I-580

Why it is renowned

The British magazine hi-fi+ reviewed the I-580 in September 2022 as the heart of Aavik's 580 line, then the top of the range above the I-180 and I-280.¹ Its count of noise-suppression parts set it apart: 348 active Tesla coils against 132 in the I-180, eleven dither modules and four anti-resonance coils.¹ The German magazine Fidelity later named it, with the I-180, I-280 and the flagship I-880, among the models that took Aavik into the ranks of the trade's leading names within a few years.²

The story

The I-580 uses UMAC Class D amplifier modules from the Danish firm Pascal, which work against a sine wave rather than a square wave and so need less filtering at the output.¹ It gives 300 watts a channel into 8 ohms and 600 watts into 4 ohms.¹³ The line stage has an inverted, virtual-ground topology meant to stay quiet at any volume.¹

Aavik built the case from a natural-based composite of its own to keep aluminium to the minimum needed for cooling, and fitted an inner chassis of solid copper and titanium resonance-control plates that the cheaper models lack.³¹ The front carries few buttons, one multifunction knob and a large red display.³ The I-588 replaced it in a revised I-x88 series.²