Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2021 i Hi-Fi Choice

PRICE: £174-£205 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: RUSSANDREWS.COM RUSS ANDREWS HAS added a new pair of audio equipment supports to its Torlyte Platform range, specifically designed to fit more compact equipment. Built using the same ultra-light, rigid materials as the full-size platforms, the design is claimed to provide both a stable and secure support that is more efficient at dumping unwanted energy to ground. The company describes the science thus: “Torlyte utilises very low-mass shelves and supports, which store little energy and delay it less. This raises the speed of reaction to the feedback energy and as a result reduces the time smear… by ensuring that all parts of the system vibrate together and very fast, the vibration ceases to matter. To do this, Torlyte couples all the parts of the system…

PRICE: €1,350-€1,690 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: L-ACOUSTICS.COM/CONTOUR-XO L-Acoustics Creations, a division of French company L-Acoustics, has unveiled a new in-ear monitor, the Contour XO, a pocket-size reference earphone: “for rock stars, sound professionals and serious music lovers alike.” A collaboration between Jerry Harvey of JH Audio – the Florida company that developed multi-driver in-ear monitors to give performers such as Billie Eilish and The Rolling Stones more mobility on stage and make musicians less prone to tinnitus – alongside Dr. Christian Heil of L-Acoustics – who developed Wave Sculpting Technology for PA systems in Paris, which are used at Coachella, Hammersmith Apollo etc. – the Contour XO is described as: “a premium, 10-driver in-ear monitor that elevates the standard for in-ear monitoring.” The 10 balanced armature drivers with three-way crossover –…

2020 has certainly been a crazy year in many respects. Among my personal consequences of the lockdown has been a severe restriction on my social activities and considerably more time to listen to and use my hi-fi system. Recently, I have listened to a great deal more music than I would have expected to have done. Some of my music collection is to be found on MinDisc and its increased recent usage has led to a minor problem in one of my players suffering a major mechanical fault, to the extent that a professional repair is needed. As a consequence I have had to look for an inexpensive replacement. This is not so easy as I have been trawling through various selling sites I wouldn’t normally use to buy hi-fi…

ONCE A NOVELTY, smart speakers are becoming more of a part of daily life. And, increasingly, they’re being used as an element in a wider household entertainment system that encompasses music, video and even allows you to control gadgets such as smart lightbulbs with your voice. The definition of ‘smart’, however, is something of a moveable feast. Some that cost less than £50 are little more than a microphone with a wi-fi connection allowing you to talk to Google Assistant or Amazon’s Alexa. Such a simple system could never be recommended for listening to music, so here we’re focussing on those that provide a high-quality listening experience. Also on our list of desirable features is wi-fi so they can work as part of a multi-room system, and also to stream…

ONE THING IS clear right from the off: these speakers provide very good sound quality, along with other smart features that could influence your choice – especially if you favour Android devices over Apple. Apple’s HomePod has a lot of potential thanks to its circular array of drivers, which deliver an open, spacious sound. Unfortunately, it is so resolutely Apple-centric – with no Bluetooth or inputs and no Android app – it’s only of use to Apple fans. JBL’s Link Portable has no right to be as good as it is, not at this price. Its weather-proof, portable design and versatile streaming features justify its modest price tag alone. The Link’s sound quality is a little more modest – especially in the lower registers – making it more than adequate…

DETAILS PRODUCT Spendor Classic ⅘ ORIGIN UK TYPE 2-way standmount loudspeaker WEIGHT 5kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 188 x 308 x 165mm FEATURES • 22mm polyamide dome tweeter • 1x 150mm polymer mid/bass driver • Quoted sensitivity: 84dB/1W/1m (8ohm) DISTRIBUTOR Spendor Audio Systems Ltd. TELEPHONE 01323 843474 WEBSITE spendoraudio.com If you have a range of speakers described as a ‘Classic’ line, it comes with the assumption that the technology and styling will err towards the traditional. As custodian of just such a range, Spendor adheres to this thinking up to a point. This speaker may have a traditional aesthetic, but it’s far from old fashioned internally. The Classic ⅘ is the smallest of the Classic family and replaces the Classic ⅗, although, the A1 (HFC 465), which is almost identical, remains in…

DETAILS PRODUCT Sonos Five ORIGIN US/China TYPE Wi-fi speaker with multi-room streaming WEIGHT 6.4kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 364 x 203 x 154mm FEATURES • 3x tweeters; 3x bass drivers • 3.5mm line-in • Wi-fi; Ethernet; AirPlay 2 DISTRIBUTOR Sonos TELEPHONE 0800 0265565 WEBSITE sonos.com Sonos made its name with its Play range of multiroom speakers, but it’s gradually been phasing these out. The original Play:1 (HFC 381) was replaced by the Sonos One (HFC 433) at the start of 2019, but the company’s latest detour into soundbar territory means it’s taken a little longer to get around to the top-of-the-range Play:5 (HFC 412), which has recently been revamped and renamed as simply the Five. Available in black or white, the new Five looks very similar to its Play:5 predecessor – which…

When I was recently reading a web-based physics news platform I came across an article that looks into what gives jazz music its swing. According to Phys.org, the answer has never really been clarified. Jazz musicians have been using the concept of swing since the thirties as both a style and as a rhythmic phenomenon. However, to this day, musicians still find it hard to define what swing actually is. A team drawn from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization and the University of Göttingen recently carried out some research on the role that microtiming plays in jazz and how it might account for the swing. Microtiming is a term used to describe tiny deviations from a precise rhythm. The team investigated the role of microtiming deviations using…

I meet up with thoroughly modern gentleman Neil Hannon on a rainy afternoon over the phone. For 30 years he has been creating the kind of witty, sophisticated pop that has won an adoring following. National Express, The Pop Singer’s Fear Of The Pollen Count, Songs Of Love and Generation Sex are serious earworms and on every album there’s an embarrassment of treasures. About time for a retrospective? “Thirty years is about right to stand away from it all,” Hannon muses. “You see everything more in context – it was a good opportunity to remaster the albums we thought needed remastering.” Hannon is the face, creative dynamo and voice of The Divine Comedy, making superior pop since 1990. It’s a face he admits is not immediately recognisable – “Very few…

ACCORDING TO HIDIAMOND, its 4VRC technology – a copper conditioning process that adds graphite to the copper and ‘cooks’ it four times – leads to a reduction in the conductors’ inductance, capacitance and resistance. The conductors are insulated with an XLPE dielectric and at the final stage of manufacture welding/crimping machines connect the Z-plug connectors to the finished cable. The cables are directional – as shown by an arrow printed at the ends. The Diamond 1 is very flexible and I have no problems routing it around my system to hook it up. After connecting it between my transmission line loudspeakers and valve monoblocks, I commence listening with Yuko Mabuchi Plays Miles Davis on Yarlung Records. This Bernie Grundman LP is mastered at 45rpm and Mabuchi’s sympathetic rendition of So…

PRICE: £2,600-£10,000 AVAILABLE: NOW UNTIL 31 DECEMBER WEB: NAIMAUDIO.COM; FOCAL.COM JUST IN TIME for Christmas, Naim is offering a selection of specially matched systems that pair Focal loudspeakers with Naim Uniti digital music streamers. The offer stands until the end of December while stocks last and there are five systems to choose from. Each comes bundled with high-quality speaker cables, plus free trials of both Tidal and Qobuz (more on that later). The systems on offer are: the Chora 806 (HFC 465) paired with the Uniti Atom priced at £2,600; the Chora 826 (HFC 457) paired with the Uniti Atom priced at £3,000; the Aria 926 (HFC 383) paired with the Uniti Star (HFC 433) priced at £5,000, the Kanta No.1 (HFC 454) paired with the Uniti Star priced at…

DETAILS PRODUCT Thorens TD 1601 ORIGIN Germany TYPE Belt-drive turntable WEIGHT 11kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 440 x 180 x 370mm FEATURES • 33/45rpm • TP92 9.1in tonearm DISTRIBUTOR Signature Audio Systems TELEPHONE 07738 007776 WEBSITE signaturesystems.co.uk; thorens.com Of pressed to name some of the oldest and longest running manufacturers in the vinyl game, what would your list consist of? Technics? Linn? Garrard? Dual? Rega, even? In the world of hi-fi, legacy is something that carries more weight than perhaps any other industry. If you have a component that derives in part from a product that was originally developed more than 20 years ago, chances are you’ve got a captive audience right from the off. So it helps if you’re able to draw upon a rich tradition of producing impressive equipment stretching…

DETAILS PRODUCT D’Agostino Progression Integrated ORIGIN USA TYPE Integrated amplifier WEIGHT 26kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 432 x 178 x 432mm FEATURES • Quoted powe output: 200W (8ohm) • Inputs: RCA line; MC phono stage; 4x balanced XLR; USB-B; optical; coaxial; Ethernet • Outputs: balanced XLR pre out; 6.35mm headphone DISTRIBUTOR Absolute Sounds Ltd. TELEPHONE 0208 971 3909 WEBSITE dagostinoinc.com; absolutesounds.com Whether it’s Ken Ishiwata, Bob Stuart, Karl-Heinz Fink or Allen Boothroyd, the hi-fi world is littered with big names that have left their own indelible mark on history. And when it comes to high-end amplifiers Dan D’Agostino is rightly recognised as one of the pioneers of the form, introducing a number of innovations over his 35-year reign initially with Krell before moving on to the company that uses his moniker. With…

DETAILS PRODUCT QED XT5 ORIGIN UK TYPE Mains power cable FEATURES • X-Tube technology • Aircore dielectric construction • PVC and LDPE dielectric • UK or Schuko plug options available DISTRIBUTOR QED TELEPHONE 01279 501111 WEBSITE qed.co.uk QED is aware of the fact that parallel conductors carrying in-phase alternating current in opposite directions will have a greater current density in the portions of each conductor that are nearest to each other compared with the sections that are furthest apart. At relatively low frequencies, such as 50Hz mains, the problem only becomes significant in high-current applications. This phenomenon, known as the ‘proximity effect’, becomes more pronounced at higher frequencies. The problem is that the current drawn by a typical amplifier playing music at even modest amplitude into speakers varies noticeably with…

VERTERE’S TAKE ON the perfect playing surface, the Techno Mat, comprises two distinct sections. The first is a lower cork piece, regarded by many to be the optimal material to mate correctly with most platters. It includes a set of calibration markings to help with setup. This is combined with a thicker “randomly fibrous” layer. This is designed to create a support that is almost the same as an air cushion. Vertere says the result is as inert a playing surface as possible and offers exceptional neutrality. Mat’s the way to do it This is likely to be true on the proviso that your turntable has adjustable VTA, otherwise the effect it will have on arm height will mask this. As mats go, it’s something of a whopper and almost…

AS THE NAME suggests, Kimber sees Russ Andrews move away from its traditional designs to incorporate carbon in its new range. The cable is made from eight VariStrand 19.5AWG OFE 102 percent IACS-grade pure copper conductors that have been woven together and insulated with a Teflon dielectric. Instead of simply twisting the wires together for left and right channels, the weave is maintained at the breakout. The carbon polymer fills the spaces in between the strands so that the physical geometry is maintained and it behaves like a solid core conductor while still being flexible. The polymer is intended to reduce mechanically induced noise and improve the performance of the outer dielectric. The wires are insulated in the conventional way with Kimber’s Fluorocarbon (Teflon) dielectric material. The cables are terminated…

CD PLAYERS Audiolab 6000CDT PRICE: £380 REVIEWED: HFC 447 The 6000CDT is exceptional at revealing what’s on your discs to deliver a great big soundstage with plenty of detail inside. It can dig down deep into the mix to eke out the different musical strands while dynamically and rhythmically it’s hard to beat at the price. In short, it’s a super, highly affordable audiophile CD transport. Cambridge Audio AXC35 PRICE: £300 REVIEWED: HFC 454 Something of a budget marvel, you’ll have to work extra hard to get the AXC35 to put a foot wrong. Bass is firm, detailed and blessed with excellent timing; the tonal palette is pleasingly broad and clean; and though the soundstage doesn’t extend much beyond the speakers, there’s great depth perspective. Exposure XM CD PRICE: £1,200 REVIEWED: HFC 455 A highly likeable…

PRICE: £2,900 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: ELECTROCOMPANIET.COM Electrocompaniet is launching a new, entry-level integrated amplifier for the UK. Designed in Norway, the ECI 80D offers a claimed 2x 80W into 8ohm loads (or 2x 150W into 4ohm), using an in-house developed Class A/B amplifier. It additionally comes equipped with a built-in RIAA preamp for turntables (with moving magnet cartridge support), two-way Bluetooth HD for streaming from iOS and Android smart devices, Mac or PC, alongside HD streaming to suitably equipped headphones. The preamp boasts an input impedance of 75k ohm with a 1-150kHz frequency response (-3dB) and volume adjustment range of 110dB to +15dB. There’s a max output power (into 16ohm load) of 0.4W with an output impedance of 10ohm. Connectivity includes two coaxial and three optical digital inputs, alongside a…

WIRELESS SMART SPEAKERS GROUP TEST HAVING A SMART speaker listening to your conversations may not appeal, but one benefit of building a microphone into a speaker is that it can sonically map the dimensions of the room and calibrate the sound output accordingly. So, for several of these speakers, the first step is to follow the instructions in the manufacturer’s app to correctly position and calibrate for the best possible sound quality. Once installed, the focus with all these offerings is on using wi-fi to stream music from a variety of online services or directly from files that are stored on computers and mobile devices – in fact, some of the models on test are entirely restricted to wi-fi with no other form of audio input available at all. Some…

DETAILS PRODUCT Keith Monks Prodigy ORIGIN UK TYPE Record cleaning machine WEIGHT 5kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 550 x 140 x 220mm FEATURES • Cleans 7in, 10in and 12in vinyl, plus 5in digital discs • Biodegradable cleaning fluid • Threadless point suction system DISTRIBUTOR Keith Monks Audio Works TELEPHONE 01983 857079 WEBSITE vinyldiscovery.com To clean, or not to clean: that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the pings and grimy furrows of dusty vinyl, Or to take up arms with a sea of bubbles, And by opposing end them? Over 50 or so years of spinning vinyl, I’ve avoided submerging my records, careful handling and minimal intervention being the best policy, any kind of liquid intervention a sticky path to obsession and dissatisfaction. Of course, things were…

DETAILS PRODUCT Falcon Acoustics LS3/5a Gold Badge ORIGIN UK TYPE 2-way standmount loudspeaker WEIGHT 5.35kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 190 x 305 x 165mm FEATURES • 19mm Falcon T27 dome tweeter • 138mm Falcon B110 mid/bass driver • Quoted sensitivity 83dB/1W/1m (15ohm) DISTRIBUTOR Falcon Acoustics TELEPHONE 01865 358001 WEBSITE falconloudspeakers.co.uk Aconfession: in over 30 years of reviewing, I have never heard the BBC-developed LS3/5a, either as a rare original or any of the more recent incarnations built under BBC licence. Is there a more iconic small speaker still in production? Probably not. In some ways this puts me at an advantage as I can listen with fresh ears and no residual experience of the early LS3/5a or its myriad latter-day clones to clutter my opinion. Also, the subject of this review is…

NAD’s story started when Marty Borish – then head of Acoustic Research – decided not to launch a range of electronics under that brand name. Instead, a worldwide group of AR distributors came together to start a co-operative to develop their own brand, and New Acoustic Dimension was born in 1972. One of AR’s most talented designers, Norwegian Bjørn-Erik Edvardsen, moved to London with Borish to start the company. The latter became NAD’s President, and the former its Chief Designer. After some success with the chintzy looking Model 60 and its siblings, the NAD 3030 integrated was launched in 1976. A high-quality amplifier, putting out 30W RMS per side, it gained the company many fans. By late 1977, they had a new entry-level model ready to join it. Launched at…

A few weeks ago I was collecting together a bunch of songs to playlist a community internet radio show I do every Sunday. The show’s themed each week, a bit like that one that Bob Dylan used to do – y’know, one week songs about roads, the next songs about war etc. Anyway, I’ve been doing this for upwards of a decade now so it’s incumbent upon me to freshen it up every once in a while and compile a couple of hours of totally brand new stuff. On occasions like this, I tend to seek out different recommendations from trusted resources such as NME.com, Pitchfork etc, scribble down a list and then check them out on Spotify to see if they pass muster. And it was while engaged in…

Spot quiz question: what do the following disparate artists have in common: Pearl Jam, Genesis, Pixies, Beabadoobee, Yungblud, Brian Wilson, Chic, Saxon, Foals, Stormzy, Snow Patrol and Little Mix? Answer: at the time of going to press, they’re all among the acts who have announced upcoming UK shows for 2021 with ticket sales being advertised through Ticketmaster. Having previously had a little moan on these pages about how it’s nigh-on impossible to get a refund for gigs that Coronavirus scuppered, I was going to have another go at them for having the gall to put tickets on sale for shows that they can have no possible way whatsoever of knowing will ever actually take place. Normally, of course, you can be reasonably certain that any show you pay for will…

In his autobiography, Eric Clapton describes hearing Steve Winwood for the first time. The guitarist was playing with The Yardbirds at Manchester’s Twisted Wheel club one night in late 1963 and Winwood was singing with the Spencer Davis Group on the same bill. “If you closed your eyes you would swear it was Ray Charles,” Clapton wrote. “Musically he was like an old man in a boy’s skin.” Island Records founder Chris Blackwell had a similar reaction when he first heard him in a room above a Birmingham pub around the same time. Blackwell describes walking up the stairs and hearing the soulful voice of an aged black singer schooled in a life of hard knocks, whom he assumed must have come from America’s Deep South. On entering he was…

WHEN YOU CONSIDER that the power supply of a Class A amplifier is effectively in series with the audio signal, it’s not difficult to appreciate the importance of the quality of the mains power cable that supplies the power. This issue is not lost on Nordost and it has duly produced a range of good-quality power leads to suit most budgets. Nordost’s Blue Heaven Power Cord is part of the company’s Leif family entry-level range, which aims to offer quality cables at an affordable price. Although it seems like a conventional three-core AC lead, it employs technology derived from the development of its premium Valhalla and Odin ranges. The cable uses proprietary high-speed, low-loss mechanically tuned lay, Micro Mono-Filament construction, and FEP insulation. Each of the three conductors are 16…

These pages are a must-read if you’re thinking about buying used kit, or if you have hi-fi you want to sell. It’s free – simply submit your ad with no more than 50 words (we reserve the right to edit it if not), remembering to include your email, phone number and county. Simply email your ad to: letters@hifichoice.co.uk. This service is open to private advertisers only. Just one ad per household and please note that images are for illustration only and do not represent what is for sale. FOR SALE GOODMANS Module 110 compact with Lenco L-85 turntable and Shure catridge and KEF Coda speackers (teak). BSR. 8-track with 12 tapes (Glenn Miller, Buddy Holly, David Bowie etc). All in VGC. All sensible offers considered: 01303 250149 (Folkestone, Kent). FOCAL…