Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2025 i Hi Fi News

If you are reading this bumper 148pp issue of your favourite hi-fi journal in the last week of September (2025!) then you just have time to plan your trip to Ascot and join us at the UK Hi-Fi Show Live (27th-28th Sept, see p24). This is the key event in the UK hi-fi calendar where the cream of the high-end crop is on live demonstration, hosted by brand ambassadors, CEOs and top designers, all on hand to answer your questions. Many of the exclusive products tested in this, and recent issues, of Hi-Fi News will be on show. Will you agree with our reviews? Let us know… SME’s new Model 8 turntable, on the cover last month, will be at the Ascot Grandstand along with the tiny, but tremendous, Radiant…

UPGRADE FOR MBL German brand MBL has followed through on its promise of an expanded feature set for its C41 networked DAC/preamp [HFN Dec ’24] by issuing a firmware update that adds Internet radio functionality and support for the Qobuz, Tidal and Spotify streaming platforms. The update (‘3.35’), which is loaded to the unit via SD card, also introduces a newly revised web interface and is free to download from the company’s website. www.mbl.de/en CABLE CELEBRATION Atlas is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a limited edition release of its Arran Transpose loudspeaker cable. Priced £7000 for a 2m stereo pair (extra metres offered for £1800), and limited to 25 sets worldwide, the premium OCC copper cable gets an exclusive Muirhead Leather wrap with custom colour/stitching, engraved aluminium stoppers, commemorative box,…

Even without its eye-catching Golden Yellow and Chilly Blue colourways (in addition to Black Ash, Walnut and Caramel White), DALI’s new Kupid loudspeaker would stand out thanks to its budget-friendly £299 price tag and compact 150x245x198mm (whd) form. The Danish marque, however, claims the Kupid adheres to the ‘sonic philosophies’ of its premium hi-fi speakers, while trickledown technologies include the paper/wood fibre cone for its 105mm bass/mid driver. This is paired with a 26mm soft dome tweeter, set into a waveguide, via a 2.1kHz crossover, for a claimed 63Hz-25kHz (±3dB) frequency response. DALI also suggests the speaker has been designed to work with entry-level amplifiers by presenting a ‘consistent impedance’ above 4ohm. Supplied with the Kupid are rubber feet for stand/shelf use, plus a set of wallmount brackets. DALI AS,…

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 have already been e-mailed to all our subscribers). See our website for further information. Revox, the German brand with an enviable 75-year-plus history, will be hosting special ‘expert sessions’ featuring its new B77 MKIII reel-toreel tape recorder. In addition, UK Hi-Fi Show Live regular, Matthias Böde of Germany’s Stereo magazine, will be running his popular series of workshops – with…

Review: Andrew Everard Lab: Paul Miller Back in the day, when CD players started splitting into separate transports and DACs, the question was ‘does the transport really make a difference?’. After all, we all knew that different DACs had their own influence on the sound – despite the protestations of the ‘all properly designed digital gear should sound the same’ brigade – but transports? Their sole purpose was to deliver digital data from disc to DAC. The same questions are arising in the network/computer music arena, but now in a mildly turbocharged form, given that you can connect a computer to the Internet and listen to music. So surely a network music transport is no more than a computer in fancy pants and shiny shoes, the argument goes, and so…

Review: Mark Craven Lab: Paul Miller With its latest integrated amplifier, German marque T+A says it is offering a ‘bold look to the future of audio’ as well as a nod to the company’s near 50-year past. And the Symphonia, yours for £7990 in silver or black finish, certainly has a styling that’s unusual, if not unique. The busy front fascia, with crisp monochrome OLED display and hand-built analogue VU meters, continues the kind of retro-modern aesthetic seen on other recent models from HiFi Rose [HFN Jul ’22] and Yamaha [HFN Jul ’23], plus T+A’s own series 200 separates [HFN May ’22 and Feb ’23]. Indeed, it wouldn’t have been a surprise if the Symphonia had arrived as a late addition to that range, an all-in-one sibling to the series…

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ORIGINAL & DELUXE VINYL The original 1974 Bad Company LP is a testament to how to capture dynamic rock musicianship on vinyl. There are some across-the-Pond packaging differences, however – the UK Island LP [ILPS 9279] sports a gatefold featuring individual shots of the band members, while the US Swan Song release [SS 8410] boasts one four-man band shot in colour across its bow. Depending on your playback-speed preferences, you really can’t go wrong with either of the recent audiophile Bad Company LP reissues. The 2024 Rhino High Fidelity 33.3rpm 180g 1LP set [RHF1 8410/603497825288] is concise and full, especially when it comes to the guitar/organ interplay on ‘Ready For Love’. But if you’re willing to pay more, the 2023 45rpm 180g 2LP Analogue Productions edition [APA 009-45] lets the…

My brother Bryan and I shared a bedroom the entire time we were growing up. Our pride and joy – and our musical lifeline – was a six-disc record changer in a grey suitcase, with a pair of little fold-out speakers that could be detached for better separation. We didn’t know anything about audio, of course, but we loved music. That record player was probably little better than a meat grinder with a phono cartridge attached, but its limitations didn’t diminish our enthusiasm. We spent our money on 45rpm singles and, when we could afford them, LPs. I remember hot-selling albums retailing for under $2 – not expensive but still an extravagance for kids making 50 cents per hour pulling weeds and mowing lawns. THE ANTI HI-FI BAND? We had…

Countless are the awards and scholarships offered to young musicians in the US. But there’s now one rather special jazz prize, with a transatlantic twist. The great jazz pianist Dave Brubeck died in 2012. In 2019, his family set up Brubeck Living Legacy as a charitable foundation supporting jazz education and ‘promoting awareness, interest and the understanding of jazz and its role in American and international culture’. Its president is Darius Brubeck, Dave’s eldest son, also a pianist and composer. Back in 1983, he’d moved to South Africa to teach at the University of Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal), instituting Africa’s first degree course in jazz studies. With his wife Cathy he organised the Jazzanians, a multi-racial group that toured overseas in 1988. He now lives in England and tours with his…

The giant professional KM1 apart, KEF has been pretty quiet in the large loudspeaker market during the past year or two. The Reference series has run on without much fanfare, and most of the action has been with the budget ‘C’ range, particularly the highly competitive Coda, now in Mark 3 guise. Now a new Reference series speaker has finally appeared. The 104/2 has just been launched in the States at the Chicago CES, where it apparently caused quite a stir. Hopefully the ‘2’ suffix will eventually be dropped as this model is designed to occupy a similar position to the original 104, which was a runaway bestseller in its time. ORIGIN STORY That speaker reached its peak some seven years ago, so given the inflation of intervening years, the…

Priced £9000-a-piece, PS Audio’s PMG Signature series comprises an SACD transport, DAC and preamp, with a phono stage [pictured] set to arrive toward the end of 2025. These flagship separates debut a new ‘chassis-within-a-chassis’ construction with milled aluminium fascias and touch-sensitive control panels. The Signature Preamplifier, which has four balanced XLR inputs and two sets of RCAs, houses a freshly designed direct-coupled Class A gain stage combining FETs and bipolar transistors, while the MM/MC-compatible Phono Preamplifier offers remote control over loading and gain settings, the latter again operating in ‘pure Class A’. Meanwhile, the Signature 512 DAC features PS Audio’s latest DSD-based ‘PureStream’ conversion technology and ‘SpectraWave’ digital filtering, and provides inputs on XLR, coaxial, optical, USB and I2 S. System builders can use the last of those with the…

Review: Andrew Everard Lab: Paul Miller Only when I recently started driving a German-made car – a Mini built in Leipzig, actually – did I grasp the concept of that country’s approach to over-engineering: the thing has four ways of opening the boot, two of them remotely, for heaven’s sake, and three of putting it into its raciest engine/transmission/noise mode. I couldn’t help but think of that when first encountering ELAC’s £37,000-a-pair Concentro 2.0 M 807 flagship speakers. Available in gloss black or white, with a choice of black or grey ‘Deco ring’ trims around the drivers, these sit at the peak of a reinvented Concentro series starting with the (much simpler) S503.2 bookshelf/standmount design, yours for around £6500 a pair. But on the M 807s, the eye is instantly…

Review: Mark Craven Lab: Paul Miller Although the Paris-based audio brand, Devialet, debuted with its groundbreaking D Premier integrated amplifier in 2010 [HFN Apr ’10], it’s arguable that its most well-known release has been the Phantom [HFN Feb ’15]. Launched in 2015, this almost spherical-shaped active, wireless speaker leveraged the brand’s electronics knowhow and eye for a smart aesthetic to shake up the compact hi-fi market. Upgraded models have appeared in the decade since, but only now does the manufacturer feel confident in launching a new ‘Ultimate’ edition. Just as the recent Phantom II generation offered two options, named for their claimed SPL output, the new model is sold in ‘98dB’ and ‘108dB’ guises, the former 4x smaller than the latter. Naturally, for HFN’s world exclusive review and lab test,…

Review: Mark Craven Lab: Paul Miller Recent releases from Monitor Audio, including the floorstanding Hyphn flagship [HFN Jul ’23] and retro-inspired Studio 89 standmount [HFN Nov ’24], have found the UK speaker marque moving into new markets and evolving its ‘brand proposition’. However, proof – if needed – that the manufacturer hasn’t completely up-ended its approach comes in the form of the Bronze 50 7G speaker seen here. Priced at a tempting – but hardly cheap ’n’ cheerful – £500, this is MA’s new entry-level option if you disregard the ultra-compact Apex and Radius ‘designer’ models. It’s also the latest evolution of a speaker that has been the company’s bread and butter option for 26 years. As ever, it promises agreeable sonics, smart design, solid build quality and value for…

Orlando Gibbons holds a rarefied position among English composers of church music. He and Thomas Tomkins were among the first great composers to write solely for the reformed church. With his polished style and profound sincerity, Gibbons can be compared in this regard to Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, who was 58 and choirmaster of St Peter’s Basilica in Rome when Gibbons was born in 1583 and christened in an Oxford church on Christmas Day. A NEW ERA Gibbons grew up in a period when England was (in terms of musical culture) half a century behind the times. His predecessors such as Thomas Tallis might have emulated Palestrina’s mastery of polyphony. Instead, they found that all their Masses and Latin motets had been rendered obsolete and indeed banned by a stroke…

AUDIOPHILE: VINYL NORMAN GREENBAUM Spirit In The Sky Craft CR00893 (180g vinyl) At last, one of the most neglected albums of the 1960s gets the treatment it deserves. Everyone knows the title track, which has been oft-covered but it’s the original heard here like never before which merits kudos as one of the greatest rock songs ever. From the entry of the fuzzy bass guitar to the lush backing vocals, it’s as close to perfect as any global No 1 single ever to grace the airwaves. With AAA lacquers remastered by Kevin Gray from the original master tapes, it sounds better than you’d ever imagine. The great news is that the rest of the LP is superb tail-end-of-the-1960s material worthy of any A-list singer-song-writer. Hippiesque in excelsis? Yes, but it’s…

The RS451 streaming pre/headphone amp is described by its maker HiFi Rose as a ‘semi-reference’ model, as it builds the proprietary ‘Digital Processing Core’ of its top-line RS151 [HFN Jul ’25] into a design optimised for desktop systems. Priced £2699, the unit sports a touch display showcasing the Android-based Rose OS, next to 4.4mm balanced, XLR balanced and 6.35mm headphone outs. Comprehensive rear-side connectivity includes USB-B, HDMI, and analogue pre-outs, while the RS451’s dual-chip DAC stage handles PCM to 768kHz and DSD512. In addition to control through the Rose Connect app, the streamer is supplied with an IR remote and works with AirPlay, Roon and Audirvāna. HiFi Rose (Citech Co., Ltd) South Korea, 01235 511166; https://eng.hifirose.com…

27-28 SEP The UK Hi-Fi Show Live, Ascot Racecourse Grandstand, Ascot Berkshire SL5 7JX; www.hifishowlive.com 17-19 OCT Tokyo International Audio Show 2025, Tokyo International Forum, Japan; http://iasj.info/ 23-25 OCT Hi-End Asia 2025, Singapore; www.hiendasia.com 24-26 OCT Audio Video Show Warsaw 2025, Radisson Blu/Sobieski Hotel, Warsaw, Poland; www.audioshow.pl 22-23 NOV Hi-Files Show, Radisson Blu Old Mill, Belgrade, Serbia; https://www.hi-files.show…

Review: Jamie Biesemans Lab: Paul Miller To some hi-fi enthusiasts, European Audio Team (EAT) is the classy sister company of turntable giant Pro-Ject. That’s not entirely the case, though, as owner/CEO Jozefina Lichtenegger categorically puts her own spin on turntable designs – all invariably luxurious, high performance and upmarket. The F-Dur is the firm’s latest creation, based upon the pricier, chunkier and notably senior Forte S [HFN Dec ’10]. The dual-motor, dual-belt F-Dur lies in the middle of EAT’s lineup. Retailing at £4299 without tonearm, complementing the deck with the C-Note or flagship F-Note arm will raise the price tag to £5599 or £7899, respectively. The base price is not far off that of the company’s E-Flat [HFN Jan ’12] or C-Sharp [HFN Feb ’15] decks, but it should be…

Review: Ken Kessler Lab: Paul Miller Three questions sprang to mind when discussing the PrimaLuna EVO 300 Hybrid ‘poweramplifier’ with editor PM. The company has been merrily supplying all-valve products for 22 years, so the introduction of hybrid models seemed a non-sequitur, especially given that this particular amp’s £6498 price tag doesn’t preclude an all-tube design on the grounds of costs. As for the trio of head-scratchers, we mused about 1) why hybrids from a company that paid its dues with valves, 2) why is the power amp dearer than the integrated version [HFN Jan ’22] and 3) why the new XLR input? Addressing the last first, please turn to PM’s boxout [p69]. Founder Herman van den Dungen answered our first question unequivocally: ‘Not every loudspeaker can be driven successfully…

Review: Adam Smith Lab: Paul Miller Although we might conveniently ‘pigeonhole’ turntables into idler-drive, belt-drive and direct-drive types, there are subdivisions within each category. For example, idler wheels come in different orientations and might drive the outside, the inside or even the underside of the platter. Belt-drive decks can use DC, AC or induction motors and spin the platter through a flat, square or round belt, a nylon thread or even, in one example, a triangular belt! TALK THE TORQUE Similarly, while all direct-drive turntables use a low-speed motor and ‘bearing’ to directly turn the platter, the technology typically differs from manufacturer to manufacturer. Sony, for example, used a brushed DC motor in its PS-6750 deck, before swapping to a brushless, slotless, linear type (BSL) for its later designs. Speed…