Description
Technologies and Components
The Aavik U-series offers a sophisticated solution for audiophiles who value space efficiency without sacrificing high-end audio quality. This series combines an integrated amplifier and DAC into a single module, meeting the demands of enthusiasts who seek a compact yet powerful system.
Scandinavian Design with an International Twist
Aavik’s design philosophy embodies Scandinavian simplicity and minimalism, featuring only a few buttons for intuitive operation. The multifunctional main knob allows users to navigate and control various functions, while the prominent red display ensures that operational settings are clearly visible.
Innovative Cabinet for Superior Sound
Aavik’s cabinet design is a hallmark of their brand. Recognizing that traditional aluminum cabinets often introduce mechanical resonance, Aavik innovated by using a natural-based composite material. This minimizes the sonic distortions associated with aluminum, resulting in a purer, more natural sound.
Shaping – Built like an Instrument
Inspired by the design and construction of musical instruments, Aavik has carefully shaped the U-series enclosure using natural-based composite materials. The contours and size ratios are meticulously engineered to influence and define the tone. This balance prevents over-damping, which can stifle dynamics, while avoiding the bright, peaky sound caused by metallic resonances. The result is a sound that is warm, harmonious, and powerful, yet crisp and refined, highlighting every musical detail.
Aavik UMAC™ Amplifier – Unmatched Audio Control
Aavik’s UMAC™ amplifier technology is a patented innovation designed to overcome the limitations of traditional switching amplifiers. This advanced technology addresses two key areas in modulated amplifier design to ensure superior audio control.
Firstly, the UMAC™ technology uses sine wave modulation for Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) generation, as opposed to the more common triangle modulation. The advantage of sine waves lies in their ability to produce significantly less high-frequency noise, thanks to their smooth waveform without sharp corners. This results in a reduced need for inductive filtering at the output, leading to a lower inductance and, consequently, a much better damping factor. The improved damping factor translates to enhanced speaker control, delivering a more precise and controlled sound.
Secondly, UMAC™ technology incorporates an advanced dual mixed-mode feedback system. This feedback design allows the amplifier to achieve damping factors that are typically only found in the highest-quality linear amplifiers. The combination of these innovations ensures that Aavik’s UMAC™ amplifiers provide unmatched audio control, offering a clean, powerful, and highly refined listening experience.
The DAC Section – Securing Signal Integrity and Tonal Balance
The Aavik DAC section is meticulously designed to deliver exceptional audio performance through its five digital inputs. These inputs are engineered to maintain the highest standards of sound quality, ensuring that music playback remains natural and authentic, free from any digital signature that might alter the original sound.
Key to this performance is the DAC’s advanced circuitry, which boasts exceptional high-frequency capabilities. Aavik has paid great attention to the layout of the Printed Circuit Board (PCB), utilizing time-aligned, ultra-short, four-layer PCB traces. This design approach is crucial in preserving the pristine sound quality of a wide range of signals, maintaining their natural tone and complexity.
To further enhance sound accuracy, the DAC circuits are equipped with ultra-low jitter onboard clocks. These clocks work to minimize timing errors during the digital-to-analog conversion process. To ensure that each stage of signal processing operates without interference, Aavik isolates the DAC circuits with 13 separate, low-noise voltage regulators that have a high Power Supply Rejection Ratio (high-PSSR). Each regulator is dedicated to a specific stage of signal handling, ensuring optimal performance.
The USB input is galvanically isolated, a crucial feature that prevents noise pollution from the host device. All digital inputs are processed through an Asynchronous Sample Rate Converter (ASRC), which re-samples and re-clocks the signals to 200 kHz/24 bit PCM. This process feeds into current-output DAC chips, which are then converted from current to voltage using a differential floating topology with virtual ground (GND). This design isolates the signal path from potential ground noise and prevents signal-induced ground modulation, further securing the integrity and balance of the audio signal.
The result is a DAC section that not only preserves the authenticity of the music but also enhances it with a clarity and precision that captures the full depth and detail of every note.
Common DAC and Amp Mainboard
Aavik’s innovative mainboard design integrates the DAC and amplifier into a single unit, reducing signal path length and enhancing timing control, which significantly improves sound quality.
Volume Control – Affects the Sonic Experience
Aavik’s line stage features an innovative inverted, virtual ground (GND) amplifier topology, designed to deliver exceptional stability in audio performance. This advanced design allows for powerful feedback, which can damp the signal to a gain lower than 1, preserving the full integrity of the audio signal while maintaining the lowest possible Signal-to-Noise Ratio (S/N Ratio).
This precise control ensures that regardless of whether the volume is turned up or down, your loudspeakers receive a clear and uninterrupted flow of information. As a result, even the most subtle details of timbre and texture are rendered with remarkable clarity, providing an incredibly quiet and detailed sound stage that brings out the finest nuances in your music.
Resonant Mode Power Supply – Quiet While Extremely Powerful
Aavik’s resonant mode power supply design operates with sine waves, increasing power density when required by the music. This results in massive power reserves with ultra-low noise, essential for maintaining the purity of the audio signal.
Individual Audio Settings – For Your Personal Preferences
To best accommodate individual listening preferences, and fit hand in glove into your existing audio system, Aavik has designed 4 individual settings. Since the selected signal source connected to the input can tinge the actual sound performance, up-sampling can be switched on and off. There is also a choice between a slow (soft high-frequency roll-off) and a fast (steep high-frequency roll-off) filter.
The Tesla Coil Principle
Aavik employs the Tesla coil principle to enhance audio purity by reducing noise. The principle involves using two coils wound in opposite directions—a coil and a counter coil. When a voltage spike occurs, the counter coil activates a counter spike, effectively canceling out the noise. While this cancellation is highly effective, adding more parallel Tesla coils further improves performance. The result is a significant improvement in the perceived blackness in the music, enhancing the overall listening experience.
Ansuz Tesla coils are available in various types as they complement each other in terms of strengths /weaknesses.
Active Tesla coil – Effective Noise Killer
Aavik’s active Tesla coils are power-supplied, resulting in remarkably lower impedance and significantly improved noise elimination capabilities. These active coils are three to four times more efficient than passive Tesla coils, providing a substantial reduction in noise for a cleaner audio signal.
Active Square Tesla Coils – Impressive Noise Reduction
Embedded directly into the circuitry boards, Aavik’s active square Tesla coils feature a coil on the top and a counter coil on the rear side. This configuration enhances noise elimination, making it even more effective than the standard active Tesla coil.
Analog Dither Technology – Extended Musicality
Originally developed for radar systems, Aavik’s analog dither technology enhances musicality by reducing noise. Active Tesla coils send pulsated signals at well-defined frequencies in counter phase, effectively lowering the noise floor and amplifying the music signal for a richer listening experience.
Anti Aerial Resonance Coil Technology – Prevents Airborne Noise
All cables and cable screens can act as antennas for airborne RF noise, which can interfere with the audio signal. Aavik’s anti-aerial resonance coil technology involves winding a passive Tesla coil around the external part of the cable. This coil absorbs the RF noise, and when combined with a counter coil wound in the opposite direction, effectively cancels the noise, ensuring a clean and undisturbed audio signal.
Personalized Audio Settings
The U-series offers customizable settings, allowing users to adjust up-sampling and high-frequency filters to suit their individual listening preferences and existing audio system configuration.
By integrating these advanced technologies and design principles, the Aavik U-series sets a new standard in high-end audio, delivering an unparalleled listening experience that meets the highest expectations of audiophiles.
