Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2022 i Hi-Fi Choice

PRICE: £109-£1,900 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: ASTELLKERN.CO.UK ASTELL&KERN HAS BEEN rather busy of late, launching three new products: the KANN Max digital audio player (DAP), the AK HC2 Dual DAC cable and Pathfinder in-ear monitor. The KANN Max portable DAP is the fourth addition to its KANN series and boasts a higher power output (15Vrms) than its predecessor, the KANN Alpha (HFC 473). It comes housed in a more compact and lightweight chassis and is equipped with an ESS ES9038Q2M Quad-DAC, proprietary TERATON ALPHA Sound Solution technology able to support playback of files up to 32-bit/768kHz alongside native DSD512. Bluetooth comes in the shape of v5.0, supporting aptX HD and LDAC, while a Replay Gain function adjusts volume playback from sound sources up to 24-bit/192kHz. A&K’s Pathfinder in-ear claims more powerful…

PRICE: £43,900 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: VERTEREACOUSTICS.COM VERTERE ACOUSTICS HAS announced the arrival of its thirdgeneration of Reference tonearm. The new arm boasts split geometry, where in the vertical direction it has a longer effective length than that of the horizontal. This split geometry is designed in a bid to ensure that the cartridge can track very low frequencies cut in mono and the higher stereo frequencies with: “absolute integrity”. In addition, effective mass vertically and horizontally is different, allowing optimisation of both for performance. The horizontal and vertical bearings are offset by 23mm to optimise tracking accuracy and information retrieval while several hundred micron-thick non-rotating Kevlar fibres provide the vertical and horizontal pivoting motion. The result, the company claims, is the: “first truly noiseless and stiction-free tonearm bearing”. The titanium…

PRICE: £549 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: GOLDRING.CO.UK GOLDRING HAS UNVEILED the latest member of its moving-coil cartridge family, the Eroica HX. Joining the LX model in the Eroica range, it’s a high-output, high-performance cartridge designed to make upgrading from a moving-magnet to a moving-coil cart straightforward. Goldring explains: “With the Eroica HX, turntable owners can enjoy the greatest gains in performance of an MC cartridge without the hassle of a system upheaval”. Priced to match the cost of a good moving-magnet cartridge, the Eroica HX is designed to work straight from the box and slot into an existing system with minimal fuss. Features include a new pure-iron cross-armature design for low crosstalk and reduced effective mass, plus ultra-fine, enamelled-copper windings for higher output and correct impedance matching. It’s equipped with a…

PRICE: £380 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: SONY.CO.UK SONY HAS LAUNCHED a new edition of its 1000X series – the WH-1000XM5 wireless, noise-cancelling headphone which comes with two processors controlling eight microphones with a view to dramatically reducing noise, especially in the mid-high frequency range, plus there’s an Auto NC Optimiser that makes automatic adjustments depending on the environment. The company explains: “With an integrated Processor V1, the WH-1000XM5 unlocks the full potential of Sony’s HD Noise Cancelling Processor QN1, while the specially designed 30mm driver unit enhances noise cancelling. These features improve sound clarity and bass reproduction, creating incomparable noise cancellation that allows you to totally switch off the world around you.” The 30mm driver unit comes with a light and rigid dome, which uses carbon fibre composite material to improve…

PRICE: £750 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: MARANTZ.COM FURTHER PROOF OF the CD revival comes in the shape of Marantz’s CD 60. “With so much attention devoted to the burgeoning vinyl market plus the popularity of streaming content, we sometimes forget that an entire generation of music lovers built sizable collections of beloved compact discs,” says Joel Sietsema, Marantz brand president. “Marantz was present at the dawn of CD technology with our original player, the CD 63. Now, the CD 60 reminds us why we fell in love with the format 40 years ago – delivering more warmth, musicality and detail than any player in its class.” The CD 60 has been specifically designed to pair with existing Marantz amplifiers or as a standalone player and benefits from the latest Hyper Dynamic…

Tickets On Sale Now! www.hifishowlive.com 10 th-11 ththSeptember Tickets are now on sale for the UK’s premier high-end audio event – the UK Hi-Fi Show Live, hosted at the Ascot Racecourse Grandstand, High Street, Ascot on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th September. Tickets are £20 per day or £30 for a weekend pass via www.eventbrite.co.uk or via the link on the www. hifishowlive.com website. Subscribers to Hi-Fi Choice (and Hi-Fi News) are off ered concessionary £15 day passes, details will be on the insert included with future subscriber copies. The UK Hi-Fi Show Live last took place the year before the COVID lockdowns, so its return this year is highly anticipated. AMONG THE LATEST prestigious confirmations to the growing list of brands exhibiting at the Hi-Fi Show Liveat Ascot Racecourse…

IFi’s ZEN range has been a hit and its response has been to push the platform in new directions. The ZEN One Signature is a departure from what’s come before in that rather than concentrating on one role, it broadens its focus. This is still a DAC, but – while more affordable rivals are single input – the One Signature has multiple connections. The USB port has 24-bit/384kHz PCM and DSD256 support plus full MQA decoding. This is joined by Bluetooth that covers every version of extended codec going. Finally, there are optical and coaxial inputs, though only one can be used at a time – the latter is also an output. These access a Texas Instruments/Burr-Brown chipset, partnered with a high-precision clock and output stage that makes use of…

Available in either black or white, the T1 sits at the top of the new Fidelio range, but it provides attractive sound quality, along with noise cancellation and other useful features. The design may not suit everyone as the earbuds are rather large, with an extended oval shape that projects forward quite noticeably from the ear. To be fair, Philips is clearly aware of this and goes out of its way to help you get a good fit, including six different sizes of silicon and three sizes of Comply memory foam eartips. It also has an IPX4 rating for water resistance for outdoor use. The earbuds house 10mm drivers with a hybrid design that combines a balanced armature for higher frequencies and vocals and dynamic drivers for the low end.…

A side from Filofaxes, shoulder pads, microcomputers, big hair and hot hatches, the Eighties was the era of the Compact Disc. This dazzling new music format was the emblem of a decade that was desperate to move into the future. For the first five or so years, CD was very expensive. Soon though, market forces took over and as prices began to tumble CD players ended up in a specs war – 16-bit was better than 14-bit, and later 8 times oversampling was better than 4. From around 1985 to 1989, the hi-fi world saw ever higher numbers, because more was better, right? But just when we were expecting things to go to 20-bit, 16 times oversampling, Philips launched the 1-bit, SAA7350 so-called ‘Bitstream’ DAC chip. Instead of working with…

How many of you are TikTok users? The Chinese-owned video-sharing platform recently hit one-billion subscribers worldwide and is growing so rapidly that it’s predicted to reach 1.5-billion active users before 2022 is out. Its projected ad revenue for this year is $11.6 billion, more than Snapchat and Twitter combined, as it has become the digital hangout of choice for teens and twentysomethings. Not surprisingly, such numbers have also made TikTok the number-one platform for music promotion. Every record label now puts TikTok at the centre of its marketing campaigns, seeking to fabricate a ‘viral moment’ that will catapult a record into the higher echelons of the charts. It’s a cheap form of hype, whether it involves contractually requiring artists to post their own videos or paying social media influencers to…

It surely has to be the most famous piece of film music since Trevor Howard and Celia Johnson said their last goodbyes at the train station in Noel Coward’s Brief Encounter to the strains of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No.2. You know the one. A group of athletes are seen in slow motion, running barefoot on wet sand as the waves break in the background to the pulsating electronic beats and soaring melody of Vangelis’ score. It is, of course, the opening scene to Hugh Hudson’s 1981 movie Chariots Of Fire, the story of Eric Liddle the Scottish runner who wouldn’t race on Sunday because of his Christian faith and Harold Abrahams, the Jewish athlete who ran to overcome prejudice. Mixing a formal classicism with the rhythmic and tonal possibilities of…

PRICE: £500-£1,700 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: DENON.COM DENON INTRODUCED A trio of new products at the Munich High End Show: the PMA-1700NE premium amplifier, the company’s first HEOS Built-in integrated amplifier in a standard-size chassis, the PMA-900HNE integrated amp and the matching DCD-900NE CD player with USB playback. The PMA-1700NE high-current integrated delivers a claimed power output of 140W per channel (into 4ohm and 70W into 8ohm), features a built-in phono stage that caters for both moving-magnet and coil carts and an optical digital input and subwoofer out that additionally lend themselves to hook-up to a TV. Offering connectivity for both analogue and digital sources, the PMA-1700NE also provides support for hi-res music up to 32-bit/384kHz and DSD256 from a computer using the USB-B input mated to a master clock and…

PRICE: £1,300 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: NADELECTRONICS.COM NAD HAS INTRODUCED its C 389 HybridDigital DAC amplifier, which the company describes as: “the perfect cornerstone for an audiophile-grade stereo system combining exceptional sound quality with the flexibility and the long-term value offered by NAD’s latest Modular Design Construction platform, MDC2”. Featuring the same ESS Sabre DAC used in the brand’s up-market Masters Series amplifiers, the C 389 boasts a digital section built around a 32-bit/384kHz ESS Technology Sabre DAC chip and for the output stage it uses a customised version of NAD’s HybridDigital UcD design, with multiple UcD amplifier modules in balanced bridged configuration and a switch-mode power supply. Delivering a claimed 130W per channel of continuous power into 8/4ohm, the company claims the C 389: “can produce real-life listening levels with…

PRICE: £6,000 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: KEF.COM KEF HAS ANNOUNCED the release of the LS60 Wireless, which it claims is the world’s first Single Apparent Source wireless system. Adapted from its flagship Blade speaker with a view to achieving the acoustic ideal of a point source where low, mid and high frequencies radiate from a single point, the LS60 utilises KEF’s Uni-Q driver array. At the heart of LS60 Wireless’ Single Apparent Source configuration is the 12th Generation Uni-Q with Metamaterial Absorption Technology (MATTM) driver array boasting a tweeter gap damper and new Z-Flex surround. KEF explains: “With the MAT that acts as an acoustic black hole, 99 percent of the unwanted sound that comes from the rear of the tweeter is absorbed, eliminating the resulting distortion and providing a purer,…

PRICE: £1,150 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: PROJECT-AUDIO.COM HENLEYAUDIO.CO.UK THIS IS PRETTY groovy: Pro-Ject has joined forces with Metallica to produce a limited-edition turntable. The company says that the first thing you’ll notice is the deck’s surface – which comes with a mirror-finished metal contour: “resulting in eye-catching reflections and a shape-shifting lustre”. Meanwhile, the company claims the high mass of the glass platter: “boosts the deck’s overall solidity leading to tight and accurate playback speeds. The glass finish also keeps the Pro-Ject Metallica spinner’s graphics in full view when it’s not hugging vinyl.” Featuring a diamond-cut aluminium sub-platter and pulley intended to provide increased mass and additional damping of noise and unwanted resonances, the Pro-Ject Metallica employs more aluminium for the 22cm S-shape tonearm’s base and bearing: “no plastic in the…

PRICE: £500-£600 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: TRIANGLEHIFI.COM TRIANGLE HAS ANNOUNCED two new Bluetooth-enabled additions to its Borea range. The BR03 BT and BR02 powered speakers combine the designs of their namesake passive Borea bookshelf speakers with low-latency Bluetooth 5.0 aptX, along with a range of alternative source inputs. The company says that the result is: “a complete, all-in-one, ‘just add smartphone’ system that delivers a sonic performance, relative to the price-tag, that is exceptionally nuanced and impressive”. Triangle continues the BR02 BT: “offers vast possibilities to meet every need: ease of use with HD Bluetooth aptX music streaming, a phono input to connect a vinyl turntable, an optical input for a TV screen and a subwoofer output. The BR02 BT integrates a Class D amplifier with an output of 2x 50W…

DETAILS PRODUCT HiFi Rose RA180 ORIGIN South Korea TYPE Integrated amplifier WEIGHT 16.7kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 430 x 110 x 350mm FEATURES ● Claimed power output: 4x 200W (8ohm) ● Inputs: 3x RCA line-level; balanced XLR; MM/MC phono stage ● Outputs: subwoofer; 16x 4mm speaker binding posts DISTRIBUTOR Henley Audio Ltd. WEBSITE hifirose.com henleyaudio.co.uk Say what you will about HiFi Rose, the fledgling brand hailing from Seoul in South Korea, it sure knows how to capture the attention of audiophiles. First by launching a range of remarkable do-it-all streaming players featuring huge touchscreens and options galore, and now this ‘steampunk’ integrated amplifier, which left internet forums speechless for about 15 seconds. Quite an achievement in this day and age... and those pundits hadn’t even seen the baffling rear of the RA180…

THE TWO LARGEST towers provided the biggest surprises, the almost implausibly voluminous JBL Stage A190 steamrollering doubts over its hi-fi credentials and the Klipsch R-600F, comfortably the priciest of the contenders, snubbing the party animal persona of its predecessor for a more refined and neutral style of presentation. It’s the Klipsch that kicks us off, its even-handedness and composure – while a hit with most music which it delivers with drive, detail and solidity – just occasionally slipping off beam and failing to engage. Fifth goes to the Bronze 200, a neat floorstander with an edition of the Monitor Audio house sound calibrated for clarity and detail, the better to serve up thrilling insight and involvement. Unfortunately, it can tip brighter or harsher recordings over the edge. Offering an alternative…

Astell&Kern has a number of wired in-ears and headphones, but it has resolutely avoided the compromises of Bluetooth... until now. The AK UW100 marks the company’s debut in the true wireless stereo category and, with a price of just £250, it’s also one of its most affordable to date. The earbuds are housed in a chunky charging case, which has a sharply angular top panel reminiscent of its range of digital audio players. They house a Knowles Balanced Armature driver, which supports Apple’s AAC and aptX Adaptive for Android, and there are two microphones in each for phone calls and voice commands. They are quite chunky and A&K provides five different sizes of silicon tips to help get a good fit. That’s important for any earbuds, but it’s essential for…

Beabadoobee Beatopia ★★★★★ CD Dirty Hit I MUST CONFESS I overlooked Beabadoobee’s debut album Fake It Flowers on its release in 2020. Acclaimed as a ‘Gen Z icon’, the silly name seemed to indicate a teenage TikTok bubblegum pop wannabe and I concluded she could be safely ignored by ‘serious’ music lovers. What wrongheaded arrogance on my part. As Bo Diddley once sang, you can’t judge a book by looking at the cover, and when I eventually caught up with Fake It Flowers, the error of my haughty dismissal was immediately obvious. The album revealed a set of exquisite pop songs in alt-rock livery, with hints of grunge, shoegaze, emo and Nineties Britpop alt-rock and lyrics that touched on youthful but serious concerns including self-harm, childhood trauma and bad relationships.…

CONVENTIONAL COMPUTER CABLES use unshielded twisted pairs (UTP) of wires in their design. In order to reduce cable-induced jitter of the digital audio signal, a shielded cable is preferable and the new Clearway has been designed to virtually eliminate the susceptibility to high-frequency noise interference. The Clearway streaming cable employs four high-speed 26AWG OFC twisted-pair conductors, which have been individually shielded from each other. The entire cable is also screened by a shield beneath the outer jacket to offer additional protection. It is terminated with Chord Company’s latest-generation RJ45 connectors, which feature 24ct gold-plated contacts, zinc connector jackets and a non-compression strain-relief system. These connectors also have a slim profile in order to make them easy to use with a wide range of different equipment. Apart from the 1.5m cable…

PRICE: £1,200 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: NUPRIMEAUDIO.COM ADMM.UK.COM ADMM DISTRIBUTION IS handling the UK distribution of the NuPrime PRA-9X, a fully balanced stereo preamp with MM phono input and 6.3mm headphone out for increased source flexibility. Alan Ainslie, Managing Director of ADMM told HFC: “The PRA-X9 offers the performance and build the industry has come to expect from NuPrime, with the added bonus of vinyl record integration via a very high-quality RIAA adjustable phono input, configurable for load and capacitance. True balanced input and output allows integration into high-end balanced systems and makes driving active speakers so simple. All in a stylish compact housing matching the NuPrime 9 series components”. As mentioned, top of the featurelist is the RIAA moving-magnet phono amplifier circuit with adjustable input capacitance and impedance for precise…

PRICE: £4,400-£8,700 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: DYNAUDIO.COM DANISH COMPANY DYNAUDIO has introduced the Focus series – acollection of fully active wireless stereo speakers. The new range replaces the previous Focus XD range and there are three new models: Focus 10 (two-way standmount), Focus 30 (2.5-way floorstander) and Focus 50 (three-way floorstander). Dynaudio notes: “Its built-in high-end streaming platform takes care of everything online, while coaxial and optical digital inputs and analogue connections mean a CD player and even a turntable can still sit front and centre alongside streaming services. There’s even a subwoofer output with trigger, Ethernet and it’s Dirac Live-ready for power-user calibrators. Want to go wireless with your TV? WiSA connectivity makes it a breeze. No cables needed.” Focus supports Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, Apple AirPlay 2, Google Chromecast,…

PRICE: £330-£500 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: IFI-AUDIO.COM IFI AUDIO IS adding to its GO Series of ultra-portable, pocket-size DAC/amps with the GO bar. Measuring 65 x 22 x 13mm and weighing 28.5g, the GO bar connects to source devices via USB and its digital audio circuitry is based around a 32-bit Cirrus Logic DAC chipset with advanced multi-bit modulation. This is coupled with a customised digital filter intended to minimise pre-echoes and ringing artefacts, and iFi’s GMT (Global Master Timing) precision clock system is featured in a bid to ensure ultra-low jitter. The DAC is fed by a 16-core XMOS microcontroller, which processes the audio data received at the USB input. Hi-res PCM is supported up to 32-bit/384kHz, alongside up to DSD256 and single and double-speed DXD. The DAC’s architecture maintains…

Hi-Fi Choice employs the most methodical test and measurement regime in the business. Here’s how we do it... FLOORSTANDING LOUDSPEAKERS GROUP TEST A LOUDSPEAKER WILL never sound at its best when factory fresh from the box and will need time to free up properly to give its best performance. All six floorstanders here are given a minimum of 72 hours with the IsoTek Full System Enhancer CD on repeat, plus an additional two days of music before any listening commences. Auditioning is done in both my smaller and larger listening rooms over a period of two weeks, during which time optimal placement is experimented with. The listening position is adjusted so that the tweeter is roughly at ear height and the speaker is initially placed close to the rear wall…

DETAILS PRODUCT SME Model 60/ Series VA ORIGIN UK TYPE Belt-driven turntable/tonearm WEIGHT 48kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 557 x 212 x 417mm FEATURES ● 33 and 45rpm ● Series VA tonearm ● Electronic speed control DISTRIBUTOR SME Limited WEBSITE sme.co.uk If the engineers at SME felt the need for a motivational quote or two while working on the company’s new turntable, arguably Rolls-Royce co-founder Sir Henry Royce’s: “Take the best that exists and make it better” would have been an ideal choice. This summed up the challenge facing the UK company in designing a successor to the previous Model 30 fl agship – the result is the £50,000 SME Model 60, which has a pretty tough act to follow. The Model 30, originally released in 1989, and its 30/2 and 30/12…

If we accept that the flawlesss loudspeaker has yet to be made, and probably never will be, there’s no shortage of designs that proclaim their mix of strengths and compromises to be ‘ideal’. We have one here. But there is a difference. The desktop-friendly TD307MK3, like every other model in the Eclipse range is in possession of a very particular set of skills you won’t find anywhere else. In many respects you can tell from the way its enclosure is ellipsoidal in shape rather than a box and accommodates a lone driver. According to the Japanese company, if you want to make a speaker that does music properly, one thing is essential: to recreate an impulse signal as accurately as possible. An impulse signal sounds like a very crisp ‘click’,…

NAD has carved a niche with its modular ‘not quite an amp, not quite an all- in-one’ products and the C 399 is intent on continuing that trend. The largest member of the ‘Classic’ components, it is available either as an integrated amp with digital inputs for £1,800 or (and how it is tested) with a BluOS module in one of the MDC2 modular sockets for £2,100. This is the first NAD amp to use the MDC2 system, which means Dirac live calibration can be applied to all inputs. It is Roon compatible and there’s a spare slot for future use. There are two RCA inputs, a moving-magnet phono stage plus stereo pre-outs and a pair of subwoofer outs with adjustable crossover. These are supported by five digital inputs; two…

Millie Bobby Brown, who, of course, plays Eleven says that her favourite all-time band is Oasis and Wonderwall is her chosen track. Joe Keery, who plays the part of hunky Steve Harrington, has a pretty impressive musical pedigree. He used to be in a Chicago-based post-rock band called Post Animal, singing and playing guitar and drums. They released an album in 2018 called When I Think Of You In A Castle, then Keery quit and now has a pysch-pop career under the title Djo. His debut solo LP, Twenty Twenty, released in 2019, is a corker and has been compared with Tame Impala. His choice is Electric Light Orchestra’s Out Of The Blue, released in 1977 – the one that includes Mr Blue Sky. “They’re one of the bands that…

THIS INTERCONNECT USES The Missing Link’s Ultrapure silver-plated oxygen-free copper conductors in a pseudo-balanced construction to offer superior RFI rejection and is insulated with a PTFE dielectric. As with all of its other cables, the Alaqeia is hand made by the man behind The Missing Link, Mark Sears, and benefits from his research into cable plating methods and materials. The company’s silver-plating employs silver ingots made from a silver that has a special chemical fingerprint and can only be found in a certain part of the world. The company considers this extremely important as undesirable trace elements in most silver can affect the quality of the signals passed through it. The Alaqeia is terminated with Missing Link adjustable Reference RCA connectors, which incorporate silicone dampers in the back of each…

www.hifichoice.com 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 REGA Elex-R amp, one year old, as new. All packing, remote etc. £625. Creek Evolution 50A in black, all packing remote etc. great condition £375. Collection only: 07398 642586 or email: Johnakeanelangley@ gmail.com (Slough). NAIM NAT05 tuner, ‘Red Dot’…