Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2024 i Hi-Fi Choice

PRICE: £100-£160 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: MARSHALL.COM MORE COMMONLY ASSOCIATED with guitar amps and speakers, Marshall has released two new portable speakers: the Emberton III and Willen II. The Emberton III (above) features Marshall signature sound with Dynamic Loudness that adjusts the tonal balance of the audio; True Stereophonic, which the company describes as: “a unique form of multi-directional sound”; and boasts a claimed 32+ hours of portable playtime from a single charge. It takes two hours to fully recharge via USB-C, is IP67 dust and waterproof rated and comes with a built-in microphone to aid hands-free conversation. Under the hood it boasts a pair of Class D 38W amplifiers, a 51mm full-range driver and two passive radiators. It’s built to be Bluetooth LE Audio-ready, weighs 0.67kg and is priced at…

PRICE: £220-£350 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: BOWERSWILKINS.COM BOWERS & WILKINS has introduced two new True Wireless earbuds: the Pi6 and Pi8. The Pi8 is the flagship model, featuring all-new 12mm drive units with proprietary Carbon Cone technology, as used in the company’s Px8 (HFC 500) over-ear headphones. It adds support for both aptX Adaptive at 24-bit/96kHz and aptX Lossless, and is supported by a dedicated DSP, DAC and amplification from ADI. The latest Bluetooth 5.4 specification allows multipoint support for two devices, while the all-new 12mm bio-cellulose drive units are derived from the cones used in the company’s Px7 S2e over-ear headphones. Both the Pi6 and Pi8 have IP54-rated protection, while Made for iPhone support allows integration with iOS devices and onboarding into the Bowers & Wilkins Music app. Google Fast…

PRICE: £2,200 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: CAMPFIREAUDIO.COM OREGON-BASED CAMPFIRE AUDIO has introduced its new ‘tip of the spear’ Astrolith in-ear monitors, which the company claims: “represent the most refined and enhanced acoustic-shaping geometrics of any in-ear monitors on the market.” Featuring Campfire’s new Additive Acoustic Optical Inclusion housing (AAOI), the stainless steel, hand-polished-to-a mirror finish shells also boast optically inclusive internal chambers within a transparent exterior. The company says this creates: “a gem-like effect, with internal visibility from various angles, appearing sleek and black at a distance, revealing light and structure from within”. Take flat Sporting custom dual 14.2mm planar magnetic drivers specially designed to support sub-low, low and midrange frequencies, and a custom 6mm planar magnetic tweeter for high frequencies, the balanced IEMs claim: “incredibly flat impedance with less than…

HIGH-END STANDMOUNT LOUDSPEAKERS £5,145-£8,750 FOR SOME, STANDMOUNT speakers are a stepping stone to more extravagant things. Whatever the initial budget and room-size constraints might dictate for the sake of convenience, the underlying logic is that the biggest, baddest speakers on the planet are floorstanders and therefore, if you’re prepared to drop a bit of cash on the subject, towers possess the powers and the way to go. Maybe so. But we’re treading a path in not-so-fast territory here. There’s a rule of thumb that’s helpful. At any given real-world price point a standmount always wins for component quality and build, the vastly increased enclosure real estate required for a floorstander necessarily hogging a larger portion of the allocated production costs. But it’s more than that. A properly designed and engineered…

NUPRIME AUDIO DAC-9X £1,200 This combined DAC and headphone amplifier from NuPrime has an impressive range of features that will suit both studio professionals and high-end audiophiles alike. It has full microprocessor control with memory retention and low-noise JFETs are used in the input stage to offer a very low noise floor. The DAC-9X has an analogue stereo input alongside a USB-A extension port, USB-B, optical, coaxial and two IIS/DSD inputs. At the other end, it offers standard RCA unbalanced stereo and XLR balanced outputs, an optical out and a 6.35mm standard stereo headphone jack. The DAC decoding supports PCM up to 384kHz, DSD256 and MQA. The DSD supports native playback by ASIO2.1 and DoP method. The preamp section is capable of driving a power amplifier as well as the…

CYRUS CLASSIC PHONO £1,900 As part of its range refinement, Cyrus has opted to condense its lineup and one of the products that has been cut as a result is the Phono Signature phono stage; a device I reviewed all the way back in HFC 408 and liked so much, I purchased there and then, and continue to use. The replacement Classic PHONO induces more than a little déjà vu upon first glance. This is because its core functionality is exactly the same. This is a moving-magnet and moving-coil phono stage that supports four gain options of 40 through 70dB and has adjustable impedance and capacitance combined with a rumble filter. The range of adjustment should handle all but the most unusual cartridges without issue. The circuit itself uses metalised…

I have had the good fortune to attend a number of recording sessions where audio quality was of paramount importance. Some of these took place in studios and others were in ‘remote’ locations, such as concert halls or churches. Overall, I prefer those that are made on location, but it’s much harder to make a really good recording in a place that is not primarily designed for the job. A good recording can most easily be made in a studio, where one has control of the environment and all the necessary equipment. The first issue facing an engineer at a remote location is the need to transport all the equipment to the venue for installation, which can be a huge job. Then there is controlling the environment itself by removing…

Manu Chao Viva Tu CD Because BOB DYLAN WROTE in his memoir Chronicles Volume One that he had never wanted to be the “High Priest of Protest” or the voice of outlaws, outcasts and outsiders. It’s a mantle, though, that the mercurial Manu Chao has been happy to assume – not by singing angry finger-pointing protest songs, but by identifying with the asylum seekers, economic migrants, antiglobalistas, misfits and itinerants of the world in joyous, celebratory music imbued with the spirit of carnival and fiesta. In a way, Chao also stands as an heir to Bob Marley as a hero to the dispossessed. His 1998 solo debut Clandestino became a backpacker’s classic and the soundtrack for all those standing against global injustice, an enduring underground phenomenon, played at Occupy Wall Street and…

In the golden age of American soul and R&B, there were three great instrumental groups who came to define the genre. Down in New Orleans, The Meters were concocting a uniquely funky brew of tight melodic grooves and syncopated rhythms as the house band to Allen Toussaint. Up in Detroit, The Funk Brothers reigned – not so much a band, but a loose collective of peerless session players who performed on every great Motown record until the label left the Motor City for Los Angeles in 1972. Somewhere in the middle, both geographically and perhaps musically, Memphis had Booker T & The M.G.’s. As the house band at the legendary Stax label, the M.G.’s not only recorded their own immaculately funky instrumental hits such as Green Onions and Time Is…

JOINING BLACK RHODIUM’S new range of premium interconnects, the Overture XLR takes many of the design principles of its sibling Chorale XLR interconnect, but simplifies the design with fewer components. Internally, it uses the same cryogenically processed conductor wires as the RCA version and is also damped along its length to minimise vibration-induced distortion. The cable is screened with several layers of braided metal shielding to protect the signal from external interference. The Overture XLR is fitted with Black Rhodium’s high-quality gold plated XLR connectors and has an outside diameter of 12mm. It is flexible enough to enable it to be fitted neatly behind the audio equipment and the stereo pair weighs a total of 370g. I connect the Overture XLR between my Studer A810 pro tape machine and a…

Jerry Garcia makes a gun with his fingers and mimes blowing his brains out. “It’s really hard to talk about it because there’s no good language to use. We’re talking about the invisible. Y’know, what the hell is it? It’s like talking about flying saucers – either you’ve had the experience or you haven’t.” Garcia’s struggling to explain why so many people attach a spiritual significance to The Grateful Dead who, into their third decade now, have pushed improvisation further than any of their peers. For a man pleading lack of expression, it must be said he isn’t exactly lost for words. “Well, ok, there is a language to talk about it – the language of trance, the language of magic – y’know, where music basically comes from, which is…

PRICE: £1,000-£5,500 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: MONITORAUDIO.COM ESSEX-BASED MONITOR AUDIO has launched its new Gold Series 6G range of loudspeakers. There are half a dozen new models in this sixth-generation of the Gold Series boasting a new metal cone advancement in the form of Hexagonal Diaphragm Technology. HDT draws on the RDT III cones utilised in the Hyphn and the flagship Platinum Series 3G, consisting of a Nomex honeycomb layer sandwiched between aluminium and carbon fibre skins. The HDT cone employs a new hexagonal pattern to disrupt symmetries in the cone breakup, creating a cone that shifts the frequency up by 10 percent compared with the RST II cones that are found on the Silver Series 7G. The new cone also utilises Monitor Audio’s proprietary C-CAM technology, which when compared with…

PRICE: £600-£1,100 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: PROJECT-AUDIO.COM HENLEYAUDIO.CO.UK AUSTRIAN COMPANY PRO-JECT has released a brace of new turntables: the XA B and Debut EVO 2. The former was born out of Pro-Ject’s desire to once again produce an affordable high-end turntable based on a transparent acrylic plinth, like the long-standing 6 Perspex and Perspective models that came before it. Key features include an acoustically inert transparent acrylic chassis, special damped height adjustable feet, a premium 10in aluminium tonearm with ultra-low friction Kardan four pin-point tonearm bearing assembly and pre-adjusted Pick it PRO Balanced cartridge installed. There’s also a precision-balanced 1.7kg aluminium main platter with TPE damping, a sub-platter system mounted into a stainless steel platter bearing with soft brass bushing and 0.001mm bearing tolerances. Speed control options include 33 and 45rpm,…

PRICE: £12,000 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: MARANTZ.COM MARANTZ HAS ANNOUNCED its new 10 Series Collection of three reference-quality stereo products. Comprising the MODEL 10 Reference Integrated Amplifier, SACD 10 Reference SACD player and LINK 10n Reference Network Audio Player, the 10 Series Collection represents the first time the brand has released new range reference-quality stereo components since 2016. The first product to be released is the MODEL 10 Reference Integrated Amplifier, the most powerful one-box amp the company has ever made. It’s built around a newly designed dual-mono symmetrical amplifier topology and uses a completely new copper-plated, triple-layered chassis with a compartmentalised design structure designed to provide complete engineering separation of each critical internal function. Two internal compartments plus strategically placed shields isolate high and low power circuits from each other and…

PRICE: £220 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: VICTROLA.COM VICTROLA HAS ANNOUNCED the launch of the Victrola Automatic record player, which features automatic play and tonearm lowering/raising functions, Bluetooth connectivity and a repeat button to continuously play the same side of a vinyl record. The company says the development of the Automatic turntable was guided by four basic principles: “ease of use, ease of setup, quality sound and elevated design… Its front-facing illuminated power and output selection button is complemented by its control buttons that sit flush with the turntable for a simple and intuitive user experience.” The tonearm has an Audio-Technica AT-3600L moving-magnet cartridge attached to a fixed headshell and counterweight: “providing high-quality sound reproduction without the need to manually queue the record”. Designed for versatility, the Victrola Automatic features both wired…

PRICE: £60,000 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: DANDAGOSTINO.COM ABSOLUTESOUNDS.COM DAN D’AGOSTINO MASTER Audio Systems has released the Momentum C2 Preamplifier. Short for “Concept 2,” the company says the Momentum C2 is an advancement on its predecessor, the Momentum HD Preamplifier: “the Momentum C2 incorporates technical features and sonic attributes inspired by the flagship Relentless Preamplifier. Initially developed as the C4 in reference to its new Complementary Four-Circuit topology that makes up the unique input stage, the extent of the advancement within other sections of the component goes so far beyond its front-end circuitry that it calls for a name underscoring the magnitude of this new concept: Momentum C2 Preamplifier.” Concealed behind a discrete door on the front panel, a headphone jack featuring independent amplifier circuitry is provided for added versatility. Meanwhile, housed…

PRICE: £20,000-£90,000 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: DCSAUDIO.COM ABSOLUTESOUNDS.COM DCS AUDIO SAYS its new Varèse music system is its most advanced to date, offering a level of performance beyond anything it’s ever created. “At the same time,” the UK company adds: “it brings a simpler, more intuitive user experience and an ambitious design that marries cutting-edge mechanics and hardware with a striking and tactile form”. The Varèse Music System comprises five components: Core, two Mono DACs (one for each channel), User Interface and a Master Clock. It also includes a dedicated remote control and a new dCS Mosaic ACTUS app. A dedicated CD/SACD Transport will also be available from next year. Innovation central dCS explains that the Varèse utilises a suite of new technologies including dCS Tomix (its new clocking technology), ACTUS…

ELIPSON PLANET L GOLD EDITION £900 Not long after the French company returned to the speaker market, the Planet L was the first Elipson speaker that we looked at all the way back in HFC 350. Since then, it has remained part of the range while Elipson has bolstered its offering with more conventional models. With this year marking the 80th anniversary of the company, the Planet L has been tweaked to become the Gold Edition. The key aspects of the Planet L remain unchanged. It’s a 29cm diameter sphere that takes inspiration from the designs that the company built for French TV and radio in the Fifties and Sixties. Key to making its shape work is minimising the number of holes in it. With this in mind, Elipson employs…

VIOLECTRIC PPA V790 £3,500 You might reasonably feel that phono stages are a surprising category to demonstrate significant technical developments; after all, the requirements they fulfil and the technology they use have been constant for some years now. Nevertheless, in recent times, many stages have reflected wider changes in vinyl. The first development is multiple inputs – people having more than one turntable has become more common and some stages have reflected this. The second is a renewed interest in balanced connections. This has been around for some time, but has shown a real uptick in interest in the last few years. Violectric’s PPA V790 manages to reflect both of these developments at once. It has six individually configurable inputs, which even taking into account the increase in interest in…

The smooth-as-gelato Italian pianist and composer Ludovico Einaudi is a perfectly lovely chap, as I discovered when we had dinner together many years ago, but he’s got a lot to answer for as the man who messed up classical music. When we met, his solo album Le Onde, intended as a musical interpretation of Virginia Woolf’s novel The Waves, had just topped the classical chart. Full of hypnotically soothing tones and simple, melancholic undulations, the sound was pleasant enough but it wasn’t what I would call classical music. Nevertheless, I could understand why Sony’s classical division was parading him as its saviour. Move over Ludwig and Wolfgang, Ludovico’s here to keep us in business. Le Onde sold 60,000 copies, an unprecedented number for a so-called ‘classical’ recording at the time. Since…

IT IS NOW recognised that it is essential to have a good-quality mains supply to allow any audio system to perform at its best. The Powergrip YG-2 6-way power conditioner contains several different types of filters that effectively isolate the connected devices, preventing their undesirable influence on each other, as well as helping avoid interference produced by the network. The filters ensure minimum harmonic distortion and are able to handle large current impulses, unlike traditional power filters. Switching relays operate using a zero-cross technology, which switches the loads on and off when the supply voltage sine wave crosses the zero-point. This results in a soft switch on and off, even under high current loads. The YG-2 handles mains voltages between 190–256V and can provide just under 3.7kW of power. Measuring…

PRICE: £64-£140 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: FIIO.COM JAPANESE COMPANY FIIO has launched its BTR13 portable DAC and FT1 closed-back headphones. The BTR13 features 3.5mm single-ended and 4.4mm balanced headphone outputs and dual CS43131 DACs alongside support for aptX HD, LDAC and aptX LL Bluetooth. It also features a dedicated three-position toggle switch, via which users are able to switch between the PC/BT/Phone modes – allowing the BTR13 to work as an external USB computer sound card for headphones, Bluetooth Audio decoder and audio dongle DAC. It can be connected to a PC/Mac for use as a USB DAC and headphone amp. The DAC features dual Cirrus Logic CS43131 fully balanced chips and is able to output up to a claimed 220mW. There’s a 10-band Parametric Equaliser and the BTR13 is available…

PRICE: £2,500-£4,000 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: CYRUSAUDIO.COM CYRUS AUDIO HAS released a new range of products – the 40 Series. There are four pieces of kit in the initial launch: the 40 AMP integrated amplifier, 40 CD compact disc player, 40 ST network streamer with BluOS streaming platform and 40 PSU external power supply. The company explains: “The first thing you’ll notice about the 40 Series is the all-new sleek design… The front panel is uncluttered, with a headphone connection and beautiful edge-to-edge glass finish that hides a high-resolution TFT display, presenting full-colour album art”. The main chassis is made from aluminium and finished in anodised brushed black. The volume control has been custom designed from five separate elements and also engineered from solid aluminium. Cyrus has designed a new remote and…

PRICE: £600-£750 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: QACOUSTICS.CO.UK Q ACOUSTICS HAS unveiled its E300A ceiling-installed hi-fi amp, which is designed to form the centre of a smart home eco-system. The company says the E300A is: “suitable for installation in any room in the home and is just as capable of powering a single-room setup or expansive multi-room system as it is driving an entire smart home”. Its integrated Amazon Alexa voice-control is activated by three far-field microphones in a bid to ensure 360° coverage across even the largest open-plan living space. Just like many other Alexa-enabled products, the E300A features an LED light ring to confirm voice interaction – and its surface-mounted light sensor is designed to ensure the LED ring is set to the correct intensity depending on the ambient light…

Hi-Fi Choice employs the most methodical test and measurement regime in the business. Here’s how we do it… HIGH-END STANDMOUNT LOUDSPEAKERS GROUP TEST WE DON’T KNOW of any speaker, irrespective of price or how it’s engineered, that performs optimally fresh from the box, so all six are treated to couple of days running with varied source material to bed in and settle down. Additionally, each pair of speakers and the system electronics are thoroughly warmed up before critical listening starts. Auditioning is done in the smaller of our listening rooms, which is L-shaped and furnished and carpeted to give quite a dry and well-damped acoustic character with minimal ‘second venue’ contribution. Over the course of a week, positioning and dedicated support types are experimented with though, in most cases, heavyweight…

HIGH-END DESIRABLES IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE HOME OF REAL HI-FI Hi-Fi news & RecordReview T+A R 2500 R £12,905 ChoIce EXOTICA Looking for a simple, no-frills, ‘straight wire with gain’ amplification solution? If so, it’s a case of ‘move right along, please – nothing to see here’ – as T+A’s R 2500 R is a prime example of large-scale integration in the quest for one of those ‘just add speakers’ systems. Available in black or silver, you can connect other source components to it, thanks to a choice of analogue and digital inputs – but why would you want to? In practice, the R 2500 R has you covered for streamed audio of all flavours – be it from local storage or online sources – offers power amplification of sufficient shove to…

AUDIOVECTOR QR 1 SE £1,350 For the longest time, Danish speaker brand Audiovector has had its own unique approach to helping its customers upgrade. Instead of expecting them to sell up and buy a new, better and more expensive Audiovector speaker, it asks only for the original purchase to be returned to its Copenhagen HQ where it is tweaked to the next level, while crucially retaining the model’s presumably favoured core character, and returned fully sonically sweetened for a far more modest outlay than the price of an all-new box. Not an easy undertaking for a small, family-run company, but a surefire loyalty magnet that has served it well over the years. For its entry-level ‘QR’ range, however, no such arrangement exists. Sooner or later, as evolution dictates, a better…

LOEWE WE. HEAR PRO £250 Loewe has always been an unashamedly ‘luxury’ brand, but it’s getting down with the kids with its new portable speaker, which is officially entitled the ‘We. HEAR pro’ and is promoted by French football star Kylian Mbappé. The HEAR pro – as we shall henceforth refer to it – is a no-nonsense boombox, designed to provide a powerful sound for the great outdoors. It’s a little more expensive than similar boomboxes we’ve seen recently, but Loewe’s classy design and well-balanced sound – and the big logo with Mbappé’s initials – should help it stand out from the crowd. Available in Denim Blue, Neon Yellow and plain old Black, the cylindrical HEAR pro is relatively compact for a speaker that provides a beefy 100W output. You…

Without doubt, one of the biggest global live acts of the last year has been Taylor Swift and her Eras tour. Covering 10 albums, 44 songs and 16 costume changes, this isn’t just some band turning up in their jeans, plugging in their guitars and giving it their best. The Wall Street Journal has described the tour as one of the most expensive and: “technically ambitious” productions of the 21st century, and it’s easy to see why. Described as a: “4D cognitive experience”, it boasts pyrotechnics, laser lights, smoke machines, fire cannons, indoor fireworks, PixMob LED bracelets and image projection technology to ensure that even those with the shortest of attention spans have plenty to keep themselves entertained between songs. And then there’s the stage. Why would Taylor make do…

HI-FI Choice Recommends ESSENTIAL HI-FI YOU’LL WANT TO OWN CD PLAYERS Cambridge Audio AXC35 PRICE: £300 REVIEWED: HFC 454 Something of a budget marvel, you’ll have to work extra hard to get the AXC35 to put a foot wrong. Bass is firm, detailed and blessed with excellent timing; the tonal palette is pleasingly broad and clean; and though the soundstage doesn’t extend much beyond the speakers, there’s great depth perspective. Musical Fidelity M6scd PRICE: £2,500 REVIEWED: HFC 499 An exemplary player with more than a hint of star quality to it, the M6scd paints a broad and deep soundstage populated with solid, well-focused and perfectly placed images. Regardless of genre of music or production standard, its handling of spatial elements is among the very best in the business. Cyrus CDi-XR…

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