Innholdsfortegnelse for Yearbook 2022 i Hi-Fi Choice

JBL must have felt it couldn’t go wrong with the second coming of its L100, a reworking of arguably one of its most iconic designs. Although fluent in all the key Hi-Fi metrics, the new L100 Classic retains some of the original’s confidence, warmth and fun. At £2,000, the L82 Classic before you is half the price of the L100 Classic and, if not quite half the speaker, is notably more compact and so easier to accommodate. It teams the L100’s 25mm titanium dome tweeter and waveguide with a 200mm white paper pulp cone mid/bass driver. It might be a driver shy, but the distinctive wide baffle layout is much the same, incorporating a panel and dial that can be used to adjust the tweeter’s output level while the tweeter…

As the larger of two standmounts the QX-2 MkII combines a 38mm ring dome tweeter with a 165mm ‘long fibre composite’ mid/bass driver, in the traditional Mission arrangement of the tweeter being the lower of the two. The tweeter is largely unchanged from the original, although there is now a chamber at the back of it to capture rearward reflections, further improving performance. The mid/bass driver sees some more significant revisions. The continuous profile cone is now infused with long acrylic fibres intended to increase the stiffness of the diaphragm without significantly increasing the mass. As one of Mission’s ‘Dia Drive’ units, there is a complete secondary diaphragm behind the visible one to which the voice coil and motor are connected. This now incorporates vents to prevent air build up…

When the Lumina range launched last year, it was a fairly compact affair, comprising the Lumina III floorstander (HFC 469) and the Lumina I standmount (HFC 479) together with a matching centre speaker. The missing numeral between the two speakers suggested that there might be more members of the family in the works and, sure enough, here is the Lumina II to fill that numerical gap and broaden the range. The Lumina II is a two-way standmount that shares a fair amount of design thinking with the Lumina I. This is no bad thing as its shown itself to be a very entertaining little speaker with a great deal more shove and extension than you might reasonably expect from a cabinet that small. The Lumina II effectively takes the same…

Audio-Technica enjoyed enormous success with the original AT-LP5 (HFC 405) and five years later has updated it to the LP5X that you see before you. This is still a direct-drive turntable with a J-shaped tonearm that is fitted for use with a detachable headshell, but the bearing and platter have been revised and the motor that acts on it can now also rotate at 78rpm. The power supply has been changed and no longer performs DC conversion on board, instead using an external wall-wart PSU with the on/off button of the original being changed to auto standby. There is still an internal phono stage that can be switched in and out of the circuit, but it now also has a gain setting for moving-coil designs. As before, a USB is…

The follow up to Mark Levinson’s deeply impressive No515 debut turntable, the No5105 comes in at just under half the price – available sans cartridge for £5,800 or bundled with Ortofon’s Quintet Black S MC pick-up (HFC 425) for £6,500. But where the No515 took its lead from VPI’s turntables (no surprise given it was built by it), the No5105 is a clean-sheet offering with no components picked up off-the-shelf. Though setup has so much in common with beginner decks, that’s where the similarities end. Machined, bead blasted and anodised alloy structures feature throughout the chassis, which incorporates two black, 25mm-thick front panels and a naturally anodised (clear) bezel at the centre of the frontispiece – the latter additionally hosting a solid glass setting for the alloy speed and standby…

Surely the most iconic turntable ever made, this is what most people think of when you mention the word “vinyl”. It’s the latest in a long line of SL-1200s that date back to 1973; originally launched as a domestic Hi-Fi deck, it was soon adopted by the DJ community and the SL-1200mk2 became the gold standard. Sniffy audiophiles look down on it due to its nightclubbing connotations, but if you see one in the flesh you’ll soon see why it has been enduringly popular. Build quality is superb and has got even better on the latest SL-1200G version. The deck feels close to bulletproof. The fact that its predecessor was hauled around gigs by literally hundreds of thousands of DJs over the years, says it all. A solid plinth, non-sprung…

As the only hybrid model in the Wilmington, Delaware company’s stable, the VK-3500’s claimed 150W into 8ohm power output matches BAT’s solid-state VK-255SE power amplifier, and comfortably exceeds the specification of its all-tube power amps and integrateds. BAT has called upon the ‘Unistage’ topology of its flagship REX hardware – a single-gain/single-stage 6H30 triode circuit – and married it with a ‘wide bandwidth’ complementary bipolar output stage derived from its reference VK-6200 power amp. Also previously featured in the company’s products are the Mundorf silver/gold oil capacitors used in the preamp circuit that are claimed to offer better damping of ‘ringing artefacts’. The VK-3500 eschews all-in-one Hi-Fi convenience and networked audio, as a strictly analogue design. Therefore, the back view is uncluttered. Located between its gold-plated speaker binding posts are…

Assiduously evolved and improved over the years, the basic design is little changed from that of 2007’s PM6002 and, just like all the successors, the PM6007’s prime objective is to keep its price competitors eating dust in the rear-view mirror. Judging by past efforts, the success rate hasn’t been too shabby at all. Were physical presence and the number of twirly knobs determining factors for buying integrateds, this Japanese amp would already have its rivals firmly beaten. Compared with the super-svelte NAD 3020 V2 (overleaf) and the diminutive Rega io (p76), the PM6007 is a battleship. Just to look at it, you know you’re getting your £500’s worth in sheer surface area alone. It’s really well made too, right down to the copper screws. All right, the 14-year-old styling may…

If you’re tempted to infer from the io’s name that the little amp is half a Brio (HFC 422), the model one tier higher up the range, that would be selling it somewhat short. Sure, it’s quite a bit smaller and some £220 cheaper but, truth is, it’s a Brio with a few strategic cost-saving revisions in a smaller, cheaper chassis. Arguably, this makes it even more cost effective than its thoroughly excellent sibling, and that’s saying something. The io made its debut as part of Rega’s System One, three components in a synergistic alliance – a Planar 1 turntable, a pair of Kyte speakers and the io – for just £999. But it can also be purchased separately. Power is limited to 30 Class A/B Watts, down from the…

As well as its headline-grabbing vinyl spinners, Technics has created a stir with its flagship Reference Class of components, of which the SU-R1000 is the integrated option. In essence, it’s a digital amplifier that uses pulse width modulation (although Technics is not keen to describe this as Class D) through a completely bespoke module. This is coupled to the output via FETs and generates a solid if not spectacular 150W into 8ohm, doubling into four. This is fed by an analogue-to-digital system designed to ensure that the signal is both clock synced and free from jitter. JENO Engine works to strip jitter from the signal, ensuring it is not amplified (and thus exacerbated). This runs alongside ADCT (Active Distortion Cancelling Technology), which examines the signal before it enters the module…

It’s surprising that Arcam has waited until 2021 to make its first dedicated network streamer. Easily identified by its sober styling and dark grey hue, it’s the newest addition the company’s HDA family of components. The ST60 prioritises ease of use, connectivity and sound quality, along with the ability to act as a preamp to team with a power amp or active speakers. For those keen to get going straight out of the box there’s Apple AirPlay 2, Google Chromecast built-in and Spotify Connect. Download the MusicLife smartphone app and access opens up to UPnP, Tidal, Qobuz, Deezer and Napster. It’s also Roon ready. Around the back, in addition to Ethernet and USB 2 (for local media storage), there are widely spaced wi-fi antennae sockets, balanced XLR and single-ended RCA…

Bluesound’s extensive range of standalone components, augmented by the growing number that use its BluOS operating system, occupies a key position in the market as its strength in depth is something most rivals can’t get near. The Node is a line-level streamer designed to attach to an existing amp. The matching Powernode offers the same front end with an amplifier on board for standalone use. The latest version of the Node is similar to its predecessors. A Texas Instruments PCM 5242 DAC supports PCM to 24-bit/192kHz (as before, it will not process DSD but can convert it to PCM if you wish). This is made available to a pair of RCA, optical or coaxial outputs for connection to a DAC. The biggest change is the addition of an HDMI ARC…

At its most basic level, the N25 is a network audio streamer able to replay audio stored on a network drive or connected directly by USB. It can handle sample rates up to 32-bit/384kHz and DSD256 and natively supports, Qobuz, Tidal (with MQA included), High Res Audio, Amazon Music, Deezer and Napster as well as Spotify Connect. There are digital inputs in the form of coaxial, optical and USB ports – the latter mimicking the format handling of the streaming section – plus a pair of USB 3.0s for storage. As well as an RCA out, the N25 has coaxial and optical outputs and a USB that enables it to run as the streaming front end for an external DAC. Bluetooth is included with pretty much every format of note…

As the most affordable member of Matrix Audio’s range, the Mini-i Pro 3 goes further than most in blurring the margin of operating as a DAC and something else entirely. Judged as a DAC, it’s competitive with most as you get a USB-C, one optical, and one coaxial inputs plus a Bluetooth receiver that supports everything bar the Huawei-specific HWA format. It has I2S connection via an HDMI-type socket and comes with an IEC mains socket for power. And it’s only getting stated. You also get Ethernet and wireless connection that allows for network audio access including Roon compatibility and AirPlay. There is also an analogue input. The Mini-i Pro 3 works as a preamp via the RCA and XLR outputs and as a headphone amp via 6.35 and 4.4mm…

Supporting both moving-magnet and coil cartridges and able to generate up to 72dB of gain for low output MC designs, the Zen Phono sits towards the more affordable end of iFi Audio’s range. It has a 50dB setting that caters for high-output moving-coil designs, but the really noteworthy figure in the Zen Phono’s spec is the claimed equivalent input noise of-151dBv. This is good going for anything under £1,000, let alone something costing £150 – suggesting it should be exceptionally quiet, regardless of the cartridge you use. An unusual fitment that may help even further is the 4.4mm Pentaconn balanced connector on the rear. iFi now sells a cable to connect this to an XLR input and, if you have such a thing, it leaves the Zen Phono with a…

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.…

THIS IS THE middle offering of three cartridges from Michell – a moving-coil design with quoted output of 0.4mV. It employs a boron cantilever mounting a Shibata-type tip. The body is made from acetyl, which keeps it light at 8.9g and it’s a simple cartridge to fit and balance in most tonearms. The flat front is also a bonus when it comes to the often fiddly process of alignment. Sound quality The packaging proudly informs its would-be owner that a cartridge should sound neutral; nothing more, nothing less. The Cusis S does abide by this mantra, but does so without being dull or matter of fact at any stage. It also manages this while being incredibly quiet. The first attribute of real note, however, is that it has sensational bass…

Apple’s iPod is most people’s idea of a digital audio player, but the computer company from Cupertino was actually a little late to the party. Some may remember Diamond Multimedia’s Rio as the MP3 player that started it all, just before the turn of the new millennium. A year or two later, Creative Labs wowed the world with its digital Jukebox. Only when Apple arrived with a lovely interface, did it make the market its own. Another company still going from the early days is South Korean-based iRiver, formed in 1999 by seven former Samsung employees. It has lasted the distance in this very tough market and even launched its own high-end brand – Astell&Kern – in 2013. This was a real market disruptor, giving products that audiophiles had previously…

DENON’S FLAGSHIP OFFERING is a closed-back design – making it better suited for use on the move – with 50mm dynamic drivers made from an unspecified ‘nanofibre’ and mounted in a special energy absorbing resin baffle designed to keep the driver rigid. The enclosures are backed with a processed bamboo that Denon says has natural damping properties. These are mounted to an aluminium frame that integrates the headband, which like the earpads is finished in leather. The result is comfortable, although the pressure it exerts on the sides of the head is high. As one of the less expensive designs in its market sector, it is as well-made as its rivals although the finish doesn’t feel quite as good. The bamboo looks better in photos than it does in reality…

FOLLOWING ON FROM the open-back Fidelio X3 (HFC 469), the L3 is a wireless, noise-cancelling offering. Assets include a healthy battery life of 38 hours, which falls to a still generous 32 hours if you keep the active noise cancellation (ANC) switched on. And there’s also a quick charge option – 15 minutes plugged in scores you six hours of playback. Wireless connectivity sees support for both Bluetooth 5.0 and aptX HD. The dedicated app lets you adjust noise cancellation by switching between pre-set modes. Also present is a dedicated equaliser. Sound quality The L3 is supremely comfortable and possesses ear-defender levels of isolation even without the ANC switched on. Controlling things by essentially fingering the sides of your head is initially a little tricky, but you soon get used…

AT FIRST GLANCE, it’s obvious the Audeze is reading from a different script to most other in-ears. An IEM with a squidgy tip securing the seal, yes, but what’s going on with the miniature Star Wars Tie Fighter hooked over and covering most of the ear? The LCDi3, has a cast magnesium housing with a semi-open backed grille to suppress resonance that contains a planar magnetic driver, a configuration that has been borrowed from the company’s LCDi4 IEM flagship. The LCDi3 can be wireless, using the supplied Cipher Bluetooth 5.0 module with integrated support for aptX and 24-bit-compatible aptX HD. Also included, alongside the regular 3.5mm cable, is a Cipher Lightning iOS cable for direct Apple device connectivity. All Cipher components are preloaded with proprietary DSP to deliver ‘an optimised…

A HYBRID DESIGN, the Rai Penta has five drivers – two pairs of balanced armatures take care of the midrange and treble frequencies while a single dynamic driver handles the bass. Meze quotes a super-wide frequency range of 4Hz–45kHz and more benign 20ohm impedance and claimed 100dB sensitivity. The housing is CNC-sculpted from solid aluminium and all soft angles. The cobalt blue textured finish looks great and shouts premium, while the cable – a slim and flexible crystal-hued four-way braid of silver-plated copper wires with rhodium-plated MMCX connectors – is most attractive. Balanced 2.5mm-terminated cables are sold separately. Without trying too hard to seduce, the packing has a confident air and as is Meze’s wont, a hard-shell case is provided to protect the main event. Accessories are adequate rather than…

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 silver-plated 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. Sound quality 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…

Afew 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 this…

There is an old but not entirely inaccurate adage that states: “If it looks right it is right”, which basically means if something is sound this will be apparent even before you turn it on. While almost certainly valid, it does put this particular system at a slight disadvantage. The Focal Chora 826 is a pretty big loudspeaker and the Naim Uniti Atom in direct contrast is a fairly compact all-in-one. You’d be forgiven for wondering if this bijou system can really do the business when paired with those rather hefty towers. I’m pleased to say these concerns prove groundless. This is a pair that not only works, but actively thrives. After nearly a decade of collaboration, Naim and Focal have clearly learned from one another and it means that…

As legendary speakers go, the BBC-developed LS3/5a has to be right near the top of the list, and Falcon isn’t the first company to draw upon it for inspiration. It helps, of course, if your new/retro BBC-spec mini monitor is the product of a company founded by Malcolm Jones, the man responsible for designing, developing and engineering the original LS3/5a’s KEF B110 woofer and T27 tweeter. The imperative to stick to the original recipe saw Falcon source some of the remaining Tygan grille cloth from Denmark while the Baltic ply with Beech fillets for the cabinets was a little easier to locate in the UK. But these were just peripheral considerations. For true authenticity and building on its unique use of newly manufactured B110 and T27 drivers, Falcon completed its…

KEF has traditionally focused on more conventional passive speakers for the bulk of its product lines. Its decision to create an active version of the LS50 was shaped not so much as a challenger to more conventional active rivals, but to create a self-contained system built around one of its most successful recent designs. The Wireless II takes the same raw ingredients as the passive LS50 Meta. It uses a single 150mm Uni-Q driver in each cabinet. Now in its 12th generation, the process of mounting a 25mm tweeter in the centre of the mid/bass driver improves the dispersion, imaging and phase characteristics of both drivers. To make the LS50 active, KEF fits 380W of amplification per speaker, with 100W allocated to the tweeter and 280W to the mid/bass driver.…

As the smallest speaker in the twenty5i range that replaced the earlier twenty5 models in 2020, the 21i features an all-new tweeter using a combination of a small inner dome to deliver high frequencies with an outer ring surround that improves both dispersion and midrange performance. This means that the crossover to the 140mm mid/bass driver happens at 1.7kHz, which is extremely low. This is carried out via a revised crossover that features an upgraded PCB. Key to the 21i (and every other PMC speaker) is the inclusion of a transmission line behind the mid/bass driver. 168cm long, it terminates in a forward-firing ‘Laminair’ port designed so that air leaves the transmission line in a linear way, avoiding eddies and vortices that can conspire to leave rivals sounding fractionally sluggish.…

Introducing the second smallest member of the Classic range, which runs alongside the more contemporary D Series. As the name suggests, Classic models are designed to utilise some of the thinking and materials that Spendor has employed since day one. The most significant area for this is the cabinet. Where most other speakers have gone to rigorous lengths to make the cabinet as rigid as possible, the 3/1 allows for a degree of movement you can physically feel when it’s running hard. The tweeter is the same 22mm-wide surround unit used in the Classic 4/5 (HFC 470) and the rest of the range. It’s partnered with a 180mm mid/bass driver made from the ‘EP77’ polymer that Spendor is particularly fond of, crossing over between the two at a relatively high…

Launched back in 2000, the original Volvere was AVID main man Conrad Mas’ third turntable release, and this new SP iteration is so named because of the fine speed control provided by the DSP-governed PSU. The cast alloy sub-chassis employs carefully machined ridges in order to minimise unwanted vibrations. It has three legs, each of which is positioned on a spring in the lower base. The result is a much more stable platform than that offered by compressed springs and, better still, one that requires less tweaking. Lateral movement is provided by the inclusion of three robust O-rings positioned around each suspension turret onto pegs on the sub-chassis. Available in a choice of silver or black finishes, the sub-chassis hosts the bearing and outrigger onto which a tonearm is mounted.…

Operating since the late Eighties, at the turn of the century Origin Live began fielding some impressive-sounding vinyl spinners. Mark Baker now has a dizzying range of turntables and tonearms, all of which are fastidiously designed and built. They tend to be aimed more at hobbyist buyers, because setting them up is a little more involved a process. This is the case with the Origin Live Calypso deck, Multilayer platter and Silver tonearm featured here – at £2,290, £650 and £720 respectively. The combo takes a good hour to properly build up and there are plenty of adjustments. The perspex sub-chassis has to be perfectly height adjusted to get the offboard DC motor to sit right, for example. Don’t be deceived by the lack of shiny, brushed metal or other…

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 from the off. So it helps if you’re able to draw upon a rich tradition stretching back over 20, 30 or even 50 years. Thorens is not only one of the oldest turntable manufacturers, but one of the longest serving producers of Hi-Fi full stop. To put it into context, Thorens started out seven years after the first phone call was made and more than 40 before TV was widely available. But enough history, the point is it has a better claim to heritage than…

As hybrids go, the CSA150 attempts to be a bit of everything. Inside, a single 6922 double triode acts as the voltage driver for the line stage, after which chunky MOSFETs take over to deliver a claimed 150W RMS per channel of Class AB power. As well as touching both valve and solid-state bases, it offers a bit of analogue and a bit of digital too. Inside is an ESS Sabre 9018 DAC in quad mode mono configuration, offering PCM decoding up to 32-bit/384kHz and DSD. It has standard optical and coaxial inputs, plus a USB in and aptX Bluetooth – although there’s no streaming. You also get four analogue inputs, a moving-magnet phono stage, tape loop and a Bluetooth aerial socket. There’s a pair of balanced XLR inputs, plus…

While Marantz can be proud of the PM6007’s lineage, for true iconic clout it’s hard to beat the 3020, which made such a splash at its launch in 1978, the ripples can still be felt today after it clocked up more sales than any amp in history. It helps, of course, that the core nomenclature lives on in NAD’s current range of integrateds. Physically and technically, the D 3020 V2 is a very different animal to its famous forbear being Class D, much smaller and possessing a form factor that can be stood upright as well as laid on its side, but the sonic ambition is the same: setting a high bar for sound and value. Just as the original 3020 underwent several iterations, the D 3020 V2 ushers in…

Reviewed with matching CD player in HFC 421, there was a nod to modernity on the original A14 amp due to its combination of analogue and digital inputs. The Japanese company has now taken the opportunity to update the amp to MkII status. The main change is the new digital board. This has five wired inputs; one USB-B, two coaxial and two optical, supported by aptX Bluetooth and all decoded by a Texas Instruments DAC. Sample rate handling on the USB input is 24-bit/384kHz and MQA is now supported, something that Rotel has hitherto not offered. The A14MkII also arrives with Roon certification that ensures that the correct settings are applied if you use it connected via USB to a Roon Core. This is partnered by a comprehensive analogue section.…

This compact unit defies the potential of its valve complement, a ‘mere’ quartet of KT88s. Not quite a ‘beast’, perhaps, but the cautious quoted factory rating of 85W per channel is more than met. Our review sample comes fully loaded, allowing us to exploit a couple of sources in balanced mode. The optional extras add an extra £3,700 to the price tag; they include the balanced XLR input for £800, the MM/MC £1,500 phono stage and the cool protective glass/metal cage – a snip at £1,400. The iQ Continuous Automatic Bias System operates at all times, keeping an eye on the valves with one LED per tube. The lights glow green for a weak tube, red for a failed one or if it detects any potentially terminal issue, operating in…

Hi-Fi is nothing if not fluid. A decade ago, few would have imagined we’d have abandoned physical media so quickly. CD sales are plummeting in most major western markets, especially the USA and UK – and the world is moving to streamed media. That’s perfectly understandable as it’s so convenient – in theory at least – and brings a huge choice of content. The result is we now have a brave new world of streaming DACs, which form the heart of modern-day systems. To this esteemed company we should now add Auralic’s latest DAC. The Vega G2.1 is particularly interesting for two reasons. First, the company was very early to streaming – and has watched the Hi-Fi world move towards it, rather than others that have belatedly decided to ‘do…

Choice, it’s a wonderful thing. And while once upon time what you listened to was limited to the records, compact discs or even tapes that you had on your shelves, now it’s more a case of choosing the streaming service that best suits your taste – offering you more music than your shelves could ever hope to hold. And while streaming has seen the options of what you listen to increase beyond all imagination, how you choose to do so has followed suit. Do you go down the all-in-one route, opt for an integrated amplifier with streaming built-in or take your pick from the multitude of standalone components that include network players and DACs? From the early days of a format that were niche and expensive, network audio devices have…

Positioned towards the upper end of iFi’s extensive range of digital products, the Neo iDSD is relatively unusual in the company’s roster because it’s not designed with a view to being portable. But it has a usefully comprehensive specification. Four inputs are fitted: one coaxial, one optical, one USB and Bluetooth. The sample rate is extremely good with PCM handled all the way up to 32-bit/768kHz, DSD to 512 and DXDx2 along with MQA support. The Bluetooth plays nice with absolutely every version possible into the bargain. It is fully balanced with a Burr-Brown chipset performing decoding and supported by the now traditional selection of high-quality components in the signal path. There’s a choice of RCA and XLR outputs on the rear, but also balanced and unbalanced headphone outputs, with…

It seems like a very long time ago that Pro-Ject took its first tentative steps into digital, and from those early experiments the range has grown into a comprehensive and flexible selection of products. The Pre Box S2 Digital is a compact digital-to-analogue converter and yet it doesn’t give much away in spec. It has single USB, coaxial and optical inputs and – should USB be the connection you intend to make use of, it’s also possible to power the DAC from this socket too. Alternatively, a 5V wall-wart plug with USB micro A port comes supplied. As the ‘Pre’ name suggests, the Pro-Ject is also equipped with a volume control that alters the level on both the RCA output and a single 6.35mm headphone socket. There is no balanced…

This phono stage recognises that some users have multiple turntables, and/or turntables with more than one tonearm, and/or tonearms with balanced outputs. Most integrated amplifiers come with a phono input, but I can’t help feeling it’s often tokenism. Their gain and switching options are usually poor and you rarely see two inputs being offered or a balanced option, which is where the M6x Vinyl comes in. It’s a full-size phono stage with three separate, independently selectable cartridge inputs. The beauty of these is they’re under microprocessor control, so you can toggle between them and the system will remember your choice of load and gain settings for each one. You can choose between moving magnet (47kohm, 50-400pF) or moving coil (25-1.2kohm, 470pF), with +6dB gain on or off. You get two…

Want a truism you can stake the house on? ‘Nothing’s perfect’ fits the bill. For some designers of Hi-Fi, it’s a comforting backstop: you gave it your best shot, it’s great but, of course, nothing’s perfect. For Tom Evans it’s an irritation he can’t stop scratching. These might be challenging economic times for small, specialist operations, but the process that inches ever forwards towards the unreachable destination never ends. Which is why the Groove + SRX Mk 2 is now the Groove + SRX Mk 2.5. Though this hasn’t been the subject of a global advertising campaign, there is a small sticker on the underside of the main unit that says L7.5A. It namechecks the latest version of Evans’ ever-evolving Lithos local regulator printed circuit board that’s used to radically…

ANNOUNCED IN 2020 to honour the 250th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven, the LVB 250 sports a highly polished Shibata stylus for deep groove tracing, a boron cantilever for high strength and low weight, plus a new suspension system using a special Multi Wall Carbon Nano Tubes nano filler rubber compound. It weighs 7.2g and has a quoted dynamic compliance of 22μm/mN, so should work with most tonearms. Output voltage is a decent 5mV and a ruler-flat frequency response is quoted of 20Hz to 20kHz, ±1dB. Recommended load impedance is 47kohm and load capacitance 150 to 300pF. Tracking force is said to be 1.6g, ±0.1g. Sound quality As a breed, moving-magnet cartridges tend to sound a bit opaque, cloudy and unresolved. Due to their design compromises, they’re…

Recent efforts have seen Astell&Kern giving owners a choice of digital decoding options. The SE180 goes about offering this choice in a slightly different way to A&K’s SE200 (HFC 467). It only has a single ESS 9038PRO DAC, which can handle PCM files up to 24-bit/384kHz and DSD natively to 256. Connections include a conventional 3.5mm, four pole 2.5mm balanced connector and a 4.4mm Pentaconn output; both of which can output to XLR as well. The flexibility comes in the form of two small catches at the top of the chassis. Depress them both and pull firmly, and the top part of SE180 comes away, taking the DAC with it. You can then – so long as you have parted with the prerequisite £319 – replace it with the SEM…

REPLACING FOCAL’S ELEGIA (HFC 447), the Celestee is designed to offer the same ability to work effectively as a home headphone while being practical in a portable context too. It’s built around a pair of 40mm drivers made from aluminium and magnesium and uses the M-shaped cross section that Focal says produces the highest level of stiffness for the minimum amount of mass. The company quotes a frequency response of 5Hz-23kHz, 105dB SPL/1m/1W sensitivity and 35ohm impedance. Sound quality The Celestee is a consistently entertaining headphone to listen to, not because of any emphasis or deviation from a truly accurate presentation, but because the speed and cohesion it brings to everything it plays is consistently invigorating. Hurt by Arlo Parks positively grooves with effortless snap and timing. The Celestee manages…

AN OPEN-BACK, PLANAR magnetic design, the P-SE closely matches the design of the original Solitaire P. The biggest difference is the TPM2500 driver, which is the same size as that used in the flagship but it only has magnets on one side and the material used for the diaphragm and the process by which a conductive surface is applied has been slightly revised. The exquisite but extremely expensive aluminium sections of the P are now plastic. Impressively, it still feels solid and effortlessly engineered in a way that many rivals cannot easily match. The Solitaire P-SE is supplied with two detachable cables, both 3m long. The first is fitted with a conventional 6.35mm jack, while the other has a 4.4mm Pentaconn balanced connector – as supported by T+A’s headphone products.…

THE ARRIVAL OF the PI7 took a little longer than expected as B&W wanted to ensure its wireless stability met its requirements. It would appear the wait was worth it as all variants of aptX are supported alongside AAC for Apple devices and the PI7 is technically capable of passing a 24-bit/48kHz signal. The earbuds are fitted with a 9.2mm dynamic driver and a balanced armature for the upper frequencies. Each driver has its own amplifier and the frequency response is a claimed 10Hz-20kHz. Adaptive noise cancelling is onhand, while the battery life is relatively low at four hours –, but the case can charge the buds four times with a 15-minute burst giving two more hours of use. As well as offering charge and storage for the earbuds, the…

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. Sound quality 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…

BASED ON KIMBER’S Carbon range of interconnects and speaker cables, Russ Andrews has now added the Carbon Phono tonearm cable. This employs the same carbon polymer-infused conductors as used elsewhere in the range. The Carbon Phono consists of eight VariStrand copper conductors braided together using the Kimber weave. Each copper conductor is coated in a carbon polymer, which effectively fills the spaces between the strands to hold them in place and increase conductivity. These are insulated with Teflon. The cable is a single, shielded wire along its length from where it exits the phono DIN connector until it splits into two for the phono connections. The shielding is tin-plated copper that’s handwoven around the conductors to ensure complete coverage. On top of this screening is a carbon-doped nylon sleeve and…

It’s not so long ago that my post bag would include so many debut albums by young unknown guitar groups that I used to joke there were more kids forming bands than there were fans buying their records. So I was struck by a comment by Maroon 5’s Adam Levine who claimed in an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Low that there: “aren’t any bands any more” and that groups of young men and women with guitars and a mission to make a racket and save the world are: “a dying breed”. His comments created something of a Twitter storm with some telling him he needed to get out more and others seeking to prove him wrong by shouting out the names of their favourites such as Fontaines DC and…

You might well wonder why the F1-8 speaker exists. There is, after all, the £3,000 F1-5 which represents such a natural sweet spot for Fyne’s best-game standmount, it would be easy to accuse the technically identical but considerably larger and bulkier F1-8 of gratuitous overkill, especially if you’d just bear-hugged its 15.2kg barrel-shaped form onto its almost equally weighty FS8 stand. There are chunky standmounts that wing it – say, JBL’s L82 Classic (overleaf) or Q Acoustics’ freakishly deep 3030i (HFC 472)– but this is a giant, look-at-me statement and the most imposing, daylight-obscuring, aesthetically challenging standmount I’ve ever had in my listening room. After some precursory chin rubbing, I grow to like its unique shades of monocular Minion look and feel more comfortable with its conspicuous presence – perhaps…

Back in 2021, Q Acoustics unveiled its Q Active range of speakers, packed with wi-fi, voice control and other zeitgeist-surfing digital features. The speakers were pretty expensive,, starting at £1,500 for the entry-level Active 200, so the company has produced a more affordable alternative in the shape of the M20, costing barely a quarter of the price. Each speaker includes a 22mm decoupled tweeter, 125mm midrange driver and a passive bass radiator, providing a claimed 65W output (per cabinet) and frequency response of 55Hz-22kHz. The entire system is controlled and driven by the primary, powered speaker, which houses the 130W amp and provides pass-through power for its matching passive partner. The M20 provides an impressive set of connectivity features for a system at this price, with RCA stereo input and…

What is it to be an audiophile? The emergence of System Audio’s Legend 5.2 Silverback digital wireless streaming system once again poses a seemingly innocent but actually rather intimate question. Do you find deep satisfaction in the audible alchemy of putting together and incrementally modifying a separates Hi-Fi system – the open-ended, ever-evolving, never-ending process often referred to as ‘the journey’? And what if ‘the journey’ could end right here? According to SA’s founder and boss, Ole Witthøft, it could, indeed should for the truly ‘modern audiophile’. The ‘future-fi’, streamer-centric proposition posited by SA and other wireless, active speaker proponents such as KEF, Dynaudio, Kii and Buchardt among others is hard to rationally refute. The pitch goes like this: what matters most – the very raison d’etre of owning a…

Arguably the toughest ask in the vinyl spinner retail arena is to sell a turntable for around £400 that isn’t a Rega Planar 2 or a Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Evo. Hats off to Edwards Audio, then, because that’s exactly what it’s doing here. Unlike those that have unsuccessfully come before it, this is a product capable of stress testing its estimable opponents with some tantalising tech and points of difference more usually found at considerably loftier prices. Perhaps most obvious, it simply looks more expensive than it is, rocking an aesthetic arguably closer to that of the extraordinary Vertere DG-1 (HFC 463) than anything remotely close to the price. Also like the Vertere, the tonearm eschews the gimbal bearing assemblies common to the vast majority of tonearms in search of…

This radical British high-end vinyl spinner is an essay in minimalism and channels Lotus founder Colin Chapman’s maxim: “add lightness”. Designer Roy Gandy deliberately chose not to make this deck heavy, unlike most other designs at this price. Rather, its base is made from an ultra-light Tancast 8 polyurethane foam core, sandwiched between two layers of high-pressure laminate, which is thin but rigid. The idea is that mass stores energy like a mechanical capacitor, so the lighter the better. The skeletal, unsprung plinth sports ceramic top and phenolic resin bottom braces, located between the tonearm mounting and main hub bearing. The Rega has a clear, clean and crisp sound that’s never less than fun to listen to As with all Regas, it’s a belt-drive design but comes supplied with the…

Costing £4,500 and £6,500 respectively, the Prime 21 and Prime 21+ come fitted with a gimbal-bearing tonearm in place of the uni-pivot that’s found on the original Prime. The + throws in an Audio-Technica Shyla moving-coil pick-up and custom Nordost RCA tonearm lead. The main chassis is still constructed from MDF, but where the original had a steel plate connected to the underside, the 21+ plumps for a 3mm-thick aluminium option bonded to the top for claimed improved strength and control of resonances. The four isolation feet boast integral elastomer pads for added cushioning and are adjustable to make levelling the deck a breeze. As with the original Prime, there’s a single belt to drive the 9kg aluminium platter, which comes with a thick felt mat. A precision-built, screw-on steel/Delrin…

Is it possible to get hooked on a look? Absolutely. And, as you might expect, Scandi designers have the knack of tempting us with eye appeal alone. Take integrated amplifiers. Whether it’s Hegel’s stone-cold sober industrial functionalism or the surgically clean lab chic favoured by Primare and Copland, they’re all riffing on a less-is-more theme – spare, cool and tasteful. But it’s remarkable what subtly tweaked proportions and a sprinkle of bling can do to raise the aesthetic ante. Proof? Norwegian high-end practitioner Electrocompaniet has been stealing the scene for nearly five decades, its fusion of black, gold and a billboard-sized logo serving as an iconic visual constant through a history encompassing massive initial critical acclaim, a reputation for top-drawer sonics bolstered by a thumbs-up from Michael Jackson’s studio engineers,…

As a microcosm, the Hi-Fi industry more than any other is littered with examples of people that thought: “Yeah, I could do that” and then set about producing their own version of commercially produced components on their kitchen table. If only car manufacturers or the consumer electronics market followed suit, the world might be full of more interesting products, able to specialise in ever more imaginative ways. Take US-based amplifier specialist Pass Labs for example. The brainchild of electronics whiz Nelson Pass and his mate Mike Burley, the company based in Auburn, California, first came into being in 1991 when the pair combined three home-constructed CNC machines with a hunger to produce their own single-ended Class A amplifier design. The resulting mono-block Aleph O was rated at 70W into 8ohm,…

Like its predecessors, Rotel’s Michi X3 is substantial, beautifully designed and pretty damn powerful (rated at 350W into 4ohm loads). Of course, bucketloads of power isn’t everything, so the fully populated rear panel suggests that it will also operate as a complex multi-source system if required. It incorporates four sets of line inputs – one of which is balanced XLRs – a decent moving-magnet phono stage and a fairly comprehensive selection of digital inputs that feed its built-in 32-bit/768kHz AKM DAC. These include a trio of 24-bit/192kHzfriendly optical and coaxial inputs and a USB-B port to feed audio from a computer in the shape of PCM files up to 24-bit/384kHz or DSD128. An Ethernet input is on hand for networking, while a USB-A is available for firmware updates. Wireless operation…

Sometimes, a logical area of development in one product category is slightly undermined by other areas not necessarily producing the kit to make use of them. The recent DAC Group Test (HFC 482) is a case in point. Five of the six models can be used as preamps to streamline your system if you have no need for analogue inputs. The catch is that affordable power amplifiers remain a fairly rare beast. Into this gap steps XTZ. The Swedish company is best known for its speakers, but also produces a small selection of standalone amps. One of these is designed to power a subwoofer, but the other two are stereo power amplifiers ideal for the task of being run with a DAC preamp to form a compact but very capable…

Auralic’s Altair G2.1 comes with onboard DAC, a preamp that allows it to drive a power amplifier or a pair of active speakers directly, and there are even analogue inputs – a line-level and moving-magnet phono – to further reinforce its role as a complete system hub. You can go even further with the option of an internal hard drive to allow it to function as a network music store as well as accessing external storage should you wish. Music can be played into it via optical, coaxial and AES/EBU inputs; you can connect up a PC via its asynchronous USB-B port or an external USB storage device using the USB-A; or stream to it over a home network using wi-fi or Ethernet. It additionally has both Bluetooth and AirPlay,…

Forget about Keanu Reeves and his shades-wearing gang of mercenaries fighting back against machines in a simulated reality, this Matrix refers to the mathematical concept of portrait and landscape, the balance of two dimensions – neither of which involves wearing black or practicing mind-bending kung-fu. The passion project of three friends fresh out of college in the city of Xi’an, Matrix Audio’s goal is to find a perfect balance between excellent sound performance and a great design that can be “integrated into the home environment”, although if the functionality and affordability boxes can be given a tick along the way that’s no bad thing. With its svelte dimensions, the Element X packs a lot into its neat chassis. It’s not only able to operate as a DAC/preamp supporting everything from…

Hailing from the same family as the Zen Blue (HFC 460), instead of Bluetooth the Zen DAC V2 is designed as a single-input USB digital-to-analogue converter. The port in question is a USB-B located on the rear, while the XMOS controller is 16 rather than 8-core. The USB connection supports PCM up to 384kHz and DSD256 along with MQA support decoded via its Burr-Brown DAC. Connections are comprehensive for the price, including an RCA output that can be used as a fixed-level hook-up or variable preamp output – offering great potential for using it with a pair of active speakers lacking volume control. Meanwhile, a 4.4mm connection on the rear offers a balanced output. On the front is another 4.4mm jack alongside a 6.35mm output. These allow the Zen to…

Hegel’s maiden phono stage caters for both moving-magnet and moving-coil cartridges, offers unbalanced inputs alongside unbalanced RCA and balanced XLR outputs. Power comes courtesy of an external PSU that’s been custom designed for the preamp. There are two rows of DIP switches – ten per channel no less–for matching the gain and loading requirements of your cartridge of choice. These are supplemented by a series of internal controls and links that can be used to add an additional 6dB gain boost to both MM and MC sections as well as extending MC loading options from 50 to 500ohm. This is the point where the expertise of your Hi-Fi dealer is probably best utilised for help setting up, unless you really know what you’re doing. Sound quality The V10 is impressively…

Avalve offering from the States, the Chinook very much favours the ‘it might not look much but…’ approach to style versus sound. As you can see, it 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 Chinook might not necessarily have the design appeal of a £2,700 component and it’s considerably lighter than many of its rivals.…

REPLACING THE DS 002, this optical cartridge is a new model rather than just a refinement. It represents the third generation of DS Audio’s optical technology and employs the main cartridge mechanism from the company’s flagship Grand Master. The DS 003 employs an aluminium cantilever and line-contact stylus, with aluminium body. Inside is a re-designed optical system with independent LEDs and photodetectors for the left and right channels, providing a claimed increase in output voltage from 40mV to 70mV. Sound quality This cartridge delivers massive amounts of lower octave action from the start. Playing Jimi Hendrix’s Voodoo Child, from little fills to cavernous thunder the DS 003 extracts all the bass energy and percussive slam with richness and control, sounding like a cross between a classic Japanese moving-coil and a…

AVAILABLE IN BOTH high and low-output versions (we tested the high-output option in HFC 465), the Songbird Low produces 0.5mV, making it a reasonably benign partner for most MC phono stages. The Songbird uses an elliptical stylus mounted in an aluminium cantilever. This is attached to the generator via a newly developed synthetic rubber suspension system. A word of warning: the generator assembly is completely exposed, but Sumiko supplies an excellent guard that encases the vulnerable section and makes it fairly stress free to get up and running. Sound quality A word that appears frequently in my listening notes is ‘balance’. From the top to the bottom of Talk Talk’s Talk Talk, it feels very even handed. The company’s promotional material states the Songbird: “excels at delivering rich vocals” and…

It’s been 12 years since Naim launched its Uniti Atom network audio all-in-one, to which the buyer need only add speakers. This version sheds the power amplification in favour of the headphone variety. With the inclusion of Chromecast built-in, Bluetooth and Apple AirPlay 2, just about anything you want to stream from your computer, phone or tablet is accommodated here, along with a hi-res UPnP/DLNA interface able to handle files up to 32-bit/384kHz and DSD128. There’s also Roon ready capability. In addition there are optical and coaxial digital inputs, plus a single set of analogue ins, digitised at 48kHz. Headphone connections include 6.35mm unbalanced and 4.3mm Pentaconn balanced sockets on the front, plus a four-pin XLR balanced headphone output to the rear, but it can also be used as a…

TOP DOG IN Grado’s Statement Series – one rung down from the flagship Professional models – the GS3000e replaces the 2000e (HFC 439). The major change is the use of Cocobolo wood, chosen for its resonance qualities. The housings contain a pair of 50mm drivers that Grado remains tight-lipped about. Depending on how you like your engineering, the look is either a minimalist masterpiece or absurdly crude. Though it is carefully assembled, the design doesn’t feel as solid as rivals. The single sliding pin that attaches the driver housing to the headband gives an excellent range of movement and the headband distributes weight well, making this one of the more comfortable Grados in recent memory. This is undone by the fixed 5ft cable that is too long to be used…

AN OVER-EAR, CLOSED-BACK design, the YH-E700A is built around a pair of 40mm dynamic drivers. You can plug in a cable with a 3.5mm jack for wired use, but Yamaha is expecting you to use it wirelessly – thanks to Bluetooth supporting both AAC and aptX extended codecs. This is partnered with active noise cancelling that combines the data from microphones in and outside the housing and constantly adjusts the processing applied. There is no sliding scale of user adjustment nor is there a voice passthrough option. There’s also Listening Optimizer, which continuously monitors the performance and adjusts the output to better handle external sources of noise. Battery life is quoted at 35 hours with noise cancelling engaged. The 3.5-hour charge time is brief and there is a Bluetooth control…

MARKING GRADO’S FIRST foray into true-wireless earbuds, the compact GT220 is barely noticeable when sat inside the ear and weighs only 5g. Grado provides three sizes of ear-tips and the buds are designed so that you can give them a little twist once they’re in place to ensure a firm fit and a decent seal. The GT220 supports both aptX and AAC codecs for Bluetooth and offers a claimed six hours of battery life. The charging case allows you to charge them five more times, for a total of 36 hours of listening. The case can then be fully powered up using a standard USB cable – bundled – but also supports Qi wireless charging. Sound quality Low’s chilling See-Through, streamed in MQA Master format from Tidal, takes more than…

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…

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 extant and that, as…

JBL L52 CLASSIC STANDMOUNT “The combination of those time capsule looks and unburstable energy are just too compelling to ignore…” That’s just a taster of our forthcoming review of this new cute and colourful addition to JBL’s Classic range ALSO: REVIEWS B&W 804 D4 floorstanders, Copland CSA70 amplifier, Audio-Technica ATH-M50xBT2 wireless headphones, Orchard Audio PecanPi streamer, iFiAudio ZEN Stream streamer, Apple AirPods (3rd generation) and an analogue interconnect Group Test FEATURES Music Legends, Music Reviews, Reasons To Be Cheerful, our comprehensive Buyer’s Guide and sharp-as-nails Opinions pieces, and all your Hi-Fi questions answered by our experts, plus Audiofile News on all the latest product launches FEBRUARY ISSUE ON SALE 27 JANUARY…