AMR / iFi audio

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Aug 21, 2019
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ifi-audio.com
Light up your life with Aurora
Electrify your music and immerse yourself in sound with iFi’s all-in-one music system


Southport, England – iFi’s new wireless music system, the Aurora, brings together a unique collection of proprietary technologies to deliver a sonic experience unlike any other tabletop, all-in-one system.



Clad in bamboo and elevated by a distinctive aluminium frame, the Aurora’s design is striking. The aesthetic was created by French product designer Julien Haziza, inspired by the architecture in Tokyo’s Omotesand? and Harajuku districts. Six drive units nestle behind the bamboo fins that curve around the Aurora’s sides, with a further two bass radiators underneath. The system’s control panel sits front and centre, with touch-sensitive controls and an OLED display inlaid with bamboo.

The Aurora’s name is inspired by its sound. It delivers a remarkably expansive soundstage, tailored to the space in which it sits. It fills the room with sound as the Aurora Borealis fills the sky with light, electrifying your music and immersing you in the performance of your favourite artists.

The Aurora connects to a home Wi-Fi network, enabling users to stream music via their favourite apps, or play audio files stored on networked devices such as computers and NAS drives. Bluetooth is also included, so that users may stream directly from any smart device.



The Aurora is hi-res audio enabled, supporting data up to 32-bit/192kHz without conversion or down-sampling via Wi-Fi, USB or Ethernet cable. Bluetooth streaming also delivers much better sound quality than is typically the case, engineered by iFi to be less ‘lossy’ than off-the-shelf Bluetooth solutions. The latest high-quality Bluetooth codecs are supported, including aptX HD, LDAC and LDHC, as well as AAC.

Connecting to a Wi-Fi network couldn’t be simpler, with push-button WPS set-up. Linkplay’s MUZO Player app – or any UPnP/DLNA streaming app – may be used to configure the system and control music. AirPlay and Spotify Connect are also supported.

Several Auroras may be linked together on a Wi-Fi network to make a seamless multi-room system, playing in sync or controlled individually. Whether streaming music from services such as Spotify or Tidal, or surfing the thousands of internet radio stations available from an app such as TuneIn, the Aurora has your digital audio lifestyle covered.



The decision to build the Aurora’s cabinet from bamboo was not simply based on its aesthetic properties and environmental sustainability, although these are important considerations. It is also a natural sound absorber, which brings significant acoustic benefits. The cabinet is stiff and well-braced, with strategically placed damping material to ensure the speaker drivers operate without vibrations and other forms of distortion sullying the sound.

There are eight custom-made drive units in total. Four main drivers with 130mm cones are deployed in a wide-bandwidth role to cover the vast majority of the audible frequency spectrum, rolling off towards very low and very high frequencies. This enables an impressively flat frequency response and excellent phase response through the midrange – a key contributor to the Aurora’s clear and expressive sound.

These four main drivers are joined by two 28mm silk-dome tweeters to handle very high frequencies, and two passive bass drivers that fire downwards from the underside of the cabinet. The net result is a seamlessly coherent performance with silky-smooth frequency response, an out-of-the box soundstage and bass that delves far deeper than most all-in-one systems can muster.

The Aurora incorporates four core audio technologies, all of proprietary design, which combine to deliver its extraordinary sonic performance:
  • PureEmotion
At the Aurora’s heart lies PureEmotion amplification – a hybrid design incorporating classic
valve-based preamplification and advanced solid-state power amplification with ultra-fast switching. This ingenious fusion of amp technologies enables a sound combining purity of tone with a high level of engagement, speed and dynamic gusto, capturing the emotive quality of music in full effect.
  • SoundSpace
The Aurora’s custom-made driver array combines with iFi’s SoundSpace matrix, which adjusts the output from specific drivers at certain frequencies. SoundSpace is fundamental to the Aurora’s immersive, room-filling performance, enabling the soundstage to extend beyond the confines of the cabinet with expansive width, height and depth. This gives music a palpable sense of scale and space you simply wouldn’t expect from an all-in-one music system.
  • ART (Automatic Room Tailoring)
The Aurora incorporates a ‘room correction’ system called ART (Automatic Room Tailoring). At the press of a button, six ultrasonic sensors measure the distance to the surrounding walls using ultrasound. Then, a 32-bit ARM Cortex microprocessor adjusts the output from the driver array to precisely tailor Aurora’s performance. Wherever the Aurora is placed – in a large room or a smaller one, in a corner, against a wall or in free space – it always performs at its best.
  • TrueBass
The depth and quality of bass supplied by all-in-one lifestyle systems often leaves a lot to be desired. iFi’s TrueBass system, incorporating the two downward-firing bass radiators, ensures the Aurora delivers genuine bass with realistic depth and definition. Dual-level depth control means you can adjust the bass response according to taste – down to a deeply impressive 27Hz – so that everything from timpani, to a bass guitar, to an electronic bassline is conveyed with power and poise.



All of the above technologies operate entirely in the analogue domain to ensure maximum fidelity, without resorting to DSP (Digital Signal Processing) which can have an adverse effect on the purity and resolution of sound.

With its distinctive design and unique collection of proprietary technologies, the iFi Aurora is an all-in-one wireless music system like no other – available from August 2019 at the following RRPs/MSRPs:
  • £1,299 (GBP) including VAT
  • €1,499 (Euro) including VAT
  • $1,299 (USD) excluding sales tax
 
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Reactions: Folsom

AMR / iFi audio

Industry Expert
Aug 21, 2019
2,636
1,153
260
43
UK
ifi-audio.com
This week's iFi's top-rated product... it sounds as good as it looks... it's the Aurora.

Discover Aurora: https://ifi-audio.com/products/aurora/

Miles: "My Aurora is just super cool, late-night jazz or pounding out techno like Koan Sounds “Fuego”"

Julie: "I love great-sounding music and I love design. The Aurora is an unbelievable combination of both and is a stunning addition to my home. I’m not a true ‘audiophile’ but I love music, so the fact that the Aurora is easy to use is an added bonus for me!

There are of course more advanced ways to use it for the true audiophiles but I love that literally anyone can listen to their music on this grand scale.

Everyone instantly admires it and are then blown away by the amazing sound it produces. It brightens up my day every day! Love it and can not recommend enough "

 

AMR / iFi audio

Industry Expert
Aug 21, 2019
2,636
1,153
260
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UK
ifi-audio.com
Friends, check out this review of the Aurora by thrillcat on AV Nirvana! A great read with your afternoon tea.

"The iFi Aurora is a highly-capable audio system that reveals itself as a Swiss Army knife of audio. It can be a background music system for your office or bedroom, a primary two-channel audio system for any room in the house, or even a soundbar system when connected to a TV. While the Aurora is a bit larger than most tabletop-style systems, don't let its size fool you - this thing packs a powerful punch that can fill even challenging rooms with ease."

Link: https://www.avnirvana.com/threads/ifi-aurora-all-in-one-music-system-review.11806/
 

Gregadd

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
10,553
1,787
1,850
Metro DC
Maybe Beauty is more than just skin deep. More proof that reasonable price is little excuse for compromise. I can only wonder if it would benefit from some of your A/C products. Or take a direct digital input from a CD player or such.
 

AMR / iFi audio

Industry Expert
Aug 21, 2019
2,636
1,153
260
43
UK
ifi-audio.com
Maybe Beauty is more than just skin deep. More proof that reasonable price is little excuse for compromise. I can only wonder if it would benefit from some of your A/C products. Or take a direct digital input from a CD player or such.
You're absolutely right, adding some power or signal conditioning will most definitely improve upon the performance on the Aurora.
 

thedudeabides

Well-Known Member
Jan 16, 2011
2,166
670
1,200
Alto, NM
I am going to audition one and if the reviews are accurate, I will be selling my entire system which I do not listen to anymore. Question for iFi. What improvements, if any, have been made since 2020.

The manufacturer apparently has no units in stock. Same is true with other retailers. I have to ask why and if the current Aurora has been discontinued and ithere an updated model in the works? Will wait to buy until I hear from you folks.
 

thedudeabides

Well-Known Member
Jan 16, 2011
2,166
670
1,200
Alto, NM
You're absolutely right, adding some power or signal conditioning will most definitely improve upon the performance on the Aurora.
What do you mean? What exactly would you suggest adding for performance improvements?
 

thedudeabides

Well-Known Member
Jan 16, 2011
2,166
670
1,200
Alto, NM
Despite iFi's inability to respond to my question (too bad they are nowhere as good with their customer service as they are with their advertising) and after having listened to the unit for a day, it is quite an impressive product. And it appears to be sensitive to cabling.
 

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