Aavik U-150, U-180 or U-280

U-280 is the most advanced and newest of the bunch.

It should sound quite nice paired with the Sabrina!

@mwlf -- I have owned the Aavik U-280 for almost a year now and absolutely love it. While I never had the chance to listen to U-150, I did audition I-180 and I-280 with the D-180 DAC. For me, U-280 was the winner over all the other combinations. It just sounds more musical and organic than the 180. 

Prior to this, I was a tube amplification fanboy and never found an SS amp that I preferred over tubes. Aavik U-280 is the only one that has surpassed tubes in my system. The built-in DAC of U-280 can easily compete with DACs up to $8000. I did a direct comparison with Denafrips Terminator 2 (Aavik was substantially better) and T+A DAC200 (T+A had a slight edge but not night and day). I was so impressed by Aavik that I also bought the S-280 streamer and Ansuz power switch. They make some killer stuff for sure!

If you can afford it, I would say go with U-280. I don't think it will have any problem driving your speakers. Good luck!

Note: I realized that I have not updated my virtual system in a while. Need to do it this weekend.

@arafiq What did you think of the Aavik when paired with your Harbeths? Did you like the performance at low volumes? I don't want to derail this thread, but any thoughts/observations you'd care to share would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

@oceanandmountains I mostly pair the Aavik with my Joseph Audio Perspective2 speakers and it drives them quite well. I also have Harbeth SHL5+ in the second system but to be honest I only tried them with the Aavik once and that too for a few hours only.

Overall, it provided more control - better bass, extended treble, and finesse. The only downside I noticed was that the Harbeths sounded a touch on the drier side compared to the Joseph Audios. Apart from that one minor quibble, I think the Aavik compliments the power hungry Harbeths very nicely. It really grabs the woofers by the balls and makes them do what it wants.