Indholdsfortegnelse for April 2015 i What Hi-Fi?

‘GIGO’ was a thing long before the advent of computers. ‘Garbage in, garbage out’ has always been a cliché in the hi-fi world, and it’s a cliché because it’s true. At best, your system should interfere with your music (on vinyl, CD, hard-drive or wherever) as little as possible before it delivers it your ears, and that’s why high-res audio is such an intriguing proposition. We’re presenting an exhaustive guide to the hows and whys of high-resolution audio (p52) in this issue. I’m a fan of high-res audio – but the GIGO effect is as pronounced with high-res as I’ve ever heard it. Done properly – a careful recording job in the studio, flawless mastering into a digital file, an uncorrupted download and a system to do the whole process…

1 Taking the C-N7050 out of the box, we’re surprised at how light the unit is – still, it’s nicely made. And responsive. 2 Connecting the Onkyo to the internet takes mere seconds. It recognises our reference Naim server immediately, too. 3 There’s an app! Simple yet effective, it lets us scroll through our vast music library intuitively. Good job we use Apple… 4 The unit supports DSD files, so it puzzles us that there’s no mention of SACD compatibility. It’s not a crucial omission, though. 5 The Onkyo’s lively, pleasant character is constant, but it sounds more dynamic when streaming than when disc-spinning.…

UE (Ultimate Ears) already has a couple of portable wireless speakers in its arsenal: the Mini Boom and Boom. The latter is a firm office favourite and five-star product, but the range has recently spawned a big brother, the UE Megaboom. To look at it, you’d think it was simply a larger version of the much-loved Boom. And you’d be right. It shares the same cylindrical design and styling, including the natty ‘plasma-coated’ finish which UE claims is stain resistant and waterproof to an IPX7 rating. So it should survive being dunked in a metre of water for 30 minutes. The speaker is topped and tailed in a rubberised material, which also runs down the middle of the speaker, incorporating a couple of volume control buttons as it goes. Lie…

There are still plenty of people yet to be convinced by the concept of Ultra HD 4K TV. Even for the most committed AV enthusiast, the prospect of splashing out on a new TV might feel somewhat premature given the lack of content. It’s hard to argue. And yes, to an extent we’re still being kept waiting, amid reports of trials, breakthroughs and more – but there can be no disputing progress is slowly but surely being made. 2015 is set to be the year it all comes to a head, but which way is the market most likely to go? Getting a 4K TV is the easy bit. It’s evident that prices are starting to tumble, and that’s no surprise judging by just how many 4K sets we expect…

Sometimes we just want to be alone with our thoughts and our music – but the world has other ideas. There’s the annoying bloke on the train home talking too loudly on his phone, the chorus of babies wailing on a long-haul flight or just the general hubbub of an office that we’d rather do without. That’s where noise-cancelling headphones come into their own. Using internal and external microphones, they judge your surroundings and block outside noises, leaving you to enjoy your music without interruption. There are brands that have made a name for themselves in this arena, and some promising newcomers here to challenge them. And it’s high time to see how they all fare. 01 Beats Studio 2.0 £270 Carrying the tagline “an icon remastered”, these are the…

Beats Studio 2.0 £270 Passive listening No Folding Yes Rechargeable Yes Battery life 20 hours Cable length 1.3m Weight 260g Bose QC25 £270 Passive listening Yes Folding Yes Rechargeable No Battery life 35 hours Cable length 1.2m Weight 195g Philips Fidelio NC1 £250 Passive listening Yes Folding Yes Rechargeable Yes Battery life 30 hours Cable length 1.2m Weight 150g Polk Ultrafocus 8000 £260 Passive listening No Folding No Rechargeable No Battery life 60 hours Cable length 1.4m Weight 340g PSB M4U2 £250 Passive listening Yes Folding Yes Rechargeable No Battery life 60 hours Cable length 1.5m Weight 362g Soul Jet Pro £250 Passive listening Yes Folding No Rechargeable No Battery life 35 hours Cable length 1.2m Weight 252g…

Aesthetix Janus Signature/Atlas Stereo Signature Preamp/power amp combination £10,000/£10,000 It may surprise many readers to know there’s no shortage of pre/power combinations that cost £20,000. They come in all shapes and sizes, with power outputs that vary from single digits to kilowatts. We’ve heard many of them over the years and, in our view, this Aesthetix pre/power combo is one of the very best. We’re reviewing the Signature version of each product. These retrofittable upgrades add £3300 to the standard Janus preamp’s price and attract a £2000 premium for the Atlas stereo power amplifier. That additional money buys a host of improved components and results in a notably more transparent and detailed sound. The standard pre- and power are great but, if you can stretch to them, the Signatures versions…

Welcome to the UK’s best guide to TVs, hi-fi, home cinema and mobile, with star ratings for more than 1500 products. Where other magazines rely on isolated writers reviewing in a range of locations, our star ratings are decided by an expert team of reviewers working together, in a state-of-the-art testing facility. Within this guide you’ll find all our favourite four- and five-star products – including Award-winners – to help you pick the best kit for your budget.…

Room for a view? Projectors take up less room real-estate than a big TV, but they need a certain distance, or ‘throw’, to work. Those specs and ratios are always quoted, but you still need to do the calculations to figure out exactly how much is required. Dark matters While it’s possible to watch a projected image in daylight, most projectors work best in darkened rooms. Thick curtains or blackout blinds are worthy investments if you’re looking for that immersive cinema feel. Put it in its place Ideally a ‘fixed’ projector installation using a dedicated shelf or ceiling bracket works best. The same applies to your screen – a fixed install is always ready to go. A white wall simply won’t do, so invest in a purpose-built electric or manual…

Full-size- Traditional cabinet design that’s big but can deliver a great sound Style- Compact speakers that make a lot of sense in smaller living spaces Bipole/Dipole- Surround speaker designs that give a more cohesive soundfield The shortlist Q Acoustics 2000i 5.1 Awards 2014: Best Traditional Pack up to £700 “We simply can’t find a rival (trust us, we’ve looked) that even comes close to the Q Acoustics’ performance-per-pound offering.” Dali Zensor 1 5.1 Awards 2014: Best Traditional Pack £700-£1500 “Whether it’s with music or movies, the Zensor 1 5.1 produces a stunning sound. That’s £1000 well spent, we say.” Monitor Audio Radius R90HT1 Awards 2014: Best Style package £1400-£1800 “You have a package that blends nicely. With price, performance and practicality on its side, the Radius ticks all the boxes.”…

Standmounters- Usually smaller speakers that need to be put on a stand, not bookshelves Floorstanders- Larger speakers that tend to go louder and deeper than standmounters Powered- Have built-in amplifiers and need mains power to work Our recommendations SPEAKERS continued SPEAKERS continued “In true Italian fashion, the Mezzas look super-smart and are dressed to impress. Sonically, they’re steady as opposed to stunning, but there’s still plenty to admire”April 2013 SPEAKERS continued SPEAKERS continued…

Use your ears for cable management Fed up with hearing your footsteps and the rustle of your clothes through your earbuds? Try running the cable over the top of your ear before putting the earphone in. Some models won’t fit like this, but most will and many, such as the Shure SE425s, are designed specifically to do so. That way you’ll significantly reduce the amount of noise carried up the cable. Don’t dismiss four-star kit In this buying guide we only include kit rated four stars or higher, but that doesn’t mean you should always go for the highest-rated option. Your specific needs, whether it’s the scale and dynamism required for classical music or the low-end control that DJs demand, might be better met by a four-star amp than a…

For those of us that consider themselves a music lover, albeit to different degrees, we are part of a very fortunate generation. We now have access to an ever-growing wealth of recorded music of extraordinary range and depth, effectively accumulated over the last 60 years. With the introduction of the microgroove LP record in the early 1950's, playback quality took a quantum leap forward and this also coincided with a far higher standard of recording techniques. Although further improvements have been made over the years, this was a watershed time that first introduced hi-fi as a reality. We now have literally millions of recorded music tracks available to us in all genres and many different formats. One trend over recent years, however, has been to deliberately downgrade the quality in…

Wharfedale Diamond 230 First test p11 “The 230s are diamonds in more ways than one - they’re fantastic, affordable floorstanders” Andy Madden Reviews editor B&W 685 S2 Supertest p28 “These terrific speakers continue to dominate, with superb detail, dynamics and punch making them one of our all-time favourites” Kashfia Kabir Multimedia journalist UE Megaboom First test p18 “Great sound. Tough as nails. What more do you need from a portable speaker?” Ced Yuen Staff writer Pioneer BDP-LX58 First test p16 “Not feature-laden, but a spectacular performer well worth the handsome asking price” Becky Roberts Staff writer Ruark R1 Mk3 First test p15 “With new features, a better design and an improved audio performance, the dinky R1 is a more compelling buy than ever” Verity Burns Multimedia editor Aesthetic Janus Signature/…

Our first experience of the Wharfedale Diamond 200 series was encouraging. The 220 standmounters, we decided, are the best-sounding budget speakers around – so much so that we gave them an Award. No pressure, then, for the Diamond 230s, the compact floorstanders of Wharfedale’s entry-level range. Will they be a resounding success like their siblings, or the black sheep of the family? The results are in – and these are great floorstanders for the money. First things first, you want to give them a good run-in. Fresh from the box, you won’t get anything remotely representative of their potential. Give them at least a day. We left them running for a weekend. At which point, anything more than a cursory listen should lead to the suspicion that these are five-star…

For years, Ruark’s R1 series radio has been one of those products that just works. Its gorgeous design makes it ready to fit into even the most stylish of homes, while its performance and usability has helped to secure it Award after Award. However, 2012 was the last time we saw it in our winners’ list, so when we heard Ruark was releasing an improved third generation of its desirably dinky radio, we were intrigued to find out what was in store. Same again, but better There hasn’t been too much change to the design we know and love. It’s still a small, single-speaker design, finished in your choice of walnut, black or white (though the last two are now matt instead of shiny), with all controls placed on the…

1 Geneva Model Cinema £550 Want a soundbase that benefits from minimalist Scandinavian design? The Model Cinema might be for you. It’s Geneva’s first Tc soundbase and features DSP technology, Bluetooth streaming, and analogue and digital inputs. Geneva has turned out some excellent wireless speakers, so this is one to watch. http://whf.cm/ModelCinema 2 Epson EH-LS10000 £tbc Another first, this time from Epson. The LS10000 is the company’s debut laser projector. It features Ultra HD 4K “enhancement technology” and claims to deliver Epson’s widest colour gamut yet. It comes with a long-life light source of up to 30,000 hours, is 3D-ready and can power-up and project an image in just 20 seconds. More details online: http://whf.cm/Epson4K 3 Q Acoustics 3000 Series from £140 The new 3000 Series sits alongside the existing…

In the market for a new TV? Allow us to guide you through all the new features and killer tech that’s coming to a TV near you in 2015... Sony New for 2015: Android TV, YouView, hi-res audio, ultra-thin design Sony’s TVs are coming out fighting in 2015. For starters, all sets will run on the Android TV platform, promising a cleverer user experience, new menu system and smarter integration with mobile devices. We’ve experienced Android TV first-hand and the initial signs are promising. The voice search function seems a big step up from what we’ve experienced on rival platforms. Eyebrows were also raised at Sony’s promise to equip certain TV ranges with YouView. Launched in 2012, this catch-up and TV-on-demand service has many admirers, and could be a shrewd…

THE WINNER Bose QC25 £270 If you’re in the market for a pair of noise-cancelling headphones, you’ll be looking for the right combination of sound quality, noise cancelling prowess and portability. For us, that’s exactly what makes the Bose QuietComfort 25s so good. We loved their predecessors and these are better in every way, offering a wonderfully balanced, easy-listening sound and astonishingly good noise cancellation. They make five stars look easy. Joining them in five-star glory are the PSB M4U2s. Their balance is more upfront than the QC25s, with plenty of low-end punch, and their flexibility with noise cancelling is a nice touch. They are nicely portable, too. At four stars we have the re-imagined Beats Studio and Polk Audio’s UltraFocus 8000. While neither will be for audio purists, the…

Home cinema amp Sony STR-DN1050 £500 Incredible value, this home cinema powerhouse has pretty much all the features and ability you need. Speaker package Dali Zensor 1 5.1 £980 This Award-winning package is as entertaining as it is insightful, delivering plenty of punch and drama. Superb. Blu-ray player Sony BDP-S7200 £220 Apart from a stunning picture, this Sony will give you smarts, and high-res music support too. Total build from £3100…

Aesthetix has taken great care with the circuit layout on these products. Both the Janus (left) and Atlas (above) feature shielding over their power-supply sections. That’s the silver metal cover you can see in the photos. This reduces the adverse effect of any electromagnetic radiation generated by the supply affecting the delicate low-level signals in the audio circuits. The result should be a purer sound. You’ll also notice the symmetrical circuit layouts, more obvious in the preamp, to maximise stereo imaging and the use of valves in both products. We reckon the better-quality components of these Signature editions are worthwhile provided your system is talented enough.…

Join us on Spotify whf.cm/playlist15 Henry Thomas: Bull Doze Blues Recordings from the late ’20s are short on fidelity, but Bull Doze Blues is an evocative listen. You already know some of it. Michael Jackson: Off The Wall An exquisite Quincy Jones production job, allied to possibly the most joyful and abandoned vocal Jackson ever delivered. Irresistible. Steve Lawler: House Record Straight outta Birmingham, Steve Lawler (or King of Space to you) never strays far from his template. So you know what you’re getting here. Joey Bada$$: Paper Trail$ After three acclaimed mixtapes, Joey Bada$$ released his debut album on 20th January 2015, which was also his 20th birthday. Sickening, really.…

LCD- Once only in smaller screens; now the most common type of panel LED- This refers to the kind of backlighting used on an LCD panel OLED- An ultra-thin screen that’s commonly used in curved TVs The shortlist Sony KDL-32W706B Awards 2014: Best 32in TV “With an attentive, punchy picture, decently detailed sound and a smattering of features, the KDL-32W706B is the full works with all the trimmings of a well-designed telly.” Samsung UE48H6400 Awards 2014: Best 47-52in TV “Sharp, clear and full of subtle detail that’s impressive at this mid-range price, the Samsung ‘6400’s picture hooked us in from the minute we turned it on.” Samsung UE55HU7500 Awards 2014: Best 52-60in TV “We’re very impressed by the UR55HU7500. It looks great across all resolutions and it has plenty of…

Up-to-£500- Well-equipped and delivers convincing surround sound £500-£1000- There are gains in features, build quality and sonic performance £1000+- Real powerhouses that pack loads of features and cinema-style sound The shortlist Yamaha RX-V377 Awards 2014: Best home cinema amp up to £350 “The RX-V377 isn’t revolutionary, yet Yamaha doesn’t rest upon its laurels – this is a hugely capable budget receiver.” Sony STR-DN1050 Awards 2014: Best home cinema amp £350-£700 “Following the success of the STR-DN1040 was never going to be an easy task, but Sony has undoubtedly managed it.” Pioneer SC-LX58 Awards 2014: Best home cinema amp £700-£1500 “To sum up, we love the Pioneer SC-LX58. What’s not to like? Pioneer has taken last year’s champ and made it even better.” Also consider…

Do I need rear speakers? What do rear speakers do, exactly? Well, with the advent of discrete 5.1 surround sound in 1992, sound designers gained the ability to place specfic effects into either the left or right rear speaker. Unlike older systems that relied on a mono rear channel of sound, such as Dolby Surround, the rear channels are given more to do instead of the same signal being shared between multiple surround speakers. Sound steering was better as the sound matched what was on screen more precisely. Should I use hi-fi speakers? Positioning can be a bit awkward if you have a large rear speaker. Place it too close and a headache may ensue. Hide it in a corner and performance will be diminished. Hi-fi speakers are designed to…

Ear-tips- Most in-ears come with these. Experiment with size to get the best fit In-line-remote- Mostly for Apple devices, but Android-friendly units are increasing. Handy… The shortlist AKG Y50 Awards 2014: Best portable on-ears up to £100 “Excelling in sound and style, the Y50s are a promising start for AKT’s latest range.” Philips M1MKII Awards 2014: Best portable on-ears £100-£200 “If you have just under £200 to spend on a pair of portable on-ear headphones, this is a most worthy candidate.” Beyerdynamic T51i Awards 2014: Best portable on-ears £200-£300 “They’re easily some of the best portable on-ear headphones we’ve heard at this price. ” Also consider HEADPHONES continued HEADPHONES continued HEADPHONES continued…

Android- Offers great flexibility and innovation Apple-iOS- Fantastic ease of use; massive choice of quality apps Windows- New kid on the block. Watch this space The shortlist Apple iPad Air 2 “Apple has done it again. This is the iPad to beat all iPads, and is still the best tablet on the market.” Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact “The Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact is an excellent addition to the Z3 family, offering a great video experience, a superb way with music and a startlingly good battery life.” Apple iPad mini 3 “The iPad mini 3 is as strong in video and audio as ever, and packs a level of design and performance you can’t argue with.” Also consider…

SOUTH Ashford, Kent SOUNDCRAFT HI-FI 40 High Street. t: 01233 624441 www.soundcrafthifi.com Chelmsford RAYLEIGH HI-FI SOUND & VISION 216 Moulsham Street. t: 01245 265245 www.rayleighhifi.com Kingston-upon-Thames INFIDELITY 9 High Street, Hampton Wick. t: 020 8943 3530 www.infidelity.co.uk Maidenhead AUDIO VENUE 36 Queen Street. t: 01628 633995 www.audiovenue.com Norwich MARTINS HI-FI 85-91 Ber Street. t: 01603 627134 www.martinshifi.co.uk Rayleigh RAYLEIGH HI-FI 44a High Street. t: 01268 779762 www.rayleighhifi.com Southend-on-Sea RAYLEIGH HI-FI SOUND & VISION 132/4 London Road. t: 01702 435255 www.rayleighhifi.com LONDON Ealing AUDIO VENUE 27 Bond Street. t: 020 8567 8703 www.audiovenue.com N1 GRAHAMS  HI-FI 190a New North Road. t: 020 7226 5500 www.grahams.co.uk SW11 ORANGES & LEMONS 61/63 Webbs Road. t: 020 7924 2040 www.oandlhifi.co.uk SOUTH WEST Bath AUDIENCE 14 Broad Street. t: 01225 333310 www.audience.org.uk Exeter GULLIFORD HI-FI…

Bang & Olufsen is a brand we sometimes struggle with here at What Hi-Fi? The Danish company usually produces beautiful products that sound good, but we worry that, on occasion, people are paying a little too much for the style they’re buying, rather than the right amount for the sound quality on offer. So the star rating can suffer – after all, we’re all about sound per pound. Quality kit, superior sound With the Bang & Olufsen BeoPlay H2, we have no such worries. These are fine headphones that easily compete on sound terms with their price and sector rivals. That they are also a beautiful example of the legendary Bang & Olufsen style and quality is a rather nice added bonus. That feeling of quality hits us as soon…

Philips Tc announcements are scheduled for the 16th March 2015. Early indications are that virtually all Philips screens will, like Sony, run with the Android Tc platform. Philips also promises a revamped user interface and, of course, its Ambilight tech. Expect the usual gamut of Full HD, 4K and curved sets. There’s a cloud of uncertainty hanging over Toshiba. In January, it announced it was ceasing sales operations in North America and licensing its Tc business to Taiwan’s Compal Electronics, citing a number of factors including a slowdown in the global market and “harsh price competition”. At the time of writing there’s been no specific news for Europe, although we’ve been reassured shops will be stocking Toshiba Tcs this year. In the latter part of 2014, Sharp announced it would…

Streaming service Tidal £20/month CD-quality streaming? We can’t get enough of it, and Tidal does it superbly, with an easy-to-use interface and extensive catalogue. Laptop Apple MacBook Pro £900 The perfect repository for high-resolutions files that the DAC can handle, and a handy means of streaming Tidal as well DAC Audioquest DragonFly £130 Stylish and portable, the DragonFly will transform your computer-stored music, uncovering more detail and insight. Total build from £1320…

ON TEST Acer H9505BD, p62 BenQ W1500, p63 Epson EH-TW6600, p64 InFocus IN5312a, p65 With flagship tellies peaking at around 75-or-so inches, the ultimate big-screen cinematic experience still comes from having a quality projector at home. For less than £1500 you can get up to 300in of picture from some of the units here – each of them new to our test rooms. Projectors remain the pinnacle for the cinema aficionado, with all the pleasures of sitting in a darkened room with your favourite film or box set running on a large screen. Today’s projector has plenty more to offer though: 3D playback seems to be standard now at this price, as are built-in speakers, multiple HDMI inputs and USB slots for media playback. We’re also…

Acer H9505BD £1300 Type DLP • Aspect ratio 16:9 • Max image size 300in • Throw ratio 1.5-2.28 • Resolution 1920 x 1080 • Rated brightness 3000lm • Fan noise 42dB • HDMI in 3 • Dimensions (hwd) 13x40x31cm • Weight 7kg BenQ W1500 £1400 Type DLP • Aspect ratio 16:9 • Max image size 300in • Throw ratio 1.07-1.71 Resolution 1920 x 1080 • Rated brightness 2200lm • Fan noise 43dB • HDMI in 2 • Dimensions 12x34x28cm • Weight 3.9kg Epson EH-TW6600 £1400 Type LCD • Aspect ratio 16:9 • Max image size 300in • Throw ratio 1.32-2.15 Resolution 1920 x 1080 • Rated brightness 2500lm • Fan noise 44dB • HDMI in 2 • Dimensions 16x41x30cm • Weight 6.7kg InFocus IN5312a £1450 Type DLP • Aspect ratio 4:3 • Max image size 217in • Throw ratio 1.6-2s • Resolution 1024 x 768 • Rated brightness 6000lm • Fan noise 49dB • HDMI in 1 • Dimensions 18x43x34cm • Weight 8.6kg…

ATC SCM40A Active stereo speakers £6280 Two things strike us when we first unpack ATC’s brand-new SCM40A floorstanders. The first is the sheer weight of the things. They pile in at 36kg each, meaning a strong, helpful friend is handy come unpacking time. It’ll avoid damage to them, and your back. Once we’ve wrestled them out of their boxes it occurs to us these may well be the best-value speakers the company makes. If the idea of a six-grand floorstander being called good value bothers you, consider that there’s no cheaper way of getting a full dose of ATC’s heavy-duty engineering and studio-proven technology. What makes ATCs different? It comes down to drive units, mostly. There are few speaker companies outside the industry giants making their own drive units. Most…

Hi-res download, CD, vinyl BJÖRK VULNICURA Out now Say what you like about Björk (people always have and always will), there’s no denying the strength of her commitment or her credentials as an artist. The clarity of her artistic vision, on the other hand, has sometimes been easier to question. Vulnicura, though, might be Björk’s most unified and coherent album since 1995’s Post. With the sole exception of History Of Touches (the sort of dislocated electronics and knowable-only-to-herself vocal melody that constituted almost all of 2011’s Biophilia), Vulnicura combines beautifully arranged and recorded strings, glitchy electronics and percussion, and eloquent use of silence. And while Björk’s vocals are as idiosyncratic as ever, lyrically there is an unprecedented level of candour here. There’s a proud tradition of break-up albums in popular…

DriveClub PlayStation 4 After a problematic launch, DriveClubhas now evolved into a confident racer with some astonishingly realistic graphics. Forza Horizon 2 Xbox One Looks great. Sounds great. Turn the music down, bump the sound effects up and rev. A sequel that’s bigger and better. Mario Kart 8 Wii U There’s nothing particularly new here, but the tweaks made help freshen and rejuvnate the latest in the Mario Kart franchise. Sunset Overdrive Xbox One A heady mix of combat and traversal gameplay, Overdriveis a terrific visual showcase for what the Xbox One is capable of. The Last of Us Remastered PlayStation 4 The finest game on the PS3 is now one of the finest on the PS4. Extra content (Left Behind DLC) makes this an essential purchase.…

Onkyo Remote Compatible with Onkyo releases between 2010 and 2014, this app gives the user a clean, navigable interface, with easy streaming from online services and connected devices. Pioneer iControlAV5 Updated for 2015, iControAV5 has features such as a searchable music list, remote control and EQ settings. It’s also backwards compatible with amps dating back to 2012. Yamaha AV controller Yamaha’s app has a stark, unfussy interface but offers options for tweaking levels, selecting sound modes and changing inputs. Decent, simple remote, too.…

Integrated- Has both a CD mechanism and digital-to-analogue conversion tech Transport- Needs an outboard DAC but can deliver a higher standard of sound The shortlist Marantz CD6005 Awards 2014: Best CD Player up to £500 Cyrus CDi Awards 2014: Best CD Player £500-£1500 Roksan Caspian M2 CD Awards 2014: Best CD Player £1500+ Also consider “There’s no denying that the Primare CD32 is a polished performer, particularly with CDs. If an information-over-entertainment balance appeals, give it a listen”April 2011…

One-box speaker systems that include amplification, and are a great alternative to a full-on home cinema package if you don’t have much space. Soundbases have emerged as alternatives in the market, a one-box unit that can sit beneath and support your television. The shortlist Philips HTL5140 Awards 2014: Best soundbar up to £300 Q Acoustics Media 4 Awards 2014: Best soundbar £300 to £600 Yamaha YSP-2500 Awards 2014: Best soundbar £600+ Also consider SOUNDBARS/SOUNDBASES continued…

Android- Offers great flexibility and innovation Apple-iOS- Fantastic ease of use; massive choice of quality apps Windows- New kid on the block. Watch this space The shortlist Apple iPhone 6 Awards 2014: Best phone up to 5in “It’s fair to say we’re quite taken with the iPhone 6. While it might not break any new ground when it comes to specification, its performance is one that’s hard to fault.” Sony Xperia Z3 Awards 2014: Best phone 5in+ “It takes everything we loved from the Z2 and makes it better, while refining the bits we didn’t like so much in the process. The Xperia Z3 is the Sony smartphone we’ve been waiting for.” Samsung Galaxy Note 4 12.14 Troup Test “Yes it’s big, but if you’re interested in it, you already…

We all want more from our home entertainment. standard TV sound is poor. standard bundled headphones are rubbish. And that flimsy standard speaker cable? That’s really rubbish. you deserve better – and members of The Clarity Alliance can help you find the right answers. te’re the only independent retailers who are trained to industry-agreed standards to give unparalleled levels of product advice and service. Take your time and relax in dedicated listening rooms, try a variety of equipment and music, audition and study each item, see how it makes you feel. Find the right one and it’s like listening in colour… WHAT WE OFFER... Free geek time, impartial and honest advice Transferrable warranty - the freedom to move Listen in great demo facilities Knowledgeable, enthusiastic staff Awful coffee - but…