The Remarkable Audia Flight FL Three S Integrated, Dual Mono, Solid State Amplifier

At True Audiophile

After running this through the True Audiophile process, Impression are surprise to say the least. Beautiful bloom and an excellent grip on the music. Plenty of power to run even 87dB speakers. Well the demo unit passed the magic 100 hours. Our reviewer was completely stunned. When he researched the reviews they were so eerily familiar to our TA Tester conclusions that it was almost like they plagiarized his words.  Hands down a no-brainer.-- TA

Available for Demo if you live in the Portland area.

6Moons Paul Candy’s review: 

“The Italians did a terrific job befuddling this tube lover. If you had told me a year ago that a mere solid-state amp could seduce me, I’d have said you were nuts. Would I buy this amp? You betcha. I could certainly enjoy listening to music for the long haul over this superbly built integrated amp from Audia Flight. If I were still looking for an integrated amplifier, I would have bought this review loaner without any hesitation. Molto buono! Viva Italia!”

Stereonet Review (has the DAC and Phono Board, hence his price comment):  

” I like the simplicity of a single amplifier unit but have often found that there are some fairly serious audible compromises compared to a pre and power combination ... until now. Forget your Japanese integrated multi-channel AV amplifiers, this is on a totally higher plane than them. Comfortably, this is an audiophile quality amplifier of the highest order, with attributes of something that is a lot dearer. At $4,990 RRP plus options it is not exactly cheap, but I do believe that it is extremely good value, along with loads of flexibility. If you consider the cost of purchasing alternative separate pre and power amplifiers, a DAC and a phono stage, including all the quality connecting cables and power cords, along with the resulting mess that creates for a single reliable self-contained unit, then yes, it’s extremely good value.

You will never feel short changed as far as sound quality goes. It’s easily the best integrated amplifier I’ve heard in my system."

Pro-Review re the Audio Flight 3S:

“This beautifully built Italian-made integrated amplifier has all the features and facilities you could want in an integrated amplifier, plus the option to incorporate a (very reasonably-priced) DAC and/or a (very reasonably-priced) MM/MC phono stage any time you want, while sonically it marries the best attributes of valves with the best attributes of solid state to deliver sound quality that will have you smiling with pleasure with every album you play… which is likely why they put the smile on the front panel in the first place. ” -- Aaron Fleming

HiFi Review: Best buy 2020

French Audio Magazine: High, really honestly high fidelity

HiFi Choice: Recommended

... and 23 other raves in audio magazine reviews

Audia has over 20 years of experience designing cutting edge, high performance audio equipment. All that knowledge and experience has gone into their Audia Flight Three S Integrated Amplifier. 

Even by Audia's high standards, this is an incredible multi-faceted component. Using their experience with the much pricier Classic and Strumento Series they put all that knowledge into this series.

However minute, the Flight FL Three has been carefully thought out for the discriminating audio enthusiast and music lover. The Flight Three S offers an exceptionally value. Like all Audia Flight products, it is made entirely in Italy.

Starting with its elegant Italian exterior, the Flight Three S has solidly built casework with a thick aluminum (10mm) front panel. Positive-action metal pushbutton selectors. Nicely-weighted, pleasing to the touch aluminum volume knob. All expertly crafted and finely finished. 

You’ll also find a compact, ergonomic remote control hewn from solid aluminum. A large, blue OLED display will keep your eyes informed about the input choice (each input can be named as you choose) and other feature selections as you engage them.

Inside the Audia Flight Three S’s sophisticated electronic interior are a series of critical features that make this integrated amplifier perform well above 
other integrated amplifiers within its category. That is no joke. This integrated is a remarkable bargain with all the tech it includes.

The high performance ALPS Blue potentiometer provides an accurate volume control at all settings. 

Eight power supplies are in charge of all amplification stages up to the driver transistor stage. 13.200uF total capacitance available for 
the stabilized power supplies until the driver transistor section.

Four high-current power supplies (72.000µF) are then dedicated solely to the output driver stages.

If that’s not enough, all inputs feature sealed relays in an inert atmosphere and gold terminations. And, as following their philosophy for best sonic performance. The logic control section features its own toroidal transformer and is connected to the analog section via photo-couplers only. 

Driving your speakers are two 100 Watt amplifiers with a large 576VA toroidal audio transformer. 

In short, the Audia Flight Three S is a dual mono design, with Audia Flight’s current feedback circuitry design. A sophisticated preamp section. And deep, well-controlled bass that brings your loudspeakers and your music alive with a powerful, stunning sonic picture. This is no hyperbole - we've experienced this immediately even without break-in.

Using your Audia Flight Three S is a pleasure with its input selection, volume control, and mute control (with a memory of the previous level) 
via front panel or remote control.

The user can choose from four unbalanced analog inputs (one optionally phono), one balanced analog input, and even from an optional USB digital input. 

The optional USB 24bit 192KHz DAC board with its high grade, discreet circuitry achieves a remarkable musical experience from your digital files. 
While the optional pure analog MM/MC phono board (via analog Input 1) will bring your turntable, phono cartridges, and vinyl collection to vibrant life.

Not surprisingly, then, the Audia Flight Three S also has many standard features. 

A discreet, high-performance headphone amplifier designed to properly drive your headphones of choice.

A bypass (or “direct”) feature, selectable by remote control, allows the user to turn the Flight Three S into a power amplifier through any assigned analog input: You can then include the amplifier in a multi-channel system (such as a home theater) as the power amplifier for the main speakers, while still using the same speakers for reference quality two channel listening with stereo sources connected to the Flight Three S. 

Finally, rounding out this well thought out, highly flexible design out is a remote trigger input, Monitor input, Record output, and an unbalanced Preamplifier output (with the ability to turn off the Flight Three S’s internal amplifiers should you wish). 

Overall the Audia Flight Three S Integrated Amplifier is a pleasure to behold, to use, and to listen to with many sources and nearly any loudspeaker.

Vying for best in its class. A safe audio purchase to say the least.

Also available with optional Phono (4498.00) and DAC boards (4548.00). Or both for $5047.00

 [[[specification_start]]]

Output power (Watts RMS) @ 8/4 ohm100/160W

Amplifier stage gain26dB

Frequency response (@1 Watt RMS; -3db)1Hz - 450kHz

Slew Rate (@ 8 Ohm)>80V/µS

THD<0,05%

S/N ratio>95dB

Unbalanced input impedance51kOhm, 150pF

Balanced input impedance30kOhm

Stand-by power consumptionless than 1W

Maximum power consumption400W

Dimensions and weight450x110x430mm (W x H x D), 16,5 kg

Shipping dimensions and weight550x250x580mm (W x H x D), 18,5kg

Dimensions and weight450x110x430mm (W x H x D), 16,5kg 

INPUTS and OUTPUTS:

• 4 unbalanced inputs
• 1 balanced input
• 1 monitor input
• 1 analog input can be assigned to bypass the preamp (as “direct”)
• 1 optional USB digital input
• 1 unbalanced preamp output
• 1 unbalanced record output
• 1 output for headphones

OPTIONAL BOARDS (can be retrofitted): 
phono MC/MM (replaces analog Input 1); USB 24bit 192KHz DAC (becomes Input 6)

Note:

The USB input has been insulated by an ADuM (from Analog Devices) to prevent any noise from the computer. 
When the USB is used together with a player application such as FooBar or WinAmp, the user can transfer stream music files to internal 
converter at 192kHz/24bits maximum frequency/resolution while avoiding undesired PC or MAC audio mixer data processing during the 
data transfer from hard disk to interface.

 [[[specification_end]]]