AAVIK THE BEST KEPT Sereat IN DIGITAL

@tomcy6 The S-280 does have a built-in DAC which is actually quite good. I will put it up against any DAC in the ~$2-3K range. However, the DAC in the U-280 is substantially better. I preferred it, by a substantial margin, over Denafrips Terminator II and T+A 200. The DAC in U-280 easily competes with anything up to $5-7K based on my experience. Besides the U-280 (which is what I have), they also have an I-280 which is basically the same as the U-280 sans the DAC.

I have owned Luxman 590AXII, Naim Supernait 3, Audio Research GSi75, VAC 160i, VTL I-85, and few more integrated amps. I recently took my Aavik to a friend’s house who has a Pass Labs INT-250. We compared the Aavik and Pass in his system. He was quite shocked to hear how much the SQ resembled -- same level of heft, warmth, imaging, etc. The Pass had a little more bloom (for SS standards) and the Aavik had more transparency and much lower noise floor. Of course, the Aavik is much much lighter in weight and doesn’t put out as much heat.

I know it is class D and does not have the same brand name recognition in these forums, but at least for me, it is one of the best integrated amps I have owned.

Thanks @arafiq  for the very helpful information.  That's not always easy to get.

How would you rate the Aavik D-280? Does it pull it’s weight at $10k?

@phastm3 IMO, it's better than the Denafrips Terminator Plus (which I had briefly and traded in) and the Terminator 2 (which I had for a long time). Similar sound signature but you get a lot more of everything -- bigger, wider, deeper soundstage, more air around instruments, and just a bigger, more impact presentation. I briefly auditioned (less than 10 days) the T+A DAC 200 and preferred the Aavik DAC but only by a very slight margin.

IMO, it is a solid dac but only if you get a 20% (or more) discount off of retail. However, the real improvement comes when used with other Aavik equipment. This is where it makes a huge impact. The noise reduction technology that Aavik has been employing in their new line of amps, dacs, and streamers is really something. 

phastm the d280 pulls its weight agaist  anything at our near its price point

smooth musical a great dac low noise tight bass a huge soundstage and a great  feature set

Dave and Troy

audio intellect nj

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