Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2017 i Hi-Fi Choice

PRICE: £4,800 AVAILABLE: NOW CONTACT: 0118 9814238 WEB: SOUNDFOWNDATIONS.CO.UK Following the launch of the DS-W1 optical cartridge from DS Audio, the Japanese company has announced the introduction of its most affordable optical pick-up to date in the form of the DS 002. Drawing on its experience with developing the original DS-W1 optical cartridge that arrived in the UK in 2015 and quickly followed by the Master 1 design released here in 2016, the DS 002 sports an aluminium chassis, aluminium cantilever and classic Shibata stylus with the same enhanced optical-mechanical system and wire-suspended cantilever, and claims to deliver a similar output to the Master 1 with 500mV and 25dB of separation. The DS 002 optical cartridge also comes packaged with a more compact and lightweight phono stage/equaliser unit, in which…

DETAILS PRODUCT VPI Prime Scout ORIGIN USA TYPE Belt-drive turntable WEIGHT 24.5kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 495 x 177 x 350mm FEATURES • 33 & 45rpm • 9in unipivot tonearm with optional anti-skate • Aluminium platter DISTRIBUTOR Renaissance Audio TELEPHONE 0131 5553922 WEBSITE renaissanceaudio.co.uk Sometimes, a change in policy at a company can see even very capable products fall by the wayside. Around a year ago, I enthusiastically reviewed the VPI Scout Jr (HFC 410) and felt it was a strong candidate in the sub-£2,000 sector. Capable or not, the Scout Jr is now no more, but this is not a reflection on any failings of the product itself. Simply put, the VPI range had become rather large and required a revamp, leaving the Prime Scout as the new entry point. The…

ONE OF THE joys of being a hi-fienthusiast is investing in the stone-cold certainty that you will never, ever be bored. It’s hard to think of another source of pleasure and fulfilment that offers so much sheer choice. Take classy standmount speakers. The good news for even the most casual of browsers is that there’s no actual need to venture beyond the serried ranks of products offered by the big names. Even if you restricted your search to the better-known British brands – say B&W, KEF, Monitor Audio and Wharfedale – your requirements would be nailed to the letter in short order. Job done – albeit via a timehonoured set of rules. The beauty of this business is the deeper you go, the harder you look, the more diverse and…

DETAILS PRODUCT Heco Elementa 300 ORIGIN Germany TYPE 2-way standmount loudspeaker WEIGHT 7.5kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 266 x 368 x 325mm FEATURES • 28mm fabric dome tweeter • 170mm mid/ bass driver • Quoted sensitivity: 90dB/1W/1m DISTRIBUTOR Puresound TELEPHONE 01822 612449 WEBSITE puresound.info You’d never guess it, but priced at £700, this is the least expensive speaker in the group. The satin white finish applied to the sturdy, multibraced, MDF cabinet looks and feels a cut above the EB2S’ similar and perfectly acceptable treatment. The rear-firing reflex-ported box also has proper curves (rather than just rounded edges) to disrupt internal standing waves. As for the chunky twin binding posts, they wouldn’t look out of place on a speaker costing three times as much. It goes without saying, reassuring first impressions aren’t…

DETAILS PRODUCT Totem Mite ORIGIN Canada TYPE 2-way standmount loudspeaker WEIGHT 4kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 152 x 274 x 213mm FEATURES • 25mm soft dome tweeter • 140mm doped paper mid/ bass driver • Quoted sensitivity: 87dB/1W/1m DISTRIBUTOR Joenit Belgium TELEPHONE 0032 15 285585 WEBSITE totemacoustic.com Well-named, the Totem Mite is the smallest speaker in the group by quite a comfortable margin, which of course will be a major attraction for some prospective purchasers. If the £900 asking price isn’t measured in MDF and veneer real estate, though, how is it justified? This is the third Totem we’ve group tested in recent times and, if we’ve learned anything, it’s that as far as soundstage scale and room-filling sound are concerned, the physical size of the box doing the business means little…

DETAILS PRODUCT Rega Brio ORIGIN UK TYPE Integrated amplifier WEIGHT 5.1kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 216 x 78 x 345mm FEATURES • Quoted power output: 2x 50W RMS (8ohm) • Inputs: 4x RCA? • MM phono stage • Output: 1x RCA DISTRIBUTOR Rega Research Ltd TELEPHONE 01702 333071 WEBSITE rega.co.uk There has been a Brio amp in Rega’s product lineup for 26 years and the inspiration for the original circuit dates back still further to 1970, so this latest integrated has serious heritage. Brio is defined as “liveliness or vivacity of spirit” and the sound qualities of the original ‘clamshell Brio’ version of 1991 turned many heads for its musical abilities. I own a clamshell Brio and regularly return to it for its joie de vivre. So, this latest 2017 version joins…

DETAILS PRODUCT Rotel T14 ORIGIN Japan/China TYPE Tuner/streamer WEIGHT 5.1kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 430 x 93 x 334mm FEATURES • 32-bit/384kHz DAC • RDS FM/DAB+ radio • Play-Fi streaming • iOS/Android control app DISTRIBUTOR B&W TELEPHONE 01903 221500 WEBSITE rotel.com Following the release of Rotel’s CD14 silver disc spinner and A14 integrated amplifier (HFC 421), here’s the matching tuner. It’s a pretty sophisticated bit of kit, sporting RDS FM radio tuner complete with DAB+ functionality and 30 presets to manage your listening favourites. Then there’s the wireless audio streaming capability, courtesy of DTS Play-Fi, which needs the user to install a free Rotel control app. This comes in iOS and Android flavours, and for good measure offers access to Spotify, Pandora, Tidal, Rhapsody, Amazon Music, Deezer and more. In other words,…

99 percent of all recorded music in the world is Red Book standard I loved it when compact disc was invented. So keen was I to be the early adopter with the sharpest elbows and the coolest kit, I got a friend who lived in Tokyo to airmail me a Sony D50 Discman as soon it hit Ginza’s audio stores. Back then I wasn’t so much concerned it didn’t sound as good as vinyl played on a half-decent turntable. I had one of those and reasoned that so long as I didn’t jettison my entire record collection in a moment of binary thinking, I couldn’t possibly be any worse offfor embracing CD with open arms and looking forward to how it might evolve over the coming decades. It was a…

The association of active speakers with PC audio is why hi-fi acceptance is slow Self-powered active speakers eliminate the need for external amplification and provide a convenient all-in-one product that simply requires an audio input. That input may be provided by a standard line-level RCA phono connection, by balanced XLR or wirelessly via Bluetooth. The main benefit, other than convenience and a reduction in the number of units in the system, is that the integrated amplifier can be matched to the loudspeaker drive units and enclosures and, so, get the best performance from them. Active speakers have been around for years, but have been mainly aimed at the computer market. When people started using their PCs to play music it became apparent that the few watts of power that was…

The vast majority of the establishments featured in Dealer Visit have been founded by their current owner or have seen a controlled change in leadership at some point in the past. Sound Cinergy in Aldridge, just north of Birmingham is slightly different. Owner Clive Kirby bought the business 16 years ago when it was still called Musical Approach and in the ensuing period has seen the business evolve with the trends of the time – through the period where multi-channel had stereo firmly on the back foot to its resurgence with the introduction of streaming and the current vinyl boom. What is impressive is that many of Clive’s customers have made this journey with him from the beginning. What also marks Sound Cinergy out from a number of notionally similar…

BIS astonished the world by recording the project in Japan To record the complete cantatas of JS Bach is one of the most ambitious projects that a record label can undertake. The 55-disc BIS edition of the almost 200 extant sacred cantatas runs to over 60 hours. In 1995 BIS astonished the recording world by embarking on this monumental project not in Europe, but in Japan. The Japanese harpsichordist, conductor and Bach scholar Masaaki Suzuki directs his own Bach Collegium Japan (BCJ). Critical reception has been consistently favourable despite strong competition from both Gardiner and Koopman. The Suzuki offering provides a contrasting experience to market leader Gardiner. While Gardiner’s recordings are more intimate and personal, Suzuki’s are grander, often more contemplative and spiritual. The BCJ orchestra and chorus are tonally…

THE BRISTOL SHOW is arguably the main event in the hi-ficalendar for music fans and the audio industry alike, and if the number of brands, hi-fi press and music lovers in attendance at this year’s gathering were anything to go by it’s more popular than ever. Once again, audience numbers exceeded all expectations over the course of the three-day February event, as an impressive number of audio fans headed South West to the Bristol Marriott Hotel City Centre eager to experience the latest products and trends geared for discerning audio fans. This year the show celebrated its 30th anniversary, and with many brands occupying the same space that they did when it first started in 1987, it was business as usual with over 170 brands jostling to get their hardware…

DETAILS PRODUCT Acoustic Insight Vivide ORIGIN UK TYPE 2-driver, full-range standmount WEIGHT 7kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 205 x 360 x 270mm FEATURES •19mm silkpolymer dome tweeter •100mm Ted Jordan full-range driver •Quoted sensitivity: 87dB/1W/1m DISTRIBUTOR Acoustic Insight Ltd TELEPHONE 07971 292940 WEBSITE acousticinsight.co.uk With the grille fixed in place, there’s nothing too out of the ordinary about the Vivide. But appearances, as we know, can be deceiving. Fact is, this modestly sized standmount from the British firm is the most radical and sonically ambitious loudspeaker design in the group. You have to remove the grille to see why. Even then the reasons aren’t immediately obvious, though, the small under-slung soft dome tweeter almost touching the distinctive metal main driver above is a clue. The Vivide is a transducer-led design developed in…

DETAILS PRODUCT Piega Classic 3.0 ORIGIN Switzerland TYPE 2-way standmount loudspeaker WEIGHT 7.7kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 210 x 340 x 280mm FEATURES • Air Motion Transformer HF unit • 180mm MDS mid/bass driver • Quoted sensitivity: 89dB/1W/1m DISTRIBUTOR Piega Loudspeakers (UK) Ltd TELEPHONE 01344 893932 WEBSITE piega.co.uk Big in Switzerland, this Zurich-based speaker manufacturer has only recently come to the UK, enlisting a number of specialist audio retailers to demonstrate its wares. The company certainly has form when it comes to ribbon tweeter technology. Its Linear Drive Ribbon (LDR) coaxial tweeter was the first unit to reach low enough to handle some midrange duties, obviating the need for a dome/ribbon hybrid. Like the Classic 5.0 (HFC 417), the 3.0 uses a hefty but conventionally square-cornered wood and fibreboard enclosure with a…

DETAILS PRODUCT Musical Fidelity Encore 225 ORIGIN UK TYPE One-box music system WEIGHT 23kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 440 x 125 x 400mm FEATURES ? Quoted power output: 2x 225W (8ohm) • 1TB HDD drive expandable to 2TB • Digital inputs: 2x optical; 2x coaxial • Analogue inputs: 2x RCA; MM phono stage DISTRIBUTOR Musical Fidelity TELEPHONE 0208 9002866 WEBSITE musicalfidelity.com In the deluge of extremely flexible and innovative network devices that turn up for review, it is easy to lose sight of the large number of audio enthusiasts still using physical media looking at this breathtakingly sophisticated armada of gear and thinking: “I’ve no idea what to do with that”. For all the oft-repeated mantras about network audio being simpler than ever, it can still be intimidating to get up and…

At might be an extremely popular way to listen to music, says Patrick Miller, but streaming is not for Sugden. “We’ve seen what has happened in the market, with other companies doing this. A few have been very successful at it, but there have also been a number who have struggled purely because they haven’t quite got the software or interface right. It’s a massive investment and also a moving target too. It’s not Sugden’s skill set – we’re audio engineers. Computers aren’t something that we’re particularly interested in.” That’s an honest appraisal from this unique British company – and a sensible one too. Take one look at Sugden’s 50-year history and you’ll see that it’s all been about amplification. “Well we do still make CD players and, surprisingly, we’ve…

No self-respecting early 20-something could live with just 10W per channel The first stereo amplifier I ever heard was a 1976 Sony TA-73 – a 10W RMS per channel Class AB design. From then on for a long while, my hi-fijourney consisted of Class AB amp after Class AB amp. The Sony was obviously limited in power and for me the name of the game was to leave this as far behind as I could. This meant that a 25W RMS per channel Trio KA-3700 followed – and golly, what a difference! By this point, I was 15 or so years old and had The Clash’s London Calling permanently welded to the platter of my Garrard SP25. On Brand New Cadillac, I could hear the Trio thumping out the bass…

Das kleine Label aus dem Norden” — “The little label from the north” — is how a German magazine recently described BIS Records, Scandinavia’s largest classical record label. In the eighties such a description may have been fitting, but in the past 25 years it has grown into a fully fledged international label with major projects around the world. BIS was formed in 1973 by Stockholmer Robert von Bahr. He was unable to find a record company willing to release an LP featuring his then wife, the flautist Gunilla von Bahr, so he decided to take the plunge and release it himself, and so the BIS label was born. In the early years von Bahr worked tirelessly, attending to every aspect of running the label, from producing recordings to handling…

ALBUM OF THE MONTH Tamikrest Kidal CD Glitterbeat 2017 MARKS THE 30th anniversary of the invention of the term ‘world music’ when a bunch of industry professionals came together to create a marketing tag to describe records that came from beyond the confines of Anglo-American cultural domination and didn’t fit easily into the pre-existing record store bins marked rock, jazz or folk. The world music boom that followed was embraced enthusiastically and by the mid-eighties had concluded that western guitar-based rock music had run out of ideas and had begun to repeat itself. Whether the judgement that guitar rock had exhausted its creative possibilities was fair is an argument for another day, but what is undeniable is that in what came to be known as ‘world music’, jaded fans discovered to…

Invest in a software player that turns offall the processing that goes on in the computer You may not realise it, but any music that you have stored digitally – whether it be on CD, SACD, Blu-ray, computer, portable player, hard drive or even if it is streamed or downloaded – requires a DAC to play it. A digital-to-analogue converter is the vital component that makes it possible for digital music files to be converted into an analogue signal so that we can hear it – without a DAC, your music is little more than a series of ones and zeros. With analogue formats like vinyl and compact cassette, there was never any need for a converter, but the advent of digital music formats – starting with the compact disc…

A NEW ADDITION to Korg’s range of USB headphone DACs, the DS-DAC-10R’s elegant diecast silver body is a departure from many compact USB-powered designs and the sleek styling means it should fit in well visually with most audio setups. It also has an impressive raft of features. Starting with the outside, it has a 6.35mm headphone socket and an illuminated volume control on the front. The colour that’s lit up indicates the format being used – a nice feature. The light is green when playing back PCM files up to 24/48, purple with up to 24/96, white with up to 24/192, light blue with DSD64 and dark blue with DSD128. When it’s in record-standby mode, the sampling rate colour illuminates alternately with red and during recording is permanently red. Socket…

MAINS-BORN INTERFERENCE IS one of the many enemies of an audio system. Noise that is generated by household electrical equipment, such as refrigerators and washing machines, can cause annoying clicks, pops and in extreme cases buzzes to be heard from your system. Friends of the earth Making use of a sophisticated IEC inlet mains filter unit, the Optimus has an aluminium casing, which is earthed internally. The filter is fitted with a silver-plated mains cable that is terminated in a Martin Kaiser silverplated IEC connector. It can be used with CD players, amps, streamers and even Blu-ray players and TVs. The filter is tailored to the needs of the equipment and is available in 3A, 5A, 10A or 13A (on test here) variants. It can also be fitted with a…

Hi-Fi Choice employs the most rigorous test and measurement regime in the business. Here’s how we do it... STANDMOUNT LOUDSPEAKERS GROUP TEST NO SPEAKER PERFORMS optimally fresh from the box. All six standmount models here are treated to a couple of days running with varied source material to acclimatise in situ. Additionally, each pair of speakers and the system electronics are thoroughly warmed up before critical listening commences. Auditioning is done in the smaller of my listening rooms, which is L-shaped and furnished and carpeted to give a quite dry and well-damped acoustic. Over the course of a week, positioning and support types are experimented with, though in the majority of cases heavyweight 24in Slate Audio stands are used. The listening position is adjusted so the tweeter is roughly at…

DETAILS PRODUCT Arcaydis EB2S ORIGIN UK TYPE 2-way standmount loudspeaker WEIGHT 9.5kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 225 x 450 x 310mm FEATURES • 25mm fabric dome tweeter • 170mm mid/ bass driver • Quoted sensitivity: 87dB/1W/1m DISTRIBUTOR Arcaydis Audio Ltd TELEPHONE 0114 3990199 WEBSITE arcaydis.com Back on the scene after an absence of a little over three years, Sheffieldbased Arcaydis is under new ownership and has resumed selling the speakers that made a name for the brand back in 2010, the EB1 and EB2. The new company, Arcaydis Audio Ltd, has acquired the production rights and also enlisted technical help from the original designers and component suppliers to ensure that the new ‘S’ models are virtually carbon copies of their predecessors, right down to the screws used. It flat out wins the…

DETAILS PRODUCT Russell K Red 50 ORIGIN UK/Poland TYPE 2-way standmount loudspeaker WEIGHT 6kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 205 x 310 x 200mm FEATURES • 25mm soft dome tweeter • 130mm doped paper mid/ bass driver • Quoted sensitivity: 85dB/1W/1m DISTRIBUTOR Kog Audio TELEPHONE 02477 220650 WEBSITE kogaudio.com The smallest model to emerge from industry stalwart Russell Kauffman’s fledgling speaker operation, the Red 50 prosecutes the controversial ideas that have made the brand such a hot ticket among critics and customers alike. Russell’s radical solution to a problem many were inclined to regard as an acceptable compromise was initially exposed by its Red 100 standmount, and the scepticism that ensued is understandable. In a nutshell, with the Red 100 Russell posited the notion that instead of regarding a speaker cabinet chiefly as…

DETAILS PRODUCT Yamaha WXA-50 ORIGIN Malaysia TYPE Integrated amplifier WEIGHT 1.94kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 215 x 52 x 251mm FEATURES • Quoted power output: 2x 70W (6ohm) • 24-bit/192kHz PCM and DSD128- capable DAC • Inputs: 1x RCA; 1x optical digital • Streaming service support: Qobuz; Spotify; Napster; Juke; internet radio DISTRIBUTOR Yamaha UK TELEPHONE 01908 366700 WEBSITE uk.yamaha.com MusicCast networked multi-room tech is supported across the majority of Yamaha’s component range, and is successfully filling evolutionary niches with a growing number of products. The latest to join the family is the WXA-50 wireless streaming amplifier. As a compact integrated amplifier that lends itself to being placed upright or horizontally depending on your preference, the WXA-50 packs a considerable amount of functionality into its neat form. There’s a choice of a…

The basic design of the LP12 still has more to give even after 45 years There is a recurring theme across many interests, activities and pastimes that unless you have owned, driven, visited, eaten – delete as appropriate – a particular thing, you cannot claim to be a true devotee of it. In my time working in and around the hi-fiindustry, a few products have been floated as the ‘must own to classify as a true enthusiast’ candidate, but one has cropped up more times than any other: the Linn LP12, which celebrates its 45th birthday this year. During those 45 years, almost every aspect of this turntable has been altered, upgraded and fettled, but crucially the appearance hasn’t. In a world of space-age materials, skeleton plinths and rivals that…

Sony effectively ended development of consumer DAT with the DTC-ZE700 A t the time of its launch, pundits were predicting that Sony’s Digital Audio Tape format would “wipe out” Compact Disc, and yet less than two decades later, Sony had quietly dropped it. Sometimes called R-DAT, the format used a 3.81mm magnetic tape inside what was effectively a miniaturised video cassette shell. DAT machines recorded and played uncompressed PCM digital at either 32, 44.1 or 48kHz at 12 or 16-bits; 16-bit/48kHz was the absolute cutting edge at the time it was introduced. Unlike Compact Cassette, it worked in one direction only and was able to give up to 180 minutes per tape at 16-bit/48kHz – although as with C120 cassettes, the longer length DATs were less reliable due to the…

A complete Sibelius edition was only natural Robert von Bahr is proud of his part-Finnish ancestry, so it is only natural that Sibelius has always played a major part in his plans for BIS. By the mid-eighties the label had the symphonies and much of the piano music in its catalogue and the idea of a complete edition was slowly evolving. After many years of planning, the first volume was released in 2007 – the 60th anniversary of Sibelius’ death – and the series was completed four years later. Sibelius is best known for his orchestral music, especially the symphonies, tone poems and the Violin Concerto. Other orchestral music includes cantatas, an opera, suites and theatre music. BIS also includes interesting original versions of the Violin Concerto and Fifth Symphony.…

Not widely known outside of Sweden, Pettersson’s highly individualistic style has gained him something of a cult following around the world. At the heart of his output lie his symphonies, of which 15 were completed. His challenging musical style is not for the faint hearted. Typically set in a single extended and freely evolving movement, a Pettersson symphony takes the listener on a journey ranging from brutal dissonance to lyrical solace. A step on from, say, Shostakovich, the music clings onto tonality yet the sound world is much more extreme and modern. His best-known and perhaps finest and most accessible symphony is the Seventh, which BIS first recorded in 1992, but intends to re-record for the final edition. The Swedish Norrköping SO may not quite have the quality of leading…

To say Rumours was recorded under extreme personal duress would be an understatement When Mick Fleetwood rang Lindsey Buckingham and invited him to join Fleetwood Mac on New Year’s Eve, 1974, it was the last throw of the dice. After early success as a British blues band, a series of disasters and a giddying revolving door of personnel meant that Fleetwood Mac had gone through nine different lineups in eight years. Drummer Fleetwood and bassist John McVie remained from the original lineup while McVie’s wife Christine had joined on keyboards and vocals. But the future looked bleak. They had no guitarist and the band’s most recent album, Heroes Are Hard To Find, had barely sold enough copies “to pay the electric light bill”, as Fleetwood put it. Nobody could have…

ALTHOUGH ANALOGUE AND digital interconnects look similar and are fitted with RCA connectors that resemble one another, they are designed for two very different purposes. Analogue cables need to protect their delicate signals from the effects of external interference, such as RFI. While also needing to keep out RFI, digital cables need to transmit binary data at very high frequencies and actually have more characteristics in common with video cables. Jitter bug The frequency response of the cable is required to be well in excess of 1MHz in order to preserve the digital waveform. Any degradation of this can result in jitter that the DAC then has to correct. Therefore, using a low-grade digital cable can result in poor spatial positioning of instruments and other subtle effects that can influence…

MANY CONSIDER SCREENING to be vital, particularly when it comes to using a mains cable with sensitive equipment. Screening can help reduce the interference injected via the mains supply. It can also help to reduce the radiated 50Hz field generated by the mains lead itself. This can be very useful if the cable is, for example, in close proximity to a phono stage and powering a more meaty piece of equipment, such as a power amplifier. This cable is a special version of Supra’s LoRad 2.5 and has silver-plated multi-stranded OFC conductors instead of the standard tin-plated conductors, hence the ‘SPC’ in the designation. In addition to the standard three silver-plated copper conductors, there is a tin-plated drain wire to provide an earth connection for the semiconductive nylon and carbon…