Aavik's I-880 measures 155 x 580 x 510mm HxWxD and weighs 36kg so is quite massive and not easy to move by one adult. Its power rating is no pushover either. This transistorized deck does 200/400wpc into 8/4Ω and you'd think that to be class AB. Not. Today's Aavik biases its output devices in full class A. More about that anon. Further specs list THD below 0.007% (10W, 1kHz, 8Ω), 10kΩ/50Ω i/o impedance, 76 x 1dB volume steps, pre-out THD below 0.005% (1kHz, 1V) and less than 1W/150W of draw in standby and idle. 8Ω loads see a damping factor of several hundreds. I encourage you to watch this video wherein Michael and Flemming explain their involvement in the I-880 project. Their talk is clearly between an engineer and an artist who pushed and inspired each other. Those familiar with previous Gryphon designs may agree that Flemming's contribution to Aavik's new visual identity is painfully obvious. Looks are subjective but that doesn't stop me from calling out the I-880 as being very stylish, luxurious and perfectly put together. Then again, €67'000 with four top-level Darkz and analog crossover really ought to look and feel the part.
From the promo materials we learn that aluminium was forbidden, titanium, zirconium and copper cherished for their mechanical and shielding properties. The I-880 reflects that. Its rectangular steel front with two handles is busy mainly with that large tempered glass display. A massive volume knob on the far right with knurled titanium texturing feels nice to the touch and is a pleasure to use. It rotates without stops, feels weighty and has minimal resistance while the vertical copper insert just behind it tastefully breaks up the glassy surroundings. The large gloss-white dot matrix display shows perfectly legible from afar. Capacitive touch buttons just below control power on/off, input cycling, menu access, mute and remote pairing. This interface was responsive and free of hiccups. Still, I avoided it to leave no fingerprints on its reflective surface. The included remote does all of it already. The menu has 0-15dB preamp gain adjustments and channel balance, pre-out off, display brightness (10/20/40/70 and 100%) including the large logo and full black-out. One can check temperature (usually around 45-47°C even under stress), enable home-theatre bypass and its level, set the crossover's lo/hi-pass filter frequency and low-pass level (0.25dB within ±6dB), check software status and bypass the preamplifier stage to run the I-880 as pure power amp. The menu options are quite generous and I only missed naming individual inputs. Perhaps that utility will eventually add by firmware update?
The I-880's semi-open ends show off copper festooned with squared-off black fins whose partial curvy cover undermines usual angularity. Normally such sides would cut a chubby profile but the I-880's frame is too wide for that. The bonnet built of two plates separated by a narrow front-to-back channel of slightly concave and shallow fins adds visual continuity with the sides. That channel's far end piece with Michael's and Flemming's signatures is a nice touch but the mirrored tops of titanium atop thick wood laminate are the key attractor. These plates are in fact anti-resonant inserts meant to stabilize and damp the entire structure while a matching bottom double-teams on the same job. All Aavik products past the 3xx range are to be as mechanically stable and quiet as possible. The I-880 chassis is Michael's best effort on said score while Flemming did a brilliant job styling it.
A word on high-density fibreboard. In contrast to MDF or medium-density board, HDF packs harder wood particles soaked in resin. I was told that the enormous difference between the fibre quality and cured resin itself majorly impacts the damping properties of the finished product. Here the rule is simple. If you want heavy, dense and effective, pay a lot. The I-880's hood and underbelly are based on the highest-grade laminate currently available while the latter packs between titanium and copper layers. The amp inside is in fact entirely copper-sleeved to shield the electronics from the outside world. It sits on four massive hollow footers ready to accommodate Ansuz Darkz decouplers such that these costly accessories remain almost entirely hidden whilst maintaining contact with our shelf.
