Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 362 i Sound + Image

I love my headphones. I’m only occasionally out and about with them these days — the bigger trips, with flights — so it’s mainly at home. When inside, I prefer listening on speakers, of course, but for privacy (sat next to the missus when she’s watching murder), or for lazing on the shady deck (no outdoor speakers, neighbours too close), on go the headphones. It’s a different experience, of course. Speakers fill the room and use the room, while headphones pump everything straight into your ears, creating a very different acoustic world. Open headphones are slightly different again: less enclosed, more open. No good for sitting next to the missus, but ideal for the deck, letting the sounds of the world in, while music flows unencumbered. The three open headphone…

Port Melbourne has an all-new, all-singing hi-fi and audio-visual destination store, the Amplify AV Experience Centre, the result of a six-month renovation to Audio Active’s HQ, and designed to deliver an extension of its national retail partners while providing inspiration and hands-on experiences to integrators, dealers, and consumers. “It’s the sensory and emotional experience that matters in music and movies; it’s not just about the tech specs,” said Jeremy Bouris, founder and Managing Director of Audio Active Australia, at the launch of the AV Amplify Experience Centre in May. Though naturally, when one (of three) cinemas in that centre has roughly $500,000 worth of equipment in it, it’s difficult not to throw some specs around — particularly when they include Sony’s reference VPL-GTZ380 laser projector beaming onto a 185-inch screen,…

Triangle has added a dipole/bipole surround effects speaker to its Borea range: the BRS1 uses a single 16cm natural cellulose pulp mid-woofer cone, between twin silk-dome tweeters which can be switched by the selector on the rear of each speaker to either bipole mode (working in phase) or dipole mode (out of phase, resulting in less direct sound and more diffuse ambient sound to the sides). The wall-mounting speaker is usefully shallow at 15cm deep, and comes supplied with a damping system to decouple the speaker from the wall and provide cable routing. The range of finishes is impressive: four in all, with black (of course) and white, but also walnut and light oak, thereby matching the finishes available across much of the successful Borea range. The BRS1 is available…

SUMMARY Kaleidescape movie platform & players Price: from $3999 + Server movies at 4K disc quality + Lossless audio including Atmos + Great interface and control + Multiroom works seamlessly – Limited to Australian movie store – Relatively high pricing Californian-based Kaleidescape is a unique company with a unique offering: its players, servers and networking provide an alternative to watching movies either via the usual streaming services, or on disc. So in a dedicated home cinema room, it might effectively replace a 4K Blu-ray player and a movie disc library, but it also goes further than that. It offers the ability to distribute its high-quality video and audio across multiple rooms in a home. It does so in style. It offers a beautiful interface on screens both large and small.…

The Model M1 is a sleek minimal design, with rounded edges in a nice rubberised feel, and a substantial weight, while the top-panel vent mesh has a wavy, textured weave. Look a little familiar? The comparison with the Home Amp from sister company Denon earlier in this group is inevitable, and becomes even more so as you compare their rear panels. One initial difference is that the Marantz has just three capacitive touch buttons on the front, compared with Denon’s five, here dedicated to play/pause, volume down and volume up. The M1’s dimensions (a 24 × 22cm near-square with 8.4cm height) are compact enough to fit into most small spaces, yet you get 100W of amplification per channel (into 8 ohms at a hi-fi-level 0.05% THD) and high-res audio support…

The late Marc Bolan was perhaps never overly concerned with consistency. Take T.Rex’s single Hot Love, for example, released on 12 February 1971. A full two-and-a-half minutes of it — more than half its length — is filled solely by the repeated line ‘La, la, la, la-la-la-laaaa’. While we would never be so churlish as to label this as lazy songwriting on the part of Bolan, it’s hardly adventurous — which might make the casual observer assume the same of the follow-up single. Right? Wrong. Get It On, released on July 2, 1971, is a singularly impressive bit of composition, whether we’re referring to the slick and cheeky riff that anchors the song or the vivid imagery with which Bolan peppers his lyrics. Opaque, shimmering and rather beautiful, phrases such…

Aries Cerat Take your pick: there’s the Aries Cerat Aurora “semi-active three-way horn loudspeaker system” (below) with a swirling brass-coloured swirl of a midrange horn mounted on a cube containing four 12-inch woofers per channel, a bypassable active bass module and a dipole horn tweeter. Or the vast Aries Cerat Pallas (above), perhaps kings of Munich 2025, fitted with eight 12-inch drivers, and looming over spectators. Purasound handles the brand locally. Avantegarde Acoustic Always good for a full-on horn experience, Avantgarde brought the “ultra high performance” Trio G3 to Munich with their trios of horns rising to a massive 95cm diameter. And all in bright red, too, just in case you were in danger of missing them. With twin subs working to ensure sufficient bass power, this was a demonstration…

We have raved about (and awarded) Norway’s Electrocompaniet for the quality of its amplification, whether the little SA2 zone player that appears in this issue, or something chunkier like the streaming ECI 6DS… But perhaps there was just one thing missing — the amps have no knob, even on the big one. Nice big brass buttons, yes, but regular readers will know how very much we do enjoy twirling a nice knob. So delight, then, to hear via the High End Munich show of the new EC 5 preamplifier, which gains not only a beautiful gold-ringed knob stylishy inset into the 7-inch colour display, but an entire “game-changing volume control system… pure electronic construction with no mechanical components or relays”, promising not only unprecedented transparency but also small 0.1dB-resolution adjustment…

The Qobuz music streaming service is the darling of many audiophiles; it is more expensive than either Spotify or Tidal, but of course it outperforms Spotify by far with its uncompressed and potentially high-res streams. Against Tidal the comparison may seem less favourable, given that Tidal is cheaper, offers high-res and Atmos, and our own research (by Stephen Dawson) has confirmed it to be reliably bit-perfect in delivery. Yet some are happy to pay a little extra for Qobuz’s editorial offering; its recommendations tend more towards the audiophile rather than the hip-hop/R’n’B that can dominate Tidal’s ‘rising’ recommendations. While all three services offer apps for mobile and tablet, one definite Spotify and Tidal advantage has been their ‘Connect’ modes. These let you continue using the app on your phone, while…

ViewSonic’s V57-4K projector jumped straight over the usual review slot into our 2025 Sound+Image Awards, where some readers may have seen it last issue, though without getting the full information on our time spent with this 4K high-lumen domestic projector. It’s an interesting unit, smaller and stranger than full-sized projectors, but with generally higher specs than pico or mini projectors. So let’s circle back and look at it in detail. The 5200-lumen spec is certainly far above the hundreds of lumens in pico projectors, and significantly above the larger portable smart projectors that may offer up to 3000 lumens. This higher count (if it proves genuine; comparing lumens between projectors is like comparing watts between amplifiers) might support longer throw distances and larger screens, or in any given installation it…

We shall not spend too long revisiting this final example of the zone-player breed, since we sang its praises only last issue in our Sound+Image Awards, where it won a conventional amplifier category, despite being so useful small. But on the same basis, we could hardly not mention it in this group. Furthermore, it shows how the concept of a small streaming amplifier still has room for upgraded performance. The streaming here and the control app were developed for the Norwegian company’s higher-end streamers, so they provide not only a high-level ‘tried and tested’ experience but also an ecosystem connecting with other EC streamers and wireless speakers in the home. Both the $2599 SA2 and its S2 sister streamer ($2199) can connect wirelessly to EC’s TANA L1 and L2 speakers;…

We had a case of déja vù unpacking Sennheiser’s new HD 550; haven’t we done these? They looked near-identical to a pair of open Sennheisers we already had to hand, the HD 560S, which we reviewed a few years ago. The new HD 550s have an indent instead of a bulge for the logo on the outer grille, they have a light grey highlight on the inside of the ear cup, and they turn the Sennheiser name sideways on the headband (which also has less thick padding). But otherwise the two headphones appear identical. Of course this doesn’t speak to the materials and drivers within. It does highlight Sennheiser’s lack of differentiation between designs in recent years; even the latest wireless noise-cancelling Momentums are similarly near-featureless headsets, as are Sennheiser’s…

In 2012, to celebrate its centenary, Universal Pictures ran a public poll to settle upon the most beloved scene from its glorious history. In second place was a shocked Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) telling shark-hunter Quint (Robert Shaw), ‘You’re gonna need a bigger boat.’ But even ‘Jaws’ couldn’t match the sight of 10-year-old Elliott (Henry Thomas) cycling his floating BMX past a luminous full moon with E.T. in its basket. ‘E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial’ might have been Steven Spielberg’s idea of fashioning a small-scale, personal movie — it riffed on the imaginary friend he conjured up as a youngster — but it’s pure cinema born of shimmering imagination and glimmering spectacle. Set in the Californian suburbs, it tells of an alien lost on Earth, and the heart-warming friendship it develops with…

Marantz numbering goes lower as models go higher. So in the brand’s Cinema series, AV receivers have followed a convergent sequence, starting with the lowest ‘slimline’ Cinema ‘70s’ model down at $2000, then rising through the increasingly less slimline Cinemas 60, 50 and 40, to the full-fat integrated Cinema 30. At which point they were running out of numbers, with the ‘10’ already spoken for, by the AV 10 processor and AMP 10 (but 16-channel) amplifier which are the toppermost (but separates) solution in Marantz’s multichannel world. We had asked about a Cinema 20, even a roadmap, but Marantz referred to the Cinema 30 at its launch as a ‘Reference’ receiver, indicating the top of the range, short of breaking into the two separate boxes. And so it is. But…

As Rega’s Brio amplifier moves from Mk6 to a new Mk7, due to arrive here in August, the most immediately notable change is the addition of digital inputs. A little ‘D1’ and ‘D2’ are on the front panel ready to illuminate red, while a new input section at the rear of the sideways (half-width) aluminium casing adds one each of optical and coaxial digital inputs, while losing the Mk. 6’s ‘record out’ loop and fifth analogue input: there are now four remaining, with the first being a moving-magnet phono input. There is, therefore, a Rega DAC inside the new Brio, supporting up to 192kHz sampling rates, while internally the PCB layout has been re-laid with upgraded components and power supplies better isolated, assisting the phono stage in particular. The power…

Krix has a long legacy of subwoofer awards, so it’s exciting news that the South Australian company is announcing its most powerful ever home cinema subwoofer — the UCX-218. Weighing 91kg (it ships in three parts), and with an RRP of $13,495, the new Krix delivers infrasonics down to 10Hz and “redefines how sound is felt”, says the company. “The UCX-218 is more than just a subwoofer,” said Gary Krix, Managing Director at Krix. “It’s a statement of our commitment to deliver precision engineering and exceptional sound experiences for home theatres and cinemas alike.” Remarkable, then, that it also looks so cute, like a Judoon droid awaiting instructions, although more likely to be hidden behind a screen along a full Krix speaker system like the Theatrix pictured here (UCX-281s to…

Brighter better OLED OLED has long been a favourite of TV picture quality connoisseurs, rightly lauded for perfect blacks, nuanced near-black shadow detail and vibrant hues. When it comes to watching in a fully dark room, OLED has no problem convincing with its inky black scenes. However, the technology can struggle to maintain these dynamics when viewed in rooms with high ambient light. Last year saw incremental improvements, both from Samsung with its QD OLED initiative, and in the MLA (Micro Lens Array) OLED models developed by LG Display, and used in TVs by LG Electronics, Philips and Panasonic. However, 2025 is bringing a potentially dramatic upgrade to the OLED experience, with far brighter screens, capable of an HDR peak of 4000 nits. These are led by all-new primary RGB…

SUMMARY Marantz Horizon Price: $6500 + Visual and sonic class + Easy streaming + Useful inputs – No remote control provided – Poke-don’t-drag AuraControl – AuraControl delay from standby – Price, for some! The high-end and the luxury heights of hi-fi are currently proving the most successful of sectors for those companies that dare to venture into such lofty realms. But one of the truisms of the luxury market is that you’ve gotta look good, as well as sound good. Many moons ago we recall interviewing Antony Michaelson, then owner of Musical Fidelity, who told us that his company’s high-end amps might be built significantly more cheaply, but then nobody would buy them, because they really have to look like they’re worth it, as well as sounding like it. In…

WiiM won fans first with its well-priced streamers; this little WiiM Amp arrived in November 2023, and has since been joined by an upgraded WiiM Pro amp at around $700, and most recently a $599 WiiM Vibelink Amp. This original WiiM Amp sells at $495. The brand belongs to LinkPlay, based in California, with its pricing enabled by strong manufacturing partnerships in China. The WiiM Amp’s rather functional name belies its versatility; as with all in this group, it is a mini smart amp which combines built-in streaming with amplification, in this case making it one of the most affordable justadd-speakers systems we’ve ever seen. Thanks to such remarkably titchy prices, the WiiM brand has been quite a disrupter at this end of affordable hi-fi — as you can see,…

Bluesound defined itself in the streaming market from the beginning as providing a high-rescapable version of the zoneplayer concept. And while most (not all) rival platforms have since caught up on the high-res front, this initial audio-focused ethos is still evident on the latest products. The brand is part of Lenbrook in Canada, and often shares technologies with sister company NAD, giving it access to a wealth of solid amplification expertise, especially as NAD has been leading the hi-fi world into ‘digital’ amplification over the last decade and a half. Bluesound offers two powered streaming amplifier options, or Powernodes, as it calls them to differentiate from its ‘Node’ streamers. The full-fat Powernode (current model N330) sells at $1849, while this more affordable Powernode Edge (N230) comes in at $1299. So…

Kate Bush has long cornered the market in media-averse mystique. But it wasn’t always that way. On 3 April 1979, early evening BBC TV news programme Nationwide dedicated a show to the 20-year-old singer. The event on which the 25-minute documentary special was hung was the opening night of Bush’s first — and to date only — tour. “Most live artists make their mistakes either in private or in front of a very small audience,” intoned Nationwide’s moustachioed reporter. “Tonight, Kate Bush starts at the top, in front of several thousand. She can’t afford to fail.” But then in ’79 Bush was big news. Her star had been arcing across the firmament ever since she first appeared on Top Of The Pops just over a year earlier. That memorable performance…