Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2017 i Hi-Fi Choice

PRICE: £250-£530 AVAILABLE: NOW CONTACT: 0208 8363510 WEB: UK.ONKYO.COM THE MARKET FOR stereo receivers is hotting up and Onkyo has launched two new models in the form of the £250 TX-8220 and £530 TX-8250 (pictured). The networkable TX-8250 claims a power output of 2x 135W into 6ohm, six RCA inputs and a movingmagnet phono stage. It has a hefty selection of additional features and sports optical and coaxial digital inputs, a USB audio connection and supports DTS Play-Fi, Spotify, Tidal, Deezer and TuneIn. All decoding is handled by an internal AKM DAC, with support for 24/192 and DSD128 files. There is Bluetooth, Chromecast and AirPlay as well as Onkyo’s own FireConnect multi-room system, an Ethernet port and wireless connectivity supports dual-band 2.4GHz and 5GHz wi-fi. The TX-8220 has fractionally less…

PRICE: £599 AVAILABLE: NOW CONTACT: 0208 3585858 WEB: ASTELLNKERN.COM ASTELL&KERN’S IMPRESSIVE AK70 (HFC 428) has been given a reboot and for just £100 extra now offers a dual-DAC design, enhanced amplification, wi-fi connectivity and the ability to also be used as a USB DAC when it’s not playing back hi-res music files. Unlike the original AK70, the MK II version has a Cirrus Logic CS4298 chipset for both left and right channels, offering bit-to-bit playback of files up to 24/192 and DSD128. Its stylish block aluminium casing remains finished in two-tone black with a 3.3in touchscreen, but now is a fraction larger and weighs 18g more than its predecessor. It comes equipped with 64GB of built-in memory, which thanks to the inclusion of a microSD slot, can be expanded up…

One interesting side effect of the vinyl revival of the last few years that has proved unexpectedly durable is that it has largely concerned more purist manual designs. If you want to put a record on in 2017, you are going to have to get up off your backside and do much of the work yourself. There’s plenty of solid reasoning for this – automatic turntables are more complex to produce than their manual brethren and frequently struggle to offer the same level of performance. Now though, salvation has arrived from a rather unlikely source. After a significant hiatus, Dual is back in the UK. One of the largest manufacturers from hi-fi ’s heyday, operations have shrunk a little since then and the MTR-75 is one of three models that…

A few weeks ago, I heard an interview on the BBC’s Today news programme, with the distinguished actor Charles Dance. He was there to plug his performance, at this year’s Edinburgh Festival of Aaron Copland’s Portrait Of Lincoln. A spoken word piece, written in December 1941/2 and backed by a full orchestra, it has been performed by some of the most venerated actors of the last 70 years. Like a number of people, beyond Fanfare For The Common Man my appreciation of his work is sketchy. But with similar tropes, devices and portentous brass, the music didn’t disappoint. Likewise, James Whitmore read bits of Lincoln’s greatest hits with suitable reverence and authority. And yet, for me, the sum added up to less than the parts. Simply put, the music over…

I must confess to thinking that a 180g, direct-cut LP, one-take recording of a live concert session was about as good as it gets, but then I heard the sound from a half-track stereo, ½in master tape of the same session recorded at 30IPS. It was evident that this recording was significantly better, so I started looking into why analogue tape offers such superior sound quality compared with other mediums. Over the past couple of years, we have seen an increase in the number of companies (currently around 20) that are producing music on tape. Some, such as The Tape Project in the USA and Horch House in Slovakia, focus on re-releasing master copies of the master tapes of original analogue recordings. They have acquired the rights and original master…

ALBUM OF THE MONTH Robert Plant Carry Fire CD Nonesuch AFTER LED ZEPPELIN’S one-off reunion in 2007, Jimmy Page voices his frustration over Robert Plant's refusal to reform the band on a more permanent basis. In the 10 years since, Page has spent his time re-gilding his burnished past by remastering Zep’s mighty back catalogue. There's certainly nothing wrong with old rock gods resting on their laurels, and the reissues were favourably reviewed in these pages. Yet it is entirely to Plant’s credit that he has spent his time exploring new projects. In the last decade he has made a quartet of fine, questing albums, which have ranged impressively across the broad parameters of his eclectic musical interests. Raising Sand (2007) made with Alison Krauss was a thrilling exercise in rootsy,…

1More MK802 PRICE: £150 TELEPHONE: 01638 742427 WEB: uk1more.com REVIEWED: HFC 423 The MK802 is equipped with Bluetooth for wireless hook up to your chosen device and is built around a pair of beryllium-plated 40mm dynamic drivers mounted in a closed-back housing. Bluetooth is v4.1 with aptX support and the controls are built into the right-hand earpad. Battery life is quoted at 15 hours, while standby time is given at an ambitious five months. 1More has developed a partnering app that allows listeners to monitor volume levels to protect their hearing as well as offering an accelerated burn-in process to get everything settled and running at optimum performance. Sound quality The MK802 does a fine job of sounding big and impressively spacious and the performance is extremely even from top to bottom.…

WITH GOOGLE JOINING the ranks of manufacturers deciding to drop the 3.5mm headphone socket from its smartphones, it seems clear that this is increasingly the direction for many producers of headphones. If you want to keep listening to music via your phone, wireless is going to be the only way to do so, and RHA is the latest brand to pitch into this product category. The MA650 Wireless is the cheaper of two new models from the manufacturer and the earphone section is superficially similar to its MA600i, which is a conventional passive design. This means that you get a single dynamic driver in each enclosure, which RHA lists as being its 380.1 in contrast to the 320.1 used in the MA600i. This is placed inside an aluminium enclosure, which…

THE LATEST INDUSTRY NEWS PRICE: £6,999 AVAILABLE: NOW CONTACT: 01722 426600 WEB: FOCAL.COM/UK BERYLLIUM AND FLAX are not materials usually associated with one another, but that might be set to change with the announcement of Focal's all-new speaker called Kanta. Unveiled at a press conference back in September, the loudspeaker from the French manufacturer slots in neatly between its Aria and Sopra ranges. As with its existing models, it is handmade at Focal's manufacturing plant in Saint-Étienne, and marries concepts seen in both these designs while introducing a few new ones, too. The Kanta No2 is a three-way floorstanding speaker. Its two 165mm bass drivers are joined by a dedicated midrange unit, also 165mm in size, and placed in its own enclosure. All three drivers are made from the same…

Hi-Fi Choice employs the most rigorous test and measurement regime in the business. Here’s how we do it... FLOORSTANDING LOUDSPEAKER GROUP TEST A LOUDSPEAKER WILL never sound at its best when factory fresh from the carton, and so requires some time to free up properly in order to reach its optimum performance. Consequently all six floorstanders here are given a minimum of 72 hours running-in time with the IsoTek Full System Enhancer CD on repeat, plus an additional two days of music before any serious listening commences. Auditioning is done both in my small and large listening rooms over a period of a week, during which time optimal placement is experimented with. The listening position is adjusted so that the tweeter is roughly at ear height, and the speaker is…

DOES A LARGE, relatively affordable floorstanding speaker inevitably put the bite on a small pricier one? Can something slim and cute and ever so lifestyle muster the wherewithal to subvert woofer envy and deliver the sonic goods? And what about the models that steer a path straight down the middle, aiming for a happy compromise? Well, ladies and gents, this group contained all of those and, pretty early on, it became clear what the answer was going to be. Big wins the day – at least it does with regard to these speakers. None of which makes it any easier to hand the wooden spoon to the Quadral Rhodium 400. It’s a cracking little floorstander that zips along with brio, precision and clarity and a fast, agile bass that digs…

As the latest all-in-one from Technics, the Ottava f SC-C70 is designed to reach out and grasp some lifestyle audio attention. The brand’s turntables and reference separates are all well and good, but it desperately wants to elbow its way into the mass market, somewhere between Ruark’s R4 (HFC 411) and Naim’s Muso Qb (HFC 409). This just might be the box of tricks to do it. Also known as just the SC-C70, this is a 2.1-channel, five-speaker sound system with a feast of functionality. It supports CD, DAB radio, Bluetooth and USB media playback as well as hi-res audio files and streaming services such as Spotify and Tidal. There’s a top-loading CD player, with cute rotating cover. The aluminium top plate has a premium hairline finish, with touch-sensitive transport…

Up until recently, Pro-Ject’s approach to its compact Box Design range of DACs, amps and preamps has been rather scattershot. There are dozens of products in the series, often with specialised features, targeting specific niche markets, such as desktop computers or DSD aficionados. Thankfully, a more straightforward approach has been adopted with the latest additions, which includes this versatile two-piece setup that combines the updated Amp Box DS2 (£520) and its companion preamp, the Pre Box DS2 Digital (£785). The two devices are clearly intended to sit side by side or stack on top of one another. They have the same dimensions, with matching designs that are available in either black or silver, with walnut or eucalyptus wooden side cheeks. The Class D Amp Box DS2 is simplicity itself. The…

Back in 1979, there was a boy at my school who had a Pulsar digital watch, the latest Adidas sports bag and a Casio scientific calculator. These were signs of great wealth and status for a late seventies schoolboy – conspicuous consumption designed to confer cool. He didn’t have rich parents though, despite our assumption. A bit of sleuthing revealed that he was making large amounts of money by selling pirated music tapes that he made himself. One day, I approached him and struck up a conversation. It turned out that he could do me a copy of the new Boomtown Rats LP, A Tonic For The Troops, for a mere £2 – recorded on “high-quality BASF chrome tape” with a “top hi-fi ”. The exact system remained nameless, but…

They don’t make ’em like they used to any more – not public telephone boxes, not fountain pens, not oxtail soup… not even rock stars. The thought struck me following the recent sad deaths of Steely Dan’s Walter Becker and the great Tom Petty. It goes without saying that several of the musical heroes we have lost over the last two terrible years – David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Prince – were sui generis outliers. Nobody ever made ’em like that. They were singular and iconic one-offs, blessed with a genius that was unique. They defined the world with their music and towered above the cultural landscape like colossi. It’s a truism that we shall never see their like again. Yet Becker and Petty were cut from somewhat different and perhaps…

KEF LS50 WIRELESS £2,000 WEBSITE: uk.kef.com A completely active, digital and wireless stereo music system that connects with any digital music source. THE SMITHS THE QUEEN IS DEAD DELUXE EDITION £30-£70 Available as a five-LP or three-CD and one Blu-ray boxset, Morrissey and Marr’s best album is a perfect present for all Smiths fans. KEF & PORSCHE DESIGN SPACE ONE WIRELESS £349 WEBSITE: uk.kef.com This noise-cancelling headphone promises crisp, dynamic sound while shutting out the world. SUBPAC M2X £349 WEBSITE: subpac.com Designed for those that like to feel the music beat as well as hear it, this Bluetooth pack will let you feel frequencies from 5Hz to 200Hz. SONY NW-A35 £180 WEBSITE: sony.co.uk Offering DSD playback and Sony’s S-Master HX digital amp to limit distortion, this stylish player is available…

AUDIOLAB M-DAC MINI £299 TELEPHONE: 01480 452561 WEBSITE: audiolab.co.uk TESTED: HFC 428 Expect a detailed, refined and highly involving sound from this excellent headphone preamp and DAC with a comprehensive spec. OPPO HA-S2 SE £289 TELEPHONE: 0345 0609395 WEBSITE: oppodigital.com TESTED: HFC 420 A powerful and involving performance partnered with good build means this portable headphone amp and DAC comes highly recommended. CHORD ELECTRONICS MOJO £399 TELEPHONE: 01622 721444 WEBSITE: chordelectronics.co.uk TESTED: HFC 423 This unique-looking headphone amp and DAC provides a balanced and detailed sound combined with solid build and very impressive spec. THE CHORD COMPANY SHAWLINE SHAWCAN £275 TELEPHONE: 01980 625700 WEBSITE: chord.co.uk TESTED: HFC 429 Upgrade your headphone cable to deliver more energy, excitement, edge to vocals and top-end response to performances. ONKYO DP-S1 £400 TELEPHONE: 0208 8363510 WEBSITE: uk.onkyo.com TESTED: HFC…

MANY PEOPLE ARE tempted to use an analogue interconnect to connect a coaxial output of one piece of equipment to a coax in of another. But standard analogue cables are not really suitable for use as digital interconnects as their bandwidth is not great enough. Digital coax cables need a 75ohm characteristic impedance, and not having this will result in unwanted reflections of the digital signal and jitter, which the digital processor has to manage. Furthermore, digital cables are designed to work at much higher frequencies than analogue cables – well in excess of 1MHz – in order to preserve the digital waveform. This cable is specifically designed for the job and at a price that won’t break the bank. The C-digital employs The Chord Company’s ARAY conductor technology, which…

PRICE: £1,500 AVAILABLE: NOW CONTACT: 0131 5553922 WEB: RENAISSANCEAUDIO.CO.UK Fresh from updating its Prime family of turntables (Prime Scout HFC 422), VPI has released the Player, its entry-level deck. Built as a complete solution with a moving-magnet phono stage and headphone amplifier on board, it consists of a non-resonant MDF chassis with an aluminium platter. The 9in tonearm uses bearings rather than the unipivot principle seen on VPI’s more upmarket decks and comes premounted with an Ortofon 2M Red cartridge as part of the £1,500 package. The Player leaves the factory in a pre-configured condition, meaning owners only need to carry out a very simple setup procedure to start playing LPs. The internal amplifier with a volume control means the Player performs as a standalone music system when connected to…

PRICE: £16,000-£21,000 AVAILABLE: NOW CONTACT: 01423 358846 WEB: KARMA-AV.CO.UK Mark Levinson has unveiled two new designs, which can either be brought separately to expand your system or as a pair to create an exceptional pre-power partnership. The £16,000 No 523 preamplifier is claimed to deliver an uncompromising performance regardless of analogue source and comes equipped with a Class-A phono stage, Class-A main drive headphone output and discreet balanced R-2R ladder volume control. It boasts five line-level analogue inputs, two balanced XLRs, three single RCA stereo outputs and a phono input with earthing post. Meanwhile, the No 534 (bottom in pic) dual-monaural power amp delivers 250W per channel (into 8ohm) in Class A (doubling to 500W into 4ohm). Balanced and single-ended inputs plus four pairs of gold-plated binding posts make up…

For everything there is a season, and autumn 2017 saw the time for B&W to refresh its CM Series 2 range of mid-price loudspeakers. Back in 2006 the company introduced the original CM1 as an upgrade to its 600 series, then updated it in 2014 – whereas the new 700 Series is being presented more as a trickle-down of the 800 series. Now stop there, is the Worthing-based company saying that a range that starts at £799 (for the small 707 standmounter) can be mentioned in the same breath as the mighty 800 Diamond? Well, not exactly – but the point is that rather than souping up entry-level designs, the 700 range is more about trying to apply high-end engineering in a more affordable form. The 705 S2 tested here…

ONE THOUSAND POUNDS may not buy as much as it did a year ago, but it’s still hi-fi ’s flexible friend. No, it won’t get you a tremendous turntable or an awesome amp, but genuine sonic talent is most certainly up for grabs whatever you want and, if you’re on the scout for a pair of floorstanding loudspeakers, it’s particularly good news: choice is abundant and quality much in evidence. Just how much speaker you get for your money, however, is something of a poser. Tall stories Take the six towers we’ve assembled for this month’s showdown. The disparity between size and price is rather striking – to wit the largest speakers (from Mission and XTZ) are the least expensive while by far the smallest, Quadral’s Rhodium 400, is just…

Despite the burgeoning popularity of the one-stop shop hi-fi component – to which one need only add speakers for a complete system covering all modern, non-physical digital media requirements – not everyone wants that degree of convergence and will happily settle for an integrated amp with on-board DAC and a decent phono stage. Canada’s Moon by Simaudio has, perhaps inevitably, just cracked that particular nut with the introduction of the Moon 240i integrated amp/DAC – essentially the company’s highly regarded Nēo Ace streaming integrated amp minus the streaming bit and a helpful £710 from the Ace’s asking price. As such, the £1,990 240i represents a new entry point for Moon’s neatly tiered integrated amp range, which peaks – via the 340i and 600i – with the 2x 175W 700i. We’re…

Acoustic Energy is back. Not that it ever actually went away you understand, but the company has had a recent change of ownership – effectively undergoing a management buyout. It is now all British again and free to go its own way, as it celebrates its 30th anniversary. The 100-series got off to a bang with the new range-topping AE109 floorstander (HFC 425), and now it’s the turn of the baby of the range, the AE100. Very much an entry-level product, it’s not the first AE product to have this monicker. Confusingly, the original was launched in the nineties, and had a 120mm paper cone mid/bass driver and fabric dome tweeter in a cabinet about the same size as the classic AE1. This one has a smaller mid/bass unit, but…

At the conclusion of my listening sessions with the excellent Diamond 11.1 standmount (HFC 429), I couldn’t help thinking it had nailed the ideal small speaker remit. It performed brilliantly near field in the smaller of my listening rooms with startling midrange clarity and a remarkably full, well-controlled bass. It also sounded great in my much larger listening room, filling the space with no apparent strain at all and, if anything, an easier breathing bottom end with still greater extension. It is certainly a performance I could live with and so I reasoned that to do any better in a large room I’d need a more expensive floorstander. Wharfedale’s reasoning is rather different. There are three floorstanders in the latest Diamond lineup, but before them there’s the Diamond 11.2 –…

In some parts of the UK, dealers find themselves with a large swathe of uncontested territory in which to ply their trade. Nottingham, by contrast retains the services of four dealers, meaning that buyers have a fair amount of choice open to them and that correspondingly, the dealers have moved into their own niches. Nottingham HiFi Centre has been around since 1968 and – operating out of its high-street location on a road into the town centre – has made something of a speciality of garnering new customers from students at the university that proceed to settle in Nottingham and continue to develop their audio systems. For store manager Martin Key, this has meant developing a portfolio that can be scaled to fit a variety of spaces and a clear…

Headphones have been around in one form or another for over a century and have been a regular part of hi-fi for at least 40 years without showing any signs of growing into the massive category that they’ve now become. With events like CanJam held in major cities around the world and dedicated headphone zones at hi-fi showcases like our sister magazine’s Headphone Haven at The Hi-Fi Show Live 2017 becoming increasingly popular, how has the once humble headphone morphed into one of the most popular sectors of the hi-fi market? 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…

AT A RATHER unusual length for a mains cable, the 1.7m Stream should be able to reach most equipment on your rack. The longer length is not just for convenience, though, as Black Rhodium has discovered that optimum sound quality is obtained from cables of an untwisted length of 1.68m. Furthermore, it has discovered that cables in multiples of 1.7m sound superior to cables of slightly greater or lesser length. Silver service The cable itself is made from silver-plated copper conductors that are insulated with a low-loss silicone rubber insulation for low dielectric absorption, which the company considers reduces distortions resulting from energy stored in the dielectric. The internal conductors have an absorbent braid covering to help reduce proximity effect magnetic field distortion. Mechanical vibration suppression materials have also been…