If you’re a regular reader and familiar with Roksan’s Caspian range of hi-fi separates from years gone by, you’ll know how big this news is. The Caspian M2 CD and M2 amplifier were (and still are) a formidable pairing and we have recommended many a system using these two products as the main building blocks.
Now, more than ten years after we reviewed the original M2, Roksan has decided to skip a generation (in name) and unveil the Caspian Series G4.
The new range starts life relatively modestly with just two products: the Caspian Integrated Amplifier and the Caspian Streaming Amplifier.
Both amplifiers are rated at 105 Watts (into eight ohms), with the main difference being that the streaming version is powered by the BluOS streaming platform, which you can find on products from Bluesound, NAD and Dali. It supports high-res audio files up to 24-bit/192kHz from streaming services or networked hard drives.
From the images we have seen, both new amps seem to share a similar design language to Roksan’s current Attessa range of components, with sleek lines, chamfered edges and custom extruded heatsinks part of the design language.
Both amps boast a high-resolution, high-contrast monochrome OLED display with customisable input options for assigning your various sources. The streaming variant’s fascia also gets control buttons for play/pause/next track.
Powering each amplifier is Euphoria, Roksan’s Class AB amplifier technology which, according to the company, “excels in power and finesse”. It uses individual power supplies for the current and voltage amps to help produce a purer sound.
There’s a new analogue pre-amplifier section, too, designed to keep the signal as clean as possible, while a ground-switching input aims to reduce interference from other components in your system chain.
The digital brain behind the amplifiers is Roksan’s Rapture DAC technology, which can supposedly extract more information from the conversion process than traditional DAC designs.
Both amplifiers feature a hybrid digital-analogue volume control, a dedicated moving magnet phono stage, balanced and unbalanced inputs, coaxial and optical digital inputs and even HDMI eARC. Inside, you’ll find a bespoke internal antenna design for Bluetooth (and Wi-Fi on the streaming model).
Roksan has built its own control app – MaestroUnite – which gives you access to a range of set-up options and features for the amplifiers, including headphone sensitivity, analogue input gain, balance and standby.
It also allows you to access Roksan’s intelligent DSP engine, allowing for a degree of fine-tuning through four Roksan technologies: Intelligent Tone, Intelligent Boundary, Intelligent Speaker and Intelligent Phono.
The Caspian Streaming Amplifier costs £4000 / $5000 / €4500 while the Caspian Integrated Amplifier costs £3000 / $3750 / €3500. Both are available in either silver or black finishes.
MORE:
Read our Roksan Attessa Streaming Amplifier review
Our pick of the best stereo amplifiers you can buy
Whatever happened to the budget stereo amplifier market?