On the way from British audio company Roksan are the first models in its new flagship Oxygene range – a £2500 CD player and £3000 integrated amp, complete with a novel button-free design.
The Roksan Oxygene designs were acquired by the company from Danish high-end designer Bo Christensen, founder of Primare and later of BOW Technologies, and are described by Roksan as having 'Understated and elegant aesthetics… matched with simplistic user-friendliness to result in a unique and striking design.'
The company says it has applied to the designs 'high quality metalwork, the most rigorous quality control and top componentry', the units being made in cast aluminium with a distinctive dot matrix display and touch-sensitive controls.
In fact the controls are hidden in the Less Is More script on the on the top panels: press 'Less' to reduce the volume on the amplifier or skip backwards on the CD player, 'More' to increase volume or skip forward, and 'Is' to cycle through the amp inputs or access other CD player functions.
The Oxygene Integrated Amplifier is a Class D design, and has a 2x75W output into 8ohms, doubling into 4ohms, three sets of conventional analogue inputs and sixteen channels of Bluetooth inputs, allowing the wireless connection of multiple devices.
As well as speaker outputs, its also has left/right outputs for active subwoofers.
The CD player, meanwhile, uses 24-bit/192kHz digital to analogue conversion, and offers both digital and analogue outputs, while the Oxygene remote uses the same touch-sensitive switching as the amp and player.
Both CD player and amplifier measure 31x31cm – LP dimensions, Roskan says –, stand 6cm tall, and come in a choice of three finishes.
Breathlesssly described by the company as 'Roksan’s most exclusive line', it's said the Oxygene products 'will be everything for the privileged few'.
They're due in the shops around the end of September, and Roksan is planning to expand the range in the near future. It's expected to add a CD transport, a DAC and – further down the line – more amplification products and speakers.
Christensen's company, Artora Audio, already had more models either in production or on the way before it was acquired by Roksan, and a statement on its website says: 'Artora is now taken over by Roksan Audio Limited, the Artora Amplifier and CD Player have been improved and upgraded by Roksan.
'These new products which will also include speakers, a DAC and CD transport will be manufactured by Roksan Audio limited as its Oxygene series.'
