Audia Flight FLS20 SACD Player
The FLS20 makes SACD and CD playback feel gloriously alive, pairing a lifelike midrange with analogue-like refinement, muscular dynamics and an enveloping soundstage. Edgar Kramer found exceptional tonal realism, transient precision and finely resolved musical detail, while balanced outputs and extensive digital connectivity let this lavishly built player anchor an ambitious digital system.
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Deliciously Crispy
Sound Quality
95/100
Build Quality
95/100
Features Usability
87/100
Value for Money
85/100
Pros
Lifelike, tonally complex midrange with natural instrumental timbre and convincing vocal presence.
Expressive dynamics, powerful yet textured bass, and fine detail delivered without brightness or etched digital glare.
Enveloping spatial reproduction and a wide, room-filling soundstage.
First-rate aluminium construction, premium connectors, comprehensive digital I/O, and balanced or single-ended analogue outputs.
Cons
The solid aluminium remote has identically sized buttons, making accidental presses easier without careful attention.
Streaming capability was still a forthcoming option in the review, rather than an evaluated built-in feature.
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What Reviewers Are Saying
SOUND QUALITY PERFORMANCE 95/100
The FLS20 is described as exceptionally natural, lifelike and dynamically expressive, combining tonal realism with an easy, non-etched presentation. Edgar Kramer also found it highly revealing of fine musical information and unusually convincing in its spatial rendering.
Tonal Balance Musicality
96/100
Kramer praises a lifelike, present midrange, tonally precise acoustic instruments, and convincingly realistic timbre. He specifically commends the player's non-bright, analogue-like character, natural transient response, and ability to convey emotional expression without sounding analytical or forced.
Resolution Detail
95/100
The review reports outstanding levels of musical minutiae, fine detail and sonic nuance, presented with a welcome sense of ease. Spatial reproduction is another stated strength, with a wide, enveloping soundfield and vocals rendered with striking in-room presence.
Digital Performance
94/100
The player is praised for tonal accuracy, excellent transient-note response and a clean, unetched presentation that avoids obvious digital hardness. Its bass performance is described as powerful, deep and texturally convincing, although a comparison using its digital output left the reviewer less certain that it always surpassed his own transport for detail.
FEATURES USABILITY PERFORMANCE 87/100
This is a well-equipped SACD/CD player with extensive analog and digital connection options, including variable output capability. Day-to-day control appears thoughtfully executed overall, but the review notes a minor ergonomic weakness in the remote and discusses streaming functionality as a prospective rather than available feature.
Streaming Software
84/100
The FLS20 is principally a disc player, and the review does not assess an onboard streaming platform or companion-control app. Audia Flight was said to be developing future streaming and library-control functionality, while the supplied remote is described as premium in construction but less intuitive because its buttons share the same size.
Features Connectivity
94/100
Connectivity is comprehensive: USB-B, coaxial S/PDIF, AES/EBU and optical digital inputs are joined by I2S/HDMI, coaxial, AES/EBU and optical outputs. Balanced and single-ended analog outputs, fixed or variable output operation, and 12V trigger connections make the player adaptable to a broad range of systems.
Assessments of Build Quality, Usability, and Overall Propositions.
Build Quality
95/100
Kramer calls the FLS20's build quality first-rate, highlighting seamlessly assembled and beautifully finished aluminium panels, assured controls, and high-quality rear-panel connectors. The extensively modified Denon top-loading mechanism and solid aluminium remote reinforce the sense of careful execution, though the identical remote-button sizes can make false activations easier.
Value for Money
85/100
At an asking price in the roughly $14,000-$22,000 range, the FLS20 competes in a demanding high-end SACD-player segment. The review is strongly enthusiastic about performance and craftsmanship but does not directly compare its value against similarly priced rivals or make a specific value claim.
Reviews & Sources
Professional reviews and sources for this product's Watt'n Potatoes analysis.
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Specifications
- Frequency response
- 2 Hz - 50 KHz ±0.5dB (SACD) 2 Hz – 20 KHz ±0.5dB (CD)
- S/N ratio
- 110 dB
- THD
- 0.002%
- Analogue outputs
- balanced and unbalanced
- Output level
- Fixed or Variable
- Maximum output voltage
- 2.5 Vrms
- Output impedance
- 240 Ohm
- Digital inputs
- 4 (Toslink, AES/EBU, S/PDIF, USB)
- Digital outputs
- 4 (Toslink, AES/EBU, S/PDIF, I2S)
- Stand-by power consumption
- less than 1 W
- Power consumption
- max 180 VA
- Main voltage AC (50-60 Hz)
- 100, 110-115, 220-230, 240 V
- Dimensions
- 450x134x364 mm (WxHxD) Weight: 17 Kg
- Shipping dimensions
- 600x290x550 mm (WxHxD)
- Shipping weight
- 22 Kg
Manufacturer's Description — Audia Flight
FLS20
Top Loading SACD Player
Over decades, Audia has continued to actively develop CD players, accumulating and refining experience about this audio technology. The new FLS20 SACD achieves the essence of a high-end disc player: ultra-high precision in reading discs and delivering high quality audio signals to the audio chain. For this result, the signal paths are as short as possible and all the circuitry is minimized.
After a long and extenuating process of listening sessions and sophisticated technical measures, the disk drive system has totally been designed from scratch in order to virtually eliminate any vibration, both from inside and outside the chassis. Vibrations are the biggest enemy of disk players and sonic top performances cannot be obtained without a total control of drive vibrations (see picture below). Disc information can be read with impeccable precision and a clean, high-quality signals fed to the FLS20 SACD’s advanced circuitry.
The unit has solidly built casework with a thick aluminum front panel. Conversion section uses 2 x Sabre ES9038PRO 32-BitDacs (one x channel, mono mode), plus a Crystek CCHD-950 ultra low noise clock. Digital circuits are powered by 10 ultra low noise power supplies. The output section is, in Audia Flight style, fully balanced Class A discrete current feedback, so balanced and unbalanced analog output are available. It is powered by 4 low noise discrete components voltage regulators.
FLS20 power supply uses 3 completely separate toroidal transformers for the analog stage (80VA ), digital stage (85VA) circuits and a 15VA for logic control. Connections flexibility is ensured by 4 built in digital inputs (Toslink, AES/EBU, S/PDIF, USB) and 4 digital outputs (Toslink, AES/EBU, S/PDIF I2S). In addition to that Audia Flight is offering the choice of an optional streamer card.
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Authorized dealers for Audia Flight FLS20 SACD Player
- The Audio Association — in-store — Anaheim, California, United States (website)
- 110Hz — online and in-store — Kielce, Województwo świętokrzyskie, Poland (website)
- A/V Solutions — in-store — Pleasanton, California, United States (website)
- Absolute Hi End — in-store — Ormond, Victoria, Australia (website)
- Alma Music & Audio — online and in-store — San Diego, California, United States (website)
- Assai Audio — in-store — Centro, Comunidad de Madrid, Spain (website)
- Atelier 13 Audio — in-store — Forest Hills, Tennessee, United States (website)
- Audio Living Design — in-store — Area Produttiva, Marche, Italy (website)
- Audio Omega — in-store — Ourense, Spain (website)
- Audio Vision San Francisco — online and in-store — San Francisco, California, United States (website)
and 42 more verified dealers
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