Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2021 i Hi-Fi Choice

PRICE: £2,250 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: EXPOSUREHIFI.COM UK SPECIALIST EXPOSURE has launched its 3510 integrated amplifier, which features trickle-down technology from the flagship 5010 series and replaces the 3010S2D (HFC 397) of the outgoing 3010 series. The new integrated delivers a claimed 110W RMS per channel into 8ohm loads and features six line inputs, with the option to fit an MC or MM phono module or a plug-in DAC. Connections include bi-wiring-compatible speaker outputs, a separate preamplifier out for bi-amping or for use with a separate power amplifier and a headphone output. The AV input offers a choice of fixed or variable gain, allowing configuration as either a regular stereo or fixed gain home cinema input. The company explains: “the 3510’s newly redesigned power amplification section draws on Exposure’s flagship 5010…

PRICE: £830-£1,245 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: RED-LINE.CO.UK TOTEM ACOUSTIC IS making its recent Kin Play range available in the UK. The collection consists of the active Kin Play and Kin Play Mini bookshelf speakers, Kin Play Soundbar and Kin Sub10, which is connected to the rest of the range via the Kin LINK wireless subwoofer receiver. An active bookshelf speaker measuring 180 x 355 x 235mm (WxHxD), the Kin Play boasts 120W per channel and a wide choice of connections including a switchable phono/line stereo RCA input with built-in phono stage, 3.5mm and optical inputs, subwoofer out and an amplifier bypass input. The Canadian company says the Kin Play: “offers phase linearity, speed, emotion, off-axis natural presentation and spatial articulation. All the components have been created to work together… “An important…

Wand is principally the name of Design Build Listen’s matching tonearm that, appropriately enough, sits on the company’s Wand turntable. Even so, the subliminal undertone is magic and that goes for the matching phono preamp as well. The EQ part of the moniker refers to ‘Emotional Quotient’ – as in that hidden within the microgrooves of a vinyl record, waiting to be maximised, through assiduous design and fine-tuning, by The Wand EQ. What more could one reasonably ask of a phono preamp? And that’s really the point this bijou box is setting out to make. Battleship build and eye-watering price tags are all very well, but when it comes right down to it, a small wooden box with the right smarts and focus will get the job done just as…

Our second contender from across the pond also favours thermionic valves over transistors and, as an added nod to sonic purity, has housed the main unit and power supply in separate cases. They’re both compact and chunky, but even so it might be a bit of a struggle to accommodate both on a single shelf of an equipment rack. I put some distance between the two – probably not a bad idea, anyway. Besides, we’re not talking the last word in aesthetic sophistication, here. These boxes mean business and are as well made and finished as they need to be, nothing more. The good news is that once you’ve found a suitable parking place, there’s no need to disturb the preamp box to fiddle about with fiddly DIP switches. The…

A CHARISMATIC GROUP? In the grand scheme of hi-fi components probably not. How about a collection of high-functioning unsung heroes? Absolutely. It’s easy to underestimate the role this vital link plays in determining the final sound of your vinyl-driven front end. Anyone who thinks of stinting on its quality to buy a fancier turntable is diving headfirst into a false economy. Buy a fancy turntable, but be in no doubt you’ll need a first-class phono preamp to unlock its true potential. All these comfortably hit that mark and so, to some extent, user choice will be guided by features as much as ultimate sound quality. Should that be the case, the Leema Agena has a lot going for it as a supremely accomplished, versatile and polished ‘exit-level’ purchase. Even-handed almost…

No sooner do we run a feature exploring the various spatial audio technologies currently competing for your attention, than Yamaha decides to join in. The ‘3D Sound Field’ of its YH-L700A, along with noise-cancellation and over-ear, closed-back design, seems to pitch it directly against Apple’s flagship AirPods Max. However, the price tag undercuts it by a clear £100, and the L700A outguns it in other areas too. 3D Sound Field uses technology developed for the company’s soundbars to create 3D audio from existing stereo or video content. But while the L700A boasts a number of 3D listening modes – Cinema, Concert Hall and Music Video – its focus is primarily on enhancing films and video. If that’s not something that tempts you then you can opt for the two-dimensional E700A…

Although we’re starting to see light at the end of the Coronavirus tunnel, when we look back at the devastation caused to many businesses, families and individuals by the pandemic it can be difficult to imagine a brighter future for us all. Life will never be the same again, but according to some that will lead us into a much better future globally than if the pandemic had never happened. According to political economist Mancur Olson, in his book The Rise and Decline of Nations, Japan and Germany enjoyed a huge economic growth after the Second World War. This was because the old ways of working in these two countries, which stifled experimentation, were swept away opening up opportunities for new approaches. It doesn’t take much imagination to draw parallels…

DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE ONLINE! IN EVERY ISSUE: Reviews of all the latest turntables, amplifiers, loudspeakers, DACs, CD players, streamers and hi-fi accessories. Plus: group tests, music reviews, opinions, news and all your hi-fi woes answered TERMS & CONDITIONS: Offer ends 4th November 2021. *This digital discount is only available when you subscribe to the ‘Print + Digital’ package. You still get a great discount on the digital package, please visit the URL stated below for more information. Hi-Fi Choice currently produces 13 issues a year. The publisher reserves the right to amend this. Please see www.hifichoice.com/terms for full terms & conditions PRINT + DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION One year’s worth delivered to your door Great savings on the shop price Download each new issue to your device A 75% discount on your…

NOISE IS THE scourge of any audio system and anything one can do to lower it has to be a good thing. Unused interconnect sockets effectively act as aerials for radio frequency interference (RFI) as they are a ‘floating’ wire disconnected at both ends – the input selector switch and the input socket end. This unwelcome RFI can easily find its way into the signal path of your system. To combat this, Chord Company has introduced a series of GroundARAY high-frequency noise reduction devices. Designed to be put into unused sockets on your audio equipment, they provide a low impedance path to ground for HF noise to improve the noise floor of your system. Each GroundARAY can be used on any unused analogue or digital sockets. Well connected The GroundARAY…

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. Métronome Technologie Le Player 2S PRICE: £5,100 REVIEWED: HFC 449 As good as the sweet treble and rich bass are, what really impresses here is how when fed weaker CDs and impoverished MP3s the delivery remains unflappable and composed as layers of detail are locked into sharp focus. Cambridge Audio AXC35 PRICE: £300 REVIEWED: HFC 454 Something of a budget marvel, you’ll have to…

PRICE: £300-£1,100 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: MISSION.CO.UK BRITISH SPEAKER MANUFACTURER Mission has re-engineered its QX Series – first launched in 2017 – which it claims delivers: “a benchmark ‘step-up’ loudspeaker range, sitting above the entry-level LX MkII Series which launched in 2020”. The new QX MkII Series features five passive models – two standmount speakers and three floorstanders. A new active subwoofer – the QX-12SUB MkII – has also been developed to complement the range. The new MkII models look similar to the original QX Series loudspeakers – the cabinets are the same size, with similar detailing including curved corners and smoothly dished drive units with ‘comb-tooth’ surrounds – but there are external enhancements, including new matt black, matt white and walnut veneer finish options. Redesigned aluminium plates are clamped to…

PRICE: £575-£1,725 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: MONITORAUDIO.COM MONITOR AUDIO HAS unveiled the seventh generation of its Silver Series loudspeakers, which were first introduced back in 1999. These comprise the Silver 50 7G and Silver 100 7G bookshelf/standmounts; Silver 200 7G, Silver 300 7G and Silver 500 7G floorstanders; and home cinema separates in the shape of the Silver C250 7G centre speaker, Silver FX 7G rears and the Dolby Atmos-enabled Silver AMS 7G. The British company explains that the new generation features a fresh: “contemporary design in a choice of five high-quality finishes, numerous acoustic innovations and a model lineup extensive enough to cater for every music and home cinema requirement.” The choice of finishes in question include: “deeply lustrous high-gloss black lacquer, equally distinctive satin white or a choice of…

PRICE: £500-£1,500 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: FYNEAUDIO.COM FYNE AUDIO HAS unveiled its most affordable Special Production loudspeaker to date, the compact bookshelf F500SP, with a design based on the cabinet of its F500 (HFC 457) and high-end components found in the F700. Joining the F502SP and F501SP launched last year, the F500SP is hand crafted and finished in Fyne’s Glasgow factory and features a 150mm IsoFlare driver based on technology and engineering originally developed for the high-end F700 IsoFlare unit. This features a bespoke multi-fibre bass/midrange cone terminated with a FyneFlute roll surround, which the company says helps: “better terminate cone energy where it is attached to the chassis”. Set in a bespoke rigid cast aluminium chassis, the LF motor system incorporates a separate flux focusing magnet to increase low-frequency efficiency…

PHONO PREAMP GROUP TEST AS ONE OF our contenders produces its own turntables and cartridges, it’s important that the cart chosen for the test is from a brand that has no association with any participating models. Acoustic Signature’s MCX3 moving-coil cartridge (£1,290) fitted to our turntable and tonearm of choice gives us the desired level playing field and an appropriately stellar analogue source with which to analyse the contenders’ best game. The Neo Double X sits on a BASE 430 vibration control platform, itself placed on top of an Atacama equipment rack. It is partnered with an Electrocompaniet ECI 80D integrated amplifier and a pair of Audiovector QR5 floorstanders. Nordost’s QBase distribution block with QKore grounding system allows for the bulk of the test phono stages to be connected at…

Quite apart from anything else (and there’s plenty going on with this phono preamp), the Agena is a satisfying object to hold and behold. It doesn’t really matter whether you’re into the Welsh company’s quirky house aesthetic, Leema Acoustics’ Reference Series model is beautifully put together with obvious attention to detail and quality of finish. It’s the only phono preamp in the group to feature microprocessor control, a menu system and a display – no dastardly DIP switches to break your nails on here thankfully. Also, it’s alone in offering high and low filters and a USB output so you can archive vinyl to a computer. The Agena off ers up a deep dive into the recording that’s elegantly presented There are two inputs to cater for setups with two…

Mighty. That’s the only word to describe the Nu-Vista Vinyl. Maybe bomb proof, too. The thing’s build is quite simply monumental. It has an aura of indomitability and confidence that doubtless presumes to cover all bases with talent to spare. Some 482mm wide, it boasts thick aluminium panels to kill airborne vibration, while prominent lateral heatsinks are used for extensive cooling. To provide additional decoupling, cones with thrust bearings are provided as an alternative to the standard conventional footings. Let’s put it this way: if you’re about to drop so much money and shelf space on a phono preamp, it had better be special. Musical Fidelity itself uses the words: “without any practical limits” in its description of the Nu-Vista Vinyl, citing a level of input headroom that, in real-world…

Attesting to the firmly held ‘hi-fi truth’ that differing technologies have innate sonic traits – eg, valves versus transistors – comes this latest DS Audio optical cartridge, the £5,000 DS 003 with matching energiser. Replacing the £5,050 DS 002, it even boasts a slight price reduction – which is no bad thing. DS Audio cartridges certainly possess a family sound. Seasoned audio enthusiasts might agree that all the various types – moving-magnet, low and high-output moving-coil, strain gauge, Decca/London, moving-iron, moving-flux, and, in this case, optical – all exhibit specific characteristics. Cantilever material and stylus profile offer some additional differentiation within a given range and so it is here, in part, with the new DS 003. Fitted to the optical pick-up are an aluminium cantilever and line-contact stylus, contrasting with…

Located in Osaka, Japan, Leben is a small company whose range is valve based and focuses mainly on the precise execution of established design ideas. The noble exception to this is one of the smaller amplifiers it makes. The CS-300F is a compact integrated that produces 15W with distortion at 10W quoted at a creditably low 0.7 percent THD. How it produces this power is rather unusual. The CS-300F is built around four General Electric JAN-6197 power pentodes, which are rarely seen in audio applications. The 6197 was designed primarily for use in Fifties’ era computers. It was made for stability and robustness at full output (as befits a device being used either on or off). On the original Fifties’ datasheet, though, was a diagram for a proposed amplifier application.…

A phrase that crops up a fair bit in turntable reviews is ‘stretch’ (I myself am particularly guilty of it). The idea is that, as well as judging the performance a deck offers out of the box, it is also useful to discuss how much scope it has for improvement – its stretch. This is usually a tricky thing to express within a conventional review, but Pro-Ject has provided an opportunity thanks to the upgrades available for its Debut Series. Consequently, a Debut Carbon Evo (HFC 468) is procured along with the bulk of the available upgrades that can be attached to it. Some of these are universal fitment items, while others are specific to the Debut range. None of them alter the basics of how it operates. It remains…

What is the difference between a drummer and a savings bond? A savings bond will mature and make money. Why is a drum solo like a sneeze? You know it’s coming, but there’s nothing you can do about it. What does a drummer use for contraception? His personality. Those who keep the beat have long been consigned to the dark recesses at the back of the stage from where they can only see the singer’s bum. Bob Bert, Sonic Youth’s sticks man, echoed the description habitually aimed at his breed when he titled his memoir I’m Just The Drummer. Some misguided fools even think a drummer can be adequately replaced by a goddam machine. Yet on the news of the death of Charlie Watts, the jokes were for once put…

ALBUM OF THE MONTH The Specials Protest Songs 1924-2012 CD Island THE SPECIALS HAVE always made music with a message. From Ghost Town, which captured the urban blight and despair under Thatcherism, to the urgent anti-apartheid demand of Free Nelson Mandela, the group has embodied the ideals of inclusivity and solidarity These days only three of the original lineup remain – lead singer Terry Hall, guitarist Lynval Golding and bassist/singer Horace Panter – but the flame still burns. Two years ago they released Encore, their first album of original material since 1998, and it included the song BLM in which Golding outlined the daily indignities he was forced to suffer because of the colour of his skin. It showed that the ability of The Specials to bottle the moment was still…

WITH THE GROWING use of XLR balanced audio connections offered on domestic audio equipment, Chord Company has introduced an XLR analogue interconnect option to its Clearway range. Like the Chord C-line series, this employs the company’s ARAY conductor geometry but with upgraded materials. The ARAY geometry conductors use heavier gauge oxygen-free copper and are insulated with an FEP dielectric. The design uses identical conductors for the hot, cold and earth connections, is screened by a dual-layer, counter-wound, heavy gauge foil design and finished off in a dark blue sheath. Connecting the Clearway between my Studer A810 pro tape machine and preamp, I play a 15IPS copy-master tape of Rosie Middleton singing Habanera from Bizet’s Carmen. Her effortless vocals really stand out with superb clarity, and the crescendos from the percussion…

PRICE: £240-£250 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: LENCO.UK SWISS COMPANY LENCO is celebrating its 75th anniversary with the launch of a brace of new turntables: the L-92WA – a belt-driven model designed to: “ensure the vinyl listening experience is enhanced with no needle dragging,” – and the L-3089, which the company says is particularly suited for professional use and DJs thanks to its pitch control and USB recording. The L-92WA comes with an integrated preamplifier and Audio-Technica AT3600 cartridge pre-installed, so records can be played straight out of the box. There’s a robust aluminium platter to give improved stability, anti-skating to prevent the tonearm from sliding across vinyl and it’s equipped with a strobe light feature that the company says is to see where the needle is without having to ruin the…

PRICE: £500-£1,500 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: ROKSAN.COM MONITOR AUDIO-OWNED ROKSAN has released its latest Attessa family of audio equipment that consists of a new integrated amplifier, CD transport, streaming amplifier and turntable. The integrated amplifier boasts: “a wealth of analogue and digital inputs,” all routed to a 24-bit/192kHz Burr-Brown digital converter chipset, while analogue inputs include a phono stage for use with a turntable. It also features aptX Bluetooth for casting streaming services from a smart device. The price is £1,000. The Attessa CD disc transport connects via digital coaxial to either Attessa amplifier and transmits the digital audio information from the disc to the high-performance DAC. Using the MaestroUnite app means an Attessa amplifier and Attessa CD transport combine into a single system after setup, and the company says the…

PRICE: £60-£180 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: AUDIO-TECHNICA.COM AUDIO-TECHNICA HAS INTRODUCED two new wireless headphones in the shape of the ATH-S220BT and the ATH-M50xBT2. The Japanese company says the former: “offers exceptional audio reproduction with crystal-clear call clarity”. With a claimed 60-hour battery life and support so that a 10-minute charge will top the battery up by 3.5 hours, the ATH-S220BT also incorporates low-profile earpads, especially designed to prevent sound from escaping while on the go. Weighing in at 180g, the ATH-S220BT has been designed to provide comfort for extended wear and comes with a USB-A-to-USB-C cable for charging with ease using a variety of different devices. There’s also a built-in microphone and easy-to-operate on-ear controls to manage calls and audio on the move. With Bluetooth 5.0 and both Siri and Google…

Even without the ‘BAT’ logo conjuring images of Gotham City’s caped crusader, the design of Balanced Audio Technology’s latest integrated amplifier has a purposeful, high-quality look and feel. There’s an argument that the appearance of a hi-fi product is unimportant, but at this price you expect some attention to detail and craftsmanship – and that’s precisely what you get. Of the silver and black finish options, the latter is the obvious choice if you really want to emphasise the Dark Knight vibe. The amp arrived this year as part of a wave of products celebrating BAT’s 25th anniversary. The £13,000 VK-3500 replaces the outgoing VK-3000SE (launched in 2014) meaning it is still the only hybrid model in the Wilmington, Delaware company’s stable. The claimed 150W into 8ohm loads power output…

THE PRICIEST PARTICIPANT in our last phono preamp Group Test (HFC 469) was the estimable and impressively large Primare R35, at £1,350. For this one, the surprisingly dinky and mostly wooden £1,400 Design Build Listen The Wand EQ grabs the baton and hopes to prove that, when it comes to amplifying the minuscule signal from a moving-coil cartridge to line level, the size of the shadow your box casts isn’t everything. As by far the smallest and most affordable model in the group – chosen as a notional David among Goliaths – The Wand EQ can get away with thumbing its nose at conspicuous bulk. But the price bracket for this roundup is gold star aspirational and that means a steep climb to £4,000 and, overall, the kind of casework…

Our first valve offering from the States very much favours the ‘it might not look much but…’ approach to style versus sound. As you can see, the Chinook is just about as plain and functional as they come. Oh, the logo recessed into the thick, grey aluminium front panel lights up when you switch it on. Otherwise, all the action takes place round the back, including banks of DIP switches. Unusually, but thoughtfully, these are accompanied by helpful hints about ohms and capacitance printed on the back panel – a kind of crib sheet to set you on your way without having to thumb laboriously through the instruction manual. The presentation is pampered with just a hint of traditional tube warmth By the high aesthetic standards of the group, the…

A little deeper and heavier than the Essex-based company’s meaty Elex-R (HFC 420) integrated amplifier, the Aura is second only to Musical Fidelity’s Nu-Vista Vinyl in respect of the surprising number of calories that are required to lift it from its carton to the equipment rack shelf. An understated (almost inscrutable) solid black slab, then, with minimal facia décor save for a couple of small rotary controls to set impedance and capacitance and some small buttons addressing gain, mono and mute. And that signature red backlit logo, of course. All very Rega. Oh, despite the Aura being a moving-coil-only preamp, Rega contends capacitance settings can subtly alter the sound – which is why it provides a wide range to experiment with, even if no value is directly quoted by the…

Astell&Kern is the biggest fish in the relatively small pond of portable audio players; a market that was forever changed by the rise of the smartphone. Not content with competing in all the existing sub categories of portable player, its recent efforts seem to have centred on creating new ones to participate in. As well as the KANN Alpha we saw in HFC 473 that functions as a sort of portable headphone amplifier, the other area of innovation has been giving owners a choice of digital decoding. We first saw this in the SE200 (HFC 467), which has two DACs built in, and now the company has unveiled the A&futura SE180, its second model with this functionality The SE180 goes about offering this choice in a slightly different way to…

We tested the original RS Phono stage back in HFC 368 and it’s an indication of how good it was that it still remains part of the Pro-Ject range. The RS2 arrives not to replace it, but to supplement it. This is a single-input design, but has been constructed as fully dual mono from front to back. Input and output are via RCA and XLR and the RS2 builds on the original by moving to a discrete output stage with no op amps in the circuit. This is combined with passive equalisation – something more commonly seen in valve-based designs – which Pro-Ject says increases the accuracy of the EQ curve. As the RS2 also has a Decca EQ setting built in, there are two separate circuits to allow this.…

I know I shouldn’t, but I had to laugh. After a long summer of pulling out of agreed festival headline slots because of his refusal to play any event insisting on proof of COVID vaccination, it seems that self-appointed psychedelic seer and ex-Verve vocalist Richard Ashcroft may himself have contracted COVID. Or, at least that’s what a tweet from the Tunes In The Dunes festival seemed to imply in announcing Ashcroft’s no show back at the beginning of September. The tweet was hastily deleted but, quite aside from the easy temptation to indulge in a little schadenfreude, it did once again raise questions about COVID restrictions, public safety, civil liberties and demonisation of the young. The way I see it there are various camps regarding this issue. There are those…

A RECENTLY RELEASED upgrade to QED’s established Performance Audio 40, this RCA interconnect employs the company’s Solid Core Complementary Conductors to reduce capacitance by a quarter – compared with the original design – to enlarge the soundstage. The new cable has one OFC conductor and a silverplated OFC conductor to carry the audio signal to reduce smearing and improve rhythm, clarity and bass control. The interconnect retains the company’s ferrite insulation and Anamate low eddy current RCA plugs. When I reviewed the original Performance Audio 40 (HFC 403), I found it had a great top end and excellent timing, but the bass was a tad restrained. Connecting the 40i between my preamp and monoblocks, Khachaturian’s Spartacus sees a vast improvement to the bass drums. This time, they don’t pull any…