British audio stalwart Roksan, who back in the mid-80s brought out the now-classic Xerxes turntable among many other highly acclaimed components, returns to Australia after a market absence with the flagship ‘blak’ and entry K3 product line-ups.
Roksan has always designed components which displayed a flair for styling and were far from the cookie-cutter norm. In fact, many of Roksan’s early products are highly sought after by collectors not only for their beautiful aesthetic design but also for their solid engineering and acclaimed performance. Roksan is now part of the Monitor Audio group of companies and, via distributor Interdyn, it sees a return to Australian shores with the new K3 and flagship blak series.
The K3 line-up features the K3 Integrated Amplifier and K3 CD player. The Integrated Amplifier has an on-board streamer capable of playback from Bluetooth-enabled devices via the high quality aptX wireless streaming technology. Further, the K3 also caters for analogue devices via five RCA inputs and a built-in Moving Magnet (MM) phono stage. Output power is rated at 140 watts into 8 ohms.
The K3 CD Player is well featured too with a quality PCM1798 DAC chip making it a 24-bit/192 kHz-capable player. Roksan has implemented a custom high precision Master Clock Crystal and has catered for a digital input as well as analogue and digital outputs.
In Australia, the top-shelf blak series also offers a single high quality integrated amplifier and CD player. The blak integrated amplifier builds on the K3’s feature set by offering an XLR balanced analogue input and a USB digital input while also providing a Moving Magnet (MM) on-board phono stage. The blak integrated features circuit symmetry and many other refinements including specially-selected high quality electronic componentry.
The blak CD Player mirrors its stablemate’s sophistications by way of a fully isolated CD transport mechanism, low jitter clock and DAC design and a similar selected components standard. Three digital outputs are provided by way of S/PDIF coaxial AES/EBU XLR and Toslink optical making the blak CD Player also a great option for transport-only duties. Analogue outputs are both through XLR and single-ended RCA.
A Roksan representative told SoundStage! Australia, “With its substantial build and striking visual design, coupled with an astounding performance of both power and delicacy, the Roksan blak series offers the ultimate in musical involvement, audio engineering and user flexibility. To dedicated and devoted music lovers and those who simply demand the best, Blak offers a complete sonic solution.”
Roksan K3 and blak Components
Price: K3 Integrated Amplifier AU$3299, K3 CD Player AU$2999, blak Integrated Amplifier AU$6999, blak CD Player AU$5999
Australian Distributor: Interdyn
+61 3 9426 3600
www.interdyn.com.au
