⌈ Aavik Acoustics is a Danish brand, founded in 2015 by Lars Kristensen and Michael Børresen. Aavik, along with the Ansuz, Børresen and Axxess brands, are part of AUDIO GROUP DENMARK, a company formed in 2020 to coordinate all four brands. We're testing its top-of-the-line integrated amplifier, the I-880 model ⌋

UDIO GROUP DENMARK has until recently been associated with a company offering only expensive, very expensive and ultra-expensive products. However, Audio Group Denmark's product strategy is changing, and not that long ago they added the Axxess brand, whose name indicates its "accessible" nature. Compared to the other brands’ offerings, it's really affordable, as the all-in-one Forte 1 device (audio file transport, DAC, preamplifier and power amplifiers) cost as „little” as PLN 22,900. In addition, a new series of Borresen X loudspeakers has been introduced, with prices now starting at just under PLN 45,000 per pair.

These are still expensive products that we can't call "budget" or even "lower-middle" level ones, but compared to the rest of the offer it's a significant change. But top high-end products still constitute the core of the AGD range, in which costs of materials and technical solutions do not play a role. And yet despite, or, as others might say, precisely because of it, the company has been incredibly successful and appears as one of the most solid and technologically advanced audio companies in the world.

▌ A few words about what was

IT HAS BEEN FOUNDED BY TWO, extremely experienced individuals: Lars Kristensen and Michael Børresen. Lars grew up in a distributor's house - his father had one of the first distribution companies with hi-fi equipment in Denmark. Perhaps that's why he also got involved in audio. In the late 1980s, when he was managing a high-end audio store in Aalborg, he met Michael Børresen, a frequent visitor at the time. As it turned out, he too was interested in audio.

After a while, their paths parted, and Lars took a job at the American company Nordost as a sales manager (worldwide sales manager), where he spent as many as twenty years (1992-2012). The reunion, in 2003, was a result of a complete coincidence and, if company materials don't color the story, it was at a hot dog stand. The conversation must have been lively, as the men had a lot to catch up on. While at it, Michael told a colleague about his idea for an innovative planar tweeter. After building a prototype, he invited Lars to visit him, and the meeting resulted in the formation of RAIDHO, where they developed the concept.

In 2008, at the height of the financial crisis, the men sold the company to their business partner, but stayed on as designers until 2017. In 2011, Michael presented his friend with a cable idea so different and interesting that Lars - who had previously vowed never to deal with cables again after Nordost - was, as we read on the Audio Denmark Group website, "absolutely delighted." Thus the ANSUZ ACOUSTICS brand was born, which deals with cables, anti-vibration components and the reduction of interference and noise in audio signals and the power supply in general..

One of its most important objectives was to minimize inductance, which Michael believes is responsible for signal distortion. One option that can be used is cryogenic treatment of conductors. It is used by many manufacturers, including most Japanese brands, and is based on solid research and measurements. Each company "programs" these operations slightly differently, and they can vary in minimum temperature, cooling time and warming time. At Audio Group Denmark, the process takes 72 hours, reducing inductance by eight to ten percent. By the way, as it turned out, cryogenic processing works great with spirits - the company has a special gin called Cryox2 in its bar, located on the factory premises.

The first amplifier designed by Børresen, the U-300 model, was developed back in 2015, which gave birth to the AAVIK ACOUSTICS brand. By then the business was so big that the gentlemen decided to "follow their own way" and, as we said, left Raidho in 2017. Already a year later, the first speakers were ready, in which they applied everything they had learned while designing earlier speakers, and to which they added new developments related to wiring and vibration reduction. Thus their third brand, BØRRESEN ACOUSTICS, was born .

In 2020, they established a parent company, AUDIO GROUP DENMARK, as an "umbrella" for all three brands. Let's add that the fourth and so far their newest brand is Axxess, established in April 2023 and debuting at the High End 2023 exhibition in Munich (more → HERE).

▌ I-880

AAVIK'S FIRST BRANDED AMPLIFIER was the 2015 U-150 model. The birth of its current lineup, however, has to be linked to the "third Danish tenor", FLEMMING E. RASMUSSEN. In May 2018, Gryphon's founder, designer and good spirit retired. He didn't last long without a job, however, and exactly three years later joined Audio Group Denmark. Thus closed the process that resulted in the I-880 amplifier we tested.

And it is to Flemming that the device owes its design and construction. The manufacturer says that the sonic aspects were most important, but how the amplifier was shaped mechanically by Gryphon's founder is an integral part of the idea for this design. The brilliantly combined here is the glow of the tempered glass front panel, the dark copper inserts visible from the front and top, the gray titanium plates on top, and the slightly shinier aluminum heat sinks.

It is an integrated unbalanced amplifier featuring five RCA inputs operating in Class A. It offers as much as 200 watts per channel, with an 8-ohm load and twice as much with 4 ohms. Measurements quoted by the manufacturer show very low distortion, even though it is formally an unbalanced device. Its designers have an educated opinion on the subject and favor this type of circuit over balanced one - and so do I. The first four inputs offer adjustable gain in the range of 5-15 dB and a maximum input voltage of 4.5 V. The fifth input is for sources with higher signal levels, adjustable up to 6.5 dB, and offers lower gain. The input impedance is not very high, being only 10 kΩ, so one has to ensure that the source's output impedance is correspondingly lower.

The I-880 offers extensive functionality. The very large dot-matrix display, composed of white LEDs, readable even from a distance catches an eye first. It can be dimmed, in several steps, and you can also chose for it to turn off after a while until you perform some action again. Below, there is a touch panel, with which you can turn on the amplifier, select an input, turn on MUTE mode and enter the menu. And there, in addition to changes regarding the display, we'll set the preamplifier's gain, as well as choose which input will have a gain of 1 - this will be the input that integrates the device into the home theater system.

There we can also set up an analog active crossover, part of the idea for 2.1 or bi-amping systems. This crossover is made so that we can change the frequency of the low-pass and high-pass filters, as well as the gain of the former. The low-pass one allows us to use a subwoofer or a second power amplifier. One doesn’t have to use the crossover at all. But the system may be useful for eliminating room acoustical imbalances - such an option also exists, although you then need to use separate cables connecting the crossover to the preamplifier and power amplifier in the integrated.

The device is controlled by a small metal remote control. It's a remote operated with Apple protocol, hence the similar button layout.

˻ TECHNICAL ASPECTS ˼

HOW DID THEY ACHIEVE such high power in Class A, with such low distortion, from a device in such a small enclosure? Well, among other things, a simple solution was used, as a result of which the bias of the output transistors (their resting current) always remains 0.63 V above the current required at any given time. The advantage of such a solution is a much lower power consumption of the amplifier and smaller heat sinks, but thanks to this, the output stage transistors never enter regions of operation where their cutoff may occur - which has always been the main idea behind the use of the "classic" concept of amplifier operation in class 'A'.

The last thing that could be said about the I-880, however, is that it is small. Yes, compared to other super-integrated amplifiers (for example: Soulution 530 review → HERE) seems small, but small it is not, as it measures 580 x 510 x 155 mm and weighs 36 kg. It would weigh twice as much, but its power supply is based on innovative switching power supplies, so large and heavy power transformers have been eliminated. Its mechanical design is outstanding, it cannot be described otherwise, and the appearance is superb. The amplifier is also incredibly pleasant to use.

⸜ ELECTRONICS • Two of Aavik's most important areas of interest are inductance and noise, both electronically and mechanically generated. We have already discussed one way to minimize the former, cryogenic processing. The other is even more unique - this company uses Tesla coils in its devices, and literally hundreds of them. Because Aavik engineers believe they have a cumulative effect, the higher we are in the price list, the more of them are used in a given device. They were developed at sister company Ansuz:

The idea is to use two coils wound in two directions - classically and in reverse. (...) It is a "double inverted coil" - both coils carry voltage - and when the Tesla coil encounters a voltage spike, a counter-spike is activated to eliminate noise. Since the noise spikes are pure voltage and carry virtually no charge, the attenuation is quite good, but not 100%. Adding more P-TC coils in parallel increases the efficiency of such a circuit. This greatly improves the so-called "blackness" in music.

⸜ → AUDIOGROUPDENMARK.com, accessed 25.09.2023

The I-880 features as many as 132 active circular Tesla coils and 311 square coils. Each of them serves to minimize the noise of the circuits they work in. The company uses them not only in electronic circuits, but also for cables and internal connections. To further reduce (mechanical) noise, it also used elongated zirconium elements inside the coils that wrap the cables. In the tested amplifier you will find 20 passive and 4 active versions.

Tesla coils were also used in the analog dithering circuit. This is something one can have differing opinions about, as this circuit generates stochastic noise of low power. When added to the useful signal, it results in improved dynamic range and helps make signals previously masked by background noise audible. This solution is used in long-range radars, where it helps to obtain more accurate results at further distances but also in DACs, where it improves dynamics. Some believe that turntable record noise works on a similar principle.

Noise minimization is also written into the electronic circuitry itself. The inputs are switched not in relays, but in photoresistors (LDR - light dependent resistor). The preamplifier is based on a circuit based on the same components. It resembles a potentiometer more than a resistor ladder, even though it is built with two components - one in series and one in parallel, where the voltage is divided (its level is regulated). This circuit uses one of the four power supplies used in the I-800. And these are switched-mode power supplies.

⸜ POWER SUPPLY • AS WE WERE TOLD AT THE 142nd MEETING of the Krakow Sonic Society by Morten Thyrrestrup, the company's European representative, switching-mode power supplies were chosen deliberately and after analyzing other solutions, including linear power supplies. Morten says, by the way, that this "linearity" of them is questionable, as they have a finite impedance and are slow to respond to fast waveforms, that is, momentary, impulsive spikes in power consumption, which happens all the time in music. Their disadvantage is also, he added, switching noise, resulting from imperfections in rectifier diodes. The company comments that:

The principle of a traditional Class A power supply is to generate switching noise. This happens when large capacitors have to draw current from the transformer. Current can flow to the capacitors only when the voltage outside is lower, so when current is needed, the voltage on the capacitors will be lower than in a 50/60 Hz cycle. Although these are linear power supplies, we have to deal with many transients in them.

⸜ Ibid.

The power supplies in the I-880, as well as in the C-880 preamplifier and the P-880 power amplifier, are therefore of switched-mode type, and it is these that the company refers to as "factor corrected resonant mode power supplies" which translates into far less interference generated by such a power supply. Unlike other designs with fixed switching frequency and 'hard, rectangular' control, this solution allows to reduce the interference generated during operation. In addition, it is such a variation of switching-mode power supplies in which the operating frequency depends on the current consumption - the higher the consumption, the higher the frequency. Aavik writes that this increases the "density" of energy supplied to the device, and thus decreases noise.

The voltage is further stabilized using, it reads, ultra-low-noise voltage stabilizers placed right next to the circuits they power. Four power supplies, each rated at 500 W, are capable of outputting 80 A of current simultaneously. So the same as, say, a small welding machine.

CHASSIS The I-800 amplifier looks great not only because of its proportions, but also because of the choice of materials used for its chassis. Flemming Rasmussen loves copper, so the entire internal chassis was made of this material. It's heavy, so it dampens vibrations well, and above all, it has excellent shielding properties and doesn't affect closely placed electronics the way other metals do. Let me remind you that the Japanese company Kondo shares a similar opinion about copper. Aavik writes:

This further reduces hysteresis, gives lower output impedance, lower inductance, and has a positive effect on damping factor and cooler amplifier operation. All these elements ensure that music is reproduced with more energy and power.

⸜ Ibid.

On the outside, the chassis is reinforced with another, even rarer material - titanium. It is sometimes used in turntables, but only in critical small areas, because it is very expensive and difficult to work with. In the tested amplifier, thick plates were screwed from the top and bottom, and the volume knob, which works beautifully, was also made of it. This material with special mechanical properties is also - I return to the meeting with Morten - "friendly" to humans. It is from it, the Aavik representative argued, that prosthetics are made, such as hips, which the body does not reject.

Titanium and zirconium are the basis of the anti-vibration feet on which the I-880 amplifier stands. This is part of a noise minimization system that, along with the coils, adapted from Ansuz. The feet on this amplifier are the Ansuz Darkz Z2 Signature model. Their body consists of three disks covered with several layers of tungsten, zirconium and aluminum-titanium nitride in which tungsten ball cups (6 pieces) are milled. The feet cost $4,000. Per piece.

Wystarczy?

▌ SOUND

⸜ HOW WE LISTENED • Aavik I-880 amplifier was tested in the HIGH FIDELITY reference system and compared to a two-box system consisting of an Ayon Audio Spheris III tube preamplifier and a Soulution 710 solid-state power amplifier.

The amplifier stood on the top shelf of a Finite Elemente Master Reference Pagode Edition Mk II carbon steel rack. It was connected to the Ayon Audio CD-35 HF SACD player using Siltech Triple Crown RCA interconnects, and to the Harbeth M40.1 speakers by Crystal Cable's Art Series Da Vinci cables. The amplifier was powered by Harmonix X-DC350M2R Improved-Version cable. Let's add that in the circuit there were also SPEC RSP-901EX speaker filters, which the manufacturer calls: Real-Sound Processor (more → HERE).

» RECORDINGS USED FOR THE TEST ⸜ a selection

⸜ FRANK SINATRA, Songs For Swingin' Lovers!, Capitol Records/Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab UDCD 538, Gold CD (1956/1990).
⸜ CHET BAKER, Baker's Holiday, Limelight Records/Verve Records SUHD 00960, Test Pressing SACD/CD (1965/2004).
⸜ PRIYA DARSHINI, Periphery, Chesky Records JD446, Master CD-R (2020).
⸜ DOMINIC MILLER & NEIL STANCEY, New Dawn, Naim naimcd066, CD (2002).
⸜ PATRICIA BARBER, Companion, Premonition Records/Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab UDSACD 2023, SACD/CD (1999/2003).
⸜ RADIOHEAD, OK Computer (Collectors Edition), Capitol Records, Advance 2-CD, 2 x CD (1997/2008).
⸜ MARVIN GAYE, Let's Get It On, Tamla B0000935-36/Universal Music, Test Press SACD (1973/2003).

»«

WHEN I TELL my acquaintances, whether from the Krakow Sonic Society or otherwise associated with audio, that I'm testing some very expensive product, the first question usually is not "how does it sound," but whether it's better than my reference equipment. To tell the truth, since I've had the system in its current form only a few times in my life - three, maybe four - have I answered "yes" to this question. The I-880 is a device that partially belongs to this group.

Although I had heard it earlier, at a KTS meeting, repeated listening in my own, all-too-familiar system, not so much confirmed my observations at the time, but hammered them home for me. For this is a device whose class is clear from the first minutes of listening. Not because it's flashy, not because it does anything exceptionally well, that's not the case. I would even say that to those just beginning their life adventure with audio, or even to those who think they are already experienced audiophiles, the Danish amplifier may seem bland.

And that's because it doesn't color anything. Or at least I can't point to any coloration. You see, I believe that audio, even ultra-high-end audio, is subject to two basic principles: compromise and artistry. Since we can't make a device that is absolutely "transparent" to the signal, and this can never be achieved, in pursuit of this one must at some point accept that what matters more is the taste, taste and skill of the artist who is responsible for the product.

And so it is in this case. Listening to FRANK SINATRA's mono CD Songs For Swingin' Lovers!, released in 1990 on a gold disc by Mobile Fidelity, I found myself nodding appreciatively at how remarkably, incredibly fast the amplifier conveyed the sound. So fast, in fact, that I didn't pay attention to its attack, didn't think about sustaining it, much less bothering with its decay. That would have been out of place in this case, as the sound arrives whole, shaped and finished in its uniqueness.

I have never heard such a fast device before. My system gently rounds out the attack - but at a high-end level - so that sounds are shaped into distinct masses, slightly "pulled" forward. The I-880 shows a fantastically deep soundstage, without emphasizing the foreground. The entire bandwidth is very, very even, as the album sounded explosive and powerful on the one hand - ultimately it is a swing of the highest order - and coherent, and focused on the other.

All of this happens as if out of the blue. That's why you need to have experience, not to impugn anyone, these are simply the facts, to understand what happens when you listen to this amplifier. This "unwillingness" means that the Aavik has enough power that it doesn't matter what current is required at any given time, because it will deliver it. And this gives, the mentioned "freedom". And it is absolute freedom, leaving us alone with the music.

This would be pointless if it were not for the way the tested device shapes the timbre. This one seems "transparent," in the sense that we don't pay attention to it - another point for experienced audiophiles. Sinatra's voice sounded against the background, set further away, of a large ensemble and was incredibly clear and, I must say, pleasant. The amplifier does not need to emphasize the attack of the sound, thus not emphasizing the upper midrange. The latter is even creamy smooth, as are is the treble.

Anyway, this was also demonstrated by both the test pressing of CHET BAKER's Baker's Holiday SACD, and PRIY DARSHINI’s master CD-R entitled Periphery, burned for me by album engineer Nicholas Prout, a Chesky Records sound engineer. In both cases, the voice was different, these were different performers after all, and completely different recording techniques. But they also shared common traits, such as density and their freedom from something that usually "glues" voices to what's behind them.

The bodies were not as three-dimensional as with my reference system, or - for example - from the Kondo OnGaku amplifier. However, the difference was not huge. When, in the middle of the third minute of Easy Living, Baker begins to play the trumpet (and mostly sings), its entering is remarkably dense and powerful. In contrast, when he plays with a muffler in the introduction to That Ole Devil Called Love, a well-known standard by Allan Roberts and Doris Fisher, its sound is sensuously soft, so much so that one feels like touching that sound to feel that softness.

Already with Sinatra I heard something that repeated itself with Baker, and that particularly struck me with DOMINIC MILLER and NEIL STANCEY's album entitled New Dawn: fullness. The reference system has a lower center of gravity, it was clear to me. Usually, when I think that, it means that the device gently but still emphasizes the midrange. I said - "usually", but it is almost always the case. The I-880 is completely different. It has an unbelievably low bass, but fast and punchy. Filling in the guitars, and before that the "p" in Baker's voice, and later the double bass on PATRICIA BARBER's Companion, each time I felt fullness, completeness, nothing was missing in this presentation.

This fullness is focused in spots rather than tangible, which is why the amplifier seems so fast. The Kondo OnGaku, by comparison, plays with less selective bass, less energetic, and it only takes models like the GakuOn or Kagura to even that out, while the Gryphon or Accuphase amps are not as free-flowing, though they go just as low.

I don't know if you have already noticed this: the I-880 combines the features of many different top devices. It assembles them into a beautifully working whole, polished, transparent, fast, coherent. It seemingly plays like a solid-state device, but you won't experience the roughness or harshness usually caused by an overly "square" attack. But also, if it weren't for its speed and bass handling, I wouldn't have any doubt that this is a tube amplifier. Some will accuse me of heresy but I will say it anyway - it sounds like a 300B amplifier, a single-ended one.

The latter are prized, and rightly so, for the kind of sound delivery in which one does not have the impression of listening to music reproduced from a medium, but rather thinks that the sound is created "out of nothing"; creatio ex nihil, if I may say so. With devices in which electrons move in a gas or in a vacuum, the Danish amplifier also shares something that comes out during longer listening sessions, namely the ability to focus listener’s attention freeing us from fatigue. This is how devices with really low distortion and above-average low noise work. That's why the products of the Polish company Thunder Melody make my system move in this direction every time.

So I listened carefully to the Exit Music (For A Film) track from the OK Computer (Collectors Edition) album by RADIOHEAD. I usually go for the version pressed in Japan on the Ultimate HQCD, but every now and then I prefer a different version, the so-called "advance" version, that is, pressed right after the test press, intended for radio stations and reviewers. Few people know it, but the metal dies used to press CDs also wear out, and each successive copy gently deforms the shape of the pits and lands. And this always affects how the signal is read by the player's mechanics.

The track is built around Thom Yorke's forward-pushing, big voice, which is successively joined by more layers, created mainly on synthesizers. The I-880 showcased this wonderfully, perfectly positioning everything on stage and allowing an almost intimate relationship to be built between me and the vocalist. All sounds were intelligible, yet somehow intangible and silky. The voice was not as tangible and three-dimensional as with my reference system, but the other instruments were a bit clearer.

▌ Summary

TIME SPENT WITH THE I-880 was a beautiful time. It is an outstanding work of art, re-creating the "presented world" of the recording, to use a category used in literary studies, in a believable yet natural way. Its sound is fantastically clear, carrying and fast. And at the same time silky soft and smooth. I didn't experience any exaggeration with it on any disc. It brings out the background sounds masked by almost all other amplifiers, but not to emphasize them, but to enrich the presentation.

This amplifier has an exceptionally well-balanced frequency response, placing it somewhere between the warmth of the Kondo and the energetic explicitness of the Gryphon. Bass is very low and perfectly controlled. However, don't expect a strong emphasis on this part of the band, nor a strong isolation of 3D bodies. The Danish device does this better than 99% of other devices I've heard, but there are some that do it better. On the other hand, the tested amplifier is not flashy, so it won't get boring after a day, a week or even a few years.

And don't forget about the fantastic mechanical design, as this is part of the high-end "package" - don't let yourself be told otherwise. So, along with great sound, we get a device that will drive any speakers in a wonderful way, bringing out the best from them. Despite its high selectivity, it does not emphasize details, but rather describes them better. Which leads us to realistic, immersive at every level sound of the highest order. That's why the ˻ GOLD FINGERPRINT ˺ distinction from us is a must. ●

▌ Technical data (according to the manufacturer)

» PREAMPLIFIER.
Gain of inputs 1-4: 5-15 dB; max input voltage 4.5 V RMS
Input gain 5: 1-11 dB; max input voltage 6.5 V RMS
Input impedance: 10 kΩ
Output: 1 x RCA
Maximum output voltage: 7.5 V RMS
Distortion, linear stage: <0.005% (THD at 1 kHz, 1 V input)
Output impedance: 50 Ω
Volume control: 76 dB - steps in 1 dB increments
Maximum output power: 2 x 200 W/8 Ω ⸜ 2 x 400 W/4 Ω
Distortion (THD): <0.007% (10 W, 1 kHz, 8 ohm)

» NOISE REDUCTION.
Active Tesla coils: 132
Active square Tesla coils: 311
Dithering arrangements: 18
Tesla active zirconium anti-resonance coils: 20
Active zirconium cable against air resonance, Tesla coils: 4

» POWER CONSUMPTION.
Standby mode: <1 W
No input signal: <150 W

» DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT.
580 x 510 x 155 mm (W x D x H).
Weight: 36 kg

THIS TEST HAS BEEN DESIGNED ACCORDING TO THE GUIDELINES adopted by the Association of International Audiophile Publications, an international audio press association concerned with ethical and professional standards in our industry, of which HIGH FIDELITY is a founding member. More about the association and its constituent titles → HERE.

→ www.AIAP-online.org