Indholdsfortegnelse for September 2023 i Hi-Fi Choice

PRICE: £200 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: CLEERAUDIO.COM CLEER AUDIO HAS introduced its Arc II Sport smart open-ear true wireless earbuds, boasting flexible earhook design and hands-free head motion control. Designed with the idea that there are moments where it is important to hear your surroundings such as running, cycling or during a gym session. The earbuds fit passively, without blocking out the sounds around you. They feature an earhook and hinge design with an improved shape and added flexibility for superior fit and comfort. The buds offer Bluetooth Multipoint connectivity and allow the wearer to easily switch audio input from two simultaneously connected devices. Featuring 16.2mm neodymium drivers with aptX Adaptive, a six-axis motion sensor for immersive hands free, head gesture control and clear voice calls with aptX Voice technology, the…

PRICE: £10,000-£45,000 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: BOWERSWILKINS.COM BOWERS & WILKINS has released its 800 Series Signature – the newest version of its 800 Series Diamond loudspeaker range. The new 801 D4 Signature further refines and advances the previously tested 801 D4 (HFC 483) while the company also introduces the 805 D4 Signature with a more compact footprint. The 801 D4 Signature is a three-way floorstander that features the brand’s 25mm Diamond Dome tweeter-on-top and 150mm Continuum Cone FST midrange drive unit, and adds twin 250mm Aerofoil Cone bass drivers with upgraded and improved magnets to their motor systems relative to the 801 D4 model. It also includes an enhanced aluminium top plate beneath its Turbine Head midrange enclosure, which uses a new optimised skeletal structure and damping material with a view…

PRICE: £50 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: DAVIDGOWLER-HART@HOTMAIL.CO.UK NOW ON THE market in the UK is the Hart SuperCleaner record brush, which has just become the joint winner in The Big Dust-Off! Vinyl cleaning competition featured on YouTube. Creator David Hart explains: “The cleaner works by establishing that most surface noise comes from scratches or debris obstructing the groove. A sharp stylus in the groove during playback releases some of the debris every time the record is played. The record cleaner operates in the usual way by revolving the record against the brush. By using super fine, stiff, strong and long fibres which compete for groove space, three or four fibres at a time, down to the groove floor. This creates a force that removes these particles successfully after the record is…

VINYL’S STEADFAST REFUSAL to retreat back to the fringes of two-channel audio has only highlighted that turntables themselves are radically different beasts to digital source equipment. If we put together a test of sub-£1,000 DACs or streamers, the level of performance on offer is such that if you were to compare any model in the test to one three times the price, the improvements that the more expensive models will offer will be discernible but subtle. Such is the power of modern decoding that extracting more performance as you spend more is not easy. As entirely mechanical devices, turntables are completely different beasts with a radically different ratio of improvement. Any of the six models we’ve assembled for this roundup will comfortably outperform even the most transcendently talented £500 model,…

►DETAILS PRODUCT MoFi Electronics StudioDeck ORIGIN USA TYPE Belt-drive turntable WEIGHT 8.7kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 500 x 137 x 362mm FEATURES ● 10in tonearm ● Optional MoFi StudioTracker MM cart and weight DISTRIBUTOR Karma AV As the simpler of two similar turntables in the Mobile Fidelity range, the StudioDeck is outwardly conventional in appearance and design, but it’s different to any other turntable here. This is the only model – and indeed one of the very few at the price – to have a 10in tonearm. As well as being the longest arm here, with the notional benefit in tracking accuracy, the Studio Tonearm has a spacious headshell and good adjustment for tracking force, VTA and antiskate, which should allow for most cartridges to be fitted. If you don’t fancy this,…

►DETAILS PRODUCT Technics SL-1210GR ORIGIN Japan TYPE Direct-drive turntable WEIGHT 11.5kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 453 x 173 x 372mm FEATURES ● S-shaped tonearm ● Detachable headshell DISTRIBUTOR Panasonic UK This is arguably the only model here that can be classed as a genuine hi-fi icon. The basic design may date back 50 years, but the GR and G models that launched in 2017 represented a move upmarket for the platform. The GR is a simplified version of the G, maintaining the basic design with a less elaborate plinth, platter, motor and arm. The motor is the major point of difference to the Technics over the other belt-drive turntables here. It acts directly on the platter via a magnet-coupled arrangement and the playing surface is then damped via a substantial rubber mat.…

Product development is a variable business. Should you happen on a design or platform that has been commercially successful, your options for what happens next take two forms. You can choose to evolve that platform into something related but different to occupy different parts of the market or you can make it bigger or smaller. In Klipsch’s case, the success it has enjoyed with The Fives (HFC 467); a powered speaker that balances its distinctive driver tech and useful connectivity has been scaled up into The Sevens and supersized for The Nines you see here. The Nines is functionally identical to its little sibling. The main speaker (which Klipsch has made switchable so it can be either the left or right channel depending on what suits connections you are making)…

Mining your past to produce new products that induce a spot of nostalgia for the ‘good’ old days (your mileage may vary to quite how good they were) is a big deal at the moment and, at first glance, the Vintage Classic VIII looks like more of the same. Where things get a little complicated is that, on paper at least, Fyne doesn’t have a heritage to mine. This speaker harks back to a time long before the company existed. As such, it looks to another part of Fyne’s ancestry, reflecting that many (but not all) of its key staff came from Tannoy. DETAILS PRODUCT Fyne Audio Vintage Classic VIII ORIGIN UK TYPE 2-way floorstanding loudspeaker WEIGHT 29.1kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 380 x 873 x 300mm FEATURES ● 25mm magnesium dome…

There are plenty of semi-pro, actively powered mini ‘mixing desktop’ monitors aimed at budding Ed Sheerans (Marvin Gayes, come to that) as well as budget-conscious home studio enthusiasts. Evidence of their multitudinous existence is usually to be found in the pages of publications aimed specifically at that burgeoning market sector. But in 2022 (HFC 489) I reviewed the £600 AirPulse A80 from the house of Edifier, a name synonymous with the above activities. No harm in dipping a toe occasionally – not least to see if us audiophiles are missing a trick. But it wasn’t so much ‘studio envy’ that landed the review as the design involvement of one Phil Jones, the man who started Acoustic Energy and was personally responsible for the iconic AE-1 standmount. A hi-fi provenance, then,…

It is well known that listening to music is good for you. There is plenty of evidence showing music can improve heart rate, reduce anxiety, positively stimulate the brain and improve learning abilities. Many therapists even use it to help their patients, ranging from those needing simple stress relief to those with Alzheimer’s disease. A primary aim of a hi-fi system is to provide the illusion that there is no audio system at all and to give the impression that the musicians and their instruments are in the room with you. This can only be achieved when all of the subtle nuances of each instrument are faithfully reproduced, not just their frequency response, but also the spatial information, which gives an instrument its particular timbre and presence, as well as…

DETAILS PRICE £660 for 1m cable WEBSITE black-rhodium. co.uk OUR VERDICT ★★★★★ ALTHOUGH THE OPERETTA S has many similarities to the Operetta 2 DCT (HFC 473) it replaces, the materials it is made from are rather different. The former employs a cryogenically processed stranded conductor in place of the solid core conductor of the Operetta 2 DCT. The cable is sheathed in a black braid, offering excellent damping properties to physical vibrations that can find their way into the audio chain. The Operetta S DCT is terminated with Graham Nalty GN4 rhodiumplated RCA plugs with a ‘straight line contact’ return conductor for better sound quality than the standard ‘full circumference’ return conductors. The cable has undergone deep cryogenic treatment (DCT), where the cable is cooled to a very low temperature…

For sale / Wanted These pages are a must-read if you’re thinking about buying used kit, or if you have hi-fi you want to sell. It’s free – simply submit your ad with no more than 50 words (we reserve the right to edit it if not), remembering to include your email, phone number and county. Simply email your ad to: letters@hifichoice.co.uk. This service is open to private advertisers only. Just one ad per household and please note that images are for illustration only and do not represent what is for sale. FOR SALE SYNTHESIS Roma 510AC valve integrated amplifier. Good condition, boxed. RRP £3,600, less than two years old, now £1,800 ono. Collection preferred as it’s heavy: 07792 414536 or email: drherd1710@gmail.com (Edinburgh area). ARMSTRONG 625 tuner amplifier with…

PRICE: £650 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: MICHAELFIDLER.COM CLASSIC AUDIO HAS just released its MC PRO phono stage, which seeks to deliver the most revealing listening experience possible for moving-coil cartridges, joining the company’s moving-magnet MM PRO. Hand made in Kent, the MC PRO creates what the company claims is a: “pitch black background for serious vinyl listening. A hybrid input amplifier combining discrete bipolar input transistors with a servostabilised IC op-amp driver halves the input noise of the very best integrated circuits currently available for this critical point in the signal path.” The company further explains that: “Conventional MM/MC combination phono stages degrade the MC noise floor by feeding a low gain MC head amplifier through the MM input, adding noise from both inputs. By amplifying the input signal by over…

PRICE: £19,000-£55,075.50 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: DS-AUDIO-W.BIZ SOUNDFOWNDATIONS.CO.UK READERS WITH A little cash to spare might like to know that Japanese company DS Audio has released a new, optical phono cartridge: the Grand Master Extreme. The company explains that it’s closely based on the original Grand Master model – featuring the same third-generation internal optical sensor systems and external power supply and amplifier – but with one significant enhancement: the stylus and cantilever are not two separate elements, but one – carved from a single diamond. DS explains: “In most cartridge designs, the stylus and cantilever are made separately and then bonded together using some form of adhesive. In contrast, DS Audio’s Grand Master Extreme uses a 0.22mm2one-piece diamond cantilever with an integral Micro Ridge stylus tip. This state-of-the-art design ensures…

IT'S TIME TO start counting down the days, The UK Hi-Fi Show Live, hosted at the Ascot Racecourse Grandstand, High Street, Ascot will be taking place on Saturday 30 September and Sunday 1 October. Tickets cost £20 per day or £30 for a weekend pass via eventbrite. co.uk or the link on thehifishowlive.com website. Concessionary £15 day passes will be offered for subscribers of HFC and our sister magazine Hi-Fi News, and all details for this offer can be found on the insert included with future subscriber copies. Making its debut British showing at the UK Hi-Fi Show Live is the highly anticipated Sasha V loudspeaker from Wilson Audio. Drawing on the components featured in the company’s current flagship, the Chronosonic XVX, plus the technology engineered specifically for its Alexx…

►DETAILS PRODUCT Gold Note Valore 425 Plus ORIGIN Italy TYPE Belt-drive turntable WEIGHT 9.5kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 425 x 160 x 360mm FEATURES ● B-5.1 9in tonearm ● Acrylic platter ● External speed control DISTRIBUTOR Airt Audio Gold Note is relatively unusual in audio circles as it will happily sell you a complete system including electronics and speakers as well as turntables. The Valore 425 Plus is the most affordable model in its range, but embodies design philosophies featured in all Gold Note designs all the way up to the £62,000 flagship Firenze Bellagio Conquest. It’s unsuspended and belt-driven by a 12V high-torque motor. As standard, it comes fitted with the company’s B-5.1 tonearm which is entirely proprietary and one of the nicest designs here. As well as being well finished…

► DETAILS PRODUCT Pro-Ject 6 PerspeX SB ORIGIN Austria/Czech Republic TYPE Belt-drive turntable WEIGHT 11kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 460 x 183 x 365mm FEATURES ● 9in tonearm ● Sandwich platter ● AC motor DISTRIBUTOR Henley Audio Ltd. Pro-Ject’s long-standing philosophy of seeking to do more than rivals at any given price point is reflected in the 6 PerspeX SB, which arrives in the test as by far the most ornate of the six turntables. The Austrian/Czech Republic offering is the only one in the group to have any form of suspension. The main plinth – made of Perspex unsurprisingly enough – supports a corian sub-chassis that contains the main bearing, platter and tonearm. The travel is rather limited, which means that setup is pretty straightforward but – in partnership with its…

THERE’S NO BAD turntable here and the positioning of the lower ranking decks reflect both stiff competition and their need for additional add-ons to really shine. Both the MoFi StudioDeck and Technics SL-1210GR have more to give from their basic spec, but they require you to buy additional accessories for this to happen – which pushes their prices up from their competitive starting point. The functionality of the Technics is not repeated on any other turntable here though, so if you need those features, it obviously has an advantage. The Gold Note Valore 425 Plus and Pro-Ject 6 PerspeX SB tie for third, in part because they offer a very similar blend of vices and virtues. The Gold Note is superb value for money and despite being one of the…

Apple’s AirPods are often criticised for not working well with Android and other mobile devices. But, of course, Apple also owns Beats and uses products like the Studio Buds + to reach a wider audience, with lower pricing than its AirPods and improved Android compatibility. Available in a choice of black, white or ‘transparent’ finishes, the Studio Buds + provides noise cancelling similar to the £250 AirPods Pro. The previous Studio Buds model also remains on sale for £160 to provide a less expensive alternative as well. Apple tends to avoid revealing a lot of technical details. However, it does refer to a: “redesigned acoustic architecture” that includes custom, twin-layer transducers and a new system of acoustic vents to reduce air pressure within the ear for a more comfortable fit.…

It is not often I find myself in agreement with Donald Trump, but I reckon he has got one thing right. “All I hear is woke, woke, woke,” he recently said. “Half the people can’t even define it, they don’t know what it is”. Has any word ever been so widely misused? Initially it was a term of approbation, with Wikipedia suggesting its use as an adjective derives from African-American vernacular meaning “alert to racial prejudice and discrimination”. Which has to be a good thing, right? Then liberals began to apply it to other forms of social inequality, whether suffered by women, gay and trans people, immigrants and anybody else not getting a fair deal. Still no bad thing, surely, as we should all be alert to discrimination of every…

I nthe shadow of the glorious Malvern Hills, you’ll find Carnival Records – an emporium with a dizzying array of stock for music lovers of all genres. Down a passage just off Great Malvern’s High Street lies the expansive shop featuring four stacked rooms of 12ins, 45s, CDs, cassettes, DVDs and hi-fi equipment. The Band’s swampy rock track Life Is A Carnival lent the shop its name as owner Chris Heard explains: “Record shops are a place where people who feel they don’t fit can come and feel at home. We’re welcoming of everyone – like a carnival – we all hold a common interest and that is music.” Carnival’s compatible team actually met through the store. “Russ came in with an armful of records. He had his eye on…

1 BETTY YOU BET Excellent reissue label Light In The Attic is celebrating the 50th anniversary of fabulous funk diva Betty Davis’ self-titled debut LP by releasing four albums – the aforementioned debut, 1974’s They Say I’m Different, Is It Love Or Desire? (which was recorded in 1976, but first released in 2009) and Crashin’ From Passion, the unreleased product of her final 1979 studio sessions. Davis collaborated on all four reissues before her death last year. 2 HEADBANG ON! Kerrang! Living Loud: Four Decades On The Frontline Of Rock, Metal, Punk And Alternative Music is a new book charting the history of the mag that, the bumf says, enjoys an: “unparalleled reputation as one of the world’s best-loved rock-focused publications. It continues to be at the forefront of alternative…

PRICE: £250-£550 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: LITHEAUDIO.COM UK COMPANY LITHE Audio has just launched its new iO1 all-in-one wireless speaker that can be used both in and outdoors. With an amplifier and connectivity all built in, the company says: “This active surface-mount speaker is easy to install and just requires power from a standard or outdoor electrical outlet or existing lighting circuit to deliver premium audio quality”. It’s weather-resistant IPX6 rated and offers the option of wireless or data cable connection, with an optical input and two Ethernet ports around the back. 100 club It features dual 76mm full-range bass drivers, a 19mm titanium tweeter and 100W RMS power (2x 50W) Class D amplifiers, delivering 24-bit/192kHz resolution. Embedded with Airplay 2, Chromecast and Spotify Connect, it’s compatible with suitably equipped speakers…

PRICE: £1,350 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: MUSICALFIDELITY.COM HENLEYAUDIO.CO.UK HENLEY AUDIO IS handling the UK launch of the M3x DAC, Musical Fidelity’s new entry point to high-end digital-toanalogue converters. The company’s existing M6x DAC heavily influences the M3x, allowing users to experience near-M6 series performance at a more accessible entry point. The M3x employs an upsampling chip design with the SRC4392 – a high-end sample rate converter from Burr-Brown – tasked to re-clock all PCM signals and convert them into 24-bit/192kHz and native and DoP DSD up to DSD256. The new converter features single-ended RCA and balanced XLR outputs, each with their own output buffer, plus: “both output stages deliver superior audio quality, large output voltage swing and high current drive, exhibiting very low noise. The system’s excellent gain bandwidth and fast…

PRICE: £150-£200 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: HIDIZS.NET CHINESE COMPANY HIDIZS has launched its AP80 PRO-X player and MS3 headphones in the UK for the first time. The AP80 PRO-X is a mini portable music player able to drive high-quality headphones, wired or wirelessly. Boasting Dual ESS9219C DACs alongside a FPGA chip, the AP80 PRO-X supports MQA files and Sony LDAC wireless transmission alongside HiBy UAT, allowing a 192Hz Bluetooth sample rate. The HiBy app can be used to control the player from a smartphone and DSD512 playback is also possible. Bi-directional Bluetooth allows the user to send and enhance all of their smartphone, laptop, tablet or gaming music or alternatively use a dedicated USB cable. Micro SD cards are supported for storage – up to a maximum of 512GB. Up to…

Our Group Tests are supported by rigorous and exhaustive listening tests carried out by experts TURNTABLES GROUP TEST ALL SIX TURNTABLES under scrutiny are requested without a cartridge fitted. Five of the six can be ordered with a cartridge pre-mounted as standard, but the decision is taken to go without as it means, by using the same ‘control’ cartridge on all six, it is easier to be consistent and create a more level playing field for testing. The cartridge selected is Audio-Technica’s AT-OC9XEN (HFC 452). This low-output moving-coil is a former Group Test winner and offers sensible measurements and dimensions – making it an ideal option for testing. It’s pre-set on the six turntables and secured via Vertere cartridge bolts to simplify the process of taking it on and off.…

►DETAILS PRODUCT Michell TecnoDec ORIGIN UK TYPE Belt-drive turntable WEIGHT 4.6kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 490 x 85 x 310mm FEATURES ● T2 9in tonearm ● Acrylic platter ● Separate AC motor DISTRIBUTOR Michell Engineering This is the only turntable in the group where the quoted price reflects a different specification to the others. It can be purchased minus an arm for £1,200 but it is also available with a T2 tonearm (a debadged Rega 303/330) and a Goldring E3 cartridge for £1,500. For the purposes of the test, however, the Goldring has been unlimbered. This means that not only is it one of the least expensive models in the roundup, but the Michell is also the only one that can work out of the box. The TecnoDec itself is essentially unchanged…

►DETAILS PRODUCT Rega Planar 8 ORIGIN UK TYPE Belt-drive turntable WEIGHT 4.2kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 420 x 125 x 315mm FEATURES ● RB880 tonearm ● Glass platter ● Neo PSU with DSP control DISTRIBUTOR Rega Research Ltd. Meet the most affordable Rega model that more closely follows the design principles of the seldom seen Naiad turntable that tops its range. The plinth is reduced to a compact, irregular shape made from Tan Cast 8 foam encased between phenolic resin. This plinth contains the motor, bearing and the arm mount, the latter being externally braced between it and the bearing assembly. The plinth supports a platter made of layers of glass that concentrate the mass at the outer edge. The Planar 8 is the only turntable here with a sub-platter, which the…

AURENDER N30SA £24,000 ►DETAILS PRODUCT Aurender N30SA ORIGIN South Korea TYPE Network-enabled media storage device/streamer WEIGHT 22kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 430 x 106 x 353mm FEATURES ● PCM upsampling to 176.4/192kHz ● Outputs: USB; AES/EBU; coaxial; optical; BNC ● 8TB SSD + user-installable expansion port DISTRIBUTOR Cadence Distribution Limited WEBSITE aurender.com cadencedistribution. co.uk Look at any multi-box component currently available and you can usually work out what’s going on quite easily: CD transport and DAC, preamp and power amp(s), for example. But just as often those two boxes are an ‘audio product’ – phono preamp, headphone amp, DAC or even a digital audio transport – plus an outboard power supply. The rationale for these latter two-boxers is clear, for by isolating the electrically noisy parts of the system away from those…

Our story starts with Exposure’s 3010 integrated amp, launched a decade or so ago. An unassuming black box – very much in the ‘cottage industry’ hi-fi mould – it proved endearingly popular in the mid-price integrated category. This was due to two things. Firstly, it came from a company that made smooth, musical-sounding affordable amps so had very good provenance. Secondly, it sold to a particular demographic of audiophiles that didn’t want fancy, feature-packed amps with displays, DACs, streamers, etc., built-in. It was, in other words a quintessential Exposure amplifier. Over the years, the 3010 got a Series 2 update, and then the option of a DAC card that expanded its inputs. In this guise, it became the mid-price integrated to beat in value-for-money terms. No pressure then, for its…

Heard the one about the hi-fi manufacturer lauded for its excellent high-end electronics only to douse the golden glow with an entry-level product that was, frankly, a bit of a let down? Didn’t think so. This is a scenario that hardly ever happens. For brands intending to enjoy the margins that come with top-end merchandise, the design and performance values assigned to its version of ‘affordable entry-level’ are calculated with meticulous care and for good reasons. Savvy restaurants know the score when it comes to house wine. For the sake of the establishment’s good name and continued custom, providing something more than merely respectable and conspicuous value is a no brainer. An entry-level hi-fi component from a brand with ambitions to keep its extensive, steeply aspirational kit portfolio well patronised,…

Okay, so you’ve spent months, if not years, tweaking the fine balance between your amplifier, speakers and other sources to find the perfect sound, but how much consideration have you given to the space in which you sit down to enjoy your system? There are nearly as many myths about how to get the best from your room as there are choices of speakers, and the real trick is separating the fact from the fiction. Some say you should aim to create as close to an anechoic chamber (a room where all sound reflections are completely absorbed by the surfaces) as possible, while others believe it’s a good idea to stick egg boxes and foam spikes up on the walls. The truth is that you shouldn’t need to go to…

As someone living in the same house as a couple of teenagers, I’m subjected to more than my fair share of excruciatingly loud death metal and heavy rap, the primary function of which, it seems to me, is to annoy the hell out of you and drive you damn near nuts. So, I was intrigued to come across an article about recent research into the paradox of actively enjoying emotionally negative music. As one of the researchers, psychologist William Forde Thompson, a professor at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, puts it: “Why are people interested in music that seems to induce a negative emotion, when in everyday life we tend to avoid situations that will induce a negative emotion?” So, what has he discovered? Firstly, that one of our most…

AS ONE OF TCI’s high-end mains cables, the King Constrictor features the same advanced split-braid construction used in the top-of-therange Boa Constrictor cable. It’s made from 16 individual cores of PTFE-insulated silver-plated copper conductors braided together and sleeved in a tough, flexible polyester braid. The result is rated at up to 50A at 500v RMS and terminated in a TCI Rhodium-plated 13A UK plug at one end and a TCI Rhodium-plated IEC connector at the other. I use the King Constrictor with the power supply of my valve preamp and phono stage and kick off proceeding with an LP of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.1 played by Vladimir Ashkenazy and the LSO. The piano is very realistic and the power and energy of Ashkenazy’s playing is splendidly reproduced by my system.…

ESSENTIAL HI-FI YOU’LL WANT TO OWN CD players p110 Amplifiers p110 Pre/power amps p111 Cables p112-113 Network audio players p114 Music servers p114 DACs p115 Loudspeakers p116-118 One-box systems p118 Turntables p119 Cartridges p119 Phono stages p120 Headphones p120-121 Portable DACs p121 CD PLAYERS Audiolab 6000CDT PRICE: £380 REVIEWED: HFC 447 The 6000CDT is exceptional at revealing what’s on your discs to deliver a great big soundstage with plenty of detail inside. It can dig down deep into the mix to eke out the different musical strands while dynamically and rhythmically it’s hard to beat at the price. In short, it’s a super, highly affordable audiophile CD transport. ★★★★★ Cambridge Audio AXC35 PRICE: £300 REVIEWED: HFC 454 Something of a budget marvel, you’ll have to work extra hard…

VERTERE MG-1 MAGIC GROOVE MKII TURNTABLES Our reviewer says: “When partnered with a suitable high-end cartridge, the MG-1 brings out the very best from your record collection and that, coupled with its stunning looks, makes it deserving of taking centre stage in your audio setup.” Read all about it in the October issue! ALSO: REVIEWSFinal ZE8000 noise-cancelling in-ears, Origin Live Sovereign/Agile turntable/ tonearm, Eversolo DMP-A6 streamer/DAC/ Preamp, AretaiContra 100Sstandmount, Astell&Kern PA10 portable headphone amp and a Group Test of budget integrated amplifiers. FEATURES Music Legends, Music Reviews, Reasons To Be Cheerful, our comprehensive Buyer’s Guide and sharp-as-nails Opinions pieces, the Flashback interview, Beginner’s Guide all the latest kit release news in Audiofile and your hi-fi queries answered by our experts. OCTOBER ISSUE ON SALE 7 SEPTEMBER…