The new Roksan product line Attessa consists of the Attessa Turntable, Attessa CD Drive, Attessa Integrated Amplifier and Attessa Streaming Amplifier.
Rocksan presents an entirely new product line with the aptly name Attessa*. It consists of the Attessa Turntable, Attessa CD drive, Attessa Integrated Amplifier and Attessa Streaming Amplifier.
The design goal according to the manufacturer: ‘create high-end audio devices with a solid construction, a clean industrial design without unnecessary buttons and therefore simple and intuitive to operate, even for audio beginners.
For example, the amplifiers have only one rotary knob for volume and input selection. The large LED line plus the small OLED icon display then clearly indicate the chosen settings’.
BluOS
The turntable has a new lightweight Unipivot** tone arm, built-in switchable phono amplifier with line out signal, digital speed control, push-button controls, heavy hard glass platter and specially cushioned feet. It is also equipped with a Roksan Dana cartridge: plug & play.
The CD drive becomes one with the amplifier(s) via the MaestroUnite communication bus and both are thus operated simultaneously. Via the SPDIF-output the digital signal is connected to the amplifier. Via the Streaming Amplifier, the CD drive can also be controlled via the BluOS app. Then it additionally supports MQA*** playback.
The integrated amplifier (2 x1 30W / 4 Ohms) has 5 digital inputs (optical, coax and Bluetooth), 3 analog inputs of which 1 with MM preamp, 2 analog outputs and a built-in DAC.
OTA
The Roksan Attessa streaming amplifier has the same specifications plus as the integrated one. Adding to that a LAN connection, wifi and support for BluOS**** multiroom playback.
The amplifiers have a new architecture designed to drive any type and size of speaker without a problem. Each device in the series is controlled with the same simple Attessa remote control. The central control button has, in addition to a visible indication from the LED display, ‘haptic’ or tactile feedback of the settings. The amplifiers offer a possibility to store three own presets (setting combinations). They also feature a 12V trigger input and output plus an IR input for easy integration into larger AV systems.
Updates to the CD drive and amplifiers can be made OTA (over the air) via the wireless network and the MaestroUnite app. The Atessa product line comes below Kandy, making it Roksan’s new “entry-level” line.
Price and Availability
The Roksan Attessa line will be available in silver and black from September. The Turntable comes in satin white and satin black. The retail prices are: Attessa turntable €1250, Attessa CD drive €625, Attessa integrated amplifier €1250, Attessa streaming amplifier €1875.
Finally, Roksan about itself:
‘The unique thing about Roksan products is that they have been developed entirely in England by its own design team for over 35 years. This guarantees the shortest distance to the end user, ensuring the maximum and optimal ‘match’ with customer requirements’. Roksan’s philosophy is therefore: “To make high-end hi-fi quality accessible to every music lover”.
* Attessa: Named after Atossa, queen of the powerful Persian Achemenid Empire (about 2600 years ago). She was married to Darius the Great and mother of Xerxes the Great. The name means “able, proficient, developed, learned.” And is thus particularly applicable to the developers of this new product line…
** Unipivot: The tone arm has a tungsten carbide pivot shaft that rests in a gemstone “pivot bearing. This super-simple suspension of rock-hard, non-wearing materials guarantees minimal friction and thus maximum freedom of movement for the tone arm.
*** MQA: Master Quality Authenticated is a method of digitally capturing and storing original master recordings as files that are small and convenient enough to download or stream, but without the negative sonic effects traditionally associated with compressed files.
**** BluOS: BluOS is an award-winning audio platform that enables high-resolution streaming and multi-room functionality. Users can stream existing audio libraries or the signal from a music streaming platform in high resolution to all enabled speakers in the house connected to wifi. The whole thing is controlled with the BluOS app.