp corners, and thus require far less inductive filtering at the output. The lower inductance in the output gives the amplifiers a much better damping factor and thus a distinctly better speaker control. Secondly, the advanced dual mixed-mode feedback allows damping factors that are characteristic of only the very best linear amplifiers.

Along with the Pascal technology and the well-designed volume control, the I-280 is silent, benefitting from a resonant mode power supply. It’s designed to give huge power resources with ultra-low noise.

A resonant mode design is driven by sine waves. “When more power is needed, the operating frequency increases, which, in turn, has the advantage that the power density also increases, thus allowing higher peak power when required by the music. The noise floor in the raw power supply is extremely low but could be even further lowered by the ultra-low noise regulators supplying the different parts of the circuit. The noise of these regulators is measured in a few microvolts respectively nanovolts, which is significantly lower than the noise level of conventional regulators.”

The dimensions of the unit are L x W x H: 400 x 384 x 102 mm and it weighs in at a back-friendly 9 kg.

Sound

The I-280 was a perfect and harmonious match with my BØRRESEN Acoustics 01 Silver Supreme Edition Loudspeakers. With a sensitivity of 86 dB and an impedance of 6 ohms, my speakers are not particularly difficult to drive, but the I-280 has enough guts and power to kneecap almost any loudspeaker. You won’t be asking for that last ounce of energy from stadium rock albums. The volume can increase significantly with no soundstage implosion or distortion, at least on my speakers.

Because of the typical Aavik/Ansuz bottomless pit noise floor, with zero hash, soundstages ring true and imaging is pinpoint. For those who make these two important audiophile attributes top of their checklist, you won’t find many better or any at €10,000.

Where you will have to spend more money is on timbral qualities. The 280’s representation of instruments and the human voice is superb. For those with €10,000 in your budget, you can purchase freely and happily. The component you are buying will give you Donald Fagan’s whine and Janis Ian’s honesty in all their glory. And you’ll hear the differences between the greatest string soloists, even pianists. But what the extra $6000 gets you on my MBL N51, for example, is a refinement in the transients, fore and aft, where the delicacy and gorgeous timbres represented by the MBL are exquisite. So, on the very best recordings, each note is an almost tactile experience. Unfortunately, as there is always “better'“ in high-end audio, my MBL’s spatial cues can be improved upon by adding my stunning tube reference preamp with the MBL in bypass mode, the Allnic Audio L-8500 OTL/OCL Preamplifier ($13,500) to the MBL’s power section. There’s always something! So set your budget and component, stick to it and enjoy. As such, the Aavik I-280 will scratch just about every audiophile's itch.

The 280 captured all the energy and drive from Philly’s Dover Quartet on its final Beethoven cycle installment, the sweep and the passion.

As far as any Class D negatives, they’re mostly a thing of the past these days with advancements in design. I knew things had changed when Jeff Rowland began using Class D some time ago and his amplifiers sounded spectacular—a universe from some of the cheap and nasty amplifiers I heard at shows. (I purchased a Jeff Rowland Continuum S2 Integrated Amplifier and had many enjoyable years with it). And my MBL N51 is also Class D based, like Aavik’s. Seems like many of the best are using (highly modified) Class D topologies in their amps these days.

For the punchiest rock like Led Zeppelin 1 through 4 (all Japanese vinyl pressings), the differences between the Aavik and MBL were negligible. In fact, on “Immigrant Song” from Led Zeppelin III, I preferred the I-280. The Aavik captured Robert Plant’s muscular vocals brilliantly and the band’s drive and energy came through loud and clear. And refined.

Summary

As usual, manufacturers are pretty well spot on (for the most part!) with costing out high-end audiophile components. €10,000 will get you a cracker of an integrated. I have not heard the 280’s lower and upper siblings, and I can only imagine what a €10,000 premium over the I-280 gets you with the I-580. I will be able to tell you what an extra €50,000 buys you with the new I-880, which is a completely different animal to the 180, 280, 580. Shipping to the island soon. In the here and now, and if you can stretch to the I-280’s price, your pre/power needs will be set for a long time no matter your speaker choice. Highly recommended.