Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2025 i Hi Fi News

New cartridges from London Decca are set to appear on the hi-fi scene following a change of ownership of the brand. Marking the end of ‘a quiet three decades’, the company – now based in the US and UK – is relaunching the Maroon, Super Gold, Jubilee and Reference carts, plus a new Maroon Mono model, this autumn. London Decca says it has a ‘continuing dialogue’ with engineer John Wright, who oversaw production after the original Decca brand name was sold to Taiwanese company Tatung in the late 1980s. Wright retired in 2023; London Decca has acquired his tooling, assembly and test equipment, plus NOS Decca components and body mouldings from previous service/distribution partner, Presence Audio. The resurrected marque also says it is developing an ‘all-tube’ phono preamplifier designed for…

Advance 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 and Sunday 27th -28th September 2025. Tickets will cost just £20 (£30 for a weekend pass) via www.eventbrite.co.uk or via the link on the www.hifishowlive.com website. Concessionary £15 day passes will be offered for subscribers of both Hi-Fi News and Hi-Fi Choice magazines (details will be mailed to all our paper and digital subscribers). See our website for further information.  Head along to the Ascot Grandstand’s Parade Ring suite on the second floor to hear SME’s Model 35, a turntable praised for its ‘musical, poised and joyous performance’ in its HFN exclusive review [HFN Jul ’25]. Featuring the British marque’s latest Series Vi tonearm,…

Review: Mark Craven Lab: Paul Miller Since launching in 2009, CH Precision, based in Préverenges in Switzerland, has carved itself a niche in hi-fi’s high-end. Moreover, although a product inventory spanning just two ranges, the 10 Series and 1 Series, might suggest some form of boutique minimalism, its design approach shows plenty of modern, technically innovative thinking. How so? The L1 preamplifier and M1.1 power amp on test here both offer user-tuning of their performance via a custom smartphone app… CH Precision was founded by Florian Cossy and Thierry Heeb, who both worked at Goldmund in the 1990s before setting up Anagram Technologies in 2001, a digital audio-focused OEM specialising in D/A conversion and upsampling. Its modules have been used by Talk Electronics [HFN Mar ’08], Soulution [HFN Oct ’11],…

Review: Adam Smith Lab: Paul Miller Eastern Europe is no stranger to high-quality boutique hi-fi brands [HFN Apr ’24, Jun ’24 and Feb ’25] with ‘analogue’ audio a particular favourite. Igor Gligorov’s company, Soulines, is based in Serbia and has graced these pages before, but UK distribution has now been re-established thanks to Sound Fowndations. The timing is spot on, as Soulines has recently released a new turntable, the tt9, loosely described as ‘entry level’ and selling for £3990 with partnering KiVi M3 tonearm. This is currently the only tonearm in the lineup and may be purchased separately for £2090. Soulines’ other turntables are the Kubrick DCX [HFN Jul ’18], which retails for £6490 with the same arm, and the top-of-the-range tt42 – its price yet to be confirmed for…

It makes sense for a hi-fi/audio magazine like Hi-Fi News to include reports on recordings that offer outstanding audio quality – be that from LP, digital discs, downloads, or whatever ‘media’ suits the listener. Enthusiasts can then build a collection of LPs, etc, which deliver great music in top-class audio quality, and also confirm the performance their hi-fi set-up can deliver. However, there is, of course, another side to this: how to deal with less-than-ideal recordings of otherwise superb music? FROM HI-FI TO LOW-FI This came to my mind a few days ago when I played a particular sequence of source material. I started off listening to some transfers of jazz and ‘popular’ music originally recorded onto ‘V-Discs’. These were produced during WW2 for free distribution to USA military personnel.…

Some time ago, I swore I would not discuss the astronomical prices of high-end audio equipment, as my attitude was very simple: namely, if you can’t afford something, don’t get all testy because other people can. As I’ve said more than once, it’s only in the hi-fi community where people whine about prices. You never hear complaints about the fees for exotic cars or other luxury items seen in magazines relative to those fields. EYE-WATERING STUFF Lately, however, even some of my most well-heeled audiophile friends have been complaining about the ludicrous lack of limits to pricing. I am not naming and shaming the guilty brands – the words ‘hands’, ‘feed’ and ‘bite’ spring to mind – but asking the price of a new Ferrari for what amounts to nothing…

Bowers & Wilkins has announced an Abbey Road Limited Edition version of its flagship 801 D4 Signature floorstander [HFN Sep ’23]. Priced £55,000 and celebrating the 45-year relationship between the London studio and the manufacturer, the speaker will be limited to 140 production pairs. B&W says the new model’s design is inspired by the ‘iconic interiors’ of Abbey Road, which adopted the company’s original 801 models as control room monitors in 1980. In place of the Midnight Blue Metallic and California Burl Gloss finishes of the Signature edition is a Vintage Walnut cabinet, its main body now topped by red Connolly leather that specifically ‘references’ the aesthetic of Abbey Road’s Studio Two. The rear panel plate now includes the studio logo and ‘one of only 140 pairs’ legend. Otherwise, the…

Pro-Ject has called upon the digital know-how of WiiM Audio for the streaming implementation of its new Uni Box S3 integrated amplifier. A compact design rated at 2x23W/8ohm from a Texas Instruments Class D module, the amp’s 192kHz/24-bit Cirrus Logic-based DAC stage handles optical, coaxial, HDMI eARC, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi digital inputs. The latter enables Qobuz, Tidal, Spotify and Internet radio through a new Pro-Ject Home app using the WiiM OS [HFN Aug ’24]. Naturally, with the Austrian manufacturer being known for its extensive turntable range, the Uni Box S3 offers an MM phono input, in addition to line-level inputs on RCAs. An integral headphone amp plays through a front-panel 6.35mm socket, and multiroom playback is promised with ‘other future Pro-Ject devices’. Pricing for the Uni Box S3 is £699,…

Who, or what, was Britpop? Good question, partly because it wasn’t a genre as much as a movement, or a ‘scene’. It’s shorthand for a period in the mid-1990s when a slew of alternatively inclined British vocal groups (solo artists barely got a look in – this was all about community endeavour) grew too big for their spiritual home of the weekly music press and the ‘indie’ charts, and entered the mainstream. They were invariably informed by ‘indie’ music’s countercultural wit and creativity, but rejected the post-punk notion that you could only be cool if you had a cult audience. For the most part, Britpop bands made music with a pronounced pop sensibility, however contrarian and caustic their lyrical concerns might be. POP PICKERS Acts such as Blur, Oasis and…

Review: Andrew Everard Lab: Paul Miller On recent form, the £13,500 dCS Lina DAC X could almost be considered ‘conventional’. Following on the heels of the Lina headphone amp system [HFN Nov ’22], and the massive – and massively pricey – multibox Varèse player [HFN Feb ’25], complete with separate mono DACs and the option of an SACD/CD transport add-on, the Lina DAC X looks dangerously like any number of models from rival companies, from its proportions to the inclusion of a front-panel rotary volume. At 444x122mm (wh), it’ll slot into most hi-fi racks where it will also make a good visual match with products from other brands thanks to a choice of matt silver or black finishes. Its preamp output, on either unbalanced RCAs or balanced XLRs, brings added…

With the Moscow Tchaikovsky Competition effectively cancelled for the foreseeable future, the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition has become the world leader in identifying and rewarding the next Horowitz, Lang Lang or… Van Cliburn. A third the size of nearby Dallas, Van Cliburn’s home town of Fort Worth, Texas becomes Piano City for three weeks, once every three years. A neon sign high over Sundance Square winks with the competition’s logo through the night. During the day, pianists old and young stretch their fingers at the free-to-play piano installed in the square. Pianophiles, agents, record company executives and, yes, jaded English hacks assemble in Bass Hall every evening during Finals week, and then settle their hash over beers at Durty Murphy’s pub around the corner. GOING GLOBAL At the time…

To help ensure accuracy, your classified advertisements must be submitted by email or post… Please email your entries to: letters@hifinews.com 2. AMPLIFIERS NAD Masters M33 amp/streamer/DAC with Dirac Live, excellent condition, all accessories and original boxes. £2350. Can courier or collect. Email gz00@gmx.com. Tel: 07508 035671 AUDIO Research GS150 power amp, low hours (912), excellent condition and great sound! Original box, collection in Portsmouth or courier (organised by buyer), £7000 on collection. Email: maxschultemusic@icloud.com. Tel: 07380 979711 CONRAD-JOHNSON PVA 10B preamplifier. Fully featured with both line, magnetic and high-output MC cartridges. This is my own preamp, and a very high quality unit. Reluctant sale forced by house move and reduced space for my hi-fi. £750. Tel: 07831 333159 NAIM NAP 140 olive, unboxed, not serviced, owned from new, 1992. Good…

The first ever phono amplifier from Dutch hi-fi marque Grimm Audio, the PW1 – aka the ‘Phono Wizard’ – hits the UK courtesy of Sound Design Distribution. Almost a decade in the making and engineered by Grimm co-founder, Peter van Willenswaard, the unit supports MM and MC cartridges and hides load and gain settings (to a maximum 77dB for MC) under a sliding panel on the base of its black aluminium chassis. Inside, a copper sub-chassis is employed to better shield the PW1’s RIAA equalisation circuitry from the mains input and custom linear power supply, while the manufacturer claims all passive and active components in its ‘minimalist topology’ have been ‘carefully selected’. A solid-state design, the PW1 uses FETs in its preand post-RIAA stages, plus an op-amp buffer to deliver…

You hold in your hands the world’s oldest and most respected hi-fi magazine – Hi-Fi News – where heavyweight audio engineering is our stock in trade. All our review products are typically subject to a one-month test process from shipping, unpacking, installation, photography, lab work, extended listening, disassembly/packing and collection. This practice was maintained right through the pandemic period, with full Covid biosecurity adding to the logistical complexity of our fourweek issue schedule. But we did it… never missing one issue of the magazine or compromising the ‘Hi-Fi News Pledge’: 1. Our hardware reviews are never brief ‘hands on’ experiences of a product from a press conference, brand-led demonstration or distributor’s back room spun up into a four- or five-page article. 2. Products reviewed in Hi-Fi News already have secure…

Review: Ken Kessler Lab: Paul Miller Many moons ago I learned about the lack of sense in making predictions, as they usually prove wrong. Despite this I’m happy to posit that we are entering two ‘Golden Ages’. The first appears to be that of superb integrated amps appearing in a flood, including the Marantz Model 10 [HFN Jun ’25], D’Agostino’s Pendulum [HFN Jul ’25] and the Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 600.2 [HFN Aug ’25]. But they are all highend units. By contrast, the Quad 3 has a list price of only £1249, and it blew me away. Which leads me to the second ‘Golden Age’, and that’s Quad’s renaissance. Following cool lifestyle products like the Vena II Play [HFN May ’20] and the S-1 hybrid ‘ribbon’ speaker for a paltry £479…

Review: Andrew Everard Lab: Paul Miller This DAC, to reveal its full name, is the La Scala MkIII Optologic, the third generation of a design from the Milan-based company whose name has nothing to do with water, but instead stands for ‘Acoustic Quality’. Said to be ‘more than a simple upgrade of our La Scala DAC’, this latest version sells for £7850 in grey Nextel powder-coated aluminium casework with either a black or silver finished aluminium fascia. That places it well below the £14,980 Formula xHD flagship DAC [HFN Apr ’20], joining the £8960 La Diva M2 CD transport, and the LinQ network bridge [HFN Sep ’20], which starts from £6350 depending on configuration, in the compact Aqua range. Like the other models in the portfolio, the latest La Scala…

Several points of entry present themselves to Edward Elgar’s most complex work. We could start with the Violin Concerto, which won immediate acclaim at its premiere in November 1910, ushering in a new and more intricate, more introspective idiom in the composer’s evolving style. Ever sensitive to both acclaim and criticism, Elgar then tapped a fresh vein of creative energy. Over the next two months, working at a furious rate, he returned to sketches made back in 1903-4, some of them conceived for a sequel to the Cockaigne Overture, under the working title of ‘City Of Dread Night’. By March 1911, the Second Symphony was complete. ‘I have written out my soul in the concerto, Sym II and the Ode and you know it… in these three works I have…

When Milton Tasker ‘Bill’ Putnam was looking to relocate his business from Chicago to Los Angeles in 1957, he needed a bit of a leg-up. So he called upon a pair of his most famous clients for backing dosh, industry ins and all-round support. The people were Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, the most well-heeled muscle imaginable. Not that Bill lacked a reputation of his own. With a background in everything from building radios, talent A&R, engineering sessions and singing in bands, by the mid-1950s he had a heck of a resume. In the late ’40s, Putnam had founded Universal Recording in Chicago, where, among other things, he was responsible for the first pop record to use artificial reverb, ‘Peg O’ My Heart’ by The Harmonicats. Putnam sent signals through…

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