Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2025 i Hi-Fi Choice

PRICE: £2,240 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: VIOLECTRIC.DE ELECTROMOD.CO.UK GERMAN COMPANY VIOLECTRIC has launched its HPA V324 pure-analogue headphone amplifier, a reference-level desk or tabletop device with a 170 x 250mm footprint. Featuring ‘true balanced’, fully differential circuit topology, incorporating four distinct amp stages – two for the left channel and two for the right – and an ‘ultra-low-noise’ 25W toroidal transformer, the V324 can also be used as a preamplifier to connect to a power amp and speakers (or to a pair of active/powered speakers). The amp’s output can additionally be switched between headphones, preamp or both simultaneously. Violectric says the HPA V324 delivers up to 5,000mW into 50ohm, with voltage of over 21V into a 600ohm load – making it one of the most powerful headphone amplifiers currently available. Multiple…

PRICE: £40-£700 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: LENCO.UK THERE’S ACTION APLENTY over at Lenco, where the company has announced a raft of new arrivals. First up the LBT-515 audiophile turntable equipped with an Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge and quartzcontrolled direct-drive motor, which serves rotation at both 33 and 45rpm. The LBT-515 offers adjustable pitch control, anti-skating, a mechanical arm lift, gold-plated connectors, switchable preamp and built-in RIAA equaliser. Wireless streaming accommodates Bluetooth 5.3 with volume control and the deck is wood-finished. It’s priced at £580. Next are the SPB-240BKGY bookshelf speakers with a claimed 80W RMS total output (2x 40W), a built-in Class D amplifier and digital signal processing (DSP). Connectivity is via Bluetooth 5.3 while RCA and optical in, USB and subwoofer outs make it possible to integrate TVs, consoles or…

PRICE: £1,000 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: PURESOUND.INFO SEGNO HAS RELEASED Maya, its latest moving-coil cartridge design incorporating several features chosen to preserve dynamic range while delivering accurate tone. At its heart is a quad of hand-wound, 5N (99.999 percent) pure silver coils mounted on a square permalloy former. This assembly is suspended in a precisely focussed field produced by a rare earth, samarium cobalt magnet. The company explains: “We still prefer the tonal quality produced by this type of generator over those with the cheaper and now more commonly used neodymium (NdFeB) type magnets. While an NdFeB magnet might produce a stronger field than an equivalent SmCo magnet, it’s the way these respective magnets replenish their field after inducing a signal in a coil that determines the sonic differences between the…

PRICE: €1,380 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: EVERSOLO.COM EVERSOLO HAS JUST unveiled its T8 professional-grade streaming platform in a CNC-machined aluminium chassis, which the company says effectively shields against electromagnetic interference. The front panel adopts a shielding design that physically isolates it from the internal circuitry, in a bid to further ensure clean sound transmission. On the front, a 6in touchscreen is paired with virtual button controls, the user interface having been fully upgraded in the search for faster response times and a more natural, engaging way to interact with the music. The T8 incorporates an ultra-high precision femtosecond clock system to control timing and boasts a “super-silent” linear power supply, which reduces noise to as low as a claimed 30μV. A custom 4N oxygen-free copper toroidal transformer is used in an…

Of all the product categories to be engaged in a cut-throat race to add features and technology, cartridges might seem the most unlikely. Nevertheless, over the last few years, specs and technology available at various price points have noticeably improved and we find moving-magnet cartridges for sale at costs that have increased dramatically. Audio-Technica has used the latest update to its VM range of moving magnet designs to go all-in on offering more features at a range of very competitive prices, culminating in a flagship that offers a compelling spec for a whisker over £500. Unlike the more affordable VM-95 models below the VMx range, there are more variables at work than simply changing the stylus profile, so it makes sense to secure more than one for testing to see…

As sure as day follows night, a new flagship subwoofer from American marque SVS is followed by a more affordable model utilising trickle-down tech. Last year’s 17-Ultra R|Evolution, offered in ported (PB) and sealed (SB) variants, has now been joined by the 5000 R|Evolution, again in two cabinet types. On test here is the sealed-box SB-5000, selling for £2,500 in Black Ash or £2,600 in Black Gloss. The SB-5000’s single, front-facing glass-fibre composite bass driver is a 381mm design. Trickle-down tech includes not only the cone profile and ‘long-throw’ SBR rubber surround of the bass driver, but also its motor assembly. Dual voice coils are employed, each independently driven by Class D amplification, resulting in a claimed RMS power delivery of 2kW. The amp stage is fed by a new…

British company Exposure Electronics was founded in 1974 by John Farlowe. If you lived in Hove back in those days, you’d be correct in remembering that it was actually the name of the local hi-fi shop. At least, that’s how Exposure began. Farlowe’s career in music went way back, in music recording and production, and saw him working in studios with the likes of Jethro Tull and Pink Floyd. A tough act to follow, perhaps, but Farlowe relished his new endeavour at the ‘listening end’ of the music business, where he enjoyed many and varied conversations with his customers and suppliers about their shared passion, hungrily soaking up information about what floated hi-fi buyers’ boats – and what didn’t. It wasn’t long before he felt the itch to throw his…

BACK IN HFC 517, I reviewed English Electric’s EE1 Ethernet noise suppressor and found it to be very effective at reducing interference from an Ethernet network. Noise that is present in a network setup can result in jitter that can degrade sound quality. EE considers that although digital signals are generally robust, they are often accompanied by a degree of noise, which is generated by common household devices on home networks. If this noise can be minimised or eliminated before it actually gets to the DAC, this can only be a good thing. The EE1 Plus is an upgrade of the original and is an advanced in-line network noise reduction device for streamed media. It is designed to sit between Ethernet cables within a streaming audio or video system and operates…

A RATHER ORIGINAL solution to the problem of static build up on vinyl records, the ASB-2 ion antistatic brush from Furutech combines bristles made from conductive fibres with an antistatic ion generator in one neat unit. The brush is made from a core-and-sheath composite conductive acrylic fibre called ‘COREBRID TMB’, which was developed by the Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation. The core-bridged TMB is a very thin and short fibre with an outer diameter of only about 30μm. The bristles are also very thin and more delicate than hair and have a 50 percent mix of natural wool in order to give the bristles more body and at the same time allow them to penetrate deep into the grooves of vinyl records to remove dust. Furutech says that the ASB-2 ion can…

PRICE: £220-£950 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: AUDIOPRO.COM AUDIO PRO, THE Scandinavian audio brand, has unveiled its new W-generation range which features major advancements in the company’s use of control and connectivity. A considerable app update, now powered by WiiM, supports a new level of functionality including a redesigned interface for intuitive setup and control, advanced EQ and room correction tools, expanded streaming service support for Spotify, Tidal, Amazon Music, Qobuz, Deezer, iHeartRadio, Napster, TuneIn and more, smarter wi-fi timing synchronisation plus enhanced multiroom and grouping capabilities. The company says that all W-generation speakers are backward-compatible with Audio Pro’s current products, ensuring a seamless integration for existing users. The range includes the flagship A48 W, which offers a claimed +10-15dB increase in max sound pressure and improved BMR (Balanced Mode Radiator) tweeter…

PRICE: £240-£530 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: PROJECT-AUDIO.COM HENLEYAUDIO.CO.UK HENLEY AUDIO HAS announced the release of the Pro-Ject Tube Box E and Tube Box S3 B phono stages, completing a range of four products designed to suit different turntable setups. The Tube Box E takes its inspiration from the Tube Box S2, but is built with more affordable components to offer a lower price point. The long-established Tube Box S2 remains in the lineup as an accessible ‘made in Europe’ design. The new Tube Box S3 B introduces balanced technology, a larger chassis and upgraded components, while at the top of the range sits the flagship Tube Box DS3 B. In more detail, the Tube Box E is a miniature-sized phono stage featuring a fully discrete, dual-mono design without using operational amplifiers…

PRICE: £1,200 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: COLINEAR-ACOUSTICS.CO.UK BRITISH NEWCOMER COLINEAR Acoustics has announced its inaugural product: the DSP-8C – an eight-channel digital signal processor/preamplifier featuring a 1GHz processor incorporating highly optimised IIR and FIR accelerators. With the availability of over 49,000 FIR taps, 348 IIR filters and a multitude of DSP features, the company says the DSP-8C can implement advanced corrections and filters at sampling rates of up to 192kHz. Multi-way active crossovers, speaker/driver correction and advanced room correction in both the frequency and time domains are controlled by the DSPconfig cross-platform control software and it utilises the flagship ES9039SPRO DAC chip plus an optimised OPA1612-based output stage. Unweighted THD+N measures as low as a claimed-127dB and DNR is greater than 130dB. The DSP-8C offers USB, optical and coaxial digital inputs,…

PRICE: £816 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: NODE-AUDIO.COM BRITISH BRAND NODE has launched its SS-1, a new advanced equipment support system engineered to increase electronics’ performance. Short for ‘Support System 1’, SS-1 is the culmination of extensive research to develop the most effective upgrade to existing systems – enhancing timing, clarity and musicality. More than just isolation, each SS-1 module contains a combination of stainless steel, ceramics and polymers working in unison to limit, control and capture micro-vibrations and stray magnetic fields from electronic equipment like transformers, power conditioners, connection blocks, power supplies, streamers, DACs and amplifiers. The pivoting head allows contact to the underside of equipment for energy transfer and it can be optimally positioned under sound-sensitive internals like power transformers, clocks, capacitors and transport mechanisms. Including HDD, CD sleds etc.…

PRICE: £120-£160 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: JBL.COM JUST OUT IS JBL’s Sense PRO open-ear headphones, which the company describes as offering: “rich, immersive sound without blocking the ear canal. The carefully selected and positioned 16.2mm Diamond-Like Carbon drivers are paired with JBL OpenSound tuning to provide detailed clarity and responsive bass.” JBL Spatial Sound is also featured while the headphones do everything they can to minimise sound leakage by directing sound towards the ear canal using opposite-phase sound waves. Listening can be personalised using Personi-Fi 3.0 for OpenSound, which allows the creation of individual listening profiles for each ear controlled with a 10-band EQ via the app. JBL Sense PRO supports multi-point connection, allowing simultaneous pairing with two devices. Meanwhile, Boasting four voice microphones, Voice Pickup Sensor technology and Environmental Noise…

PRICE: £2,700 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: HIFIROSE.COM HENLEYAUDIO.CO.UK HENLEY AUDIO HAS announced the UK arrival of Korean company HiFi Rose’s RS451 network streamer boasting trickledown technology from the flagship RS151. Utilising separate DAC circuitry for the pre-out and headphone out options, the RS451 features full-feature network streaming capability with extensive input and output options, full ROSE OS support for playback from popular music services and locally stored music plus CD playback and ripping via a connected optical drive. There is also support for internet radio, Spotify Connect, Tidal, Qobuz and Apple Music. Other features include the Rose DPC module from the RD160 (HFC 528), 32-bit, 8-channel ES9027PRO chips, low-noise electrical design with the Rose NRA Filter taken from the RS151, an upgraded CPU, new 8in touchscreen and EW headphone output connections.…

Every time Acoustic Energy launches a new small loudspeaker, there’s a shudder in the space-time continuum. The company made its name with the now-legendary AE1 mini-monitor of the late Eighties and it was so good it casts a shadow over its other small speakers even now… Of course, the AE300² is not the modern equivalent and nor is it meant to be. It costs roughly the same as AE’s first ever speaker – but only when you ignore 40 years of inflation – so in real terms it’s way cheaper. This is a premium budget design that sits between the mid-price 500 2 and entry-level 100 2 series. Designer Mat Spandl explains that this is the company’s first product to appear since the launch of its flagship Corinium (HFC 513),…

It’s been an excellent few months for anyone shopping for a sub-£1,000 stereo amplifier and we’ve seen some strong new arrivals in the market of late. The B1xi (borrowing the name of a simplified version of the original A1, which appeared in the late-Eighties) is Musical Fidelity’s entry into the category and the first of a series of Xi models to replace existing versions. The B1, however, is a new amp that sits in the same price band as the long-running M2si (HFC 446). This was an exceptionally minimalist device that concentrated on wrapping some solid casework around a hefty amp and not offering a great deal else. The B1xi represents a considerable departure from this approach. When dealing with the amplifier section, the B1xi is down on the M2si…

Big Thief Double Infinity CD 4AD WHAT ARE WORDS worth? That was the question teased by Tina Weymouth’s Tom Tom Club in their giddy hit Wordy Rappinghood back in 1981. The self-same question is raised again here by Adrianne Lenker during pretty much the entirety of Big Thief’s sixth LP, Double Infinity. Lenker is a singular talent, one of those vocalists – like J Mascis, Hope Sandoval and Wayne Coyne – whose every utterance, while not being what you might call spot-on in-tune in the traditional sense, embodies such an individual personality that you feel immediately inclined to listen a little more closely in the assumption that what they’re saying is somehow more honest and true than most. It’s like eavesdropping. Her trademark is her “S’s, which comes out as “Sh” so…

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. Marantz CD 50n PRICE: £1,600 REVIEWED: HFC 518 Equipped to not only get the most from your CD collection, but also for online streaming and dabbling in downloads, the CD 50n boasts a weighty, well-defined and technically accomplished performance that is enormous fun. Throw in a decent built-in headphone amplifier and you have a great silver disc pinner. Cyrus CDi-XR…

UNITRA GSH-630 FRYDERYK Our reviewer reckons: “The more affordable of two models designed and built inhouse by Polish company Unitra, a relatively new organisation, it’s not a ‘lifestyle’ product but there’s a great combination of clever engineering and exacting attention to detail, which guarantees a level of performance likely to leave most owners very happy indeed.” Find out more about this stunning turntable in the December issue ALSO: REVIEWS Indiana Line Diva 6 loudspeaker, Acoustic Energy AE 1 40th Anniversary speaker, Node Audio SS-1 equipment support system, FiiO SP5 desktop speaker, Wharfedale EVO 5.4 loudspeaker, iFi Audio GO pod Max Bluetooth DAC and more... FEATURES Music Reviews, Reasons To Be Cheerful, our comprehensive Buyer’s Guide and sharp-as-nails Opinions pieces, Company Confidential, the Flashback interview, Audiofile news on all the latest…

PRICE: £TBC AVAILABLE: Q4 WEB: FIIO.COM FIIO HAS ANNOUNCED details of its upcoming M27 reference-class digital audio player, featuring Qualcomm’s QCS6490 (Snapdragon 770G architecture. With eight Kryo 670 CPU cores, an Adreno 642L GPU and support for LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage, the company says the M27: “ensures lightning-fast responsiveness, seamless multitasking and a stable platform for decoding, streaming and playback across every audio format”. The Android 13 OS is joined by 8GB RAM, rivalling high-end smartphones and the M27 features the Qualcomm QCC5181 chipset, unlocking aptX lossless Bluetooth codec support (including LE Audio and Auracast), which FiiO says makes it one of the very first digital audio players in the world to feature such technology. Equipped with dual ESS ES9039SPRO DACs and 5,000mW + 5,000mW of balanced output…

PRICE: £430-£10,200 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: FURUTECH.COM SOUNDFOWNDATIONS.CO.UK JAPANESE COMPANY FURUTECH has announced the release of its Flow-28NCF inline power filter, with integrated radio frequency interference (RFI) and electromagnetic interference (EMI) filtering. Also coming to market is the company’s Project V1-S speaker cable. Designed to be positioned between power cables and power distributors or power cables and components, the new Flow-28 NCF has been created in a bid to eliminate both RFI and EMI from a power supply. It aims to protect against distortion caused by ground noise, voltage spikes and sags, high-frequency power supply noise from other components in its own system, plus high-frequency digital noise from processors and digital interconnects. The result, says the company, is: “cleaner, more stable power with exceptional efficiency and sonic clarity – offering audiophiles…

PRICE: £500 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: RELOOP.COM RELOOP HAS UNVEILED its RP-7, the first ever professionally mass-produced direct-drive DJ turntable designed exclusively for 7in singles. Featuring a newly developed DC motor with a hightorque of 2.5kg/cm in a bid to minimise wow and flutter, the company says it delivers reliable cueing and support for advanced scratching techniques while its precision-manufactured die-cast aluminium platter and integrated switching power supply is claimed to reduce interference. A straight copper tonearm is used to enhance tracking accuracy and there’s additional internal rubber damping to minimise resonance. Its height-adjustable base is adapted from Reloop’s RP-7000 MK2 and RP-8000 MK2 decks. The company also says that the statically balanced Reloop RP-7 system eliminates the need for anti-skating and simplifies installation. DJs will doubtless appreciate its adjustable tempo…

PRICE: £145-£2,250 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: MONITORAUDIO.COM MONITOR AUDIO IS expanding its Creator Series with the introduction of three new in-wall large speakers, alongside a range of on-wall and ceiling mount boxes. The company says the new large-format Creator Series In-Wall speakers are designed for larger rooms and open-plan living spaces, and the models deliver extended bass and dynamic headroom incorporating the patent-pending Quik-Link, which “transforms installation” by enabling pre-cabling and termination before the speaker is fitted. They also feature Tri-Grip II dog-legs for a “stronger, more secure fixing,” alongside advanced metal-cone technologies. For added flexibility, a dedicated back box is available for each model and there are three performance tiers available. The £1,000 W1L is a two-way arrangement featuring C-CAM (Ceramic-Coated Aluminium Magnesium) mid/bass drivers and a C-CAM tweeter featuring…

Unlike some streaming components with big colourful displays that leave very little to the imagination, the Silent Angel Bremen SL1 Plus leaves everything to the imagination. A dark slab of metal every bit as featureless and inscrutable as the sleek black monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey, you wouldn’t even know it was powered up but for a pale blue light that shines down from the front. But then why not keep things brutally simple? Front panel touchscreen displays are mostly just for visual titillation, pleasingly colourful yet showing less than the control app on your smartphone or tablet which, in turn, also makes the need for a conventional remote redundant. The Silent Angel’s world at your fingertips is called VitOS Orbiter. It isn’t the prettiest mobile app I’ve ever…

Few companies have been as ideologically consistent in their two-channel output as Marantz. A significant number of its current integrated amps are Class AB devices that present analogue inputs and a phono stage for connectivity, much as they did 30-plus years ago. Other integrateds offer more extensive functionality and still do so within an aesthetic that is recognisably ‘Marantz’. The MODEL M1 slides into this range like an iceberg in the Mediterranean. It looks different to every other Marantz amp and differs significantly internally too. The reason for this is that it is intended to take Marantz virtues and make them available to people wanting to use them in a less traditional sense. One of these notional requirements is the ability to use it in a ceiling void, which shapes…

I was impressed with the sound quality of Grado’s first Signature headphone offering – the HP100 SE (HFC 527), so am expecting great things from this latest addition. The first thing that strikes me is the attractive housing, which is made from a handcrafted Brazilian walnut that’s grown in the rain forests of the Amazon. It’s the first time Grado has used this type of wood and, while it looks elegant, the company claims that it gives the headphones a more relaxed presentation and stability to the rather analytical sound of the older HP100 SE. The S950 uses the same 52mm S driver as the HP100 SE with its paper composite cone attached to a voice coil made from lightweight copperplated aluminium. The coil sits in a powerful high-flux magnetic…

HURRY OFFER CLOSES 31ST DECEMBER 2025 PRINT + DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION 13 issues delivered to you before the shops Free P&P Great savings on the shop price Digital access to the mag on multiple devices Access online archive dating back to Sep 2011 PRINT SUBSCRIPTION All issues delivered to you before the shops Free P&P Great savings on the shop price Never miss an issue SAVE 75% ON YOUR DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION* SCAN TO SUBSCRIBE IN EVERY ISSUE: Reviews of all the latest turntables, amplifiers, loudspeakers, DACs, CD players, streamers and hi-fi accessories. Plus: group tests, music reviews, opinions, news and all your hi-fi woes answered TERMS & CONDITIONS: Offer ends 31st December 2025. *This digital discount is only available when you subscribe to the ‘Print + Digital’ package. You still get a…

Music can evoke strong emotions and memories, and many people choose an audio system based on the emotional response it elicits. If a particular setup makes your favourite tunes sound fantastic, that is often a more compelling reason to buy it than, for example, superb technical specification I am a self-confessed analogue audio aficionado and virtually all of my music collection is on vinyl or, more recently, professional audio tape as copies of the original master tapes. These copy-master tapes fall into two categories: those made from the original master recordings from the Fifties to the Seventies or from brand-new recordings from specialist labels. There can be no doubt that audiophile copy-master tape is the most expensive audio experience that one can enjoy. I am fortunate to own an upgraded…

WELCOME TO THE inaugural HFC Playlist in collaboration with Qobuz, our digital partner in providing over 100-million tracks via the highest-quality 24-bit downloads and OFFICIAL STREAMING PARTNER streaming. Every month we’ll be creating a fresh playlist of 20-or-so songs reflecting what’s most happening musically at the moment – new tracks, songs to commemorate artists who’ve recently passed, anniversary releases, that sort of thing. Our lists will do their utmost to swerve the obvious, avoid the ubiquitous and instead strive to turn you on to some relevant but thrillingly different sounds. You can sample the list and play along as you read by visiting the HFC website (hifichoice.com) plus look out for great trial and subscription offers as well as competitions. Also, check out our sister mag HiFi News’ website (hifinews.com) to…

RECOGNISING THE NEED to keep your cart well maintained, Goldring has assembled the EXTRACT kit with several elements. There is an inspection tool for checking the state of the stylus, as well as two products for regular routine maintenance. Obviously, these can be used with any make of cartridge The cleaning kit includes a stylus cleaning gel pot, anti-static stylus cleaning brush and magnifying lens suitable for the inspection of stylus and cantilever. It all comes in a neat, cardboard storage box that has foam compartments for each component. The first item out of the box to try is the anti-static stylus cleaning brush. This is a tool that I like to use before every play as the stylus will inevitably attract dust and fluff during use. The brush is…

Last night, they said, was like a war. A curfew was called, nobody was allowed to leave the hotel and, just after midnight, a body was dragged into the foyer. The desk clerk said it looked like somebody’d stoved in their head with a brick. A black kid had been shot by a white cop some 18 months ago and yesterday a Miami court had acquitted the officer of murder. Immediately upon the verdict’s announcement, rocks were hurled at cars, pedestrians were confronted, abused, threatened and attacked in the streets. Entire sections of the city were cordoned off and designated no-go areas and local radio stations were advising citizens, especially whites, stay at home weekend. Big Country have just arrived in town, for a gig. It’s due to be an…