Pre/Power Amplifiers

Co-founder (with Andrea Nardini) of Audia Flight back in 1996, Massimiliano Marzi explains that the pair of them had spent a couple of years researching signal purity, concluding that traditional voltage feedback circuit design introduced inaccuracies. So they built their circuits around current feedback, discovering that 'our new approach would allow for both higher speed responses [risetime and bandwidth]and better load control, and thus produce a more accurate signal'.

The company is based in the port of Civitavecchia, some 70km northwest of Rome, so we were bound to ask how the 'Flight' in its name was inspired. Marzi explains that, 'The original name was Audia, but we wanted to add a second word – a friend of ours suggested "Flight" simply because the company, just born, needed to fly!' At first the company targeted the Asian market, before moving into Europe and America.

Manzi says that, yes, while the amplifiers are very heavy, not least due to all those big transformers, they also contain a 'secret'. 'In the power amp we have an exclusive system to reduce any vibrations caused by the transformers – they're on an independent chassis that's decoupled from the audio circuit PCB, and thus any physical noise has a separate route to ground.'

So what's next for Audia Flight? 'Currently we're working on sources, including SACD/CD playback. After that we'll be looking at streaming, but as a separate unit ready to accept optional cards.'