Innehållsförteckning för Yearbook 2024 från Hi-Fi Choice

All-new product ranges from Arcam do not happen terribly often. It has been six years since the HDA series appeared and this counts as one of the shorter lifespans of one of these generations of product. Each time the company has seen fit to update the range, it’s been in response to changes in the market and how we assemble audio systems. The Radia series is intended to reflect the current state of play. The A25 – the flagship of the three integrated amps in the new range – features a thoroughly modern set of connections. Three line-level RCA inputs, plus a moving-magnet phono stage. This latter connection is something that Arcam has always fitted and that, over the course of the time the company has been building integrated amps,…

PrimaLuna founder Herman van den Dungen knows that buyers in this market want reliable, user-friendly products that are also tweakable. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the EVO 200 integrated epitomises this, by offering lots of sound-per-pound, plus a variety of options. It comes supplied with EL34 power valves as standard, which is a tube famous for its sweet sound – although KT88, KT120 or KT150 can be used thanks to the amp’s Adaptive AutoBias circuit. There’s a surprising amount of detail here, but what counts is its excellent soundstage It puts out an impressive quoted 44W RMS per channel with EL34s (or 45W with KT88s), meaning that it’s far less speaker sensitive than most valve amps, including the Synthesis Roma 96DC+ (HFC 519). Although not quite as petite as the Roma, it is…

As the most affordable model in the Cyrus range, the Classic PRE replaces both the 6 and 8 Series options that preceded it. Built into the standard Cyrus half-width casework, it is narrow but relatively deep at the same time. The reduced rear panel space doesn’t really restrict the functionality on offer, though. Four RCA line inputs are supported by an MM phono stage that, like the Classic AMP (HFC 506) from the same range, is derived from the truly magnificent Phono Signature (HFC 408) standalone phono stage. These analogue connections are joined by four digital inputs: two optical and two coaxial that have a maximum supported sample rate of 24-bit/192kHz. There is no USB input (you will need to spring for the more expensive XR preamp for that) and…

There is still something faintly remarkable in the idea that Pro-Ject – skilled manufacturer of both affordable and more premium turntables – has developed the range of electronics that it has, but the Pre Box RS2 Digital is an elegant demonstration of the scope of the company’s ambitions. Essentially, this is a DAC/preamp of the type that has come to dominate most price points. It has a USB, two optical, one coaxial and an i2s input (the latter being of more than abstract interest as Pro-Ject is one of the few companies to make a device with matching output – a CD transport) as well as Bluetooth connectivity. Decoding is via a pair of ESS9038Q2M DACs and sample rates of up to 768kHz PCM and DSD512 are supported. This is…

Having forked out over £19-grand on it, sawing Electrocompaniet’s AW 800 M power amp in half is probably not advisable. However, doing so will bring some advantages. Not only do you get even better channel separation from dividing the amp right back to the mains socket, but the resulting monoblock amps should hopefully be more manageable than the stereo option. It may not be huge, but the 800’s 55kg mass puts unpacking and placing it firmly in ‘phone a friend’ territory. Well, it’s time to stop musing: “What if…”, as the AW 300 M is, to all intents and purposes, a ready-sliced AW 800 M. The rated output is the same and the dimensions are roughly half that of the stereo amp, while the price per brace is only slightly…

When the EVO turntable was launched, it was the top of the Debut tree. Since then, the PRO has appeared (HFC 487, recently updated to the PRO B with hardware to allow it to run balanced), which takes on that role, making the EVO 2 the second tier of the range. This means there is a whole new level of Debut parts and the EVO 2 borrows liberally from the outgoing PRO to beef up its spec. One key area where this has happened is the platter. The EVO 2 gains the TPE damped aluminium platter that first appeared in the PRO. The arm has also seen trickle-down from the PRO. The bearing housing is also lifted from there and is more substantial than it was previously. The EVO 2…

Positioned as the entry-level phono stage from the UK’s AVID HIFI, Pellar is directly related to the more expensive Pulsus and has a common optimised internal circuit design intended to minimise hum and noise while maximising signal headroom. It supports both moving-magnet and coil cartridges with different output levels, and has a black painted metal case. The front sports a mains on/off switch, while the rear has an IEC mains socket for the power, earth binding post and six RCA phono sockets – two for output, two for in and two for applying load impedance for MC carts. The appropriate gain is selected via a group of four on/off switches situated on the underside. The switches are arranged in two sections corresponding to left and right channels, and both sections…

Positioned as the starting point of Grado’s Timbre series, the Opus3 follows the same fundamental construction and aesthetic that the company uses all the way up to its £10,800 Epoch flagship. It represents the most affordable way of buying into the company’s ‘made of wood’ philosophy and has been developed to reduce the cost of doing so. This is the only Grado cartridge to be made of maple and the body is a simpler shape than more expensive options. The Opus3 uses an elliptical stylus on an aluminium cantilever and the generator is partially visible at the bottom of the wooden housing. This cartridge additionally comes as either a 1.0mV low-output, 4.0mV highoutput or mono version. The Grado looks rather different to anything else on the market too, but actually…

In our high-output phono cartridges Group Test (HFC 503), the winner was the moving-magnet Sabre from Vertere. Building on the success of this product, the company has gone on to produce the new Dark Sabre. Founder and chief designer, Touraj Moghaddam, says it offers significant improvements over its predecessor, the approach to design harking back to first principles, but his products benefit from years of experimentation and experience. As with the XtraX, the company’s premium moving-coil cartridge, the Dark Sabre is now fitted with a single crystal, nude micro elliptical diamond and dual aluminium telescopic cantilever to offer significant improvements on the Sabre’s diamond glued into an aluminium tube. The square shank diamond assembly maximises alignment precision, consistency and rigidity. The telescopic aluminium tube cantilever utilises two different aluminium materials…

Pro-Ject has made the realm of ‘affordable audiophile’ hi-fi its very own. Its range of ‘Box’ components offers great functionality in a compact case and the DAC Box RS2 personifies this. It’s highly specified, has a welter of features and boasts a pleasingly affordable price tag. The only way to accommodate this product’s generous feature set is by the provision of a large backlit LC display – which happens to match the company’s CD Box RS2, by the way. A neat aluminium remote control unit is supplied, or you can use the fascia buttons to navigate its menu system. Among other things, this lets you select any of the eight digital filters – we find that the ‘Apodizing Fast Filter’ works best – or toggle the built-in 6922 tube output…

With streaming now forming such an integral part of how we consume digital audio, it is easy to forget that it wasn’t so long ago that it was a very novel concept and that many aspects of the basic hardware we now take for granted were far from decided at the time. The idea that streamers could also be capable preamps is becoming increasingly common – something that was an innovative idea when the original Stream Magic 6 was first launched. The CXN100 can trace its ancestry back to the original Stream Magic 6, via v2 versions and the subsequent CXN (HFC 399). Throughout that time, the core functionality has remained admirably consistent. This is a network audio player that also offers digital inputs and outputs available as both fixed…

As with any hi-fi component, when it comes to buying loudspeakers the most tempting urge is to simply get the best-looking, biggest and most-expensive option that your budget will allow. While sometimes this approach can come up trumps, it’s never really that simple and a little research and a lot of auditioning is the smart way to go. Plus you’ll also need to consider other factors such as the size and shape of your listening room, where your speakers will be placed and the other components you’ll be partnering them with. But hold that thought, first it’s time for a history lesson… Back in the beginnings of home audio, horn loudspeakers were made for use with radios and were usually separate from the radio itself. This was a derivative of…

Everything about the KEF Reference 1 Meta is deeply reassuring. Reassuringly expensive, of course. Reassuringly deep, too – as deep as the ‘long body’ EgglestonWorks opposite, no rakish fastback angles required. It looks like a proper, no-nonsense speaker with square corners, perfectly flat panels and forward-facing drivers. One – well, two – make up KEF’s UniQ concentric mid/tweeter array, now de-coupled from the cabinet and fully re-fettled for the updated Reference 1 that also gets Meta, KEF’s Metamaterial Absorption Technology (MAT). A round coaster-sized, maze-like structure that sits just behind the tweeter to absorb unwanted sound radiated from the back of the 25mm aluminium tweeter dome, MAT’s presence is intended to kill distortion and allow a cleaner, clearer output, and experience suggests it does just that with one possible caveat,…

Despite Quad being an acronym for ‘Quality Unit Amplifier Domestic’, this historic British brand was making speakers very early on in its history. Readers may have heard of the ESL-57 electrostatic and its many descendants. The Revela 1 is the latest in a long line of speakers and indeed the company’s first new design for seven years. It comes with a floorstanding sibling unsurprisingly called the Revela 2, by the way. A big and comparatively expensive design, its standout feature is its 27 x 60mm true ribbon tweeter; not quite the same as an electrostatic panel, but the aim is identical. With any speaker, the lighter the drive unit is, the better it should sound. Its ribbon of thin aluminium foil sits in a high-strength magnetic field and makes sound…

Even in exalted company, the LS60 Wireless looks like it’s landed from a more exotic high-end tier, impossibly slender with a distinctive driver configuration lifted from KEF’s £22,500 Blade Two Meta and a pristine look of such pure, clean elegance, some might even prefer it to the Blade’s more extravagant curves. Naturally, and as with the Blade Two Meta, a Uni-Q unit (12th gen) takes centre stage. It’s the only driver facing the listener. What’s more, it’s bespoke to the LS60, teaming a 100mm aluminium diaphragm for the midband with a concentrically mounted 19mm vented aluminium dome tweeter, making it the smallest Uni-Q the company has ever produced. Bass is fired sideways from either side of the enclosure by KEF’s Uni-Core driver array tech, first seen in its dinky KC62…

In case you’re thinking, as we were, that French speaker maker Triangle is a little late to the affordable wireless standmount scene with its Borea BR02 Connect and BR03 Connect, you’d be forgetting that a couple of years ago, the Borea BR02 and BR03 BT were already testing the water and making waves. The updated Connect replacements stick with Bluetooth rather than a wi-fi network as the streaming medium, but throw in a few more connectivity options (mostly TV related) to keep up with the ever more demanding audience. It’s the smaller and less powerful Borea BR02 Connect on review here – an intriguing lower-priced powered alternative to Klipsch’s true active The Sevens (HFC 517 and overleaf), which did so well in our active wireless speaker roundup. Like the Klipsch,…

Bose’s QuietComfort range has long been recognised for its ability to combine excellent sound quality with market-leading noise cancelling, and it recently upped the ante once more with this new flagship offering. Of course, that quality comes at a cost with the QC Ultra one of the more expensive offerings on the market. Available in a choice of four tasteful colour options, it has a slightly more streamlined design than predecessors, with fewer button controls and visible seams on the earpieces. The plastic armatures don’t seem as sturdy as we might expect at the price, but that’s probably out of a desire to keep the weight down. The thickly padded earpieces and headband feel surprisingly light and comfortable. To preserve the sleek profile, Bose opts for a touch-sensitive volume slider…

Referring to ‘Personalised Listening’, rather than having anything to do with oysters, Denon’s PerL Pro earbuds employ Masimo AAT adaptive acoustic technology, which uses the built-in microphones to scan your ear canal and create a sound profile to suit each individual user. Previous Denon buds have looked very similar to Apple’s AirPods, with a thin stalk that hangs down from the ear. However, the PerL Pro adopts a new design with larger earpieces and a circular outer section. We find the larger earpieces more tricky to get a good fit, but different sizes of rubber ear-tips, one set of memory foam and two sets of rubber ‘wings’ which fit into the outer ear, certainly help. The new outer chassis also means there’s room for a decent battery, and eight hours…

FOLLOWING THE SUCCESS of its Minuet S RCA stereo interconnect (HFC 492), Black Rhodium has applied the same technology to improve its original Calypso. The new version is made to a much higher specification than the Minuet and benefits from some of the high-end technology the company developed for its Charleston speaker cable. The Calypso S is fitted with the Graham Nalty GN4 rhodium-plated plugs with their ‘straight line contact’ return conductor. After installing the Calypso S interconnect between the preamp and monoblock power amps, we start auditioning with a copy-master tape of Lyn Stanley’s Moonlight In Vermont. The vocals are beautifully balanced with the orchestra, while the piano in particular is clear but never over powers the vocals. The bass is tight and punchy, and the imaging of all…

Squelching alongside a canal in Banbury might not sound like the ideal way to spend your day off, but don’t turn your nose up just yet. The prize at the muddy end of this rainbow is a record shop full of gold. The revamped Strummer Room Records is based in Cherwell Business Village, a gigantic converted Thirties laboratory building, a half hour stroll along said canal or five-minute drive from Banbury’s centre. The business has had several homes over its lifetime. “It started in October 2018”, says Chris Oakes, vinyl aficionado, punk disciple, and owner of Strummer Room. “We rented a space on the top floor of an antique centre in Banbury’s old town. Due to its eventual relocation, we took on a vacant shop unit just up the road…

One of the fascinating aspects of the Taylor Swift phenomenon, as her Eras tour makes its triumphant way around the globe, is the claim that it is bridging the generation gap and the parents of her fans have taken her songs to heart every bit as completely as their teens and tweens. To those of us who grew up on the notion of pop music as the soundtrack to youthful rebellion, this seems decidedly odd. If I were a teenager right now I would very quickly find some new idol if my parents announced themselves as ‘Swifties’. Yet it seems it’s just not like that anymore. Two of the most popular items at the merch stands at the superstar’s concerts are apparently t-shirts bearing the legends #SwiftieDad and #SwiftieMom. Entire…

Just because you like the taste of chicken and think that custard is delicious doesn’t mean that they will go together well in a sandwich. And the world of hi-fi is no different. When it comes to system building, it’s not quite as simple as picking any old integrated and hooking it up to the biggest, loudest speakers you can find. In short, you’ll never get the best out of your amp if you’re forcing it to huff and puff driving unsuitable speakers, and neither will you hear your speakers sing with an amplifier that was chosen without due thought and consideration as to whether or not it can drive them properly. To get the synergy right between the two you need to consider the physics. Speakers are transducers that…

While students of hi-fi history will tell you the Seventies shaped today’s audiophile scene, it’s just as valid to claim that the Eighties was specialist audio’s equivalent of year zero. This decade saw the emergence of some great mainstream companies, including Musical Fidelity – and the product that put it on the map was the aptly named A1. Launched in 1985, this compact but striking-looking Class A amplifier was the antithesis of what was then popular. British brands Linn and Naim were very strong, and had supportive media backing. Their products had a distinctive sound based around the latter’s bright (and sometimes brash) Class AB solid-state amplification. It was fun for sure, but delicate or accurate it was not. The A1’s sound was almost the opposite; super-sweet, soft and beguiling…

Best know for its turntables, Rega Research’s range of electronics and speakers followed many years after the launch of the original Planet record player in 1975. Surprisingly perhaps, considering that designing amplifiers requires a very different skill set, the company has done very well with its electronics. The Aethos is its latest mid-market integrated offering and is based loosely on the Elicit-R (HFC 374), but with a claimed 125W per side as opposed to 105W. It’s one of the most minimalist designs going, with only Sugden’s A21 SE Signature (HFC 519) coming close in the ‘less is more’ stakes. This is because it eschews DACs, streaming and Bluetooth. You don’t even get a phono stage. There are five line inputs, plus a tape loop and power amp in and preamp…

In a world where some ‘preamps’ are equally comfortable taking on other roles, the 3510 sits as an absolutely traditional allanalogue offering. The successor to the long-running and highly regarded 3010, the 3510 doesn’t really seek to change the basic recipe, only to improve in some key areas. It has five RCA inputs supported by a tape loop and outputs to two sets of RCA preouts; you’ll need to look at the slightly more expensive 5010 pre for an XLR preout. The second set of RCAs is useful because it ensures the Exposure can integrate subwoofer setups fairly easily. It combines supreme accuracy with hugely appealing sweetness and musicality Neither is it quite as bare bones as it first appears. Customers have the option of very good MM and MC…

Being presented with a Marantz CD player and amplifier in 2024 feels unrepentantly nostalgic, but also slightly curious. We’ve reached the point where many integrated amplifiers at this price point are all-in-one systems in all but name and while the death of CD is overstated, it is a format best seen as ‘mature’. Nostalgia is one thing, but do the MODEL 50 and CD 50n make any sense in an age of streaming? Look a little closer, however, and it quickly becomes apparent that this pair is less simple than it first appears. While it’s a CD player at the front, the CD 50n is also a well-specified digital hub that has HEOS (the Marantz and Denon streaming module) built in, allowing it to read a local library of ripped…

Arguably one of the main joys of owning and using a turntable over, say, a streamer or CD player, is the fettling and fine-tuning that starts from the minute you remove it from its box. Whether setting up for the first time or making subtle adjustments, the journey you take with your vinyl spinner is a constantly evolving one that rewards the effort you’re willing to put in with an increasingly improving performance. As with all things hi-fi, the process might appear initially daunting, but with some care and plenty of patience you’ll quickly discover that this is not as difficult as you might imagine and there is a wide selection of inexpensive accessories available to help. Your very first consideration after removing your sparkling new turntable from its packaging…

After decades of selling its Planar 2 and 3 models, Rega began to expand its range of popular budget turntables 20 or so years ago. The Planar 1 gives much of the quality of the 2 for less money and with a bundled cartridge. And now the Planar 1 Plus adds a built-in MM phono stage. As a fully manual deck that requires cueing, it’s not as easy as the Rekkord (overleaf) to operate. This is a very well made turntable, although not quite up to the level of the Kestrel (p40). Rega has grown to become something of a master of using inexpensive materials smartly to give a high-quality feel – and more importantly – sound. The base is MDF, with holes cut out for the motor, bearing and…

As part of its range refinement, Cyrus has opted to condense its lineup and one of the products that has been cut as a result is the Phono Signature phono stage; a device I reviewed all the way back in HFC 408 and liked so much, I purchased there and then, and continue to use. The replacement Classic PHONO induces more than a little déjà vu upon first glance. This is because its core functionality is exactly the same. This is a movingmagnet and moving-coil phono stage that supports four gain options of 40 through 70dB and has adjustable impedance and capacitance combined with a rumble filter. The range of adjustment should handle all but the most unusual cartridges without issue. The circuit itself uses metalised polyester capacitors in key…

Some audio products are built for such a long period of time, you begin to assume that will be the case indefinitely. Rega’s trio of moving-magnet cartridges; the Bias, Elys and Exact (HFC 467) have been part of the audio landscape for decades and a mainstay of thousands of Rega turntables. The decision to replace them comes as something of a surprise, but the wait makes more sense once you realise the technology on which they are based is all new. The Nd models are – according to Rega at least – the first such design to use a neodymium magnet, which is the most powerful commercially available type. If there’s one thing that Rega has learnt from working with moving coils, it’s that the smaller the moving mass at…

Handling and looking at the Degritter Mark II, thoughts of removing detritus from records, initially at least, are overpowered by luxury goods lust. We’re downtown in Smeg, Dualit, Kitchen Aid, Fracino country here, sleek design and lifestyle compatibility stoking desire more immediately than functional span and efficiency. It’s partly why the Degritter costs as much as a fine turntable. Other reasons are hung on the claim that in a market populated by noisy, messy, labour-intensive record cleaning machines (RCM), it works painlessly, automatically, quietly and, thanks to its advanced ultrasonic tech, with spotless efficiency. Degritter’s engineers have even spent time perfecting ‘knob and button feel’, a pursuit more usually obsessed over by high-end amplifier makers. At the heart of the Degritter Mark II is its ultrasonic engine which consists of…

Musical Fidelity’s Digilog DAC was an early design that shared the limelight with the now-legendary Arcam Black Box in the late-Eighties, it offered 16-bit/48kHz digital conversion and few other features. In direct contrast, the M6x DAC has a welter of inputs and outputs, plus number crunching up to 32-bit/768kHz PCM and DSD512 through the USB port and up to 24-bit/192kHz via the optical and AES/EBU inputs – plus MQA decoding. The M6x DAC brings with it a sense of being more engulfed in the music There is no network functionality. Musical Fidelity is now owned and run by Pro-Ject’s Heinz Lichtenegger, who argues that the M6x DAC gives the best possible sound at the price, thanks to its purist design. To this end, two ES9038Q2M DAC chips running in dual…

Starting out as an impenetrably complicated offshoot of computer audio, streaming has evolved into a buoyant product sector with a wide selection of easy-to-use players and music management tools to help integrate networked digital audio into our setups, regardless of whether you’re an audiophile or novice. The supporting infrastructure that allows streamed audio to deliver on the promises of sound quality and convenience has made major progress with lossless and hi-res audio streams and downloads readily available. Home networked storage can handle large music libraries and are smarter and easier to use than ever, with serious hi-fi models hitting the market from pretty much every major hi-fi manufacturer to deliver an audiophile approach over many standard computer storage peripherals. While the hard drive memory required to store digital music continues…

One of the most recent fundamental changes in two-channel audio is the software. Once we had got over the initial novelty of network streamers, it became clear that beyond basic spec, what separated the wheat from the chaff was the control apps. Cyrus was relatively early into this category, but limitations in how much stretch its streaming platform had in it meant it pivoted to fitting digital inputs to its amps and preamps instead. Now it’s trying again, though rather than develop its streaming platform in house, Cyrus has licensed the BluOS operating system created by the Lenbrook Group and used across a swathe of NAD and Bluesound devices. If you have existing BluOS products working together, the Cyrus will join them and function in exactly the same way. Roon…

If there can be such a thing as a standmout speaker from out of leftfield, the Boenicke W5 from Basel, Switzerland is surely it. Ridiculously small, densely woody, absurdly cute and £5,915 in standard form (there are more expensive SE and SE+ variants also available), its inclusion here gave us a serious case of the wobbles when drawing up this cohort of loudspeaker heavy hitters. We could almost hear John McEnroe yelling the inevitable accusation – you know, the one about being serious… Understandable. The KEF Reference 1 Meta (p89) stands 440mm tall and weighs 18.2kg, only a little larger and heavier than most bookshelf models. The W5 posts 293mm and 3.5kg. An especially weedy David to take on some standmount Goliaths. When Sven Boenicke founded his eponymous company in…

One of the long-running tenets of hi-fi is ideas that appear at the top of a particular range will eventually make their way down to more terrestrial price points over time. Companies do this with varying degrees of success, but DALI’s latest attempt is notable because not only has technology from higher up the range made the trip, so has the name. The outgoing Rubicon series of speakers has been replaced with the Rubikore – reflecting an influx of thinking from the £85,000 range topper to a more sensible price point. The new series comprises a pair of floorstanders – the standmount seen here – an LCR (a speaker engineered to be both a centre speaker and also operate as a stereo pair) and an on-wall speaker intended for surround…

Monitor Audio has been going for around half a century, and began by producing classy and expensive products that catered for well-heeled audiophiles. These days, it makes a large range of modernlooking speakers bursting with clever technology. The Gold 100 uses a ribbon tweeter – what the company calls its MPD high-frequency transducer. At 2.5kHz this crosses over to the large 165mm mid/bass driver with its bespoke RDT cone design and Nomex honeycomb core with woven carbon fibre back skin. This is said to be light and well damped, yet ultra-stiff. Monitor Audio tends to fit wider diameter mid/bass drivers to its standmounts than most and this is no exception. Pureflow silver-plated OFC copper is used internally, including to the crossover which has premium components such as polypropylene film capacitors…

An active wireless version of DALI’s Rubicon 6 (HFC 480) – a bit of an oldie but still taking care of business in passive guise – is an intriguing prospect. There’s a lot to work with. Although standing just the right side of huge (the Rubicon 8), the 6 is nevertheless a substantial, generously furnished design with a 29mm soft dome tweeter, a 17x45mm ribbon tweeter and, housed in a separate internal chamber, two terracotta-coloured wood fibre 165mm mid/bass drivers. It also sports a brace of big-bore, rear-firing bass reflex ports and, with its total of 500 Class D Watts on board, each beautifully made and finished enclosure weighs 45.8kg. The amplification is provided by two 250W Class D modules, one dedicated to the mid/bass drivers, the other the high…

Leaning heavily on its distinctive heritage aesthetic – the cavernous Tractrix horn and Tractrix-shaped reflex port, rich walnut veneer, gleaming retro-style metal thumbwheel controls on top of the primary speaker – this strapping standmount plugs into the nostalgia trend (dig its cream-coloured fabric grille) as powerfully as KEF’s LS60 Wireless evokes the shock of the new. All sham, of course – functionally, there’s little difference between the two, though future-fi Klipsch style does diverge in methodology from many rivals. Yes, The Sevens are true active wireless speakers – the crossover, handled in DSP, precedes the amplification – but all four of its Class D amp modules are housed in the primary speaker rather than split between the pair. Which is why two lengths (2m and 4m) of 4-pole cable to…

The humble headphone has gone from being something that hi-fi enthusiasts could employ for late-night listening to touchoperated, wireless smartphone controllers par excellence. Meanwhile, the number of manufacturers has ballooned from a few specialists to everyone from hip-hop producers to popstars getting in on the act. The pretty much universal adoption of smartphones has meant that everyone is after a way to listen to their music on the move and, what was once a niche part of the market, has very quickly transformed into a multi-million pound industry. Once considered a fall back if you couldn’t afford a fine pair of loudspeakers or – even if you could – a way to enjoy music at decent volume levels without annoying the neighbours or room-sharing relatives, headphones have become both an…

It can be a little hard to keep up with Bowers & Wilkins’ model numbers these days. Having updated its Px7 to the Px7 S2 in 2022, it then released the Px8 in 2023. But, rather than being a replacement, B&W pitched the Px8 as its new high-end model while continuing to offer the Px7 S2 at a more mainstream price. The Px7 S2 must have done well, though, as the company has updated it yet again, this time giving it the even clumsier model number Px7 S2e. As you might expect, the S2e is a refinement of the original design rather than a major update, but it remains a very attractive over-ear headphone with excellent sound quality and digital features. Available in a variety of colours, the S2e retains…

Bose’s QuietComfort range has long been a market leader, thanks to the company’s highly effective active noise-cancellation (ANC) technology and it recently released major updates for several of its QC products, including the QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds. Available in Black or White Smoke, the QC Ultra replaces the previous QC II, although Bose is currently selling refurbished QC II models for less than £200 online. The Ultra is a big update too, boasting a more compact and streamlined design with a glossy metallic finish. Bose has also modified the rubber ‘stability’ bands that fit into the outer part of the ear and help to provide a firm fit. There are three sets provided in different sizes, along with three pairs of rubber ear-tips, and we find the slimline design fits better…

BUILDING ON THE design principles of Chord’s Shawline, the upgraded EpicX ARAY has a similar design, but uses heavier gauge, silver-plated conductors with improved internal geometry. It features Chord’s unique ARAY technology and also benefits from the use of the latest XLPE (Crosslinked Polyethylene) insulation. The cable retains the same shielding architecture as its predecessor. The Chord offering has heavy gauge silver-plated, multi-strand, oxygen-free copper conductors. These are sheathed in a PVC jacket designed to minimise noise. The EpicX ARAY cables are terminated with ChorAlloy-plated VEE 3 RCA plugs. The upgraded ChorAlloy multi-metal plating system is intended to provide significant musical improvement over previous silver-plating techniques. Chord considers that any presence of silver sulphide (which is the only sulphide of silver) in standard silver-plating material can give rise to intermodulation…

Making a stereo recording from a multi-microphone setup at the time of the performance usually requires monitoring on headphones. Although it is far better to listen to what’s going on via a speaker setup in a dedicated room, this is not always possible during a live recording session. The best approach is therefore to record all the microphones separately and mix them down at a later stage while listening via loudspeakers. Monitoring using speakers more closely reflects a normal listening environment and results in a superior stereo presentation in the finished product. Modern digital sessions keep each audio source separate by recording on individual tracks for subsequent mixing later, but what if you want to keep all the recording processes in the analogue domain? The only solution is to use…

Back in 2019, audiences at London’s Cadogan Hall and at El Cantoral Symphony Hall in Mexico City were treated to a performance of Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony No.8, Finished With AI. Franz Schubert wrote half of the movements needed for a symphony in 1828 and then abandoned the work shortly before he died. Smartphone manufacturer Huawei used the capabilities and intelligence of its Mate 20 Pro to compose the ‘missing’ movements of this symphony using its advanced integrated technology based on AI. To do this, the Mate 20 Pro listened to the first two movements, analysed the main musical elements and then used the results to write a melody for the third and fourth movements. Based on that melody, Lucas Cantor, the chief composer at the Melbourne Deep Learning Group at…

Affordable high-end is a familiar phrase from the hi-fi handbook. Trouble is, it sounds like an oxymoron with little chance of being realised in the truest sense. And why should it? While it would probably never occur to the amply minted customer to weigh the pros and cons of a value-based purchase, the cost-noobject lure of a mega-amp is, just as starkly, dream fodder for most. But it really is time to stop dreaming. As we’ve suggested before, there’s much closer performance parity up for grabs if pure musicality is the chief criterion. Forgo the seismic slam and stadium-real SPLs of beautiful, copiously over-engineered hardware and high-end assets more concerned with tonality, imaging, timing and coherence are ripe for the picking at sane prices. These days, high-end is as much…

They used to say that you know you’re getting old when policemen look young, but these days – for audiophiles at least – it’s a case of being able to remember the original product that’s just being relaunched as an anniversary model. We have seen umpteen tribute products over the past few years, now it’s Naim’s turn to get in on the act. The original Nait integrated amplifier was launched 20 odd years after the company started in 1973, and caused a stir for several reasons. First, Naim had a reputation for mid-to-high end pre/power amps and integrateds weren’t taken very seriously back then. Second, the amp itself was quite quirky – with a very low power output and a balance control that was simply a screwadjusted trim pot to…

Yes, 20 grand is a hefty chunk of change to fork out on anything, let alone an amplifier. Get to grips with the Trafomatic Audio Rhapsody, however, and you may start to think it something of a bargain! Just its physical presence, a brace of 300Bs per channel, weight of 32kg, sexy meters and myriad oddly labelled knobs – this is the stuff to make even the hearts of jaded audiophiles skip a beat. The Rhapsody is a line-level-only ‘Parallel Single-Ended’ design. Aside from the need to add a phono section if you play vinyl, it’s comprehensive by most standards, even including a remote control for playback. Setup is pretty much a no-brainer aside from one set of toggle switches, which we’ll get to in due course. Starting at the…

Though Eversolo’s smaller A6 (HFC 506) streamer can be used as a digital preamp for its on-board streamer and digital inputs, the A8 goes one better. Its volume control operates exclusively in the analogue domain, which means that it includes a pair of analogue inputs, one via RCA and one via XLR. Furthermore, the Eversolo has a resistor ladderbased volume control. These analogue connections round off a collection of digital inputs that support the extremely flexible on-board streaming module that has excellent streaming service support. A brace of both optical and coaxial inputs are supported by USB-B and an HDMI ARC connection, which makes integration with a TV screen an absolute breeze. You then get further connectivity options in the shape of AirPlay2 and Bluetooth as well. Put simply, there…

When Chord Electronics launched Anni, a tiny 10W desktop integrated amp intended to buddy up with the identically sized Qutest DAC and Huei (HFC 436 and 459 respectively) phono stage it was a real drop-the-mic moment in the realm of didn’t-seethat-coming. That the same advanced tech should headline the spec sheet for the new 75W per channel BerTTi power amp – which replaces the 50Wpc TToby as a tabletop form factor partner for its redoubtable Hugo TT2 (HFC 468) DAC/preamp/headphone amp – is a less audacious move, but no less significant. Indeed, company boss and chief designer, John Franks, has called it a dramatic upgrade and the very justification for having a TToby successor. TToby was conceived as a natural partner for the original Hugo TT, its production overlapping with…

From this young British turntable brand comes the KT-100, which attempts to bridge the all-important gap between convenience features and proper hi-fi performance, although like most decks at this price point it is fully manual. Its raison d’être is to give serious audiophile sound quality, with as little fuss as possible. This is a ‘clean sheet’ design, with no bought-in bits from other turntable manufacturers, which isn’t always the case with record players of this kind. The bundled 120mm Talk A5 Carbon tonearm is a unipivot design, which is both a good and a bad thing. On the plus side, it’s a simple and inexpensive way of delivering very good sound. On the negative, unipivots are fiddly to hand-cue because they tend to wobble as you move them. It is…

Back in 1975, almost every turntable was automatic. This meant that all you had to do was place your vinyl on the platter, press the ‘play’ button and the arm would lower the stylus into the groove. At the end of the side, it would lift the arm and return it to the rest position – and this automation is precisely what this Rekkord deck offers. Another unique feature here is the suspended sub-chassis design. It’s rather rarer to see it these days, but back in the golden age of vinyl most decks had some sort of similar spring suspension. This helps to prevent ‘acoustic feedback’ (a howling noise that can happen if the speaker is positioned too close to the turntable), and keeps the record playing if someone walks…

As one of the few companies to make complete audio systems with both analogue and digital sources, Gold Note is pretty prolific in terms of new product. The Vasari Shibata is very similar to the existing (and very good) Vasari Gold (HFC 429) and uses the same Duralumin body as the rest of the range. This means the cartridge looks and feels very smart, but is relatively heavy at 9.5g so some arms might struggle to balance it correctly. The pre-drilled mounts in the body are threaded, but the tolerances are tight and this, combined with the small ‘rollover hoop’-style guard means it is more nerve-racking to fit than some. The aluminium cantilever remains unchanged from the Gold, but adds a Shibata profile line contact stylus onto a nude mount.…

Having gone some time without making any significant changes to its lineup, the last few years have been busy ones for Sumiko. As well as a selection of new high-end models, it has taken the opportunity to release a four-strong range of Oyster MM carts of which the Olympia is the second most affordable after the entry-level Ranier. The Olympia will also accept the stylus from the more expensive Moonstone (but not the range-topping Wellfleet) as a potential future upgrade. An elliptical stylus (which is, if the measurements are to be believed, fractionally longer and thinner than most rivals) is attached to an aluminium cantilever and single magnet generator. This is smaller than some older designs to reduce mass and improve responsiveness. The company has been focused of late on…

We reviewed the original Prodigy back in HFC 470 and were introduced to the idea that machine-based record cleaning needn’t be the grim, grey and serious business started by the late Keith Monks himself, who would demo his industrial-gauge RCMs at hi-fi shows wearing a white lab coat and an earnest expression. Billed as the world’s first threadless point suction record cleaning machine, the innovation was somewhat overshadowed by the way the thing looked – almost too cool for school, being constructed mostly from bamboo and toting multi-coloured LED mood lighting – a welcome departure from the RCM norm. It’s ironic that Keith Monks’ passing in 2005 should have coincided with vinyl’s ‘second coming’ but his son, Jonathan, was determined the KM legacy shouldn’t be dormant but define a new…

This combined DAC and headphone amplifier from NuPrime has an impressive range of features that will suit both studio professionals and high-end audiophiles alike. It has full microprocessor control with memory retention and low-noise JFETs are used in the input stage to offer a very low noise floor. The DAC-9X has an analogue stereo input alongside a USB-A extension port, USB-B, optical, coaxial and two IIS/DSD inputs. At the other end, it offers standard RCA unbalanced stereo and XLR balanced outputs, an optical out and a 6.35mm standard stereo headphone jack. The DAC decoding supports PCM up to 384kHz, DSD256 and MQA. The DSD supports native playback by ASIO2.1 and DoP method. The preamp section is capable of driving a power amplifier as well as the internal headphone amp. In…

Network audio players are fickle things. Making one that sounds good is, however, only one third of the work required for the product to be a success. Unless it is partnered with a decent spread of additional features and controlled by a slick and intuitive interface, the result isn’t going to be a success regardless of how good it sounds. This has led many companies toward third-party software platforms in the pursuit of the features and stability they need to make their product shine. Audiolab has been making use of this process of bringing software in since it debuted in the streaming category. The 6000N and 7000N are built on a DTS Play-Fi platform, which has useful streaming service support and additional multi-room abilities but is slightly short on sample…

We’ve opted to group the Pro and Pro Plus together because their front-end is identical and they differ only in their decoding. Qobuz, Tidal, Deezer, Amazon Music, Spotify, Napster, TuneIn, Calm, VTuner, Soundcloud and Pandora are all natively supported, backed up by the ability to access a local library. There is then AirPlay and Chromecast as well as Alexa integration. The Pro Plus is Roon Ready and Roon Tested (the Pro is Roon Ready), so can be used in a Roon ecosystem – making them one of the most affordable ways to add a Roon compatible zone. There is also an interesting auto calibration function that centres around a built-in microphone that allows the WiiM to check its surroundings and calibrate against other units in the house for latency. Both…

Inspired by greatness”, is how Bowers & Wilkins describes its latest S3 700 Series, rather immodestly as it turns out. Why, because the “greatness” being referred to is the company’s very own 800 Series! That’s fair enough we suppose, if you take into account the popularity and all-round ability of the latter. Anyhow, the idea of the 700 Series 3 is that it offers up a substantially more affordable alternative to the 800 Series. Pleasingly, the bespoke B&W technology that’s gone into it comes directly from the more expensive range – including driver, crossover and cabinet design The 707 S3 is the range’s entry-level design, being a smallish standmount with a conventional bass-reflexloaded cabinet. It houses two drivers – B&W’s 25mm Carbon Dome tweeter and 130mm Continuum cone mid/bass driver.…

Straight outta Yorkshire? Try Memphis: birthplace of rock ’n’ roll and the Blues; home to Sun Records, Gibson Guitars, Stax Records and the man who left the building. That said, it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to imagine the Nico EVOlution being a stablemate of Brit brand AVID HIFI’s Evo Four (HFC 520), as both have belief in that long body, fastback form factor. Nico is taller and has a longer sloping ‘roofline’, but it would be remiss not to make the connection. There are other similarities. When it comes to build and finish, the US contender, along with AVID, is right up there with the best in the business. The single pair of Cardas binding posts is particularly nice. For a modest extra cost, EgglestonWorks will even…

Retro revival doesn’t seem to be showing any signs of slowing down and companies resurrecting designs from their past has resulted in some fascinating products. A case in point is Wharfedale’s Super Denton. The original Denton dates back to the late-Sixties and was a key part of the company’s range well into the Seventies. The two-way version was successfully recreated as the Denton 85 a few years ago and, suitably enthused, Wharfedale has now revisited the historic Denton 3 to create the Super Denton. This is a relatively unusual thing in that it is a compact three-way standmount, not significantly larger than the two-way. In order to fit everything in, the Super Denton staggers the two smaller drivers above the larger one to the point they are almost side by…

Mirroring DALI’s approach with the Rubicon 6, Dynaudio’s Focus 30 is essentially an ‘activated’ Evoke 30 (HFC 460), using the same slim cabinet with its attractively tapered side panels, albeit minus the rear-firing bass reflex port. Yet while understated, easy to accommodate and far less aesthetically performative than its Danish rival, the Focus 30 packs a lot of active tech experience and expertise from the company’s pro division, along with a newly developed wireless module. Perhaps most tellingly, pro trickle-down informs the remarkable 670W of Class D power in each enclosure specially developed by Dynaudio’s pro client Pascal. The 2.5-way 30 is smaller than the three-way Focus 50 flagship, but the active/wireless tech is the same for all three. In the 30’s case, this is deployed by two 140mm mid/bass…

Providing impressive sound quality worthy of their top-of-the-range price, B&W’s Pi7 and Pi7 S2 (HFC 478 and 504 respectively) earbuds also introduced a genuine innovation with their ‘smart’ charging case that doubled up as an aptX transmitter for use with wired audio sources. The Pi7 models did have some limitations, though, and their battery life and noise-cancelling features weren’t quite in the same league as some rivals. So, the company went back to the drawing board and came up with an entirely new design for the Pi8. The somewhat chunky design of the Pi7 earbuds also left something to be desired, with B&W admitting they: “didn’t fit as well as we would have liked”. Available in a variety of colours, the Pi8 is still relatively large, but now adopts a…

I t’s three years since Master & Dynamic first launched its MW08 earbuds (HFC 486), and the MW09 is a major update that improves upon its predecessor in a number of ways. As always, M&D’s impressive build quality comes at a price and there are actually two options, depending on which colour you choose. The Black, Silver and Gold models will set you back £320 with an aluminium charging case, while the Blue, Grey and Green options provide an even tougher Kevlar case for £370. The MW09 works hard to earn its keep, though, boasting a number of new features – including Bluetooth 5.4. The MW09 earbuds look very similar to their predecessors – which remain on sale at £280 – with M&D’s distinctive flat, lozenge-shaped earpieces and 11mm Beryllium…

Violectric may be a new name to some, but behind the brand is a company getting on for four decades in business, principally in the pro audio field where it operates under the rather unusual moniker of Lake People – inspired by the company’s Lake Constance location in Germany. Since 2009 it has been designing products under the Violectric brand, using the technology of its pro models in the consumer audio market. It offers a wide range of headphone amplifiers covering just about every usage requirement, from the pocket-sized USB-powered Chronos at £185 all the way up to the £5,140 US 5 PRO from sub-brand Niimbus. The DHA V226 is its least expensive mains-powered DAC/headphone amp and while it may be compact in its desktop-friendly black, it certainly has a…

IF YOU’RE LOOKING for a reasonably priced upgrade for your speaker cables this might fit the bill. The Equator 2.0 is a 2mm² cable using Oxygen Free Copper (OFC) conductors contained in a highdensity Polyethylene foam (PEF) dielectric. PEF is significantly more efficient than PVC or polyethylene insulation and, according to Atlas, offers better measured performance and an audible improvement in dynamics. The core assemblies are contained in a cotton yarn to reduce microphony and the cable is finished in a pearl white outer sheath. The two separate conductors are housed in a single jacket and then split into two single leads at both ends through a plastic boot. The cable is terminated in Atlas’ Achromatic Z-plug, which is proprietary low mass, self-cleaning and precision crimped (cold-weld). It is also…

A gainst all previous evidence and sensible logic, I recently got all excited about the news that The Black Crowes were about to release their first new LP in 15 years. Named Happiness Bastards, I duly clicked on the taster track, Wanting And Waiting. And guess what? It sounded just like The Black Crowes. So much so, in fact, that it seemed and sounded kinda… pointless. Indeed, if I was of a mind to be harsh, I’d say that if you asked AI to conjure a Black Crowes track, this is exactly what it would sound like. Somewhat chastened by the disappointment, I recalled something Damon Albarn said recently about The Rolling Stones: “I do all sorts of things, whereas they’ve never been anything other than The Rolling Stones. I…

Kamasi Washington Fearless Movement CD Young WASHINGTON NEVER PLANNED on being a saxophonist, let alone the new John Coltrane. As a youth he wanted to be a drummer. Then he tried piano and later clarinet. Eventually when he was around 13 he picked up his father’s soprano sax. “Oh, man, this is it!” he recalls saying. “When I switched to saxophone I just felt like I found my voice. That’s when I fell in love with music.” By the time he was 18 he’d won a competition named after Coltrane, who died 14 years before Washington was born but whom he regards as his mentor. With a deep understanding of traditional jazz sensibilities, but with a wide-open attitude to other genres, he played the clubs with various ensembles, reaching a mass…