Kiss choice: Black magic:

Gene Simmons picks Focal’s Utopia (2022) over-ear

G
his all-time top LPs
h open-back headphones

PASSION FOR SOUND Issue No. 496 January 2023

SAFE & SOUND

GROUP TEST
We
W e check
ch
hec out six network server/libraries BUYI
to see which best organises your music GUIDNG
Esse E
100+
Comp n
onential
p109 ts

BURNING
BRIGHT
Audio Physic’s
Spark 6
standmount
loudspeaker

DREAM TEAM CASHING IN!

Pro-Ject’s X8 turntable The unwelcome
& Phono Box DS3 B arrival of dynamic
spin up a vinyl storm ticket pricing

NEWS SPECIAL:
Sonos Sub Mini Launches from Jamo, ELAC, SVS,
iFi Audio, HiFi Rose, Audiolab,
A subwoofer that’s ready to rumble Bowers & Wilkins and more...

BACK!
TRUE CL ASS BARGAIN SHADES OF COOL TREMENDOUS THROW
£5.75

PRINTED IN THE UK
JANUARY 2023

Vertere’s novel DG-1S We celebrate the exquisite Cyrus’ Classic integrated

turntable is an ace start-up talent of Lana Del Rey AMP is an old-school hit
 Fidelio

T1 Headphones

Crafted
for life on the go
True wireless headphones. Made for music.
Exceptional sound on the go.

Sound quality Noise canceling pro+ 9 + 25 hours play time Crystal clear call
with 2 mics ENC

ŨŨŨ֣ĻüÿēÿĻł֣ØġęֳžÞâēÿġ
 INTRODUCTION

PASSION FOR SOUND Welcome

hifichoice.com Issue No. 496 January 2023

There’s a bit in Donald Cammell’s

Seventies gangster psychodrama
Performance where Mick Jagger’s
character turns to James Fox
and says: “I don’t like music”. It’s
a scene that’s always freaked me
26 out, not just because it’s Mick
Canor
Precision Tube DAC 2.10 Jagger who’s saying it. No, it’s the
very idea that someone doesn’t like music. Do you know
anyone who doesn’t like music? Is that even a thing?
Apparently, there are some unfortunate individuals
who suffer from something called musical anhedonia
– five percent of the population – which means they
have a neurological condition preventing them from
deriving any pleasure at all from listening to music.
58 This month’s issue is for the lucky 95 percent of the
Pro-Ject rest of us who live our lives soundtracked by our own
X8
private tunes and like to have them on hand whenever
the mood demands. Our Group Test has a rigorous
look at six ways of storing your favourites to discover
90 which digital music library might serve you best.
Music Reviews Elsewhere there’s a bumper 16-page Audiofile
Angeline Morrison
section full of all the latest launches, an appreciation
of Lana Del Rey (p100) and inside info on some new
James Bond-inspired headphones (p129).
Next month is our Yearbook, revisiting all the best
gear we’ve reviewed over the past 12 months, so
plenty to look forward to...
Enjoy!
BADGES EXPLAINED
OUR AWARDS
Steve Sutherland Editor
Picture credit: Nick Duffy (Angeline Morrison)

Follow us:
twitter.com@HiFiChoiceMag
EDITOR’S RECOMMENDED: GROUP TEST
facebook.com/hifichoice.co.uk
CHOICE: Products that WINNER: hifichoicemagazine
Awarded to those we feel meet a Comparative tests
products that are high standard of can only have one
judged to deliver performance winner, and this
outstanding
performance
badge says it all! SUITE 6G, EDEN HOUSE, ENTERPRISE WAY,
EDENBRIDGE, KENT TN8 6HF
JANUARY 2023 3
 Contents
hifichoice.com Issue No. 496 January 2023

NEWS & OPINION GROUP TEST

BUYING
GUI
100+ es DE
componsential
en
6 Audiofile p109 ts
The latest news on the hottest products
from the world of hi-fi coming your way
32
Six solutions to keep
75 Letters your digital musical
Put your points of view and queries on collection in order
audio matters to our team of experts

84 Opinion
The Hi-Fi Choice team say it as they see
it as they discuss the issues of the day

90 Music Reviews
The month’s essential new CD, vinyl
and hi-res releases given a work out

READER SERVICES
109 Buying Guide
Our hottest hi-fi component picks

122 Reader Classifieds

Sell your unwanted hi-fi for FREE here

130 Next Issue

The sonic treats to look out for next month

FEATURES
100 Music Legends
All hail the self-styled gangsta Nancy
Sinatra, the one and only Lana Del Rey

128 Reasons
To Be Cheerful
Our pick of the most exciting things
coming your way this month

128 6 100
Reasons To Be Cheerful Audiofile: Jamo Studio7 range Music Legends: Lana Del Rey
4 JANUARY 2023
 CONTENTS
JANUARY 2023
“It casts its mind towards the future,
not one of electronic bleeps, but
instead gently lilting folk that
54 redefines how LPs are structured “
Focal Utopia (2022)
Richard Dawson The Ruby Cord album review p96
TESTED THIS MONTH

26
Canor Precision Tube DAC 2.10

REVIEWS CHOICE EXTRAS

Kit testing 106 Connected-
26 Canor Fidelity
Float isolation pucks
Precision Tube DAC 2.10 USB DAC with
triode tube output (Main Test) 106 Ecosse
NuDiva analogue interconnect
48 AVID HiFi
Reference Three 2.5-way standmount
48
AVID HiFi Reference Three
loudspeaker (Exotica)
GROUP TEST
54 Focal Digital music servers
Utop (2022) over-ear,
Utopia £1,200-£4,200
open-back headphone
ope
34 Astell& Kern
56 Mission A&ultima SP2000T
700 two-way standmount loudspeaker
70
36 Bluesound Vault 2i
58 Pro-Ject
5 38 Leema Acoustics Sirius
X
X8/Phono Box DS3 B unsuspended, 40 Melco N50-H60
belt-drive turntable/phono preamp
42 Naim Audio Uniti Core
64 62 Sonos 44 Novafidelity X45
Vertere DG-1S Sub Mini subwoofer

64 Vertere
DG-1S belt-drive turntable

67 Cyrus
Classic AMP integrated amplifier

71 Audio Physic
Spark 6 three-way 106
67 standmount loudspeaker Ecosse
Cyrus Classic AMP NuDiva

Never miss an issue – turn to p126 for our latest subs offer
JANUARY 2023 5
 T H E L AT E ST I N D U ST RY
Great Danes
Brand new ‘angled’ speaker range
PRICE: £450-£950 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: JAMO.COM HENLEYAUDIO.CO.UK
DANISH COMPANY JAMO has
announced it is having a “rebirth”, with a
mission to: “offer contemporary speakers
that are easy to use and deliver high-
performance sound in a package that will
seamlessly find its place in your home…
with a timeless Nordic design, attention
to detail and sustainability.”
Boasting a brand new company logo, the
first products released by the revitalised
company is the Studio7 range of passive
loudspeakers designed with a signature 7°
tilt. There are six models in the new series
– two floorstanders (the S7-27F and
S7-25F), two bookshelf cabinets (the S7-17B
and S7-15B) and a pair of centre channel
speakers (the S7-25C and S7-43C). They
boast an all-new 25mm tweeter featuring a
copper Faraday ring, which the company
claims: “increases sensitivity and reduces
non-linear distortion”.
The bass drivers feature embossed paper
cones, high-strength motor assemblies
incorporating aluminium inductance
6 JANUARY 2023
N E W S…
shorting rings in a bid to enhance power
handling and lower distortion. Jamo
explains: “the aluminium shorting ring
lowers distortion for clean, dynamic bass
and increases power handling as the
aluminium ring acts as a heat sink. The
embossed paper cone with Thor’s Hammer
detailing increases the rigidity to improve
the transient response for that snappy yet
natural bass.”
In an effort to prevent colouring of the
driver’s signal, Jamo has rounded the cabinet
edge so that the energy dissipates naturally
while the walls are thick (15mm MDF with
18mm front baffle) and critically braced
with a view to ensuring a low degree of
self-noise. The company claims: “This design
allows you to hear more low-level detail and
increases resolution when playing at any
output level compared with competing
products in their class”.
Jamo houses the crossover in its sealed
plinth to minimise the possibility of any
interaction between the large bass driver
magnet and the inductors in the crossover.
The Studio7 design also pays particular
attention to the topology and component
selection. Using Mylar and non-polarised
electrolytic capacitors, along with iron
and air core inductors and 25W resistors,
blends the speaker drivers with the aim of
delivering the highest level of transparency
throughout the audio band.
On a poetic tip, Jamo says it chose the
Studio7 range’s two colourways from:
“the chromatic palette of Scandinavian
landscapes. Norwegian fjords inspire the
dark blue, while the grey finish channels the
hue of fog hanging over a Finnish forest.”
The flagship S7-27F costs £950 and is
a two-way floorstander that pairs the
aforementioned tweeter with two 170mm
bass drivers. The S7-25F is £800 and reduces
the size of the bass drivers to 140mm. The
standmount S7-17B costs £550 and sees
the tweeter partner a single 170mm bass
driver, while the S7-15B reduces the bass
driver to 140mm. It costs £450.
 AUDIOFILE

JANUARY 2023 7
 AUDIOFILE

Eighty
and out
New belt-driven turntable
from Germany
PRICE: £2,000-£2,200 AVAILABLE: NOW
WEB: ELAC.COM HIFI-NETWORK.COM

GERMAN HI-FI SPECIALIST ELAC has

announced the launch of its Miracord 80
Turntable, a high-mass belt-driven vinyl
spinner featuring a new 10in carbon fibre
tonearm, solid wood plinth and optional
dedicated moving-magnet cartridge that’s
manufactured by Clearaudio.
Finished in high-gloss black or walnut
veneer, the plinth is complemented by
anodised aluminium panels which the
company says adds further stability and mass.
The steel platter weighs 5.6kg with the aim
of providing the necessary inertia for the
system and this is supported on what ELAC
describes as: “a complex bearing design”. The
platter is belt-driven by a PID servo-controlled
DC motor whose optical control is designed
with a view to ensuring perfect speed stability.
The newly developed 10in tonearm is made
from carbon fibre to offer both strength and
relative light weight to suit the D96 moving-
magnet cartridge and stylus. It’s all priced at
£2,200 with a cartridge or £2,000 without.
An optional lid is available for £200.

8 JANUARY 2023
 AUDIOFILE
Technical achievement
New multi-format digital audio player
PRICE: £2,900 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: TECHNICS.COM
TECHNICS HAS UNVEILED its new
SL-G700M2, the successor to the SL-G700
network/Super Audio CD player. The company
describes it as a multi-digital player that:
“supports a plethora of digital audio media
including MQA, hi-res audio sources and music
streaming services,” and claims its goal in
developing digital audio signal processing
technology was: “to achieve phase alignment
and ideal impulse response – characteristics
that are essential for faithful music
reproduction with an accurate soundstage”.
The SL-G700M2 is equipped with a High
Precision Coherent D/A Converter, which
Technics says converts digital values to
analogue signals with the utmost accuracy
before outputting them to an amplifier. It
is composed of three elements: coherent
processing, a high-performance D/A converter
in dual monaural configuration and a
proprietary discrete amplifier circuit. This
technology has been developed to improve
the reproducibility of impulse signals by
minimising amplitude and phase deviations
that occur throughout the D/A conversion
process for signals up to 192kHz PCM using
proprietary digital signal processing. Technics
claims: “The result is an increase in the purity
of the sound and a clearer sound overall”.
The SL-G700M2 also features a new DAC
chip: the dual ESS ES9026PRO, which –
through the symmetrical placement of
one L/R unit on each side of the device – is
10 JANUARY 2023
capable of independent transmission to
reduce mutual interference and faithfully
reproduce the sound image and musical space
contained in the source. The filter circuit after
the D/A conversion uses an amplifier circuit
with a discrete configuration instead of an
operational amplifier IC, the aim being to:
“realise even higher responsiveness and S/N,
reproducing even the most subtle sounds”.
Power ranger
The SL-G700M2 has a Multi-Stage Silent
Power Supply for noise suppression in three
stages: high-speed switching power supply;
low-noise regulator; and current injection
active noise cancelling. It uses a high-speed
switching power supply of approximately
300kHz, used for the analogue circuits of
Technics SU-R1000 (HFC 480) reference-class
integrated amp. The company says that:
“By increasing the switching frequency,
noise interference on the music playback
bandwidth is reduced and a highly responsive
power supply is achieved. Combined with the
original stabilised power supply circuit, this
dedicated power supply provides stable
power with low noise. The discrete circuit
structure does not use any general-purpose
ICs, and meticulous tuning provides power
optimised for analogue circuits.”
The SL-G700M2 supports playback of the
SACD high-quality disc format and features
a dedicated SACD/CD Pure Disc Playback
mode that shuts off all circuit blocks except
those required for Super Audio CD/CD
playback with the aim of reducing internal
noise and boosting sound quality.
The SL-G700M2 is capable of full decoding
and playback of MQA files and MQA CDs.
Various other high-resolution formats are
also supported including WAV/AIFF up to
32-bit/384kHz, 24-bit/384kHz FLAC/ALAC
and up to DSD256. In addition, it supports
Google Chromecast and connects with a
range of music streaming services from
Chromecast-enabled apps, as well as Apple
AirPlay 2, wi-fi and Bluetooth. The player
is also equipped with a new USB-B port that
allows for connection to a network or PC for
hi-res playback.
The SL-G700M2 is divided into four sections
inside the chassis with the power supply, digital
interface, analogue circuitry and disc drive
each being independent of one another. This
is intended to suppress mutual interference
between circuits and reduce sound quality
degradation. The disc drive adopts a three-
layer chassis configuration and vibration-
damping plus quiet construction, including
a disc tray made of die-cast aluminium to
ensure high-precision disc playback.
The exterior features a hairline-finished
7mm-thick aluminium front panel and
3mm-thick aluminium side panels, as
well as an engraved Technics logo and
it all comes in either silver or black.

The M power
strikes back
New speaker range unveiled by Falcon
PRICE: £2,400-£12,800 AVAILABLE: NOW
WEB: FALCONACOUSTICS.CO.UK
FALCON ACOUSTICS HAS
released two new M-range
loudspeaker designs: the M10
two-way standmount and the
top-of-the-range M50 three-way
floorstander – the first of five
new models scheduled for launch
within the next six months. Both
are hand-made in Italy.
The two-way vented M10 cabinet
features a 127mm Falcon B110 bass
unit – which exclusively replicates
the original KEF B110 used by the
company’s LS3/5a monitor – and a
25mm ‘M’ range custom soft dome
tweeter made to Falcon spec by SEAS.
Available in natural Walnut veneer
(with Rosewood as a special option),
AUDIOFILE
the company says the compact M10:
“will supply the signature sound of a
classic British two-way speaker to hi-fi
enthusiasts seeking to upgrade their
systems or build a second system”.
It’s priced at £2,400.
The three-way vented M50 design
features the proprietary Falcon B139
bass unit, twin 127mm Falcon B110
midrange units and the 25mm ‘M’
range custom soft dome tweeter.
Falcon says the M50, which is
available in the same finishes as
the M10: “will deliver articulate
full-range fidelity imbued with
glorious midrange detail to
enthusiasts with larger rooms and
systems”. This model costs £12,800.
JANUARY 2023 11
 AUDIOFILE
Big Mac
New digital amp from America
PRICE: £6,000 AVAILABLE: NOW
WEB: MCINTOSHLABS.COM FINESOUNDS.UK
US HI-FI SPECIALIST McIntosh has
launched its MI502 two-channel
digital amplifier, a Class D power amp
that offers a claimed 500W of power
into 8ohm or 800W into 4ohm. The
company explains: “it uses innovative
closed-loop digital switching tech with
resilient power supplies to produce
groundbreaking performance levels
for custom install audio”.
The MI502 can be used to power a
distributed home audio system or the
front left and right speakers in a home
cinema system. It can also drive two
in-wall subwoofers while a pair can
drive the three front channels of a
home cinema plus one subwoofer
or a pair of outdoor speakers.
Rack-mountable with a 2U height,
the MI502 does not require cooling
fans to maintain nominal operating
temperature, despite its powerful
500W output.
The front panel features two blue
McIntosh Watt Meters that display the
12 JANUARY 2023
power output of each channel, while
multi-colour LED indicators display the
status of each channel. The rear panel
has a pair of balanced and unbalanced
inputs to connect to preamplifiers and
a pair of McIntosh’s standard five-way
speaker binding posts.
The company says the MI502 also
benefits from several proprietary
McIntosh technologies including
Power Guard signal overload
technology that prevents overdriving
the speakers, plus a Sentry Monitor
short-circuit protection circuit that
disengages the output stage before
current exceeds safe operating levels
and then resets automatically when
operating conditions return to
normal. It also boasts Power Control
12V triggering capabilities and
eco-friendly on/off signal sensing that
turns the unit off if no input signal
has been detected for a set amount
of time or automatically turns the
amp on when it senses a signal.

In at number one
iFi’s new affordable starter DAC
PRICE: £75 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: IFI-AUDIO.COM
IFI AUDIO HAS introduced The Uno,
which it describes as a first-rung audio
upgrade: “a DAC/headphone amp for
people who may not know what a DAC is,
but know they want better sound quality
when they listen to music, stream movies
and TV shows, and enjoy other audio”.
Small enough to fit in the palm of your
hand, the Uno is made from a mineral-filled
polymer and its USB-C input connects to
Windows PCs, Apple Macs, smartphones
and tablets. It doesn’t require its own power
source, receiving both power and audio
data from the device it’s connected to.
The Uno utilises a high-performance DAC
chip from ESS Technology’s Sabre HiFi
series – the ES9219MQ/Q – benefiting from
32-bit HyperStream III architecture. This
combines with Quad DAC+ and Time
Domain Jitter Eliminator technologies, plus
iFi’s dedicated clock circuitry utilising a
specialised crystal oscillator, with the aim of
delivering: “ultra-low distortion, excellent
clarity and impressive dynamic range”. PCM
audio data is supported to 32-bit/384kHz,
alongside up to DSD256 and MQA – the
hi-res streaming technology used by Tidal’s
‘HiFi Plus’ tier. An illuminated ring behind
the volume control changes colour to
indicate the format and sample rate of
the incoming digital signal.
Gold standard
The headphone amp feeds a 3.5mm socket
at the front, incorporating iFi’s S-Balanced
configuration to reduce noise and crosstalk.
This delivers 211mW into 32ohm and 3.5V
into 600ohm, ensuring compatibility with a
wide range of headphone and earphone
types. All the analogue outputs are gold
plated to resist corrosion and maintain
conductivity over time.
AUDIOFILE
A volume knob sits front and centre,
delivering analogue adjustment in the DAC
itself rather than relying on the software-
driven volume controls in connected digital
devices. Next to this is the PowerMatch
button, which adjusts gain by 6dB to match
the connected headphones – users can
choose the higher setting for more
current-hungry loads, and the lower
setting for more sensitive types.
Another proprietary circuit provides three
EQ modes – one for music, another for
movies and a third for games. These are
analogue processing modes rather than DSP
(Digital Signal Processing), engineered in a
bid to maintain sonic fidelity while precisely
adjusting the frequency balance. A button at
the front cycles through the three settings,
with illuminated logos on top of the Uno
indicating the current mode. The Uno
measures 88 x 26 x 81mm(WxHxD).
JANUARY 2023 13
Objects
of Desire

Platinum Series 3G Explore more

Platinum Series 3G comprises four elegantly designed high-performance loudspeakers,

that entwine acoustic innovation, attention to detail and precision engineering
to deliver breathtakingly accurate sound that will delight for a lifetime. monitoraudio.com

Rose-tinted
New network streamer from Korea
PRICE: £3,400 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: HIFIROSE.COM HENLEYAUDIO.CO.UK
HENLEY AUDIO IS handling the UK
distribution of HiFi Rose’s RS520, the Korean
company’s brand-new all-in-one network
audio streamer. Taking design and technical
inspiration from the flagship RS150 network
streamer and the RA180 integrated amplifier
(HFC 477 and 491 respectively), released in
2022, the new all-in-one is being marketed
as: “a true high-end solution with enviable
flexibility and one-box convenience”.
The RS520 includes a built-in network
player, DAC and integrated amplifier in an
aluminium chassis. It’s designed as a; “just
add speakers” solution and its key features
include a complete all-in-one streaming
amplifier with 250W per-channel output,
and connection to streaming services such
as Tidal, Qobuz, Apple Music, Spotify and
Roon. Playing is facilitated via USB, SD or
internal storage, or over the local network
and it boasts a full Rose OS operating system
with extensive functionality. There’s a
built-in digital EQ to help tailor your sound,
it offers multiple digital and analogue
connection options including HDMI eARC
and the digital stage is built around a
premium ES9038PRO DAC chip. The
next-generation Class AD (Advanced D)
AUDIOFILE
amplifier design is taken from the RA180,
and there are Gallium Nitride FETs in the
amplification stage in a bid to deliver perfect
linear output.
Like all HiFi Rose streamers, the RS520 is
most identifiable by its large multi-touch
screen, which measures 320mm wide with
a 1,920 x 515-pixel resolution LCD panel,
while core transport controls can also be
found on top of the RS520, for ease of use. It
measures 346 x 328 x 127mm, weighs 8.1kg
and comes with a Power Cord, Bluetooth
remote controller, wi-fi/Bluetooth dongle
and four SSD screws.
JANUARY 2023 15
 AUDIOFILE

Bathys time!
New French headphone with ANC
PRICE: £700 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: FOCAL.COM

FOCAL IS RELEASING Bathys, its first ever wireless

headphone with active noise cancellation. Operating
via 5.1 Bluetooth multipoint or wired connection via
its USB-DAC mode, the headphone boasts Focal
speaker drivers made in France and two noise-
cancelling modes – Silent optimised for journeys with
high background noise (planes, trains, etc.) and Soft
to help with focus at home or in the office. It also
features a Transparency mode that allows you to
hear sounds around you when needed.
Bathys features control buttons and Amazon Alexa
and Google Assistant voice assistants, and has an
adjustable EQ to customise the sound. The voice
assistants, EQ and other settings are available in the
dedicated app developed by Focal. Compatible with
SBC, AAC, aptX and aptX Adaptive codecs, it also
has Clear Voice Capture microphone technology
for telephone conversations.
Focal claims Bathys offers over 30 hours of battery
life, with its fast-charging function proving five extra
listening hours in 15 minutes. There are also two
cables – 1.2m with 3.5mm jack and a 1.2m USB-C –
bundled with the headphone for wired listening.
Manufactured in Saint-Étienne at the Focal
workshop, the speaker drivers are housed inside
an aluminium/magnesium dome and the design is
inherited from Focal’s open and closed-back designs
combining magnesium on the yokes, real leather on
the headband and aluminium for a robust construction,
resulting in what the company claims is: “outstanding
comfort for any head shape”. Bathys comes in a
combined black and silver finish.

16 JANUARY 2023
 The best streamer for everyone!
The award winning NP5 Prisma MK2 is a clever little device that provides
complete Prisma streaming technology for virtually any system with a
digital input.
Incorporating all multi-room/multi-zone network player functionality found
in our Prisma models, NP5 Prisma MK2 features AirPlay 2, Bluetooth,
Chromecast built-in, Roon Ready and Spotify Connect, as well as NAS
playback control using the Prisma application.
Designed to be small enough to fit into any system, both stereo and multi-
channel, the NP5 Prisma MK2 is the simplest solution for integrating the
very latest stored and streamed digital media playback functions.
For full details, visit primare.net

karma Authorised United Kingdom Distributor 01423 358846

karma-av.co.uk
info@karma-av.co.uk
a u d i o - v i s u a l
 AUDIOFILE
BOOM, shake the room!
Content creation aid from the US
PRICE: £330 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: APOGEEDIGITAL.COM SOUNDTECH.CO.UK
US AUDIO INTERFACE specialist Apogee
Electronics has introduced BOOM, its 2x 2
USB-C audio interface for macOS, iOS and
Windows, designed to kickstart any music or
content creation project in the studio or on
the go. The company explains: “With BOOM,
you can record, monitor and mix through
class-leading mic preamps and pristine
digital conversion. Capture any source from
guitar, keyboard and percussion to voice and
vocals at 24-bit/192kHz resolution. BOOM
is the only interface in its class that lets you
fine-tune your input sources with premium
built-in hardware DSP FX. If you are a
creator on the go, your device powers
BOOM – just connect it directly to your
Mac, iPad Pro or Windows laptop.”
18 JANUARY 2023
The company continues: “BOOM’s
conversion stages employ high-end
analogue-to-digital and digital-to-analogue
conversion components, not low-end
codecs. All inputs accept a professional-
specification maximum input level of
+18dB, ensuring a pristine audio signal
even with the loudest sources. Microphone
preamps offer a class-leading 62dB of
gain for capturing delicate sources with
clarity and are able to power popular
microphones like the Shure SM7B.
BOOM’s 0ohm headphone output
provides an audiophile experience,
able to drive even high-impedance hi-fi
headphones with power, clarity and a
perfectly balanced frequency response.”
BOOM claims to be the first audio interface
to offer onboard DSP hardware. With the
Symphony ECS Channel Strip (tuned by
mixer Bob Clearmountain), the user can
shape and sculpt input sources with a 3-band
EQ, compression and a drive knob that adds:
“the warmth and grit of analogue gear”. The
ECS Channel Strip is available as a native
plug-in, so the user can add character to any
track. One can also create live streaming
with the onboard Mixer and Loopback mode.
Bundled with BOOM is Ableton Live Lite,
which is a way to write, record, produce
and perform music including essential
workflows, instruments and effects for
creating sounds, recording ideas,
performing on stage and more.

Block rocking beats
Six-way strip cleans up your power supply
PRICE: £350 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: AUDIOLAB.CO.UK
AUDIOLAB HAS RELEASED its
DC Block 6, a six-way power strip
that’s been designed to provide
half a dozen individually isolated
outlets with pure, rebalanced
power to every component in
your audio or AV system.
Housed in an aluminium
enclosure, the DC Block 6 has been
created to sit with standard-width
source and amp components on the
shelf of a hi-fi equipment support.
At the front is an OLED voltmeter
display showing the measured
mains voltage, which can be
switched off if preferred. Around
the back are six C13 IEC outlets so
the user can hook them up to the
AC mains input of each audio
component in your system and use
a single IEC cable to connect the DC
Block 6 to a mains socket.
Stop interfering
The company explains: “Mains
electricity has a fundamental
influence on the audio signal
as it passes through a system,
from source to amp to speakers.
The mains supply in a typical dwelling is
subject to interference induced by a range of
issues, causing the AC waveform to distort
before it reaches each component. This
creates noise in the audio signal, which
degrades sound quality – a situation that
continues to worsen as the electrical devices
we use in our homes proliferate.
“One common issue is ‘DC on the mains’ –
a problem well known to affect the
performance of audio equipment, especially
amplifiers. In theory, the mains electricity we
obtain from the sockets in our homes should
be pure AC, with a perfectly symmetrical
sine wave alternating between positive and
negative phases. However, the presence of
‘asymmetrical loads’ – myriad household
devices that use the AC energy available in
the mains cycle unevenly, from dimmer
switches to kitchen appliances to computer
power supplies – causes the waveform to
become offset, resulting in the presence of
DC voltage on the AC supply.
“The AC transformers commonly used in
home audio equipment cannot tolerate the
presence of significant levels of DC voltage
AUDIOFILE
without being compromised. Less
than 500mV of DC – typical in an
average household electricity
supply – can be sufficient to cause
toroidal transformers of the kind
often found in amplifiers to
become saturated, which adversely
affects sonic performance and
may cause audible mechanical
vibration. By blocking, or
cancelling, DC voltage found
within the AC mains supply,
the Audiolab DC Block 6 corrects
the DC offset and rebalances the
mains sine wave.
“Tackling ‘DC on the mains’ is not
the only benefit delivered by this
dual-action device – it also contains
a specialised, high-performance
filtering circuit that removes RFI/
EMI contaminants from the mains
supply. This is effective in reducing
both differential-mode noise
(exacerbated by cheap switch-mode
power supplies used by many home
appliances) and common-mode
noise (aggravated by airborne
interference from phones, wi-fi
networks and Bluetooth).
“This combination of technologies ensures
that the DC Block 6 also helps to unlock the
sonic potential of every audio component to
which it is connected. The noise floor drops
and the sound gains greater focus, with
reduced grain, improved clarity, better
defined bass and ‘airier’ treble.”
The Audiolab DC Block 6 is available in a
choice of black or silver finishes and comes
with a full set of power cables – six IEC
C14-to-C13 cables to connect its outlets
to the user’s system components, plus a
cable to plug it into the mains.
JANUARY 2023 19
 AUDIOFILE
Head masters
New flagship wireless headphone from the UK
PRICE: £600 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: BOWERSWILKINS.COM
BOWERS & WILKINS has launched its
new flagship wireless headphone, the Px8.
Featuring the same active noise-cancelling
wireless platform found in the Px7 S2
(HFC 495), the company claims that the
new headphone takes its predecessor’s
performance to even greater heights
of detail, resolution and spaciousness
thanks to its all-new bespoke 40mm
Carbon Cone drive units.
Inspired by the Carbon Dome drive units
employed in Bowers & Wilkins 700 Series
loudspeaker range, the Px8’s new Carbon
Cones deliver what the company describes
as: “an unparalleled combination of
ultra-fast response plus exceptionally low
distortion throughout the frequency range.
The result is resolution, detail and timing
that surpasses the high bar set by the
Px7 S2, ensuring an even more engaging
and natural musical performance.”
20 JANUARY 2023
The drive units are angled inside each earcup
to ensure a consistent distance relative to
the listener’s ear from every point across
the surface of each driver, to produce a
more immersive and accurate soundstage.
The Px8 is available in two finishes – black
or tan leather – and now has a cast-aluminium
arm structure plus a diamond-cut bright
edge on each elliptical logo plate while
the earcups, memory-foam cushions and
headband are trimmed in Nappa leather.
Well connected
Qualcomm’s aptX Adaptive wireless tech is
employed to link to compatible devices.
USB-C and 3.5mm analogue cable
connections are also supported, with both
cable types bundled in the carry case. The
Px8 also uses proprietary B&W-optimised
noise cancellation technology to shut
out any unwanted interference and six
high-performance microphones are featured
– two to measure the output of each drive
unit, two to react to ambient noise from the
outside world and two to provide voice
clarity with enhanced noise suppression.
The launch of the new Px8 coincides with
an upgrade for the Bowers & Wilkins Music
App. From launch, the Music App will allow
Px8 users to stream their chosen tunes
directly from their mobile device to their
headphones, with Deezer, Qobuz and Tidal
all supported. The same functionality will
roll out to Px7 S2 owners on the day the
Px8 launches. Physical controls on each
earcup are also included to allow control
without the Music App, while users can
use the Px8 to launch their phone’s Voice
Assistant at the touch of a button. B&W
claims 30 hours of battery life with a
15-minute charge sufficient to provide up
to seven hours of additional listening time.

Prime time
New wireless pro system from the US
PRICE: £900 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: SVSOUND.COM KARMA-AV.CO.UK
KARMA-AV IS INTRODUCING
American company SVS’ wireless
all-in-one setup to the UK. The
next-gen Prime Wireless Pro system
comprises a two-channel powered
speaker array integrating a 200W (4x
50W) Class D amplifier, 24-bit/192kHz
DAC, 25mm aluminium dome tweeter
and digital crossover for what the
company claims is: “Best-in-class
dynamics, bass and clarity”.
The system streams hi-res audio
wirelessly via wi-fi, Airplay 2 and
Google Cast. Bluetooth enabled, it
also features HDMI, line-level, optical
and Ethernet inputs as well as a
subwoofer out. It’s controlled via
smartphone or desktop app, IR
remote, voice commands or the front
panel OLED interface and allows
playback from all streaming services
including Amazon Music, Qobuz,
AUDIOFILE
iHeart, Pandora, Youtube, Sirius XM,
Tidal, Pandora and Audible through
the DTS Play-Fi app with native
control via Apple Airplay 2,
Chromecast and Spotify Connect.
According to SVS: “Hi-res streaming
has elevated the importance of sound
quality to more people than ever
before, yet the wireless smart speaker
category is still dominated by
products that can’t deliver on the
potential. SVS’ Prime Wireless Pro
marries immersive, reference-quality
sound with all-encompassing
connectivity and control options,
combining the convenience and
simplicity of smart wireless speakers
with breathtaking sound quality.”
The SVS Prime Wireless Pro
powered speaker system is finished
in hand-applied Piano Gloss Black
or Piano Gloss White.
JANUARY 2023 21
 AUDIOFILE

Back to the Seventies

Limited-edition anniversary amp from NAD
PRICE: £1,800 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: NADELECTRONICS.COM

TO CELEBRATE ITS 50th anniversary NAD

is launching its limited-edition C 3050 LE
Stereophonic Amplifier. With only 1,972 being
manufactured, the retro-look integrated
amplifier harks back to the heyday of hi-fi
and incorporates LED illuminated left and
right VU meters, as well as a satin walnut
veneer wooden case that conceals fully
modern features like hi-res multi-room
streaming, the ability to decode MQA studio
master recordings and Dirac Room Correction
via the included BluOS-D MDC2 module.
Hook-up options incorporate AirPlay 2,
two-way aptX HD Bluetooth and HDMI eARC.
Additional connections include a phono stage
and dedicated headphone amplifier. It is
powered by the latest version of NAD’s
HybridDigital amplifier rated at 100W per
channel of Full Disclosure Power and features
a high-resolution audiophile-grade DAC.
Each unit is uniquely numbered from 1
through 1,972 and will come with a certificate
of authenticity. Coming next year, the brand
will be launching the NAD C 3050 integrated
amplifier, the more widely available version of
its ‘LE’ sibling. Offered at a lower suggested
price point than the limited-edition version,
the C 3050 will allow consumers the choice to
upgrade the unit to include BluOS and Dirac
via its MDC2 feature for an additional cost.

Pebble
dash!
New portable
Bluetooth speaker
PRICE: £100 AVAILABLE: NOW
WEB: TANGENT-AUDIO.COM AVOKE.CO.UK

Tangent has introduced its Pebble Max

Bluetooth speaker boasting a claimed
2x 30W of power and equipped with
Bluetooth 5.0 for streaming music from a
suitably equipped computer, tablet or
smartphone. If the user is not connecting
via Bluetooth, included on the Pebble
Max is a micro-SD card reader for playing
music held on a memory card. There’s
an option to physically connect via its
3.5mm mini-jack input and it has a
built-in microphone. Capable of
multi-directional sound, it is IPX5-rated
water and dust resistant and measures:
220 x 95 x 72mm (WxHxD).

22 JANUARY 2023
Upgrade your
expectations
in home cinema

“ Powering 150W per channel, the Denon AVR-X2800H 7.2 channel 8K AV receiver

delivers a fully enveloping 3D audio experience, amazing picture quality, and lag-free
gaming experience thanks to Dolby Atmos®, DTS:X®, and the latest HDMI technology
featuring HDR10+, Dolby Vision™, 8K/60 and 4K/120 passthrough. Powered by
HEOS® Built-in technology, stream your favourite music tracks wirelessly through
Spotify, Tidal, Amazon Music HD, AirPlay 2, and more. With our award-winning

Denon Setup Assistant and Audyssey MultEQ XT room correction technology, the
AVRX2800H ensures your system sounds better than ever.”

Discover more at denon.com

 AUDIOFILE
Hit the north
New power amp from Norway
PRICE: £19,500 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: ELECTROCOMPANIET.COM ELITEAUDIOUK.COM
TO CELEBRATE ITS 50th anniversary,
Norwegian company Electrocompaniet has
launched its new flagship power amplifier –
the 800W into 8ohm monoblock AW 800 M,
which can be swapped from stereo mode
to bi-amping mode simply by flicking a
switch on the back panel. Encompassing
Electrocompaniet’s direct coupled high
open-loop bandwidth topology, the new
amp has been further enhanced with high
slew-rate and very high bandwidth amplifier
24 JANUARY 2023
stages. In addition, a brand-new output
stage has been designed to shield the
input and driver stages from the load.
The company explains that the output stage
incorporates: “a total of 32 high-bandwidth,
high-current bipolar output transistors that,
unstrained, can deliver very high currents to
the load”.
To feed the output stage the power supply
has been updated and now boasts a total
of 210,000uF supply filtering. Mains power
input is DC and RF filtered ahead of the wire
gauge upgraded, twin toroidal transformers
that are magnetically and electrostatically
shielded to keep any noise from intruding.
The internal ground reference has been over
dimensioned and kept free of rectifying and
output currents. The result, Electrocompaniet
claims: “is a very clean, noise-free output
signal regardless of output power, providing
a very stable soundstage with the blackest
background possible at any sound level”.

Retro revival
New speaker range from France
PRICE: £2,390-£4,490 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: REVIVALAUDIO.FR
FRENCH-BASED REVIVAL AUDIO
is bringing its Atalante range of
speakers to the UK. The Atalante 3
is a two-way standmount equipped
with a 28mm soft-dome tweeter and
built-in ARID (Anti Reflection Inner
Dome) patented technology along
with specialised back-chamber design,
which the company says can absorb
95+ percent resonances. Revival also
claims its first-in-industry BSC (Basalt
Sandwich Construction) 178mn mid/
bass driver is: “the best balance found
between rigid and light-weight, with
its great damping construction,
providing fast and smooth response
with tight bass dynamics”.
The Atalante 3 measures 240 x 390
x 270mm (WxHxD)and weighs 11kg.
AUDIOFILE
It comes in a Walnut wood veneer,
with belt & knot design and crafted
burned logos and is priced at £2,390.
A dedicated Revival Audio Stand 3 is
sold separately for £400.
The floorstanding Atalante 5 is a
three-way model also equipped with
a 28mm soft-dome tweeter, plus a
75mm midrange driver, both with
built-in Revival Audio ARID (Anti
Reflection Inner Dome) patented
technology, to absorb 95+ percent of
resonance in the chamber. There’s a
BSC (Basalt Sandwich Construction)
305mm bass driver and it measures
420 x 710 x 355mm, weighs 33kg
and is priced at £4,490. The Atalante 5
Stand (pictured above) is sold
separately for £400.
JANUARY 2023 25
 MAIN TEST CANOR
PRECISION TUBE DAC 2.10 £4,000

Triode
DETAILS
PRODUCT
Canor Precision
Tube DAC 2.10
ORIGIN
Slovakia

and tested
TYPE
USB DAC with
triode tube output
WEIGHT
11kg
DIMENSIONS
(WxHxD)
435 x 120 x 405mm
FEATURES
● 2 x ESS9038Q2M
(dual mono) DAC
This Slovakian-built DAC retains the brand’s signature triode-tube
● Supports up to:
768kHz; DSD512 analogue stage from the companion CD 2.10 disc player, but its
● Full MQA decoding
● Outputs: RCA; XLR
● Inputs: optical;
digital engine beats to a very different tune indeed
2x coaxial; AES/
EBU; USB-B any of the manufacturers Canor has gone one better and added and including DSD512 via its USB-B
DISTRIBUTOR
Signature
Audio Systems
WEBSITE
M that choose to create
tube-based components
seem to prefer taking the
yet another filter – Optimal Transient
– that was originally developed by
legendary design wizard John
input. The coaxial, optical and AES/
EBU (XLR) inputs are limited to
24-bit/192kHz, but full MQA
retro-nostalgic design route, but Westlake and used in Pro-Ject’s unfolding is available.
canor-audio.com
Slovakia’s Canor ploughs its own Pre Box S2 Digital (HFC 482). The Tube DAC 2.10 is part of
signaturesystems.
co.uk
furrow, instead favouring a more Canor’s Premium Line, which is an
modern, progressive aesthetic. Not Tweaking possibilities apt description for a series that boasts
content with limiting itself to tube The combination of these filters with such a luxurious appearance. The
amplifiers, the company also likes to Canor’s reclocking and oversample front façade stands slightly proud
integrate line-level tube stages into its bypass modes offers up the potential on all sides, its panel divided into
source products, such as the CD 2.10 for a lot of tweaking possibilities – three rows with a stylish brushed
compact disc spinner. The partnering something that’s particularly aluminium finish above and below,
DAC 2.10 also marries an output appealing for those audiophiles who and a black glass strip in the middle
stage containing four Electro-Harmonix like to play around searching for the which dips towards a large power
6922EH triode tubes with a digital most pleasing sound. As some of button in the centre. It’s a nice
mainboard, the latter equipped these filters deliver better results with contrasting look, but if you prefer a
with a brace of ESS9038Q2M DACs. high sample-rate material, rather than more subdued approach there is also
Otherwise this is a dyed-in-the wool CD/48kHz files, you probably won’t the choice of full black finish, as
‘legacy’ DAC with no network or quickly settle on one selection and pictured above.
wireless functions and a fixed rather leave it at that. At least, that’s our The use of orange for the Canor
than variable output, meaning that experience during our time with the logo and lettering of the display is
the large rotary dial front and centre DAC 2.10, in part because Canor equally on-brand. Out of the box this
is not a volume control… makes it so easy to switch between 3.5in screen is able to display a lot of
This digital stage is very reminiscent the different options with dedicated information, arguably too much, with
of the one that’s employed in the EISA filter buttons and more on the the screen real estate dominated by
Award-winning Musical Fidelity M6x remote. Experimenting is encouraged! ‘PCM’ or ‘DSD’, plus an icon indicating
DAC, and although they are not quite As you would expect from a DAC in which source input is selected. Sitting
the same device, they both offer a this price class, it is ready for all types a few metres away, this means the
selection of seven digital filters to add of hi-res material, accepting LPCM up information we really want to know
extra spice to the listening experience. to 768kHz and DSD streams up to – the incoming sample rate and

26 JANUARY 2023
 CANOR
PRECISION TUBE DAC 2.10 £4,000 MAIN TEST

selected filter, for example – isn’t

particularly legible. Then again, it’s
probably more interesting to just
listen while trying out the different
DAC filters on offer, letting your ears
determine which sound you prefer.
We shouldn’t really grumble too
much, as Canor has actually put a fair
bit of thought into this. Its smart
solution is a ‘Theme’ button on the
supplied remote control that switches
the display over to the alternative
classic Canor look of large retro
characters and pared-down info
(input and sampling rate).
Remote controls are typically an
area that many brands don’t give
enough consideration to. But in line
with the ‘premium’ branding, Canor’s
offering is a sturdy metal unit that’s
both firmly in the luxury camp yet
easy to operate. There’s even a spare
battery, a negligible cost but a nice
gesture all the same. You can also
navigate the settings of the Tube DAC
2.10 using the twist/press rotary
encoder on the front panel, but,
with a decent selection of dedicated
buttons to change most of the options
on the handset, there’s little reason to
dive into the system menus.
Sound quality
We opt to put the Tube DAC 2.10
through its paces as part of a system
featuring a Hegel H590 (HFC 449)
integrated amplifier driving a pair
of Focal Sopra No2 floorstanders.
As Hegel’s amp recently received
(long-awaited) Roon Ready status,
this allows us to switch quickly from
Canor’s DAC (streaming handled
by an Auralic Aries LE) to the
AKM-based digital stage in the
Norwegian-built H590.
Previous experiences have indicated
that the fine internal digital stage of
Hegel’s amp can still be bettered by
the addition of an external DAC, and
that is certainly the case here. Canor’s
Precision Tube DAC 2.10 immediately
CONNECTIONS
HOW IT
COMPARES
Triode tubes
notwithstanding,
Canor’s DAC 2.10 is
a purist S/PDIF and
USB DAC, free of
any networking or
wireless frippery.
If this ‘old-school’
audiophile
approach, albeit
with state-of-the-
art DAC technology,
floats your digital
boat then you
should also check
out Chord’s Hugo
TT2 (HFC 468).
Costing £4,750, shows itself as an upgrade, with a Portraying the full textural wealth of
the TT2 delivers a greater sense of scale and timing. the latest Akademie für Alte Musik
thrilling musical First up is the mellifluous voice of Berlin recording is something the
ride whether used
Samuel T Herring and his group Tube DAC 2.10 appears to manage
via its line outputs
or headphone amp. Future Islands’ As Long As You Are. A with consummate ease. The classical
Custom digital slice of relatively simply constructed outfit’s (second) recording of Bach’s
filtering and DAC synthpop, this proves to be a fine Brandenburg Concertos is fascinating,
technology places choice for analysing the effect of the but its Paul Wranitzky: Symphonies
this ‘table-top’ DAC’s filters. This is music that’s very set, released earlier in 2022, doesn’t
converter in the top
drawer... At slightly
deliberate in its minimalism, with disappoint either. The album exudes
lower cost, the sparse synthesisers and percussion all the grandeur of 18th-century
£2,400 Ferrum symphonic set-pieces, in this case
ERCO (HFC 489) is This is a DAC that played on era-authentic instruments,
another purist USB and we love how Canor’s outboard
DAC/headphone
amp solution that
comes over as DAC manages to unearth all the little
nuances, even with Wranitzky pieces
offers a sound as wonderfully that start out quietly but build quickly
fine-detailed as it
is weighty and meticulous and clear to an attention-grabbing climax.
dynamic, typically When the percussion makes its
driving pre/ forming the backdrop to Herring’s impressive entry in III.Allegro Of
integrated amps
vocal. Playing around while listening, Symphony In C Minor – La Paix, the
and headphones
to stunning effect. we eventually settle on Optimal sense of realism is truly immense.
Transient – the aforementioned added The sound is dynamic and natural,
filter from John Westlake. On the with the drum beats resonating
tracks Waking and The Painter in through the concert hall.
particular, this proves to be an At the same time, the Tube DAC
excellent middle-ground choice, 2.10 has the welcome insight to give
delivering rhythmic drive and rich the flutes their own discrete place in
detail. You can’t honestly say that the soundstage, not neglecting the
using the upsampling/reclocking subtleties while the timpani player
options with the other filters has a big goes entirely for broke. Lifting such
impact on these pieces, however. small details out of the whole without

1 Unbalanced
RCA outputs
2 Balanced
XLR outputs
3 Coaxial input
1 2 2 1 3 4 5 6 4 2x optical inputs
5 AES/EBU input
6 USB-B input

JANUARY 2023 27
 MAIN TEST CANOR
PRECISION TUBE DAC 2.10 £4,000
IN SIGHT
2 1
4 released by the Gauthier Toux Trio on
SHARE AND SHARE ALIKE
It would have been simpler for Canor to ‘lift’ the
digital heart from its CD 2.10 player into this
partnering Precision Tube DAC 2.10, but – for
reasons that are familiar to us all these days – it
was encouraged to transition from its SRC43921/
AK4490EQ upsampler/DAC solution to one based on
tried-and-tested ESS silicon. So, while the Precision
Tube DAC 2.10 still employs Canor’s familiar 6922
triode tube-based analogue output stage and XMOS
USB input, the digital ‘filling’ is now a combination of
ESS’s ES9311 regulator, three separate crystal clocks
and a pair of surface-mount ES9038Q2M DACs.
If this latter section sounds familiar, and the
production engineering of its digital PCB looks
familiar, then there’s good reason for that because
Canor is also a longstanding sub-contractor for what
is arguably the world’s leading hi-fi brand – Pro-Ject.
Audio Tuning Vertriebs GmbH, the parent of
Pro-Ject Audio Systems, also owns the Musical
Fidelity brand and it’s one of this company’s recent
products, the EISA Award-winning M6x DAC, that
shares a very similar DAC/clock PCB layout. The close
28 JANUARY 2023
1 Large linear PSU
features screened
and resin-potted
transformer
2 Separate PSU
regulation for the
digital and triode
tube analogue stages
3 A pair of
ESS9038Q2M
DACs, XMOS USB
decoder and Altera
Max II processor
4 Triode tubes
on the balanced
analogue board are
protected within
3 (blue) metal cans
cooperation between the two brands makes a great
deal of sense, and aside from the benefits brought by
economy of scale, the two companies remain linked
by geography and personnel – one of Pro-Ject’s key
electronics designers having been on Canor’s board.
The high-tech production facilities at Canor’s
Slovakian plant are perfectly placed for Pro-Ject’s
higher-end electronics separates, leaving the fullest
capacity of Pro-Ject’s own SEV Litovel factory
devoted to building its seemingly inexhaustible
range of turntables.
But you surely don’t need our advanced technical
expertise to easily imagine some useful sharing of
genetics between the M6x and Precision Tube DAC
2.10, as both products utilise a very specific set of
user-selectable digital filters. Seven of these are
baked into the ESS9038 DAC – five with ‘fast’ (sharp)
roll-off characteristics and the other two with ‘slow’
(gentler) treble roll-offs – but these are now joined
in this setup by an extra custom eighth ‘oversample
bypass’ mode that invokes a unique, low-overhead
minimum phase filter.
disturbing the overall balance is
where this unit really excels, with the
added fun of switching from, say,
Linear/Minimum Slow to Apodising
Fast to add a little dash of sparkle.
A DAC like this might predominately
be used with streaming hardware via
USB, considering current listening
preferences, but let’s not forget there
are other worthy digital sources out
there. And, with the Tube DAC 2.10
hooked up to a Pro-Ject RS2 T CD
transport via its optical input, some
of that ‘sound tuning’ becomes even
more enticing still.
Sure, the various filters don’t make
such a noticeable difference when
streaming hi-res files, but that’s less
the case with The Colours You See
Naim Records. Even discounting the
small level difference when going
from the non-upsampling Optimal
Transient filter, the nimble piano and
intricate drum playing are noticeably
more precise and natural with
upsampling in play on most of the
other filters.
Conclusion
There’s a really lovely subtle diversity
offered by these features, and the
overall performance of the Tube
DAC 2.10 is truly exemplary. What
surprises the most during our
rigorous audition, however, is that we
actually expected a different result.
We thought the tube output stage
would impact playback in another
way – imparting a touch of softness
and smoothing over edges, perhaps.
What we actually end up with,
however, is something remarkably
different – a DAC that comes across
as wonderfully meticulous and clear,
and with a far greater sense of detail
and balance plus some welcome extra
warmth – than we’ve experienced
in testing with most entirely solid-
state implementations of this
popular ESS chipset ●
OUR VERDICT
SOUND QUALITY LIKE: Premium finish;
detailed sound
DISLIKE: Nothing of
VALUE FOR MONEY any note
WE SAY: Superb
BUILD QUALITY upgrade for restless
audiophiles
FEATURES
OVERALL
BECOME A
PERLISTENER
[ PER-LISTEN-ER ]
noun · (A person joining the PERLISTEN
community by sharing a perceptual
listening moment)

From the latest Perlisteners:

“...undoubtedly a technically clever

loudspeaker, but engineered for
one simple goal – making great-
sounding music...”
S7t, Hi Fi News, April 2022

“Like its S7t sibling, it excels when

it comes to mid and high details,
resolving the most subtle of musical
moments and nailing the feel and
tone of instruments…It all sounded
wonderfully three-dimensional.”
S4b, Hi Fi News, June 2022

“For those who like to close their

eyes during listening, the R7ts are
heaven sent. Put another way: as
Knopfler’s Schecter Strat gave way
to the piano toward the track’s end,
I started to well up. It really was
that good.”
R7t, Hi Fi News August 2022

“Perlisten brings exceptional levels

of detail and nuance to movies and
music, underpinned by rock-solid
lows. Lush looks and outstanding
build quality make this series even
more of a winner.”
Combined Award EISA LOUDSPEAKER
SERIES 2022-2023, Perlisten S Series

01423 358846 karma-av.co.uk

 Hi-Fi Choice employs the most methodical test and measurement
regime in the business. Here’s how we do it...

Unique group tests

TEST MUSIC
LYN STANLEY
Little Drummer Boy
Novel Noel DSD256 download

Our Group Tests are supported by rigorous and

exhaustive listening tests carried out by experts

MUSIC SERVER GROUP TEST

WITH SUCH A diverse selection of
specifications on offer from this month’s group,
comparing the music servers is a surprisingly
complicated affair. Each full-sized server and the
A&K DAP are assessed for boot-up time from
cold and noise level when running. The process
by which material is added and removed from
the internal drive is evaluated and the test music
programme is then added to the library.
Those servers that don’t have any internal
streaming or DACs are connected via Ethernet
to Primare’s NP5 Prisma MK2 (HFC 494)
streaming transport and, from there, to a Chord
Electronics Hugo TT2 (HFC 468) preamp/DAC
and matching Chord Electronics Ttoby (HFC
423) power amplifier driving a pair of KEF R5
(HFC 460) floorstanding loudspeakers. TAYLOR SWIFT
Lavender Haze
The test material is replayed using both Midnights (3am Edition) Tidal Master
Primare’s control app and whatever brand-
specific control app has been assigned to
models with their own streaming capabilities
and internal decoding.
As well as examining the obvious abilities
of each of the six servers, where relevant we
also pay close attention to any additional
features that they offer, with subscriber accounts
from Tidal and Spotify pressed into service to
check out their streaming ability. All cabling,
mains management and grounding comes MICHAEL MCDONALD
courtesy of Nordost. I Was Made To Love Her
Motown Two 16/44.1 CD rip

YES
Owner Of A Lonely Heart
90125 Tidal Master

REFERENCE SYSTEM

DAC/PREAMP: LOUDSPEAKER: POWER AMPLIFIER:

Chord Electronics Hugo TT2 £4,750 HFC 468 KEF R5 £2,000 Chord Electronics Ttoby £3,000 HFC 423
The gold-standard DAC that simply creates a more HFC 460 Chord’s natural partner for the Hugo TT2, Ttoby is
believable illusion of physical presence and space The R5 is almost a Chord powerhouse taking full advantage of the
than its rivals. Combining superb build, typical bewilderingly well built company’s proprietary technologies and design
design flair and stunning sound quality, the Hugo and finished for the money knowhow. Power
TT2 not only believes in the superiority of digital, and incorporates KEF’s is quoted at 100W
but goes on to prove it, too. cutting-edge driver tech. per channel into a
Its sound is wonderfully 4ohm speaker
transparent and insightful, load, but if
and the speaker is blessed anything it
with great drive, scale sounds more
and bass quality. potent still.

30 JANUARY 2023
 DIGITAL MUSIC SERVERS £1,200-£4,200

Are you being server-ed?

Keeping a burgeoning digital musical collection in order is becoming a must.
David Vivian checks out five network server/libraries and an uber-DAP
IF THERE ARE any die-hard physical media of CDs, consigning the untangling and If you’re thinking we’re not so far removed
fans reading, I’d advise caution before going configuring of disparate digital strands to here from the capabilities of the modern,
any further. Digital singularity. Sounds vaguely activities of the new frontier where early up-market smartphone, you’re right. With
dystopian, doesn’t it? A time and a place where adopters with laptops and NAS drives the proviso that smartphones don’t have CD
swivelling vinyl between your palms or prising tentatively ushered in an alternative way transports for ripping, there are many parallels
a CD from its jewel case are but holographic of procuring music. and, of course, just as many compromises
art installations in a museum. Not today, when it comes to storage and sonic excellence.
maybe, but digital end points seem to be Easy does it Which isn’t to say pocket-sized can’t cut it in
where the centre of hi-fi gravity is headed. The modern network server with either hard this company if you aim high enough. It’s not
Naim with its Uniti Core and Bluesound’s drive or solid-state storage isn’t just a way of a smartphone, but A&K’s quad-DAC SP2000T
Vault 2i are names that best embrace the tying everything together for easier navigation, DAP is an exquisite nugget of tech boasting up
emerging zeitgeist, invoking the idea of access and archiving, but also a means to to 4TB of storage, wi-fi, MQA and Roon. Even
one-stop destinations for all our musical optimise sound quality and, in certain cases, with this roundup of big hitters featuring
needs, abruptly dismissing the requirement bring more consistency to the vagaries of Melco’s brand-new N50 HDD, the AK will
for wall-to-wall shelving to house thousands streaming at times of heavy user traffic. keep the group on its toes. Brace for surprises.

ON TEST

Astell&Kern Bluesound Leema Acoustics Melco Naim Audio Novafidelity

A&ultima SP2000T
£2,000 p34
A server/library you can
pop in your pocket, AK’s
flagship DAP is more
than capable of taking the
fight to its full-sized rivals.
Vault 2i £1,200 p36 Sirius £4,200 p38 N50-H60 £3,000 p40 Uniti Core £2,200 p42 X45 £2,550 p44
Respected stalwart of Unquestionably the most Following in the footsteps of Part of Naim Audio’s By far the most fully
the sector, the Vault 2i’s luxurious ride of the group, the N50 S38 – packing SSD established Uniti family, featured model in the
no-nonsense approach, the Sirius is beautifully built storage – comes the more the Core does just fine group, the X45 isn’t exactly
intuitive BluOS interface and oozes class, but can affordable hard-disk version as a standalone ripper/ sleek but then it does have
and keen pricing makes its sound match its with a formidable reputation server and is still a very a built-in FM-DAB tuner
for an enticing mix. oh-so-seductive style? for doing the business. potent proposition. and MM phono stage.

32 JANUARY 2023
JANUARY 2023 33
 GROUPTEST DIGITAL MUSIC SERVERS
£1,200-£4,200
Astell&Kern
A&ultima SP2000T £2,000
A&K knows how to shoehorn cutting-edge tech into
a small space and here’s the place to make it count
DETAILS ortable, battery-powered
PRODUCT
Astell&Kern
A&ultima SP2000T
P and usually used with
headphones, a Digital
Audio Player (DAP)
ORIGIN probably isn’t the way you expected a
South Korea network server/library roundup to
TYPE start. Surely DAPs are on the decline,
Portable hi-res
digital audio player already muscled to the side lines as
WEIGHT an object of desire by increasingly
309g capable and sophisticated
DIMENSIONS smartphones? It’s a point of view. But
(WxHxD) the AK SP2000T, only just superseded
78 x 141 x 18mm
as the South Korean company’s
FEATURES
● Tri-amp design
flagship DAP by the SP3000, is in a
● Quad ESS completely different orbit to even the
Sabre DACs best-dressed smartphone when it
● Storage: 256GB
internal plus
comes to music and, in most key
microSD (up to 1TB) respects, stands toe-to-toe with this
DISTRIBUTOR gathering’s big-boy servers.
Astell&Kern Yes, it’s primarily aimed at
headphone users, but just as Chord
Electronics’ dinky Mojo 2 (HFC 488)
can be a giant force in a home hi-fi
system, so the SP2000T is equipped
to assume a central role. Indeed,
although there’s a useful AK Connect
app, control central is a stripped-
down Android OS aided by a bright
and super clear and responsive
127mm 1,920 x 1,080p LCD
touchscreen. For something so
comparatively compact (insanely
34 JANUARY 2023
well-made and weighing a chunky
309g, mind you), its spec is epic.
It includes the decoding power of no
fewer than four ESS Sabre ES9068AS
DACs – two per channel. They can
handle file sizes from a handful of
kbps to 32-bit/384kHz and DSD512.
Playback is via one of its three
headphone/line outputs (two of
which are balanced). The SP2000T
has multiple amp modes: op amp,
dual-triode KORG Nutube valve
(visibly glowing through the dark
frosted glass back of the unit along
with a coloured bar to signify sample
rate) and five combinations of the
two. Wireless connectivity hooks up
with dual-band wi-fi as well as
Bluetooth with AAC, aptX HD and
LDAC codecs. Internal storage of
256GB bulks up to 1TB with the
Lyn Stanley is a pure
and palpable vocal
presence, by turns,
subtle and vibrant
appropriate MicroSD card. Full MQA
rendering is provided and the
SP2000T is also Roon ready. There’s
even the option to rip CDs to the
player via Astell&Kern’s add-on drive.
Sound quality
The SP2000T’s dreamy headphone
chops, where the subtle tonal
variations of its tri-amp settings can
be best appreciated up close and
personal, are a given here and an
obvious boon for serious head-fi
enthusiasts. But our focus falls on the
A&K acting as a line-level source into
our reference loudspeaker-based
system and, in outright sonic reach,
this exquisitely built quad-DAC DAP is
certainly on a par with the Leema and
Novafidelity, (both use ESS Sabre
DAC chips in various configurations),
and snapping at the heels of the
Melco and Naim, neither of which
has an on-board DAC but team up to
great effect with Chord’s terrific, and
much more expensive, Hugo TT2
DAC preamp. Of course, the SP2000T
can also be used as a digital transport
and likewise hits peak performance
connected by USB cable to the Chord.
Left to its own devices, though, the
DSD download of Lyn Stanley’s Little
Drummer Boy sounds vast and
properly three-dimensional with
plenty of big-band sparkle and bite
and a firm grasp of rhythm from
the moment the cheeky but clever
Brubeck Take Five piano figure kicks
off the track. Stanley is a pure and
palpable vocal presence, by turns,
subtle and vibrant. It’s a great track to
showcase the A&K’s sonic prowess.
The CD rip of Michael McDonald’s
exceptionally well-produced I Was
Made To Love Her sounds dead right,
too, with McDonald’s female backing
singers located in a precise arc behind
him and the easily appreciated
note-shaping of Stevie Wonder’s
brilliant harmonica break cutting
through to the front of the mix ●
OUR VERDICT
SOUND QUALITY LIKE: Portability;
exquisite build;
extensive features;
VALUE FOR MONEY super sound
DISLIKE: Limited
storage; fiddly to use
BUILD QUALITY
WE SAY: A mega DAP
that questions the
FEATURES
need for a full-sized
music server
OVERALL
 TOGETHER IN
ECLECTIC STREAMS
Your complete wireless sound system

Imagine the possibilities. All the music ever recorded, in perfect definition,
without wires, or equipment racks, or ugly boxes. Put the world on shuffle:
imagine listening to something different today.

Focus series
Discover the full range at www.dynaudio.com/focus
 GROUPTEST DIGITAL MUSIC SERVERS
£1,200-£4,200

quite on the same page sonically, but

it is very good nonetheless. Rely on
the unit’s own DAC and the results
aren’t as transparent, open and
dynamically lucid. But, if a little
lacking in top-end air, the Vault 2i
does sound solid, coherent and
consistently enjoyable. And
operationally, BluOS, while far from
perfect, is easier and more intuitive to
use than some of the more convoluted
interfaces elsewhere in the group.
The stream of Taylor Swift’s
Lavender Haze from her Midnights
album sounds comfortable and
pleasantly immersive, if not treated
to the kind of discrimination that

Bluesound can render fine detail of some of

the denser textures in the mix. If that
matters, you’ll need the resolving

Vault 2i £1,200 power provided by some of the others

The Vault 2i sounds

This popular streaming, ripping and hard-drive storage
package for sensible money still has plenty of appeal
DETAILS ith the Vault 2i, Bluesound
PRODUCT
Bluesound Vault 2i
ORIGIN
W hasn’t chased the badge
of audiophile certification
so much as a broader
Canada/China consumer sweet spot where style and
TYPE ease of use share equal billing with
Network CD sonic ambition. It’s a balancing act
ripper/server
that sits comfortably with the slick
WEIGHT
1.84kg
Bluesound/NAD BluOS ecosystem
DIMENSIONS
and its multi-room potential. Along
(WxHxD) with the Naim Core, it’s cut from a
220 x 90 x 192mm more distinctive aesthetic cloth, too,
FEATURES looking like two shallow rectangular
● Inputs: CD drive;
stacked boxes. In either black or
2x USB-A; Ethernet
● Outputs: RCA; white it’s quite a contrast with the
coaxial via RCA; old-school, knob-festooned Novafidelity.
optical; 3.5mm Reduced to basics, the Vault 2i is
headphone; sub
a 2TB network hard drive with on
DISTRIBUTOR
Sevenoaks Sound board CD ripper and streamer. It can
and Vision rip CDs in WAV, FLAC and 320kbps
MP3 direct to its internal storage via
the slot-loading disc mechanism but,
being configured specifically for
BluOS, its library of content cannot
be seen by any other UPnP or DNLA
device. This might be a drawback for
some, but it does simplify things for
those less keen on the complexity of
most networked music systems and
happy to go along with the BluOS
protocols which permit outputting to
compatible connected products in
different rooms as well as simply
hooking up to an amplifier.
It can accommodate PCM formats
up to 24-bit/192kHz. MQA is included
as well as AirPlay 2 and Bluetooth
aptX HD for modest distance wireless
streaming. As for plug-in hardware,
there’s a shared 3.5mm optical
digital/analogue jack. No Chromecast
but the Vault 2i can act as a Roon
endpoint. All right, the internal hard
drive can be heard faintly from time
to time and selecting the digital input
via the BluOS app is a little clunky,
but these are minor issues.
Sound quality
After the twice-as-expensive A&K DAP’s
best Chord Hugo TT2-assisted game,
it’s clear team Vault 2i/Hugo TT2 isn’t
solid, coherent
and consistently
enjoyable throughout
in the group. By the same token,
Owner Of A Lonely Heart by Yes –
arguably producer Trevor Horn’s
finest OTT moment – has some
noticeably slightly flattened stereo
perspectives and, again, a mild
sense of rolled-off high treble,
though most of the bonkers studio
effects still hit home with satisfying
variety and impact.
Back in the holiday spirit, Little
Drummer Boy sounds suitably warm
and inviting and flows along with
real confidence and sass, though Lyn
Stanley’s immaculate vocal is a little
too smoothed-off and set back in
the mix for my liking. Similarly, the
Michael McDonald cut that sounds so
spacious and three-dimensional via
the A&K, seems a little smaller and
curtailed in depth. Plenty of rhythmic
snap, though, and an especially
well-controlled and tuneful bass ●
OUR VERDICT
SOUND QUALITY LIKE: Design; ease of
use; decent enough
sound quality
VALUE FOR MONEY DISLIKE: Not a true
UPnP device; no
DSD support; not
BUILD QUALITY silent when in use
WE SAY: Well specified
FEATURES
and fine value,
especially as part of
its own eco system

OVERALL

36 JANUARY 2023
 NEW
PROD
UC
SERIE T
S

Our Latest Work Of Art

The NEW 3510 Series

4YVRI[IVMIW.RXIKVEXIH&QTPMǻIVMWEQEWXIVGPEWWMRQYWMGEPMX]
ERHTS[IV;MXL[72WM\PMRIMRTYXWERHXLISTXMSRXSǻXE2(SV
22TLSRSQSHYPISVIZIRETPYKMR)&(MXVIHIǻRIW[LEXMWTSWWMFPI
MRSRIFS\EQTPMǻGEXMSR8SǻRHSYXQSVIEFSYXSYVI\GMXMRKRI[
IVMIW[LMGLEPWSMRGPYHIWETVIEQTEW[IPPEWTS[IVEQTPMǻIVW
visit I\TSWYVILMǻGSQXSHE]
 GROUPTEST DIGITAL MUSIC SERVERS
£1,200-£4,200

Sound quality
Like the Melco offering, the Sirius
takes audiophile sensibilities seriously
enough to offer dual-Ethernet ports:
one for routers and the other to
minimise interference for dedicated
streamer connections. And it pays
off. Starting by letting the Leema’s
on-board ESS Sabre DAC tackle
the decoding, Lyn Stanley and her
accompanying big band – with DSD
mastering undertaken by Bernie
Grundman at Skywalker Ranch –
sound supple and silky and as
meticulously assembled as LS and co.
could have wished for. A fine Yuletide
outing for Stanley’s demulcent

Leema Acoustics delivery. But plumbing in the Hugo

TT2 gifts the sound greater body,
drive and micro-detail in a marginally

Sirius £4,200 more spacious acoustic with better

defined ambient cues – pretty much
as good as it gets by group standards.

This Constellation-class cruiser is big and heavy enough It’s hard not to be
to anchor any digital music collection with substance bowled over by
DETAILS ased around an Innuos
PRODUCT
Leema Acoustics
Sirius
B platform, the Sirius
has many functional
similarities with that
ORIGIN company’s UPnP/DNLA-compatible
UK servers, but the way it performs
TYPE sonically is very much by the Leema
Music server/DAC/
streamer/CD ripper Acoustics playbook. Even so, setup
WEIGHT
does require a trip to the Innuos
11kg website. Thankfully, it’s all smooth
DIMENSIONS sailing, and the extensive work
(WxHxD) Innuos has put into developing its
440 x 112 x 313mm own software reads through
FEATURES handsomely in terms of operational
● 4TB built-in
HDD storage stability and ease of use.
● 32-bit/384kHz Our review sample comes equipped
PCM and DSD256 with a handy 2TB of hard-drive
capable DAC
● Roon compatible storage, but this can be increased, in
DISTRIBUTOR 2TB increments, to a whopping 8TB
Leema Electro should you require. Front-of-house
Acoustics Ltd. working memory is generous, too, the
powerful server-grade main circuit
board hosting a raft of audiophile-
grade components and a high-speed
quad-core processor with up to 8GB
of system memory.
The look and feel are everything
you’d expect of a Leema flagship with
a minimalist facia, flanking heatsinks
that dig into your palms when lifting
the unit – thanks to its substantial
11kg weight. Build quality and finish
are immaculate tip-to-toe and the
thick aluminium front plate looks so
good because it has just a power on/
off button and a central slot to feed
the high-performance TEAC optical
drive with CDs to be ripped in either
WAV or FLAC formats.
The Leema’s asynchronous USB
DAC is based on a high-end ESS
Sabre DAC chip and Xmos USB
interface supporting 16, 24 and 32-bit
depths, from 44.1kHz to 384kHz and
DSD up to 256. Alternatively, the
Sirius sports an ultra-low-noise USB
output for adding your own choice of
external DAC. Balanced outputs via
XLR and unbalanced outputs via RCA
are also offered. Network audio
players can ‘see’ the Sirius over a
network and stream directly from it.
Indeed, it’s compatible with Sonos
multi-room; Naim Mu-so/Uniti;
Denon HEOS; Squeezebox; Linn DS;
Pioneer N-50A; Cambridge Audio
CXN and Denon 720AE. As you’d
expect, support includes Tidal,
Spotify and BBC iPlayer as well
as internet radio.
the big energy and
unfettered dynamics
Yes and Owner Of A Lonely Heart
are similarly treated to the full
knock-yourself-out treatment, and
this with the Chord DAC standing by.
It’s hard not to be bowled over by
the big energy, dimensionality and
unfettered dynamics yet, at the same
time, there’s an over-arching precision
and finesse to the Trevor Horn
production that stops it from
sounding frenzied. Guilty pleasures
never sounded so good. I can’t resist
letting the Chord DAC join the party.
The sonic uptick isn’t as large as
expected, but it is most present in
carrying image clarity and definition
right to the extremities of the
soundstage, something the Leema
alone can’t quite manage, tending
to soften the focus – vignette, if you
like – at the far left and right ●
OUR VERDICT
SOUND QUALITY LIKE: As well-
designed, built,
featured and sonically
VALUE FOR MONEY gifted as its price
would suggest
DISLIKE: Uses
BUILD QUALITY specialist control apps
WE SAY: A well-
FEATURES
conceived and
executed luxury server
that sounds superb

OVERALL

38 JANUARY 2023
 GROUPTEST DIGITAL MUSIC SERVERS
£1,200-£4,200
Melco
N50-H60 £3,000
It’s almost impossible to talk about music servers without There’s a sense of
thinking Melco, which is why its latest debuts here impetus, authority
DETAILS ccording to Tokyo-based
PRODUCT
Melco N50-H60
ORIGIN
A Melco Audio, its newest
full-width HDD model
perfectly bridges the
Japan gap between the entry-level N100
TYPE (HFC 444) and the compact N1Z
Music library/server while offering a sizeable 6TB of
with HDD storage
storage as standard. Another way
WEIGHT
7kg
to look at it is £2k cashback for a
DIMENSIONS
machine identical to the excellent £5k
(WxHxD) N50-S38 EX (HFC 495) except for a
436 x 62 x 352mm 6TB hard-disc drive (HDD) instead
FEATURES of a 3.84TB solid-state drive (SSD).
● 6TB built-in
Assuming sonic parity, it’s a no
HDD storage
● 3 x USB 3.0 output brainer. But it is an assumption,
● Roon end point and then there’s the rest of the
DISTRIBUTOR group to tussle with.
Melco As with the N50-S38 EX, the internal
drive is protected from vibration by a
special rigid mounter floated inside
the chassis. (If you need more than
6TB, additional storage capacity can
be added with Melco’s external E100
3TB HDD unit). It also points to a
host of internal upgrades over the
N1A including a new PCB, a dynamic
power supply with 25 percent more
output and an IEC mains input with
true electrical ground to define the
source component as a ground point.
40 JANUARY 2023
There are four specific USB ports to
cover expansion and back-up and one
with an eye-catching Neutrik housing
for the all-important USB 3.0 output
to a USB-compatible DAC. In another
performance hack, UPnP network
players are catered for by a dedicated
Ethernet port labelled ‘Player Port’ –
which isolates the player from the
home network in order to optimise
performance. The USB block enables
connected devices to operate without
any need for configuration, offering
importing/playback from memory
devices, HDD/SSD NAS drives and
CD drives/rippers.
Round the front, the scrolling OLED
display is quite small but crisp and
clear, while navigating the menus is a
breeze. No CD slot, but the optional
D100 optical CD transport (supplied)
is a heavily built, high-quality item
that’s a joy to use. A typical rip takes
seven to eight minutes.
Sound quality
I suppose the key question is: does
HDD sound better than SSD? Some
people may think so, and that really
would be a result for the N50-H60
given the £2k price advantage over its
solid-state sibling. As I don’t have an
N50-S38 here for comparison, I must
leave the answer hanging. Not that it
really matters – differences at most
are going to be almost vanishingly
subtle, especially as, without its own
on-board DAC, the connected Chord
Electronics Hugo TT2, amplifier and
speakers will have the major say on
ultimate sound quality. But just as
with the S38, the Chord necessarily
doing its digital bidding, the N50-H60
is an essentially immaculate source
for everything downstream to get
stuck into.
Take Taylor Swift’s Lavender Haze,
which sounds lovely but a little
amorphous and tonally blended when
delivered via the Vault 2i. The
Chord-reliant Melco provides an
altogether cleaner, crisper, higher
resolution lens with which to inspect
and excitement that
holds your attention
the lush and spacey production.
Separation, textures and soundstage
depth are of an entirely different
order altogether. The N50-H60 blows
away the haze, if you’ll forgive the
pun, and the result is a more
polished, sophisticated and insightful
performance that’s simply more
interesting and relaxing to listen to.
Michael McDonald is absolutely
feeling the love, too, with I Was Made
To Love Her issuing from the speakers
with impressive weight, bounce and
energy alongside startling dynamic
freedom. There’s a sense of impetus,
authority and excitement that holds
your attention and is missing from
most of the other servers in the group.
It’s hard to put your finger on it,
but you’ll definitely recognise it
when you hear it ●
OUR VERDICT
SOUND QUALITY LIKE: The easiest
server to use here with
the best sound
VALUE FOR MONEY DISLIKE: Control app
can be a little
frustrating
BUILD QUALITY
WE SAY: Melco’s fine
reputation is well
FEATURES
deserved, this is a
terrific server/library
OVERALL
 20
YEARS
UNRIVALLED
twenty year warranty

THE BEST, iMPROVED

Everything that made the twenty5 series twenty5i series - Oct 20 twenty5.21i -May 20 twenty5.21i - May 21 twenty5.22i -June 20
legendary, with even greater realism,
transparency and musicality.

Find a local retailer to hear more at

twenty5.23i - March 21 twenty5.26i - Oct 20 twenty5.26i - Nov 20 twenty5.26i - Dec 20
www.pmc-speakers.com
 GROUPTEST DIGITAL MUSIC SERVERS
£1,200-£4,200

Flawless, in fact. Naim meets Chord,

what can I tell you?
The combination’s delivery is
brimming with colour and
confidence, displaying fine weight
and clarity, too. Indeed, when
streaming from Primare’s terrific NP5
Prisma MK2, Yes’ Owner Of A Lonely
Heart becomes a real workout,
feeding the downstream system’s
enthusiasm to nail producer Trevor
Horn’s extravagant studio stereo
effects with an expansive soundstage
and solid grasp of rhythm. Every bit
as rewarding is the complete absence
of blur and smear of any kind. Notes
start and stop punctually, precisely

Naim Audio where they should. While it’s certainly

true that there’s a lot of mid and
upper register energy in Lonely Heart,

Uniti Core £2,200 the result sounds pristine throughout

rather than bright and brittle.

No longer the new kid on the block, the Core isn’t in
urgent need of a refresh – and is still one to beat
DETAILS ou’ve really got to hand it
PRODUCT
Naim Audio
Uniti Core
Y to Naim Audio. It’s been
around quite a few years
now, but the Uniti Core
ORIGIN still rocks. An impressive-looking
UK weighty, dense and inscrutable black
TYPE half-width slab with lateral heat sinks
Music server/
CD ripper that are even sharper than the
WEIGHT
Leema’s, it’s precisely the kind of
7kg kit you fall for before you’ve even
DIMENSIONS plugged it in or fed it a CD to rip.
(WxHxD) Unlike some of its server-library
214 x 95 x 265mm rivals, it’s disarmingly straightforward
FEATURES in use, every bit as un-fiddly as it
● Inputs: CD ripper;
2x USB-A; Ethernet: looks to operate and naturally, should
● Output: BNC coax you have bought into the Uniti
DISTRIBUTOR ecosystem, it slots in on oiled rails.
Naim Audio Ltd. That said, it’s fine pairing up with any
other UPnP renderer, too. In common
with the Novafidelity offering, the
Core is sold sans library storage so
users can choose what size of drive
works best for their individual
requirements. Naim recommends a
Seagate 3.5in HDD or, as fitted to the
review sample and preferred by
Naim, a Samsung 2.5in SSD, 1TB in
this case. Alternatively, it can be used
as it comes, connected to an existing
NAS via the front or rear USB sockets.
The Core handles PCM music files
up to 32-bit/384kHz as well as up
to DSD128, albeit converted to
176.4kHz PCM for playback. In
addition to the ability to serve music
to up to a dozen network players,
Naim or UPnP, it can also be used as
a direct player via its USB output to
hook up with an external DAC, in this
case Chord Electronic’s estimable
Hugo TT2. The pre-fitted Samsung
SSD is extremely responsive and, of
course, completely silent throughout
the test period. HDD will inevitably
be a little slower.
Naim’s control app is a good one,
stable and robust on both iOS and
Android devices as well as looking
nice. True, the Uniti Core might lack
some of the online services that come
bundled with some of the other
servers in the group, but the app
nonetheless makes it easy to find
artists, albums and tracks.
Sound quality
It’s Naim, what more do you need to
know? High expectations are thus
duly met. Though, to manage those
expectations, we’re not talking brand
signature, maximum attack pace,
rhythm and timing here, especially
not with the Chord Electronics
Hugo TT 2 drafted into the game.
No, timing is especially impressive.
Delivery brimming
with colour,
displaying fine
weight and clarity
It’s the same story with the CD rip of
Michael McDonald in Motown mood,
growling his way through I Was Made
To Love Her. Big Mac’s soul-drenched
vocal remains firmly locked centre
stage with the backing singers set
back in a sonorous arc that gives
the track a delicious sense of
three-dimensionality.
Unfortunately, Taylor Swift’s
Lavender Haze doesn’t fare quite so
well in the Core’s tender care. The
dreamy, enveloping warmth as
presented by most of the servers, and
especially the Astell&Kern and
Bluesound offerings, seems to be
dialled down for a more explicit
and matter-of-fact portrayal where
individual strands of the production
might be easier to follow, while the
soft, luminous qualities of the track
take something of a back seat ●
OUR VERDICT
SOUND QUALITY LIKE: Great match
with the Chord DAC;
simplicity; build
VALUE FOR MONEY DISLIKE: Customer
specifies drive
BUILD QUALITY WE SAY: Not many
frills, but gets the
fundamentals right
FEATURES
and sounds fab
OVERALL

42 JANUARY 2023
 T1
THE NEXT GENERATION OF
Electronic

ENTRY-LEVEL TURNTABLES speed box

available

In 1991, Pro-Ject Audio Systems started a revolution in the Hi-Fi world with the
introduction of the Pro-Ject 1 turntable. A new high-end, low budget turntable
at a time when CD was king. Against all odds, we were creating interest in
All-new
A
All
ll-ne
-new
n w
analogue audio at a time when others were turning their backs. design and
annd
high-qua
high-qualitylity
materials
materi
mat erials
al
Flash-forward to the present day, with the introduction of our all-new T1 which
reimagines the classic turntable design and elevates the sound performance
to new heights. You will find no plastic here, only high-end, durable materials
that boast an audiophile sonic performance at a fantastic price.
Aesthetically
pleasing glass
All T1 models are available in high-gloss black, satin white and luxury walnut to platter as
standard
suit your style and home décor.

Distributed by Henley Audio

T: +44 (0) 1235 511 166 | E: sales@henleyaudio.co.uk | W: www.henleyaudio.co.uk | : HenleyAudioUK | : HenleyAudio
 GROUPTEST DIGITAL MUSIC SERVERS
£1,200-£4,200

all the other stuff crowbarred into the

X45’s sturdy chassis? Wouldn’t the
time and effort be better spent
pruning the tuner and phono stage
for a more expensively furnished
digital compartment? Always an
option for the design team, I suppose.
But it seems you can have your cake
and eat it. Listening is believing and
the X45 is no mean performer,
whether replaying rips, stored
downloads or streaming direct.
True, the notably smooth sonic
fingerprint of the unit’s dual ESS

Novafidelity Sabre DACs is evident – but that’s no

X45 £2,550
No FOMO here, if you’re looking for a server that has
every base covered, the X45 nails the brief and some
DETAILS outh Korea’s Novafidelity,
PRODUCT
Novafidelity X45
ORIGIN
S formerly Cocktail Audio in
the UK, has always been
keen on the fuller-figured
South Korea product, summoning the spirit of
TYPE universality in stout, full-width audio
Music server/DAC/ form. There’s not really enough space
streamer/CD ripper
here to do justice to the sheer breadth
WEIGHT
7.8kg of the X45’s feature set, but we can at
DIMENSIONS least try to cover its salient functions
(WxHxD) as a server, ripper, streamer and DAC
441 x 100 x 330mm with add-on storage.
FEATURES The X45 builds on the fine work of
● Up to 8TB
HDD storage
the now discontinued X40 (HFC 399),
● 32-bit/384kHz and benefits from a faster dual-core
PCM and DSD256- ARM Cortex A9 processor with dual
capable DAC
● Digital inputs: 1x
ESS ES9018K2M Sabre 32 Reference
optical; 1x coaxial; DAC chips and a 64-bit XMOS chip.
1x AES/EBU; USB-B There’s support for MQA, it’s Roon
DISTRIBUTOR ready and allows easy access to the
SCV Distribution usual streaming services including
Qobuz, Tidal and Deezer. Drive
storage can accommodate up to 8TB
of HDD but silent and faster, if less
capacious, solid-state drives are
supported as well. File type handling
is exhaustive and handles PCM up to
32-bit/384kHz, DSD256 and DXD
up to 24-bit/352.8kHz.
Before any of that, perhaps the first
thing that impresses is the X45’s
excellent build quality, fronted with a
thick aluminium facia which is home
to the on/standby button, a volume/
mute knob, a 6.35mm headphone
socket, a 3.5mm aux input, the
slot-loading for the CD mechanism,
a USB port and a large, though not
touch-sensitive, 178mm LCD TFT
colour display (1,024 x 600-pixels).
A rotary control and four buttons
are used to navigate the system’s
comprehensive onboard menus.
Among these, you can make and
store recordings from the on-board
FM-DAB tuner and archive your vinyl
in hi-res, thanks to the MM phono
stage. And if you don’t want to do all
that on your haunches, the system’s
Novatron Music X app – freely
available to iOS and Android devices
– will allow you to painlessly trawl
the options in comfort.
Sound quality
I have to confess I was doubtful. Can
Novafidelity’s engineers honestly
deliver top-drawer sonics along with
bad thing, the X45 in some ways
sounding like the delectable A&K
SP2000T but carrying a little more
weight and punching with heavier
fists. This in exchange for a very
small shortfall in low-level detail. No
biggie, it’s still excellent here with an
impressively low noise floor. A dash of
Very much genre
agnostic, all of the
test tracks sound
highly impressive
Chord Electronics decoding magic at
the business end doesn’t go amiss (a
common theme), but I feel no great
compunction to call on the Hugo
TT2’s help during the audition.
Very much genre agnostic, all of the
test tracks sound highly impressive
via the X45, mostly because its skillset
is beautifully balanced. Imaging is
solid with good soundstage depth,
assets amply brought to the fore by
the brilliantly produced Michael
McDonald track. Nothing is hyped or
overblown. Taylor Swift’s Lavender
Haze has a suitably lovely, laid-back
flow, Yes’ Owner Of A Lonely Heart is
tightly timed and well-proportioned
with Horn’s production revealing bags
of immediacy and impact, but also
fine tonal differentiation. The
complete package indeed ●
OUR VERDICT
SOUND QUALITY LIKE: Comprehensive
feature set; well made;
well-balanced sound
VALUE FOR MONEY DISLIKE: Lots of
buttons; no
touchscreen
BUILD QUALITY
WE SAY: Somewhat
old-school, but a true
FEATURES
have-your-cake-and-
eat-it product

OVERALL

44 JANUARY 2023

1 2
Loudspeakers of Distinction
1 EGGLESTON WORKS
A renowned US company making high
quality loudspeakers with curved sided
cabinets and facets that reduce resonances,
finished with a durable metallic polyester
paint. An immediately engaging sound,
delivering a large-scale sound, wide beyond
the outer edges of the speakers, and
layering rearwards for a deep sound stage.
Extended high frequencies without being
forward, and an authoritative bass with
excellent textural detail.
2 WHARFEDALE
With more than 75 years of experience,
Wharfedale is one of the most experiences
loudspeaker manufacturers in the world.
Traditionally known for more reasonable
priced models, but with the introduction
of the Elysian Series this range takes
them to a higher level of audio quality, A
very impressive sound and high-quality
performance from cabinets made to a
reference standard. The imaging and
sound stage is of a level significantly
above that suggested by their price point.
3 KERR ACOUSTIC
An artisan UK manufacturer using some
of the finest drivers including True Ribbon
high frequency units, and Scanspeak
info@audioconsultants.co.uk 4 Zephyr House Calleva Park Aldermaston Berkshire RG7 8JN UK
+44 (0)118 981 9891
www.audioconsultants.co.uk
FINE TWO CHANNEL AUDIO SYSTEMS
3
units for mid-range and bass duties. A
birch-ply transmission line cabinet with
fast and tight bass response that can be
placed closer to walls than most dynamic
designs. An open and large sound stage,
a natural presentation, and an impressive
ability to disappear.
4 AMPHION
Designed and made in Finland with a
unique controlled dispersion technology
enabling their speakers to achieve a high-
quality sound repeatable in a variety of 4
rooms. The Argon range is very natural
in tone and timbre with no excessive
brightness. Bass is extended and well
controlled. A passive radiator design used
from mid-way up the model range offers
good room integration.
5 KUDOS AUDIO
A long-established UK company making
some of the finest sounding speakers
today. Their speakers have a neutral
tonal balance, very precise imaging, and
are well balanced across all frequencies.
High resolution of fine details producing
a broad and deep soundstage. Bass is
very fast and controlled especially in the
Titan range where the isobaric technology
is employed. 5
Speakers AC114 V3
 Mojo 2:
Best DAC £300-£500

Hugo 2:
Best DAC £1,500 +

Qutest:
Best DAC £500-£1,500

You’re the real winner when choosing a DAC. With three What Hi-Fi? ‘Best DAC’ 2022
Awards from £300-£1,500+ Chord Electronics has you covered. Accept nothing less.

chordelectronics.co.uk
 DIGITAL MUSIC SERVERS
£1,200-£4,200 GROUPTEST

Group test verdict

With a DAP rattling the music server applecart, picking a winner poses unusual
challenges for David Vivian but, after due deliberation, he has a decision
I’M GLAD WE included A&K’s
remarkable SP2000T DAP. A little out
of its depth in some areas, it shows
you don’t need to make space for a
stay-at-home box to enjoy the benefits
of a do-it-all digital hub and more
than holds its own sonically in what
turns out to be a strong group.
This isn’t the first Group Test outing
for a couple of the contenders, but
final ranking orders inevitably change
and it’s Bluesound’s Vault 2i that
starts us off this time. Best appreciated
as part of a larger BluOS eco-system,
it’s slightly hamstrung by its inability
to work as a network client, but is
easy to use and turns in a very decent
standalone performance, nonetheless.
In the final reckoning, Astell&Kern’s
A&ultima SP2000T – an object of
huge desire and sonic talent oozing
star quality – is compromised by its
1TB storage limit and sometimes
rather clunky Android-based
interface. A jewel of a portable player
with genuine server abilities, it’s a
class act and no mistake.
Fourth place goes to the extraordinary
Novafidelity X45, which has even the
pickiest and most demanding music
server wish list down cold (plus
FM-DAB tuner) and delivers sound
quality that is consistently
engaging. But it can’t best the
stripped-back sense of purpose
and innate musicality of Naim’s
Uniti Core, which is right on terms
WINNER
with the very best in the group Melco’s N50-H60 might
when it comes to outright sound require an external DAC
quality and has, arguably, the and separate CD drive
to be the complete
coolest look of the group.
package, but it’s a joy to
Runner up is the Sirius, Leema’s use. A generous 6TB of
superb take on an Innuos platform storage, spot-on digital
with all the functional advantages management, bullet-
that consequently accrue. It’s proof build and stability,
expensive, but the price is largely sheer sound quality and
keen price convincingly
reflected in the build, smoothness
win the day.
of operation and top-drawer sonics.

Make/model Astell&Kern Bluesound Leema Acoustics Melco Naim Audio Novafidelity

A&ultima SP2000T Vault 2i Sirius N50-H60 Uniti Core X45

Price £2,000 £1,200 £4,200 £3,000 £2,200 £2,550

Sound
Value
Build
Features
Overall
, A&K’s pocketable Affordable and easy to Innuos protocols and When it comes to It might not have all The X45 really does
powerhouse can ace use, it’s more lifestyle Leema premium keeping all your the bells and whistles, have everything but
most server duties than audiophile but build make for a digital ducks in a row, but the Core delivers the kitchen sink and
and sounds superb still sounds good sophisticated server nothing beats this where it counts it’s all good
Website astellkern.co.uk bluesound.com leema-acoustics.com melco-audio.com naimaudio.com scvdistribution.co.uk

Key features
Storage 1TB microSD 2TB HDD 4TB HDD 6TB HDD User specified User specified

Built-in DAC Yes Yes Yes No No Yes

CD ripper Extra Yes Yes No Yes Yes

MQA Yes Yes No Yes No Yes

Roon compatible Yes No Yes Yes No Yes

TRY WITH THESE

NETWORK STREAMING FLOORSTANDING INTEGRATED AMPLIFIER:

TRANSPORT: LOUDSPEAKER: Naim Supernait 3 £3,500 HFC 456
Auralic Aries G2 £3,900 HFC 431 Neat Iota Xplorer All the buzz about the latest Supernait may have
One of the most capable streaming £3,500 HFC 435 concerned the phono stage, but improvements
transports that we have looked at for Yes, it looks odd, throughout have made this an even more
a long time, combining an excellent standing just 74cm powerful and detailed integrated amplifier.
interface with superb performance. tall and with its mid
and tweeter drivers
positioned at an angle,
but the Xplorer delivers
quite remarkable bass
and a delicious free
floating soundstage.

JANUARY 2023 47
 EXOTICA AVID HIFI
REFERENCE THREE £60,000 WITH STANDS

48 JANUARY 2023 High-end kit reviewed in association with


Big and
beautiful
The largest standmount in AVID’s all-alloy
Reference range is bigger and heavier than
most floorstanders, but how does it fare?
tandmount speakers – it’s
S easy to see why they’re
quite so popular. They’re
relatively compact and
light enough to position with ease,
whether on bookshelves or stands.
They aim to offer a compelling sound
in smaller spaces, are affordable,
often due to mass-production
overseas, and can be driven with ease
by relatively modest amplification.
The trouble is, the AVID Reference
Three, while unquestionably a
standmount speaker, flies in the face
of all of the above.
To cover off some of the practicalities,
this £60k-a-pair speaker is as tall as
many floorstanders at 114cm when
perched on its dedicated stand, and
weighs in at an impressive 100kg
apiece with an all-up shipping weight
of 150kg per speaker. It comes in
black as standard, with chrome
trimmings and a decorative lattice on
the sidewalls, but other finishes are
available to order, every set built by
hand in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire.
The enclosures are assembled from
‘aerospace-grade’ aluminium plate up
to 2cm thick, with no visible fixings
and joints sealed with O-ring gaskets.
In other words, this is a cabinet that’s
constructed to be more like the finest
of British mobile armour, except of
course it tends to work rather better
straight from the box.
Given the somewhat sizable £60k
investment, you’ll probably want to
be a little more ambitious with the
amplification than you might with a
pair of ‘bulk standard’ bookshelf
speakers – AVID suggests 40-400W
as the recommended output, but
we’d advise erring towards the upper
reaches of that range. In return you’ll
be able to make the very best use
out of that claimed 88dB sensitivity
into 6ohm loads and bass extension
down to 35Hz, plus a design aimed
to be more room-friendly than you
might expect from a loudspeaker
with such output.
REFERENCE THREE £60,000 WITH STANDS
That’s where the stand comes into
play – its aluminium T-shaped frame
bolted to the underside of the speaker
between its two downward-venting
ports. Unlike the smaller Reference
Four – a mere 25kg tiddler – whose
port fires onto the top of its integral
stand above a conical diffuser, the
Reference Three’s dual reflex tubes
are more conventional in design.
Meet the family
The speaker is part of a four-strong
range topped by the massive
Reference One, a £215,000 340kg
floorstander reaching 205cm in
height and hosting seven drivers to
deliver a bass response that’s rated
down to 20Hz. All four models use
similar technology, just to varying
degrees, and weight…
The Morel-sourced drivers, which
are clamped into the baffle between
aluminium compression plates, start
with a 28mm silk dome tweeter that’s
set into a short flare to improve its
off-axis response. This dome is coated
with a damping material that’s called
Acuflex in an effort to better manage
any breakup modes, just as the
combination of a titanium former
and ‘Hexatech’ aluminium voice coil
are said to enhance linearity and
power handling.
Below is a pair of 160mm mid/bass
drivers with damped polymer
composite cones and tuned mass
damping to control distortion, AVID
claiming to have: “resolved the
vibration issue at source, just leaving
a stunning clarity of sound”, which is
certainly fighting talk! Again the
combination of titanium former
and Hexatech winding is employed
in the motor assembly, which also
utilises a hybrid neodymium/ferrite
magnet system in an effort to increase
the system efficiency.
The cabinets are divided internally
using angled baffles to combat
standing waves while, of course,
those hefty panels resist flexing and
AVID HIFI
EXOTICA
DETAILS resonance. The crossover, tucked
into the rear of the cabinet, uses
PRODUCT
AVID HiFi high-voltage ClarityCap capacitors
Reference Three and low-resistance air core inductors
ORIGIN wound with 1.25mm self-bonding
UK enamelled wire.
TYPE So, who is the Reference Three
2.5-way standmount
loudspeaker speaker aimed at other than listeners
WEIGHT with a fair bit of cash at their
100kg disposal? Well, AVID indicates it’s
DIMENSIONS suited for rooms that the larger Two
(WxHxD with stand)
460 x 1,140 x 605mm
and One models might overpower,
suggesting that it is: “capable of
FEATURES
● 28mm silk
performing to the same high level as
our other Reference loudspeakers,
dome tweeter
● 2x 160mm just on a more intimate basis”. We
mid/bass drivers
● Quoted sensitivity:
certainly encounter no problems with
88dB/1W/1m (6ohm) the speaker setup in our listening
DISTRIBUTOR
AVID HiFi Ltd
WEBSITE
avidhifi.co.uk
room, where it ends up being no
more imposing than a pair of modest
floorstanders – despite the
uncommon depth of the cabinets –
while the design enables them to
be used well back, positioned pretty
close to the rear wall.
Sound quality
From the off it grabs our attention,
with a dramatic rendition of the
Aldeburgh Strings’ recording of
Benjamin Britten’s Young Apollo.
There is a wonderful sonority to the
piano against the orchestra and a
completely integrated balance. The
weight of the lower octaves of the
keyboard is suffused with a real sense
of the vibration of the strings in the
frame, and then speed and rhythmic
acuity in the right hand. So there is
It’s a big, exuberant
sound, but one that
has bags of detail
to back it up
substance, but with tight control, too
– this contributing to the sense of
space and precise soundstaging.
And that detailed sound is equally in
evidence with Art Of Noise’s Moments
In Love from their Noise In The City
album. True, this isn’t the most
obviously live sound, but rather just
packed with information. Yet things
get a touch livelier with the closing
cover of In The Mood, with very
well-disciplined clapping along with
the music, and a great grumbling
bassline. Superb, silly fun!
The (Le) Concert Spirituel recording
of Handel’s The King Shall Rejoice
off Coronation Anthems sounds just
magnificent, complete with powerful
drums and a fine unforced sense of
live performance. There is nothing
artificial or studio-y here, but instead
a real impression of experiencing the
JANUARY 2023 49
 EXOTICA AVID HIFI
REFERENCE THREE £60,000 WITH STANDS
IN SIGHT
MANAGING CABINET RESONANCE
Over the years many different methods
have been employed by loudspeaker
designers to manage cabinet
resonances, from the controlled flexure
of lightweight plywood panels to lattice-
like internal bracing or the constrained
layer damping that’s generally favoured
by the heavyweight brigade. Here a
very ‘lossy’ polymer layer is sandwiched
between panels of fibreboard, wood or
alloy, or a brace and panel, to convert
music in a live space. It is a big,
exuberant sound, but one with bags
of detail to back it up, while those
very ‘Handel’ vocal flourishes have
a glorious ringing quality to them.
With the unusual instrumentation
of Sachse’s Concerto In F Major from
Clare Farr’s Loudmouthed Beauty
recital – it’s bass trombone
accompanied by church organ! – the
AVID Reference Three delivers an
extremely persuasive impression of
the two instruments in a church
acoustic setting. Both the low-
frequency power and harmonic
richness of each is nicely evoked, their
notes ringing through the space. In
the theme and variations of the third
movement the effect is even more
striking, with the extraordinary power
50 JANUARY 2023
That ability to dig deep into the
tonality of instruments is equally
clear with the soundscapes of ex-King
HOW IT Crimson-er Robert Fripp’s Washington
COMPARES Square Church. With the guitars and
the washes of electronica behind
It’s fair to say that them, it is a spacey – at times
AVID’s all-alloy
statement is in a
unsettling – experience, helped
(price) class of its enormously by the weight of the
own with close speaker and its ruthless ability to keep
competition coming control, ensuring that every element
only from a few high- of the sometimes-frantic sound is
end floorstanders
readily apparent throughout.
with similar profile
and footprint. If Pushing its low-frequency ability
alloy cabinets – with the appropriately titled The
and drivers – really Drum Thing, from Hungarian jazzers
appeal, then YG Reservátum Orchestra and their
Acoustics’ £60k Towards South LP, perfectly highlights
Reference Hailey 2
is a heavyweight
just how hard this speaker can slam
(67kg) three-way when needed without smothering
alternative that the subtle tones of the winding
belies its ‘foundry’ percussion. All this, before the whole
appearance with a track shifts into a full-on assault with
sound that’s both seemingly everything including the
dynamic and, when
required, silky-
pots, pans and kitchen sink being
subtle. Arguably, chucked about and slung in.
however, it’s the
Californian brand Conclusion
of Magico that’s the Returning to audiophile turf with the
master of alloy
simple straight to single microphone
cabinetry and its
£61k S5 mkII-MCA recording of Paul Berner & Michael
floorstander with its
curved and braced
enclosure design
The Three is suited
sets the sonic
standard at this
to rooms that the
this vibration to heat. AVID, by contrast,
price. This speaker’s larger Two and One
combination of
meets this unwanted mechanical energy good sensitivity, might overpower
at source, using ‘tuned mass dampers’ great bass extension
to suppress resonances in the driver and fast, detailed Moore’s The Gift, and the sheer
frames themselves. and deliciously presence of the clarinet and bass
insightful sound
Computer modelling is employed in
is little short of
before the listener is absolutely
an effort to predict the mass, shape and jaw-dropping. spellbinding. This is a truly ‘in-the-
position of these vibration-suppressing room’ recording and the Reference
masses. All that remains are the Three’s incredible imaging and clarity
two diagonal side-wall braces and really makes it spring to life in an
downward-firing reflex ports. entirely 3D fashion. Every single
breath is remarkably apparent. Make
no mistake, despite what you might
of Farr’s instrument holding its own think, there is real beauty in the
against the mighty organ. sound of these big, brash, hefty
Give this speaker a somewhat lower- beasts. Time to get saving then... ●
fidelity recording, such as Ain’t No
Secret Thing from guitarist Snowy
White’s self-released Driving On The
44 album, and the effect is every bit
as captivating. The vocal is slightly
OUR VERDICT
SOUND QUALITY LIKE: Sensational
recessed and suitably careworn, while detail of musical
the guitars sing against a driving involvement
VALUE FOR MONEY
rhythm section, churning out a slow DISLIKE: The price,
obviously
blues complete with power chords
WE SAY: Easily the
and the odd solo. It’s a curiously BUILD QUALITY
match of any
old-fashioned sounding album, and floorstander
some way short of an audiophile EASE OF DRIVE
recording, but AVID’s Reference Three
brings it out into the room with
incredible impact – and just the OVERALL
right ‘old blokes sitting around
making music’ vibe.
SALE The Sevenoaks SALE is now on with great savings instore ond online.
For all the SALE offers and the latest prices call our sales line on 0333 016 4775
seven days a week, contact your local store or visit www.ssav.com

FREE
SENNHEISER
CX TRUE WIRELESS
BLUETOOTH IN-EAR
HEADPHONES
WORTH £119.00 WITH
SELECTED HI-FI
AND HOME CINEMA
PURCHASES OVER £300
Put sound first, the Sennheiser CX True
Wireless Bluetooth in-ear headphones.
Sennheiser have put 75 years of leading
audio technology into the new CX True
Wireless earbuds. They deliver crystal-clear
sound with deep bass you can easily adjust
to your personal taste.

While stocks last. Not in conjunction with any other offer.

Ask instore or visit www.ssav.com for details.

SOME BRANDS/PRODUCTS ARE NOT AVAILABLE AT ALL STORES. SPECIAL OFFERS ARE NOT IN CONJUNCTION WITH ANY OTHER OFFER (NICWAOO). ADVERT VALID UNTIL 04/01/2023. E&OE

buyonline buybyphone click&collect

www.ssav.com Call 0333 016 4775 Stores nationwide
www.ssav.com
 £299 £899 £449

£299
NAD • C 538 / C 316BEE V2 • CD / AMPLIFIER
This combination has everything necessary for musical
enjoyment. Includes six inputs (including a MM phono input),
one set of speakers, a headphone jack, and remote control.
SAVE
£100
TECHNICS • SA-C600 • CD/STREAMING SYSTEM BLUESOUND • NODE • MUSIC STREAMER
The Technics Network CD Receiver SA-C600 brings you a Add a NODE to any audio system – an amplifier, an AVR,
wealth of music content with a single device—everything from or a pair of active loudspeakers – to unlock the endless
records, CDs, and radio to music streaming and more. possibilities of hi-res music streaming.
£SSAV
£2499 .COM

NAIM • NAIT XS 3 • AMPLIFER

£SSAV Offers much of the performance of Naim’s reference quality ARCAM • ST60 • MUSIC STREAMER
.COM SUPERNAIT 3 in a simpler, slimmer package combining a 70W Enables audio streaming from all of the major services and works
power amplifier with five analogue inputs plus a phono stage. with Air Play 2, Google Cast, fully decodes MQA and is Roon ready.

£2499 £2499
£SSAV
.COM

MARANTZ • CD6007 / PM6007 • CD / AMPLIFIER

This combination is an ideal choice for those ready to take the NAIM • ND5 XS 2 • STREAMER NAIM • UNITI ATOM HDMI • STREAMING SYSTEM
next step in their 2-channel Hi-Fi system. Includes digital and Uses Naim’s innovative streaming platform with an expanded Naim Uniti Atom is perfect as a high-end main system or even
analogue inputs (including a MM phono input). feature set including Roon compatibility and multiroom streaming. for use in the kitchen or study, where space is at a premium.

£1299 £2399 £4499

NAD • C 700 • BLUOS STREAMING SYSTEM NAD • M10 V2 • BLUOS STREAMING SYSTEM NAD • M33 • BLUOS STREAMING AMPLIFIER
An ideal all-in-one solution for the streaming age. Just connect The new NAD Masters M10 V2 combines hi-res music streaming This 200W streaming amplifier features Purifi’s Ultra-Quiet
your speakers, then select the music you want to hear using the with state-of-the-art amplification to make it an all-in-one solution Amplification Technology, BluOS multi-room streaming, a
intuitive BluOS app on your smartphone, tablet, PC, or Mac. that will transport you to your favourite musical destination. 32-bit DAC, full MQA decoding and Dirac room correction.

£699 £1049 £899

PRO-JECT • DEBUT PRO • TURNTABLE ROKSAN • ATTESSA TURNTABLE TECHNICS • SL-1500C • TURNTABLE
The Debut PRO brings an absolutely new design to Pro-Ject Roksan’s newest spin on one of the oldest Hi-Fi technologies Direct drive turntable with integrated MM phono amp for easy
turntables. Supplied with Pick it PRO cartridge. featuring a uni-pivot tonearm and switchable phono stage. connectivity. Highly acclaimed Ortofon 2M Red cartridge fitted.

AUSTRIAN AUDIO B&W Px8

HI-X15 HEADPHONES HEADPHONES

SALE
NEW
£99
£599

The Sevenoaks SALE is now on with great FOCAL BATHYS SONY WH-1000XM5
HEADPHONES HEADPHONES
savings instore ond online.
NEW NEW

For all the SALE offers and the latest prices call our £699 £SSAV
.COM

sales line on 0333 016 4775 seven days a week,

contact your local store or visit
www.ssav.com

buyonline buybyphone click&collect

www.ssav.com Call 0333 016 4775 Stores nationwide
www.ssav.com
 WHARFEDALE • EVO4.4 PMC • TWENTY5.23i BOWERS & WILKINS
Wharfedale’s new EVO4.4 has Discreet and elegant floorstanding 702 S3
grown out of the extensive speaker, perfect for filling medium- Designed, built and finished
research and development that sized rooms with transparent, to the standards you would
produced the ELYSIAN flagship authentic dynamics and effortlessly expect from Bowers & Wilkins
loudspeakers and borrows extended bass. It will make the best and equipped with some of
much of the technology of both affordable and high-end the world’s most advanced
involved in ELYSIAN. electronics and amplification. loudspeaker technologies.

£1199 £4295 NEW £5499

PSB • PASSIF 50 MISSION • 770 BOWERS & WILKINS

The Passif 50 is a standmount The new Mission 770 retains 606 S2 ANNIVERSARY EDITION
loudspeaker launched in the warm, natural sound of Takes the award-winning 606
celebration of PSB Speakers’ the original 770 but imbues formula and improves upon it with
50th anniversary and is built from it with an open, detailed an enhanced crossover design and
the ground up by the brand’s performance that will entice a beautiful new finish. 606 is now
renowned Founder and Chief you to explore your whole even more appealing to even
Acoustic Designer, Paul Barton. music collection, once more. more music lovers.

NEW £2499 NEW £3300 £SSAV

.COM
Price includes speaker stands Price excludes speaker stands Optional B&W STAV24 S2 stands

MONITOR AUDIO FOCAL • ARIA 906 KEF • LS50 META

SILVER 100 7G LE This 2-way loudspeaker features The first loudspeaker to employ
With a classic Heritage Green Focal’s exclusive Flax cone, char- Metamaterial Absorption
finish and an anodised gold acterised by its low coloration and Technology. Once again
C-CAM bass driver, the Silver natural sound, coupled with Focal’s demonstrating KEF’s unrelenting
100 7G Limited Edition creates a inverted dome TNF tweeter. Aria is passion for developing new
luxe aesthetic befitting Monitor available in Black high gloss and technologies to improve your
Audio’s ‘Golden Jubilee’. real wood walnut veneer finishes. listening experience.

NEW £899 £899 £SSAV

.COM

NEW NEW
LS60 Wireless POWERNODE EDGE
Wireless Speakers Hi-Res Wireless Music Streamer / Amplifier
£5999 £599
Designed by Michael Young Over 20 natively-integrated streaming
in collaboration with the KEF sources, control via the intuitive BluOS
product design team, this Controller, and audiophile-grade
contemporary design addition to DirectDigital amplification come packed
the KEF family defies the limits into the affordable POWERNODE EDGE
of audio performance with its so all you need to do is connect a pair of
iconic slim structure. The LS60 your favourite passive speakers.
Wireless is a celebration of 60
years of sound innovation with
a clear eye on the future high-
fidelity experience.
LS60 Wireless delivers robust,
Your journey into the Naim family
high-quality streaming using
starts with the Mu-so range of wireless
any format you can imagine,
music systems. The 2nd Generation
thanks to the same class-
of the multi award-winning Mu-so
leading W2 wireless platform
range evolves the iconic styling of their
KEF introduced on the award-
predecessors, but under their luxury
winning LS50 Wireless II. No
aluminium casing are game-changing
matter which music service,
performance, feature and functionality
podcast, internet radio or wired
upgrades.
source, LS60 Wireless delivers a
peerless performance. PRICES FROM £799

FOR THE LATEST PRICES AND OFFERS VISIT WWW.SSAV.COM OR CONTACT YOUR LOCAL STORE

Reading• 01189 477093

&"!$  $

Brighton 01273 733338 Guildford 01483 536666

 '!!"'!''
''"&%%
GEM
S OVER £2000 ABSOLUTE
BEST WIRELESS SPEAKER

Bristol• 0117 974 3727 Holborn• 020 7837 7540 Sevenoaks 01732 459555 Read the Awards 2022
KEF
edition of
Kingston• 020 8547 0717
LS60 WIRELESS
Bromley 020 8290 1988 Solihull 0121 709 0606

SPEAKERS
BEST WIRELESS
OVER £2000
control app
• KEF Connect
ISSUE 22power
THE 2022 AWARDS
• 1400 watts of ISSUE

SEVENOAKS
finishes
• Choice of three

Cambridge 01223 304770 Loughton 020 8532 0770 Swiss Cottage 020 7722 9560
• Dimensions (WxHxD):
210 x 1090 x 390cm
SELECT SAYS ,
• Innovative technology THE

Chalfont St Peter• 01753 255110

–
beautiful design SOUNDS,
and, of course,

SELECT
e THE SCENES
staggering performanc

Manchester 0161 834 0267 Tunbridge Wells 01892 531543

AND THE
And the unique SENSATIONS
RY is
IF A 60TH ANNIVERSA deployment of KEF’sdrivers
it’s worth Uni-Core and Uni-Q
worth celebrating, ‘Single
celebrating properly. celebrations, (which KEF calls
‘
So for its Diamond extraordinary Apparent Source precision
the means
KEF has delivered a tour de force of technology)

Chelsea 020 7352 9466 NEW Norwich 01603 516098 Wetherby 01937 586886 LS60 Wireless. It’s sound and accurate
engineering and, audio imaging from in
imagination, of performance.
ultimately, of audio of wired and pretty much anywhere its
KEF is celebrating with
as the speakers.
With a huge range options, the the same room it almost diamond anniversaryone of
–
the LS60 Wireless

Cheltenham• 01242 241171

wireless connectivityadaptable as And that audio, is thrillingly the most accurate
speakers
LS60 Wireless is
as
slim goes without saying,realistic and you will ever hear

Nottingham 0115 988 1703 Witham (Essex) 01376 501733 digital interactive
they come. Its remarkably
it an
direct, staggeringly
listenable.
form-factor makes proposition. endlessly
undoubtedly decorative

Epsom• 01372 720720 Oxford 01865 241773 Yeovil• 01935 700078 magazine today!
• THESE STORES ARE FRANCHISED AND OPERATE UNDER A LICENCE AGREEMENT TO SEVENOAKS SOUND & VISION. www.ssav.com/select REA
WE SELECT THE
PLAYER S,D
BEST OF EVERY
SPEAKE RS, HEADP
PLUS THAT (REALLY
THING TV, BLU-RA
HONES , RECOM MENDE Y, WIRELE SS, STREAM ING, TURNTA
GREAT) ELVIS MOVIE, D SYSTEM BLES, CD
VISIT WWW.SSAV.COM FOR STORE ADDRESSES, OPENING HOURS AND BRANDS STOCKED. FREE KATE BUSH AT NUMBE S, ALL-IN -ONE, GADGET S &
R ONE AGAIN AND MORE
DYLAN ’S MILLION

Please Note: Some brands/products are not available at all stores. Special/
added value offers are not in conjunction with any other offer (NICWAOO).

ADVERT VALID UNTIL 04/01/2023. E&OE

 REVIEWS FOCAL
UTOPIA (2022) £4,700
Black magic
After six years, Focal’s flagship headphone
receives some welcome upgrades.
Ed Selley tries it on for size
ocal is not prone to snap
F product upgrades. Even
allowing for this, the six
years that its Utopia
headphone has spent on sale is fairly
noteworthy. While the tier below has
been changed twice in that time, the
flagship is only now being updated.
The core of the new model is still
based on the same principle. A pair of
40mm beryllium drivers is mounted
in an open-back enclosure. The drivers
have an M-shaped cross-section for
added stiffness and this is replicated
in the protective mesh in front of
them. Behind them, a honeycomb
mesh is combined with a new ‘ying
and yang’ design – that will feature on
other Utopia models – vents the driver
enclosure from the outside world while
ensuring that resonances are controlled
and the headphone is as stiff possible.
One of the biggest visual changes
concerns the yoke. This is now made
from recycled carbon fibre that has an
unusual finish. The benefit is that the
Utopia is comparatively light and the
weight distribution is excellent. The
54 JANUARY 2023
DETAILS realistically envisage. The full-bore
live performance of Nils Frahm’s
PRODUCT
Focal Utopia (2022) Hammers is effortlessly resolved; each
ORIGIN individual note distinct and possessed
France of its own perceivable strike and
TYPE decay. The Utopia manages to deliver
Over-ear, open- forensic detail without pulling the
back headphone
music apart; you appreciate the
WEIGHT
490g whole, but can also pick out the
FEATURES details that make it up.
● 40mm beryllium There is effortless low-end shove
dynamic driver on offer here too. The 40mm driver
● Recycled carbon
fibre headband might be smaller than some rivals but
● 1.5m detachable the enormous organ notes at the start
3.5mm cable; of Koyaanisqatsi have a skull-wobbling
3m XLR cable
intensity, which effortlessly blends
DISTRIBUTOR
Focal into the upper registers. There isn’t
WEBSITE
more depth than there is from the
focal.com (considerably less expensive) Clear
MG, but the transient speed on offer
is astonishing. The Utopia is utterly
free of any form of overhang, even
when you are asking for positively
seismic low notes and the result is
astonishingly immediate.
It is only fair to point out that the
original Utopia was no slouch in these
areas either. Where the update really
kicks on is in two specific areas. The
first is that the ability to create space
both in the recording and around it is
truly exceptional – Mining For Gold by
Cowboy Junkies is handled imperiously.
The second is this is a much more
forgiving device than its predecessor.
You can listen to the scuzzy Ghost
Woman by the band of the same
name and, while the Utopia reveals
this is not a great recording, it sounds
entirely listenable throughout.
headband and earpads are leather Conclusion
coated and overall build-quality is
superb. A zip case and a more ornate
presentation box are included.
The result has to be seen as just about
the best all-round headphone on the
planet right now. The Utopia delivers
The Utopia can be used in a fully a sort of ‘tractable greatness’ that allows
balanced configuration and a 3m XLR you to enjoy audiophile recordings
cable (using a single four-pin plug) with ultra-high-end sources, but also
that uses LEMO connectors at the with less pristine material all while
headphone end rather than the jacks experiencing its comfortable build.
of lesser models. The problem is that, This headphone is going to take an
for anyone not wanting to use a enormous amount of beating ●
balanced 3.5mm jack connection, the
supplied unbalanced cable is only
1.5m long. The presence of the short
cable is a clue that the Utopia is
commendably easy to drive. Some
OUR VERDICT
SOUND QUALITY LIKE: Fast, open and
tests on the end of a Chord Mojo 2 transparent sound; well
(HFC 488) are perfectly listenable. made and comfortable
VALUE FOR MONEY
DISLIKE: Short
unbalanced cable;
Sound quality subdued appearance
As Focal’s statement headphone, the BUILD QUALITY
WE SAY: A simply
character of the revised Utopia hasn’t astonishing headphone
been drastically altered. If you own EASE OF DRIVE
that balances superb
performance with
the original, nothing about the new real-world capability
model is alarming. The main attribute
remains those beryllium drivers and OVERALL
their startling ability to resolve and
handle any time signature you can
 STUDIO7
With minimalist aesthetics, clean lines and meticulous attention to detail, the STUDIO7 series ushers in a new era of audio performance for Jamo.
The richness of Nordic nature inspired the Scandinavian design of the STUDIO7 series, whose name derived from the 7° tilt that provides its
]blmbg\mbo^ehhdlZg]lb`gZmnk^lhng]'?^Zmnkbg`CZfhlikhikb^mZkrm^\agheh`b^l%STUDIO7li^Zd^kle^mrhn^gchrrhnk_Zohnkbm^fhob^lZg]
fnlb\pbmalhng]jnZebmrZlink^ZlL\Zg]bgZobZgZbk'

Distributed by Henley Audio

T: +44 (0) 1235 511 166 | E: sales@henleyaudio.co.uk | W: www.henleyaudio.co.uk | : HenleyAudioUK | : HenleyAudio
 REVIEWS MISSION
700 £1,300
Past
perfect
Mission goes back to where it all began with
an iconic standmount reborn. Ed Selley
brushes up on his history
i-fi’s retro revival is now in
H full effect and the process
of revisiting your back
catalogue, selecting
something that looks suitably iconic
and bringing it back to life with a
smattering of modern technology is
the current thing. Mission has already
brought the revitalised 770 to market,
a process that has also seen it relocate
production back to the UK. Similarly,
it has now resurrected the 700 as a
more affordable and slightly more
room-friendly option.
In one crucial regard, the 700 is even
more iconic that its big brother. The
original was the first Mission speaker
to invert the driver arrangement, with
the mid/bass unit over the tweeter. In
56 JANUARY 2023
what would become a company
trademark, the intention was to aid
time alignment. The drivers now are
in keeping with the originals, but
suitably updated to reflect technical
developments. The 28mm soft dome
tweeter is shared with the 770 and
reflects the changes in voicing over
the original, which used a rather
smaller 19mm unit.
This hands over to a 165mm mid/
bass driver that is specific to the 700.
Like the original, it is made from
polypropylene but it is now stiffened
via mineral loading and placed in a
die-cast basket that has very large
cutouts to minimise the amount of
energy being radiated back through
the driver array. The motor is also
considerably beefed up to reflect the
rather higher power outputs that
represent normal in 2022.
The two drivers are managed by a
crossover that reflects modern design
practise. The network was extensively
computer mapped before a listening
process began to fix the details and
perfect the sound. Like the drivers it
controls, the crossover is enhanced to
handle modern amplifiers and makes
use of extremely short signal paths
to minimise losses. Unspoken but
apparent in the material Mission
supplies with the review samples is
the suggestion that the original 700 –
like most speakers of its generation
– mapped its crossover as a ‘best case’
to handle the two drivers leaving their
performance envelope. The wider
operating margin of these newer
drivers means that a much more
optimised process can be followed.
Connection is via a single set of sturdy
speaker terminals.
The cabinet that houses this is
dimensionally identical to the original.
This means that, while the 700 is
more compact than the 770, it’s still
reasonably hefty compared with some
key rivals. The same process of
modern improvements under the skin
DETAILS are applied here too. This is rather
PRODUCT
Mission 700 It’s almost impossible
ORIGIN
UK to provoke it into
TYPE
2-way standmount sounding forward
loudspeaker
WEIGHT
or harsh in any way
12.8kg
DIMENSIONS stiffer and more inert than the original
(WxHxD on stand) and the large front port also benefits
260 x 510 x 270mm from modelling to make it quieter in
FEATURES
● 28mm soft
operation. The measurements that the
700 presents are fairly benign too. The
dome tweeter
● 1x 165mm 86dB/W sensitivity is a little on the
polypropylene low side, but that impedance means
mid/bass driver
● Quoted sensitivity:
that it doesn’t need vast amounts of
86dB/1W/1m (8ohm) power to sound good.
DISTRIBUTOR The really clever part of all of this
International
Audio Group
WEBSITE
mission.co.uk
beavering away under the skin is that
the aesthetic of the revised 700 is still
reflective of the original. This won’t be
to everyone’s taste obviously, but if it
does appeal to you it makes most other
speakers at the price feel bland and
sanitised. So long as you accept the
Mission won’t blend in when sat in
most rooms, particularly with the
grilles off, you can use it as a feature in
that space. The good news doesn’t end
there either. The smaller speaker is
every bit as well made as the 770 and
the use of real-wood veneers and the
option of a sturdy and well-finished
stand (£200) mean that the 700 has to
be seen as extremely good value for
something built in the UK.

Sound quality
I have the good fortune to spend a
fair bit of time with the larger 770
before the 700 arrives and this
highlights some intriguing differences
between the two. The 700 is not a
shrunken 770, however much the
two designs might share. Why this
might be the case is open to debate,
but I think that the most significant
reason is the 700’s driver layout.
Listening to the 770 is a deeply
pleasurable experience; a big, wide
baffle speaker giving a classic
presentation. The 700 is more
definably Mission in how it sounds.
What this means is that New Era by
Black Lilys is urgent and attention
grabbing. The 700 isn’t an aggressive
speaker; connected to a Naim
Supernait 3 (HFC 456) and Zidoo
Neo Alpha (HFC 492) it is almost
impossible to provoke into sounding
forward or harsh, but there is a speed
and willingness to really attack the
title track that feels very much part
of the Mission ‘house sound.’ There is
a speed and fluency here that feels
different to the bigger and more
relaxed 770.
What’s useful about this is that it
doesn’t translate to making slower
and more considered material sound
relentless or unnaturally forced. In
the Morning (Grandmother’s Song) by
Eliza Shaddad loses nothing of its
emotion and sadness. This is helped
by impressive tonal accuracy. Mission
is keen to stress that there is less
midrange emphasis with the
reimagined model than there was
with the original, but this is as much
MISSION
700 £1,300 REVIEWS
HOW IT
COMPARES
The Mission passes
through the test lab
straight after the
Neat Petite Classic
(HFC 495), which is
another piece of
reconstructed
nostalgia, but one
that feels a little
different in use. The
Neat takes themes
from the original
which was younger
than the Mission
and makes more
changes on the new
model meaning that
the Petite Classic
looks and feels like a
modern design. The
700 is bigger and
more unashamedly
retro and, while I
like this very much,
there is no arguing to do with the fact that the frequency performance that is a little different to
that the smaller and extremes have been beefed up as anything I can recall passing through
more subtle Neat
will work in spaces
anything else. Shaddad’s vocals are the same space. Assimilate by Skinny
that the Mission gloriously rich and tangible in the Puppy is the sort of thing that benefits
won’t. Both performance and across a wide from this useful urgency, but what
speakers are joyous selection of instruments, the 700 really helps is the spaciousness that
to listen to, though. delivers the goods. crowbars open this dense and angry
That relatively large cabinet helps record and gives it a little space to
too. Mission’s claim of 45Hz at breathe. There’s not much else
+/-3dB is effortlessly bettered in anywhere near this price point that is
room under test and, more than as well suited to this sort of music.
out-and-out depth, there is an
The sturdy, Conclusion
well-finished
stand will set The Mission makes What results is a singular speaker that
you back an looks and sounds much more in line
additional £200 most other speakers with Mission’s core principles and,
while I feel that the result might not
at the price feel be as much of a formidable all-
bland and sanitised rounder as the 770, if you like what
the 700 does very little else will do.
authority to the 700 that feels in While it might be at least partly
keeping with comparatively priced fuelled by nostalgia, the speaker that
floorstanders. Some elements of the results feels effortlessly up to date.
performance are to do with the shape This is a fascinating new arrival at the
and design of the cabinet too. That price point and one that deserves to
relatively wide baffle helps give win many new admirers ●
the 700 a fairly open and spacious
presentation although one that lacks
a little of the airiness of the bigger
770. Trying it with different pieces of OUR VERDICT
source equipment and amps shows SOUND QUALITY LIKE: Fast; spacious;
that the basic behaviour doesn’t tonally believable; well
change significantly. If you are being made and attractive
VALUE FOR MONEY DISLIKE: Not
critical, you could say this points to a
completely sonically
slight lack of transparency, but you transparent; large
BUILD QUALITY
could just as easily say it will do what WE SAY: A different
it does largely independent of take on the two-way
standmount, but a
partnering equipment. EASE OF DRIVE
rewarding one
The combination of speed and space nonetheless
puts the Mission in a slightly different
OVERALL
place to most rivals; where one or
the other virtue is prioritised. At
some points under test, it delivers a
JANUARY 2023 57
 REVIEWS PRO-JECT
X8/PHONO BOX DS3 B £2,100/£530
Keep it in
the family
The latest Pro-Ject addition boasts the
advantage of fully balanced operation.
Ed Selley checks out how it sounds
uch is the depth and
S number of models in the
Pro-Ject range, you might
be forgiven for thinking
that pretty much every evolutionary
niche of turntable design has long
since been covered. In reality, it still
has a few more gaps to fill. The X8 is
outwardly conventional, but has been
developed to employ a specific feature
rarely seen at this price point.
It is fully balanced in operation. This
is rarer to encounter in analogue than
it is in digital front ends, which is all
the more puzzling considering all
turntables are inherently balanced.
The four-pin arrangement on the back
of a phono cartridge, where each
channel has its own ground, is a
balanced audio out and it is only
when this is recombined in an RCA
connection that this ceases to be the
case. The X8 avoids doing this and
comes supplied with a five-pin
DIN-to-XLR lead-out cable.
The turntable is unsuspended and
combines a heavy aluminium platter
deadened with a TPE inner lining. This
58 JANUARY 2023
sits on an equally substantial 50mm-
thick MDF plinth. Between them they
contribute to the bulk of the X8’s 15kg
unboxed weight.
The tonearm is Pro-Ject’s long-
running but continuously evolving
9CC; here in its Evo form with large
bearing housing and tapered carbon
fibre tonearm tube and one-piece
headshell. It’s capable of supporting
a range of cartridges. The package
comes fitted with an Ortofon Quintet
Blue (HFC 389) moving-coil design,
which greatly simplifies initial setup.
While the turntable is unsuspended,
the three feet provide excellent
isolation and their threaded mounts
help with levelling. The motor takes an
AC feed created from a DC input being
converted internally. The power supply
is small, plastic and feels a little cheap,
but Pro-Ject will happily sell you a
Power Box RS2 Phono that provides
a linear feed for both the turntable
power input and a matching phono
stage, albeit at an additional £700.
To make use of the turntable’s XLR
feed, Pro-Ject has developed a pair of
DETAILS balanced phono stages of which the
DS3 B is the more sophisticated of
PRODUCT
Pro-Ject X8 the two. Fitted for both moving
ORIGIN magnet and coil operation – the
Austria/Czech latter with a useful spread of
Republic impedance and capacitance settings
TYPE that will suit most cartridges – it
Unsuspended, belt
drive turntable is a fairly impressively specified
WEIGHT device even without the XLR in and
15kg outputs (RCA in and outs are also
DIMENSIONS supported and the X8 can have a
(WxHxD) standard RCA cable attached to
465 x 150 x 350mm
FEATURES
the arm output too, although this
brings it into contact with some
● 33 and 45rpm
● 9in carbon fibre particularly talented rivals).
tonearm with
Ortofon Quintet Blue
● Balanced or This duo is a superb
unbalanced
tonearm output demonstration of
DISTRIBUTOR
Henley Audio Ltd.
TELEPHONE
01235 511166
a fully balanced
analogue front-end
WEBSITE
project-audio.com Both the X8 and the DS3 B pull off
henleyaudio.co.uk the neat trick of looking and feeling
more expensive than they are. Some
aspects of the turntable still strike
me as a little basic; the thread-and-
weight antiskate is fiddly and the
separate switch and speed control
arrangement feels fussy, but it is very
well assembled and a pleasure to
setup and use. The DS3 B is, if
anything, even more impressive. The
all-metal construction and the flexible
loading and setup would be
outstanding for the price, even
without the balanced connections.
Sound quality
With a Cambridge Audio Edge A
providing the required balanced
input, the principle advantage of a
balanced turntable is demonstrated
before a record is even played. The
duo is uncannily quiet at idle. Even

DETAILS
PRODUCT
Pro-Ject Phono
Box DS3 B
ORIGIN
Austria/Czech
Republic
TYPE
Phono preamp
WEIGHT
1.5kg
DIMENSIONS
(WxHxD)
206 x 72 x 194mm
FEATURES
● Moving-magnet/
moving-coil input
● Balanced and
unbalanced
connections
● Discrete output
DISTRIBUTOR
Henley Audio Ltd.
TELEPHONE
01235 511166
WEBSITE
project-audio.com
henleyaudio.co.uk
with the volume on the amp right up,
there is barely a hint of hiss and no
determinable hum. The amount of
difference isn’t huge; most £2,600
turntable and phono stage combos
are pretty quiet, but the X8 starts
everything it does from a position of
being a little bit quieter.
The effect this has on how it
performs is significant. The opening
of Nils Frahm’s Spaces is a much more
tangible affair; the hushed but
ever-present audience becoming a
more defined part of what you hear.
As Frahm begins, his location in the
venue and the scale of the room
around him is easier to pin down than
on occasions when I’ve played this
record on considerably more
expensive devices. It would be wrong
to describe the effect as purely down
to detail retrieval – in part because I
don’t feel the Quintet Blue is a hugely
detailed cartridge – but where the
noise floor vacates, additional
information is perceived.
This feeds into the X8 being a
naturally spacious performer. It
doesn’t appear to struggle with any
large-scale recordings because it
possesses an effortless heft and
airiness that combine to give it
impressive authority. There is also the
perception that the presentation has
a wholly compelling flow. Talking
Timbuktu by Ali Farke Toure and
Ry Cooder sees the X8 and DS3 B
combine in a way that plays to the
strengths of the recording. Faster,
more impactful music can sometimes
feel less urgent than on some
similarly priced designs, but this
Pro-Ject pair never tips over into
PRO-JECT
X8/PHONO BOX DS3 B £2,100/£530 REVIEWS
sounding slow. This is helped by low levels of noise are superb and
a bass response that is deep; at help this duo deliver one of the
times positively subterranean, but most airy and three-dimensional
HOW IT controlled and defined enough to performances at the price. If you’re
COMPARES ensure that your attention isn’t drawn looking to change your turntable and
The X8 and DS3 B to it but instead it effortlessly fills out phono stage in one go and have the
come in at similar recordings while being free of any XLR input on your amp that they
price to Rega’s sense of bloat and overhang. need to excel, this is one of the most
Planar 8 with Ania Some tests around the balanced compelling options at the price ●
cart and Fono MC functionality do suggest that this is
phono stage (HFC
443, 452 and 426).
really how you will want to use the
Used over RCA X8 and DS3 B and that they are
(there is no XLR greater than the sum of their parts
on the Rega), the when you do. The X8 is supplied with
OUR VERDICT: X8
Pro-Ject has more
SOUND QUALITY LIKE: Effortlessly quiet,
a conventional RCA output cable as spacious and powerful
bass extension and sound; build; ease of use
well and running this into a Cyrus
a warmer and fuller VALUE FOR MONEY
midrange while Phono Signature (HFC 408) is still DISLIKE: Not always the
most energetic; needs
the Rega is more very listenable (and actually a little XLR to show its best
dynamic, exciting more energetic), but that imperious BUILD QUALITY
WE SAY: Use the X8
and manages to find space and airiness suffer. Likewise, over XLR and very little
more detail. If you the DS3 B is a good RCA phono stage FEATURES
at the price can match
have a balanced its effortless and
at the price, but a great XLR one. engaging performance
system, though, the
X8 and DS3 B eke out The good news is that the Pro-Ject
duo has attributes beyond its XLR OVERALL
advantages that the
Rega can’t. The low connections. The tonal realism, across
noise floor and an extended midrange in particular,
superb three is glorious. The manner in which it
dimensionality tips
the balance for many
ensures that Emily King’s heartfelt
listeners. If you have and passionate vocals in Forgiveness
an XLR input going are the focus of your attention while
spare, the Pro-Ject is giving the whole track the space it
OUR VERDICT: DS3 B
a fine source for it.
SOUND QUALITY LIKE: Sensational
needs to breathe is highly impressive. performance over XLR;
It is decently forgiving too. The X8 well-made and flexible
VALUE FOR MONEY
takes in its stride my standard torture DISLIKE: Not as good
over RCA
test of a first pressing of Placebo’s
Meds while going on to sound BUILD QUALITY WE SAY: The natural
partner to the X8,
excellent with high-quality material. the DS3 B is a
FEATURES
balanced bargain
Conclusion
The Pro-Ject duo is a superb
real-world demonstration of what OVERALL
running a fully balanced analogue
front end can do – the exceptionally
JANUARY 2023 59
 S u b s c r i be t o da y !
AND GET ONE YEAR OF
YOUR FAVOURITE MAGAZINE
PLUS A FREE BOTTLE OF
RED OR WHITE WINE!
CHOOSE EITHER RED OR
WHITE WINE AT CHECKOUT Y!
HURRED
LIMIT E
TIM !
ONLY

NOVEMBER 2022 WWW.HIFINEWS.COM

PHILIPS OLED+937 66
HIGH-PERFORMANCE SOUND & VISION High-end Ambilight TV YEARS t
with Dolby Atmos, p48 of Produc
Reviews &
Features

PREMIUM PROJECTOR
Sony XW5000ES 4K laser beamer is made for movies
THE FULL STACK
The Lina system from dCS – just for headphones?
Modern INVESTIGATION
classic Twice as nice
100uc+ts Top 20! Exposure’s new Our pick of the top
prod in
rated ar
The best of 3510 pre/power double albums

our Gee
Guid
Stephen King ‘S’ Factor
Pro-Ject’s latest
on Blu-ray Debut PRO deck
Vintage
Jackie Technics SL-XP5

Chan 4K! Clearaudio

Jubilee MC
Martial arts mayhem The ‘bullet-
in the Police Story trilogy proof’ pick-up
On Test
TCL C735K 4K TV FILM & TV PLUS...
Velodyne DB-8 sub Phoenix
S S S
11 ISSUE 13 ISSUE 13 ISSUE
■ THE RINGS OF POWER
AVID Reference
Emotiva BasX five-
channel power amp
■ STAR TREK I-VI
■ THE BAD GUYS rising Three, Emotiva
■ JURASSIC WORLD Lowther BasX TA1, DS Audio
Harman Kardon

£48.99 £49.99 £49.99

DOMINION ■ EVENT returns with ES-001, Canor Precision
Citation soundbar HORIZON ■ MORE! the Almira Tube DAC 2.10 & Audiojumble 2022
Acurus processor www.homecinemachoice.com • OPINION 12 pages of letters and comment • VINYL RELEASE The Staple Singers’ Respect... LP UK £5.99 Aus $15.99
ISSUE 335 AUTUMN 2022 £5.99

Inside DREAM THEATRE ➜ DIY CINEMA MAKEOVER ➜ OPINION ➜ IFA 2022 AUS- $15.99 NZ- $18.50 CAN- $18.99
• CLASSICAL COMPANION Dvorák’sˇ ‘New World’ Symphony • STUDIO TOURS ABBA’s Polar Studios
• VINYL ICON The Stranglers’ The Raven from 1979 • READERS’ CLASSIFIEDS Hi-Fi bargains galore
➜ AURO-3D EXPLAINED ➜ COMPETITIONS ➜ NAD MASTERS SERIES M23 ➜ MORE

001_Cover_335_v6_MC.indd 1 15/09/2022 12:17 001_Nov_Cover_v7_PMJR.indd 1 5/9/22 14:06:51

SUBSCRIBE SECURELY ONLINE

WWW.DHPUB.CO.UK/DXMAS22P2
CALL 01858 438436 AND QUOTE DXMAS22P2
LINES OPEN MONDAY TO FRIDAY – 9AM - 6PM
Calls are charged at the same rate as standard UK landlines and are included as part of any inclusive or free minutes allowances.
There are no additional charges with this number. Overseas calls will cost more.
TERMS & CONDITIONS: Offer ends 26th December 2022. *UK print subscriptions offer only. Subscriptions will begin with the first available issue in 2023. AV Tech Media Ltd collects your
data so that we can fulfil your subscription. We may also, from time to time, send you details of AV Tech Media Ltd offers, events and competitions but you always have a choice and can
opt out by clicking on the unsubscribe button at the bottom of the email. Please be aware, by opting into our communications, we may contact you with offers by email/post/phone. We
do not share or sell your data with/to third parties. Details you share with us will be managed as outlined in our Privacy Policy here https://subs.hifinews.com/. Issue frequency is subject
to change. Current yearly term varies per issue. Please visit https://subs.hifinews.com/ for full terms & conditions.
Missed an issue?
Have you missed a copy of your favourite hi-fi magazine?
You can now order Hi-Fi Choice back issues online.

481 Nov 2021 482 Dec 2021 483 January 2022 484 Yearbook 2021 485 February 2022

486 March 2022 487 April 2022 488 May 2022 489 June 2022 490 July 2022

491 August 2022 492 Sept 2022 493 Oct 2022 494 Nov 2022 495 Dec 2022

Order online:
www.mags-uk.com 8MK\Z_
*Please note that we cannot guarantee the availability of all issues displayed above
d\[`Xck[
 REVIEWS SONOS
SUB MINI £430
Boom box
Cliff Joseph gets ready to rumble as he
checks out the new miniature addition to
the subwoofer side of the Sonos family
onos’ Sub has been around
S for a few years now and is
a good option for those
who want to add some
extra bass, but it’s big, heavy and
expensive. Enter the new Sub Mini,
which fixes many of these concerns.
In contrast to the rectangular Sub,
the Sub Mini adopts a more compact
cylindrical design – available in black
or white – with a cut-out bass port
that runs through the middle of the
unit. It still feels pretty hefty, but
weighs in at less than half the 16kg of
the Sub, while its minimalist design is
more suitable for smaller rooms.
Inside the Sub Mini are two 152mm
drivers, facing each other – on either
side of the bass port – to create a ‘force
cancelling effect’ that Sonos claims
helps to reduce distortion. It has a
pretty meagre set of connectivity
options, simply including dual-band
wi-fi and 100Mb Ethernet, with no
Bluetooth or wired connectors for use
with a non-Sonos speaker system.
The advantage of this approach is
it keeps things simple. I have a Ray
62 JANUARY 2023
DETAILS lean close to the Sub Mini to detect
something that sounds more like a
PRODUCT
Sonos Sub Mini deep, poetic sigh.
ORIGIN To be fair, even the default setting
US/Malaysia enhances the impact and drama of
TYPE the opening sequence of Blade Runner,
Subwoofer as the skyline of a futuristic Los Angeles
WEIGHT explodes with sound and light. It’s a
6.35kg
subtle improvement, though, adding a
DIMENSIONS
(Height x Diameter) little extra depth and presence to the
305 x 230mm sound, rather than simply shaking the
FEATURES floorboards. But, as mentioned, the
● 2x 152mm drivers
app provides bass and treble controls,
● Quoted frequency
response: “as low that let you fine tune the sound and
as 25Hz” pushing the bass up to +5 produces a
● Connectivity:
more exuberant bass rumble. This is
wi-fi; Ethernet
particularly noticeable when I switch
DISTRIBUTOR
Sonos UK
to Avengers: Infinity War, for the
WEBSITE
battle scenes set on the plains of
sonos.com Wakanda. On its own, the slimline
Ray can’t really do justice to Thor’s
descent from the skies in a beam of
light, but the Sub Mini – ramped up
to its maximum +10 – earns its keep,
producing a deep, sustained rumble
with a dramatic sense of scale as the
rival armies face off against each other.
That ability to switch between
subtle and subterranean bass also
works well when listening to music.
The more delicate bass settings are
ideal for Max Richter’s Shadow
Journal, digging deep to embrace the
track’s ominous electronic effects, but
without overwhelming the piercing,
melancholy tone of the violin. But,
when you’re ready to boogie, you can
just ramp up the bass again and feel
the gut-punch rhythm of Bad Guy by
Billie Eilish.
(HFC 493) soundbar set up, so all I Conclusion
have to do is connect the power cable
to the Sub Mini and tap my iPhone on
its top. The Sonos app automatically
Some may find Sonos’ Sub Mini
a little too polite and restrained,
especially for listening to party music,
detects the Sub Mini and connects it and there are certainly cheaper
to the wi-fi network and then asks if I options that provide more raw bang
want to pair it with the Ray soundbar. for your buck. But, if you want a
It’s also possible to use the Sub Mini precise, well-balanced subwoofer that
with other Sonos speakers, such as will complement an existing Sonos
the Sonos One (HFC 470). speaker system, then the Sub Mini
The app also provides EQ controls will make a fine purchase ●
for bass and treble so you can fine
tune the sound. And, as always, the
app provides support for a wide range
of streaming services, including
Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal, as
OUR VERDICT
SOUND QUALITY LIKE: Precise, well-
well as the BBC Sounds app and a balanced bass; decent
variety of online radio stations. partnering app
VALUE FOR MONEY
DISLIKE: Limited
connectivity
Sound quality
WE SAY: An affordable,
Sonos’ distortion-free design seems to BUILD QUALITY
precise and
work, and the Sub Mini is certainly well-balanced sub
the most subtle subwoofer I’ve come FEATURES
across recently. On its default EQ
setting and midrange volume, the
bass output is barely perceptible. OVERALL
Rather than the roof-rattling rumble
that most subwoofers emit, I have to
 34

"EWBODFE
"MM*O0OF
/FUXPSL
4USFBNFS

8JUI
#VJMU*O
"NQMJDBUJPO
5IF
34
JT
BO
BMMJOPOF
QSPEVDU
XJUI
CVJMUJO
OFUXPSL
QMBZFS
%"$
BOE
BNQMJGJFS

5IF
BVEJP
TUBHF
VUJMJTFT
UIF
GMBHTIJQ
&4130
%"$
GSPN
&44
BMPOHTJEF
PVS

VOJRVF
PQBNQ
UFDIOPMPHZ
BOE
QSPWFO
$MBTT
"%
BNQMJGJFS
TUBHF
*O
VTF
34

CFOFGJUT
GSPN
3PTF
04

UIF
DMBTTMFBEJOH
NVMUJUPVDI
TPGUXBSF
XF
EFWFMPQFE

JOIPVTF
UP
ESJWF
BMM
PVS
TUSFBNFST

Distributed
Distributedby
byHenley
HenleyAudio
Audio
T:
T:+44
+44(0)
(0)1235
1235511
511166
166 | | E:
E:sales@henleyaudio.co.uk
sales@henleyaudio.co.uk | | W:
W:www.henleyaudio.co.uk
www.henleyaudio.co.uk | : HenleyAudioUK | : HenleyAudio
 REVIEWS VERTERE
DG-1S FROM £3,350
Refined
groove
Vertere’s striking-looking entry-level
turntable receives a tune-up, so Ed Selley
discovers if it’s now the one to beat
hen the bulk of your
W
products wear price tags
positioned somewhere
between healthy and mind
blowing, producing an affordable
introduction to what you do can be
a challenge. Vertere’s decision to
make a complete turntable that costs
less than one of its high-end lead-out
cables was the DG-1; a wholly novel
approach that impressed us when we
tested it back in HFC 463.
The DG-1S doesn’t seek to drastically
change the premise. Instead, it takes
areas the company felt could be
improved and works them into the
design, while making use of an
increasing ecosystem of its
components. This begins with a
higher quality polish and tighter
tolerance to the bearing and the
motor that combines with new
software for the drive system to
reduce noise and vibration.
64 JANUARY 2023
Elsewhere, the plinth has been
revised, seeing changes to how
the different layers are connected
together, and the whole assembly
now supports updated feet. The
platter is unchanged, but can now
accept the Technomat; the company’s
cork felt composite mat (HFC 470).
It is the tonearm that has received
the most attention. Now called the
Groove Runner S, it employs the
same unique design principles as
the original, where a PCB flex signal
carrier is bonded between two
sections of laminate, using bearings
made from nylon cords. However,
these laminate sections are now
five-layer polymer and the result is
stiffer than before. One outcome of
this is that changing cartridges feels
much simpler than it did before.
Any cartridge change is easier to
dial-in than before too. Revisions to
the counterweight mean that azimuth
errors are much easier to correct and
DETAILS
Vertere’s clever system of a large ‘main’
PRODUCT
Vertere DG-1S counterweight to set a close-to-correct
ORIGIN weight before using a smaller one
UK built into the ‘tube’ to make it exact is
very well thought out. VTA is easier to
TYPE
Belt-drive turntable adjust and the whole tonearm feels
WEIGHT less wilfully quirky to use. I would
8kg
hesitate to describe it as normal, but
DIMENSIONS
(WxHxD)
where the original was a significantly
469 x 130 x 384mm different experience to key rivals
FEATURES (see How it compares), this revised
● 33 and 45rpm
● Choice of factory
version is more confidence inspiring.
You can now also make use of the
fitted Magneto or
Sabre MM cartridge increasing range of Vertere accessories
● Groove Runner
S tonearm
The Vertere DG-1 S
DISTRIBUTOR
Vertere Ltd.
is absolutely rock
TELEPHONE
0203 1764888 solid and the noise
WEBSITE
vertereacoustics.
com
floor is negligible
to augment your DG-1S. As well as
the previously mentioned mat, you
can add IsoPaw feet (HFC 475),
Redline (HFC 473) RCA cable with
earth lead and Sabre moving-magnet
cartridge. The Sabre Pack available
for £4,950 combines all of these
refinements, but a more affordable
version with the simpler Magneto
cartridge is available at £3,350.
The last development is the option
of a white finish (black continues as
before). This is a blow to my dislike of
white hi-fi as it looks rather good. The
continued presence of black details
helps to break up the white on the
plinth and makes for a very striking
device. The DG-1S looks and feels
different to its competition and this
 VERTERE
DG-1S FROM £3,350 REVIEWS

bespoke feel benefits it. This is helped

by the detail changes making it feel
more practical and easy to live with.
Perhaps the only criticism I have is HOW IT
that the start/stop button remains a COMPARES
little too close to the belt to be ideal. In Sabre pack
configuration, the
Sound quality DG-1S is the same
For testing, I am supplied with the price as the Rega
components to experience the DG-1S Planar 10 (HFC 456)
with Apheta 3 (HFC
in a variety of the versions that it can
479) cartridge. The
be purchased in. I find that everything Rega is the slightly
you can attach to it from Vertere’s lusher sounding of
components doesn’t change its the two and can yield
fundamental character. That character more emotional
is built around the premise of the engagement. The
DG-1S relies simply
turntable putting as little of itself into on the recording to
what you hear as it can. This might engage and, so long
sound anticlimactic, but listening to as you are on board
Agnes Obel’s stunning Philharmonics with this, it can be
on the Vertere in its ‘base’ spec more transparent
is enormously impressive. than the Planar 10.
The Vertere’s feet
This is because all of the basics of the and Iso Paw
DG-1S combine to give this challenging arrangement and
record all that it needs. The original speed control
DG-1 never felt unstable, but the S is selected on the unit
absolutely rock solid and the noise floor also makes it more
practical in terms of
is negligible. This allows the piano to an utterly self-explanatory manner. of the DG-1S is adjustable if you wish.
placement and it will,
rise from silence and for every note to of course, work into The Sabre cartridge is a star turn In any system where you are already
have absolute stability. Obel herself is a a moving-magnet here. I have had one on hand for test happy with the tonal balance, the
defined presence, placed with certainty phono stage. work for a few months, but the DG-1S DG-1S has the advantage of being
but without harming the ephemeral really feels like its spiritual home. able to slip in without unsettling it.
nature of her vocals. Unforced and forgiving – the Wild
From this starting point, everything Beasts pressing is a hot one, but it Conclusion
you add anchors and refines these handles it superbly – it never feels like This isn’t a night-and-day revision to
skills. It never changes them or shifts there’s any sacrificing of dynamics or its predecessor, but greatness is in the
the balance away from the DG-1S’ impact. The party piece, of course, is details. It takes a clever and capable
unwavering desire to not be the story. that, as a moving-magnet design, it turntable and proceeds to eke more
After tinkering about with the various will work directly into the good performance out of the basic design.
upgrade parts, my feeling is that the quality internal phono stages making It goes on to make the user experience
Sabre Pack is the sweet spot for the a reappearance on a number of amps more conventional – dare I say it,
platform. The near five-grand asking at this price. As well as streamlining comforting? – without compromising
price puts it in the same field as some the box count, it helps not to have to the design ideals or those striking
seriously talented opposition, but if you splash out on a phono stage. aesthetics. The final piece of the puzzle
are on board with the Vertere way of It’s also worth noting that if you is the developing ecosystem of Vertere
doing things, the DG-1S more than want to tweak the DG-1S’ personality, parts, which means owners have a
holds its own. it can be done fairly easily by changing greater level of potential stretch in
Last Night, All My Dreams Came True the cartridge. Some listening with a their purchase than was the case with
by Wild Beasts is infused with the joy of Goldring Ethos (HFC 449) sees the the original DG-1. The result is a
a band ending their journey on their Vertere sound a little fuller and warmer superb analogue front-end that can
terms and this energy permeates every in the midrange, helping to make Joan challenge anything else that’s
groove of the record. The Vertere Armatrading’s All The Way From available at or near the price ●
doesn’t add anything because nothing The option to America sound richer and more
needs to be added. Thanks to this, it add additional seductive, even if the final result
Vertere parts
can instead focus on making the band makes this a
might not be quite as close to the
a tangible group of performers and great choice master as the ‘all Vertere’ combinations. OUR VERDICT
recreating the space around them in for tweakers It does suggest that the final balance SOUND QUALITY LIKE: Extremely open
yet involving
performance; well
VALUE FOR MONEY made; plenty of
upgrade options
DISLIKE: Power switch
BUILD QUALITY too close to belt
WE SAY: A very well
FEATURES
considered revamp
of an already very
talented design

OVERALL

JANUARY 2023 65
 NEW V5 Series
With beautiful new industrial design and build, higher-spec components
throughout and a System Link outlet allowing the connection of multiple
units while maintaining a star earth reference, the V5 series once again sets
a new standard in performance.

 #
 
$                
       




  !
         "   
       

 % 
 '
(#
&       

Distributors of the finest high-fidelity audio components

t. 01592 744 710 | www.finesounds.uk | info@finesounds.uk
Fine Sounds UK is a McIntosh Group Company

Classical
music
Cyrus’ updated Classic range kicks off with
an integrated looking to be trad and modern.
Ed Selley sees if it strikes the right balance
yrus Audio’s recent
C releases have focused on
fleshing out its impressive
XR range and, before that,
creating the ONE Series of amplifiers.
Between these two points, the Six and
Eight series have continued with only
detail revisions for some years, and it
is only now that Cyrus has turned its
attention back to them. Where there
were two ranges, the replacements
will be a single lineup of Classic
components of which the Classic
AMP is one of the first to go on sale.
Its name speaks to a certain ‘does
what it says on the tin’ intent from
Cyrus towards the range, but there
is a flexibility to the Classic AMP
that befits the requirements of the
moment. At its core it offers four RCA
line inputs and a moving-magnet
phono stage, which looks to be the
same as the one used in the XR
devices and is in turn descended from
the glorious Phono Signature (HFC
408). A pre-out is fitted, simplifying
the business of running a 2.1 system
and also allowing for various Cyrus
power amps to be attached.
This is joined by a digital board that
offers two optical and two coaxial
CYRUS
CLASSIC AMP £2,000 REVIEWS
DETAILS This is part of a wider theme that
befits the ‘Classic’ part of the name.
PRODUCT
Cyrus Classic AMP The Classic AMP is finished in the
ORIGIN more traditional black of the earlier
UK models rather than the ‘Phantom
TYPE Black’ of the XR amps. This is not an
Integrated amplifier issue in itself and it is certainly very
WEIGHT well bolted together. However, it
6.7kg
features the older Cyrus black on
DIMENSIONS
(WxHxD)
green display. This could warrant the
215 x 75 x 365mm term ‘Classic’ if you were feeling
FEATURES
● Claimed power
generous, but could just as easily be
seen as ‘old’ too. It’s hard to read and
output: 2x 91W
(6ohm)
not terribly attractive. The buttons
on the front panel are logical enough,
● Four line-level
inputs via RCA
● Digital board with
2x coaxial and 2x Very few rivals at this
inputs with a maximum sample rate optical inputs
price can match the
of 24-bit/192kHz. USB is not present
as this is the earlier version of the
Cyrus digital board rather than the
● Moving-magnet
phono stage
DISTRIBUTOR
Cyrus Audio Ltd.
sheer energy that
one fitted to the XR models. This
TELEPHONE
the Cyrus delivers
marks one of the more major points 01480 410900
of distinction between the Classic WEBSITE and the AMP comes with the current
AMP and the i7 XR (HFC 473), which cyrusaudio.com Cyrus system remote – which is very
costs £500 more at the time of writing flexible and useful.
and otherwise feels very similar in Something else carried over from
terms of connectivity. Something older Cyrus models is the option to
absent from both –which is a bit of a add an external power supply. The
shame – is Bluetooth. PSX-R2 continues to be available and
The feet are
These inputs are made available to adjustable
attaches via an umbilical, taking over
an amplifier section that offers 91W for different the preamp section, leaving the toroid
into 6ohm (equating to 70W into the height settings in the amp to concentrate on the
more traditional 8ohm measurement
point). This is more powerful than
the i7 XR and, while there are amps
available at the price that have more
power still, the Classic AMP doesn’t
struggle during testing. Cyrus says
– without specifying what – that
technology from the XR programme
has been used in this amp section
too. A constant is the use of terminals
that do not accept solid-tipped 4mm
plugs for reasons I have never truly
understood, while the decision to put
the headphone socket on the rear is
also far from ideal.
JANUARY 2023 67
CONNECTED
Multi-award-winning products
featuring the latest shielding
materials and our unique ARAY
technology, first introduced on
our flagship products and now
benefitting all ranges and budgets.

High-performance analogue and

digital interconnects are available
alongside speaker, tone arm and
power cables, mains distribution
blocks, HDMI cables and multi-port
switches.

ChorAlloy™ plated connectors now

fitted as standard wherever possible.

Proudly designed in England since

1985 by a dedicated team of music,
cinema and game lovers.

Used and recommended all over

the world by a host of professionals,
including record producers, studio
engineers, musicians and fellow hi-fi
manufacturers.

Ask your nearest Chord

Company retailer for a
demonstration.

ww.chord.co.uk

BEST ANALOGUE
BEST ANALOGUE INTERCONNECT
INTERCONNECT OVER £100
UNDER £100
Chord Company
Chord Company C-line Clearway Analogue RCA

power amp. Costing £995, it’s a
proportionally pricey addition, but
it gives more stretch than many
rivals and we find its addition to
be beneficial; not changing the
characteristics of the AMP, but
further fixing and defining them.
Sound quality
Listening to the Classic AMP fairly
quickly reveals that elements that
were present on the XR series have
made the transition here too. Initially
running via a Chord Qutest (HFC
436) into an RCA input, the angry
and potent-sounding EBM by Editors
would have sounded slightly edgy
and uncomfortable on older Cyrus
amplifiers, but here – even when
Picturesque is at its more bombastic
– there is a smoothness and control
The phono stage is
right up there with
the best I’ve heard
at this price point
to how the Classic AMP handles
proceedings. This ensures you can
keep the volume pinned at an
antisocial level without feeling the
result is strident. It’s still possible to
partner speakers that are too forward,
but the bulk of testing takes place
with the Neat Petite Classic (HFC
495) and the result is very forgiving.
There is also a useful step forward
in tonality. Cyrus has never been
poor in this regard, but the Classic
AMP does an excellent job with the
guitar work in Otis Taylor’s Tight
Wire Blues. The sheer range of sound
that Taylor gets out of the instrument
is relayed effortlessly and the effect is
astonishingly vivid. There are points
where my notes for the Classic AMP
and i7 XR read almost identically.
Where the two differ, however, is
that the more sophisticated digital
board of the i7 XR does a better job
of maintaining this presentation.
The digital inputs of the Classic AMP
are easier to provoke into sounding
CYRUS
CLASSIC AMP £2,000 REVIEWS
HOW IT
COMPARES
The same price,
Rega’s Elicit MK5
(HFC 490) is an
altogether more
modern and
handsome-looking
amplifier than the
Cyrus. It also has
more power,
although the Cyrus
doesn’t struggle with
any loudspeaker
we connect to it.
The Rega has less
digital inputs, but
sounds better via
them than the
Classic AMP. But the
Cyrus is arguably
more sonically slightly harsh and forward with There’s one last party piece; one
engaging than the poorer quality material. It would be shared with the XR models. The
incredibly talented better to view these inputs as able to phono stage might ‘only’ be moving
Rega. It also has a handle things like TVs and set-top magnet, but the level of performance
better phono stage, boxes rather than as your main means it offers is right up there with the best
more useful remote
of decoding digital audio. The more I’ve heard around this price point.
and takes up less
room. I can see expensive amp doesn’t have everything Noise levels are low to non-existent
dealer demos its own way, though. The extra power and this allows the Cyrus to put in
between them of the Classic AMP means that speakers a vibrant and exciting presentation.
going either way. like the Focal Kanta No1 (HFC 454), The way it powers through Hyper
while not insensitive, benefit from the Dimensional Expansion Beam by
extra grip that it can provide. The Comet Is Coming is a heady
The most impressive aspect of its combination of technical accuracy
performance is that, while it feels like and out-and-out joy that is fairly
a honed and improved version of unusual for an internal phono stage.
what came before, this has been
achieved without compromising on Conclusion
the virtues its predecessors did so It’s this balance that the Classic AMP
well. The way that the Cyrus attacks brings to so much of its operation that
– there is no better word in this makes it so admirable. While it might
instance – Dead And Gone by Ghost look a curious strategy to have two
Woman is utterly captivating. You can models just £500 apart, this does more
argue that some amps at the same to justify its existence than expected.
price have more bass extension and a If you have source equipment already,
little more soundstage, but very few this is a superlative piece of kit, offering
can match the sheer energy that the a harmonious blend of everything
Cyrus delivers. The tempo of the that makes Cyrus amps so compelling
Connectivity
music is less important to this with a refinement and realism that
includes four perception than you might think. puts it right near the top of the class.
RCA, two optical Agnes Obel’s On Powdered Ground If the rest of the Classic range is this
and two coaxial is hardly a rocker, but without ever good, we could be in for a treat ●
inputs plus a
moving-magnet
making the piece sound strained
phono stage or forced, the Cyrus maintains the
and a pre-out same engaging immediacy.
OUR VERDICT
SOUND QUALITY LIKE: Fast, lively yet
forgiving sound;
good connectivity
VALUE FOR MONEY DISLIKE: Looks a little
old-fashioned
BUILD QUALITY WE SAY: If you have
source equipment,
the Classic AMP
FEATURES
combines many Cyrus
virtues with some
interesting new talents
OVERALL
JANUARY 2023 69
Less is
more.
Ailsa Ultra RCA Grun

The perfect cable would never add or

subtract anything to or from the audio
signal. To get ever closer, we innovate.
We listen. We refine.
We designed every single aspect of Ailsa
to minimise any audible signature.
The less you hear of the cable itself, the

Ailsa.
more music remains.

High-quality materials and our new ‘balanced core’

geometry combine with high-precision Ultra RCA
connectors and Grun compatibility.
the performance connection
Meticulously hand-assembled , we believe the Ailsa
family defines a new standard at its price point. atlascables.com

D E S I G N E D & H A N D M A D E I N S C O T L A N D

Right angle
Audio Physic reads from a different script
when it comes to speakers. David Vivian
sees what surprises await in the new Spark 6
n true Audio Physic fashion,
I
this elegant standmount’s
enclosure is mildly raked,
as if struggling to stay
upright in a stiff breeze. Intriguingly,
its expansive side panels live behind
precisely cut decoupled panes of glass.
The flush-fitting square of material
supporting the single binding posts is
strangely pliable and ‘gives’, a little
worryingly, as you press home the
speaker cables. And the rear-firing
port is an oval slot sighted high on the
rear baffle. But then the new Spark 6
is by no means your traditional
standmount. And that is the intention.
Germany’s Audio Physic has form
when it comes to seeking innovative
solutions. The pointers are in the back
story. Over the company’s 35 years,
investment in the development of
new materials and structures has
been key to the evolution of its
designs. AP was the first company to
use ceramic foam and, somewhat
against the grain, thought glass
a perfectly acceptable material
application – and the Spark 6 leaves
AUDIO PHYSIC
SPARK 6 £5,800 REVIEWS
DETAILS you in no doubt of that. The company’s
take on drive units doesn’t seem to
PRODUCT
Audio Physic have much time for conventional
Spark 6 thinking, either.
ORIGIN Audio Physic’s stated sonic ambition
Germany leans heavily into sheer resolving
TYPE
3-way standmount
power and the spatial aspects of
sound reproduction. Indeed, its
loudspeaker
WEIGHT motto is: “no loss of fine detail” –
one of the more easily appreciated
18kg
DIMENSIONS assets that defines the high end.
(WxHxD) And it’s from the oxygen-starved
202 x 483 x 371mm
heights of AP’s range, represented by
FEATURES
● 39mm aluminium
the £36k Cardeas floorstander, that its
dome tweeter so-called PowerTrain tech is trickled
● 150mm spider-less down for adoption and advantage by
midband driver
● 180mm double
the Spark 6. Perhaps of most value in
surround bass driver this three-way design is the unique
● Quoted sensitivity: 150mm HHCM SL midrange driver,
88dB/1W/1m (4ohm)
which – chasing greater efficiency,
DISTRIBUTOR responsiveness and resolution –
Elite Audio
has no form of centring spider at all
WEBSITE
audiophysic.com and therefore less moving mass and
eliteaudiouk.com inertia. Also borrowed from on high
is the ‘Wavecor’ 180mm double-
surround bass driver. Bang in the
middle of the glossy black baffle sits
a third-gen version of the company’s
HHCTIII 39mm aluminium dome
tweeter, its claimed 40kHz frequency
ceiling enjoying an eye-catching
symmetry with what is said to be a
very smooth 40Hz bass extension
The Spark 6 unearths
exceptional levels
of micro detail and
micro dynamics
quoted for the system. Not bad going
for a standmount.
But then the Spark 6 is no empty
box. Also shared with the Cardeas
is a multi-sandwich honeycomb
construction that incorporates
incredibly hard silicon carbide foam
liners. As well as providing bracing
for the enclosure, they don’t steal
much internal volume and make
effective diffuser traps to boot. A
different type of foam (conductive
copper) is a component in the
crossover’s capacitors while ceramic
foam makes a return inside the bass
port to provide ‘aperiodic’ damping.
There’s a matching stand, the
Sherpa M, which not only lifts the
Spark 6 the correct distance from the
floor, but also has magnetic VCF
decoupling feet.
Sound quality
Anyone who has been around hi-fi
long enough will know that some
speakers sound fantastic. Improbably
fantastic. Or perhaps just plain
fantastical. The typical culprit is the
JANUARY 2023 71
 REVIEWS AUDIO PHYSIC
SPARK 6 £5,800
expertly contrived entertainer
designed solely to impress the socks
off anyone within earshot and is a
wondrous thing. For a few hours,
possibly a few minutes, at least. I
think you know precisely the kind of
turbocharged, tricked-up transducer
I’m referring to. Contrary to the
notion espoused by Steely Dan’s
debut studio album, you really can
buy a thrill. And live to regret it.
If you’ve been there, purchased the
T-shirt and subsequently consigned it
to a long stay in the laundry basket
then the Audio Physic’s take on
absolute, true-to-life clarity will leave
you slack jawed, and not because the
excitement dial has been nudged up
to 11. On the contrary, there’s no
nailed-on neon, no transients so sharp
they glint in the sun, no massaged
mids or pumped upper bass. It’s not
a lapel grab, ‘get-a-load-of-this’ kind
of speaker, pimping modest talent
for maximum effect. Rather, its
abundant, multi-faceted assets engage
seamlessly without forced impetus. It
means a soundstage that dissolves the
walls of the listening room, a sense of
presence, air and drive that draws the
focus from raw loudness, the kind of
effortless temporal precision that
doesn’t make you sweat the ‘pace,
rhythm and timing’ stuff, but invites
you simply to engage with the music.
It’s the difference between what
72 JANUARY 2023
HOW IT
COMPARES
If you want an even
more imposing
standmount than
the Spark 6, Fyne
Audio’s F1-8 (HFC
473) is a must
audition. It’s
most definitely
a standmount
that ploughs its
own path both
technically and
stylistically and
in its fusion of
standmount and
floorstander
strengths it’s a
rare beast. Other
contenders that
might grace your £5
– 7k shortlist could
well include KEF’s
Reference 1 (HFC
414), Audiovector’s sounds impressively emphatic and Standing down the Madison and
R1 Arreté and the what sounds real. Melody for Chord Electronics’ Hugo
Wilson Benesch Perhaps most telling is how the TT2 (HFC 468) preamp DAC and
Precision P1.0.
All are terrific
Spark’s manifest transparency, tonal matching TToby power amp fed by a
performers with authenticity and probing resolution Primare NP5 Prisma MK2 (HFC 494)
huge musical informs imaging of such palpable streaming transport and cueing up
insight, but only solidity. Playing a very tasty Tidal Wireless Communication from Billy
the KEF gets close Master stream of Tiny Hands from Cobham, the Spark’s core gift for
to matching the
jazz singer Malene Mortensen, realism is intact but delivered with
Spark’s pitch-
perfect naturalness. performers and studio intimacy are still more lifelike power and dynamic
replete, the Spark 6 exhibiting an tension, rendering Cobham’s supple,
ability, with the supporting talents of laid-back drumming and Mike Stern’s
a Wattson Madison streaming DAC nimble lead guitar with remarkable
and Melody’s mighty AN300B Max scale, authority and grip for a
integrated tube, to easily unearth standmount speaker.
exceptional levels of micro detail and
micro dynamics, insight essential for Conclusion
true believability. There aren’t many ways to say this, so
As such, we’re nowhere near the I’ll come straight to the point. The
buffed sonic veneers, floral filters and Spark 6 is one of the best standmounts
deft buttering up employed by some I’ve heard, irrespective of price. That
speaker designers. Instead, what we good. Yes, its midband has magical
have is, and I’ve been saving the qualities, but that alone isn’t it. The
overused and seldom deserved one prize is what is often cited as holy
word descriptor for an appropriate grail but seldom realised, a speaker
moment: naturalness. Naturalness that really does step aside and let
that refuses to be broken down into the music tell the story ●
the usual arbitrary metrics. It can take
you aback because, on first audition
with a critical mindset, it’s hard to
‘hear’ the speaker in conventional
treble, mid, bass, fast, slow terms.
OUR VERDICT
SOUND QUALITY LIKE: Superb
The drivers might be special – and the transparency and
spider-less midrange unit is clearly cohesion; style,
VALUE FOR MONEY build and finish
the star player – but their integration
DISLIKE: May not
is stunning, the top-to-bottom evenness immediately grab you
and coherence rivalling the best panel BUILD QUALITY
WE SAY: With no
designs, only with more body, dynamic obvious sonic
stretch and supreme foundational bass. EASE OF DRIVE
fingerprint of its own,
this is a standmount
In high-end audio it’s the smallest for the long haul
things that can make the biggest
difference. Here, it isn’t so much OVERALL
about the highs, mids and lows as the
care lavished on everything in between.
 INTRODUCING THE:

MX-STREAM
The MX-STREAM is a universal, transport-only network device that can deliver online or
network streaming audio services using a USB Class 2.0 input on your DAC.

The MX-Stream sends only pure musical information with almost no jitter or noise
interference to your DAC. The end result is an overall cleaner signal chain making the
MX-STREAM a perfect streaming solution for that iconic Musical Fidelity Sound.

Dont Settle for anything less than a perfect Musical Fidelity.

Distributed
Distributedby byHenley
HenleyAudio
Audio
T:T:+44
+44(0)
(0)1235
1235511
511166
166 | | E:E:sales@henleyaudio.co.uk
sales@henleyaudio.co.uk | | W:
W:www.henleyaudio.co.uk
www.henleyaudio.co.uk | : HenleyAudioUK | : HenleyAudio

YO U R
THIS MONTH
ED SELLEY
EXPERTISE: REVIEWER
Active in the industry
since 1999, Ed’s first record
was Boss Drum by The Shamen.
He splits his time between
reviewing and protecting hi-fi
kit from his son Will.
Email us at: letters@hifichoice.co.uk or write to: Hi-Fi Choice
Letters, AVTech Media Ltd, Suite 6G, Eden House, Enterprise Way,
Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 6HF. Your letters may be edited before
publication and we cannot enter into personal correspondence
Radio Gaga
Hi gang, thanks for a great
magazine! I love reading the
expert reviews, the vintage
section and all-round technical
knowledge (I also subscribe
to HiFi News and HCC).
Could you do a Group Test of
internet tuners? There don’t
seem to be many dedicated ones
on the market and even though
I still listen to FM (and AM for
football commentary) on my
Sony S770ES and Denon TU-S10,
I’d like to compare the quality
of internet radio and access
the thousands of stations from
around the world.
Having looked, in this world of
streaming there doesn’t seem
to be many dedicated internet
WE ASKED...
What’s your format
preference for new music?
• Vinyl
• CD
• Downloads
• Reel-to-reel tape
1%
20%
34%
45%
Results from hifichoice.com
Go online for more polling action
L E T T E R S & Q U E ST I O N S
NEVILLE ROBERTS JASON KENNEDY
EXPERTISE: ENGINEER EXPERTISE: REVIEWER
Neville has an eclectic taste for Editor of HFC from 1998
classical baroque and jazz. His to 2001, Jason’s first turntable
wife was forced to marry his was Rega’s Planar 3 and Elvis’
transmission line speakers in the 40 Greatest Hits was his first
eighties and he collects BBC test vinyl, so don’t go stepping on
card music. his blue suede shoes.
More ways to get in touch:
You can also send your questions to us via social media:
twitter.com@HiFiChoiceMag
facebook.com/hifichoice.co.uk
tuners. A gap in the market? I
think so. There’s still a massive
radio audience out there and I
think a number of readers would
be interested to know more.
Kalwant Chaggar, by email
JK: Standalone internet tuners are
rare, in fact I can’t recall seeing one in
recent times, Kalwant. Streamers on
the other hand are almost ubiquitous
and all of them provide internet radio
that pulls in stations from across the
globe. I like the Naim models, but that
could be because I have a Mu-So QB
(HFC 409). There are also remarkably
inexpensive examples such as the
Escape M1 Air at £200. This has
analogue or optical output and
wireless connection. You need to
control what it does with an app, but it
produces engaging sound if connected
to a decent DAC. More conventional
full-width examples from Cambridge
Audio are also very capable.
Sponsored by:
A N S W E R E D
DAVID PRICE CHRIS WARD
EXPERTISE: REVIEWER EXPERTISE: REVIEWER
DP two-finger typed his first Like his first kiss, Chris will
hi-fi review 25 years ago. Since never forget the sound of his
then he’s edited Hi-Fi World first amp – an Aura Evolution
and HFC. He describes himself VA-100. War Of The Worlds and
as an “unreconstructed Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours were
analogue addict”. his first records.
Naim’s Mu-So NR: There are a few, like the
QB has built-in Cambridge Audio CXN V2 (HFC 437).
internet radio
I personally have an Azur 851N, which
gives a very good sound. However, you
are always going to be limited by the
quality of the digital transmissions,
both in terms of bit-rates and
compression, and I still find that a
good-quality FM tuner offers far
superior sound quality.
ES: I was approached by Steve to see
if this could be turned into a Group Test
and unfortunately, it isn’t easy. Internet
radio is a ubiquitous feature on
network audio players; Bluesound,
Cambridge Audio, Naim and Linn are
excellent at it, but it’s rarely available
as a standalone device because of
this. Put simply, something like the
venerable but capable Yamaha
WX-AD10 (HFC 424) would be very
good at it, as would a Bluesound Node
(HFC 482) – both while offering
streaming service access and network
JANUARY 2023 75

DS Audio is a
great match for
Clearaudio arms
and turntables
audio at the same time. The scope for a
device that only offers internet radio is
limited when there are affordable
options that do all this and more.
Match me up
Having read your article on DS
Audio’s DS003 cartridge in HFC
481, I was very impressed with
the unit. It got me thinking what
would be the perfect partnering
turntable for the cartridge and
equaliser? I thought possibly the
Linn LP12 Akurate.
Gentlemen, your thoughts on
which turntable would suit the
cartridge best would be most
welcome and much appreciated.
Jim McLeod, Thurso
CW: Hi Jim, controversially perhaps
I’m going to say it’s better to match a
cartridge to a tonearm and turntable
combo than the other way around. I
think there will be a host of turntables
that perfectly fit the bill. The more
important matter is matching the
compliance of the cartridge to the
effective mass of the tonearm. Ask
a DS Audio dealer for guidance.
ES: I’ve had some outstanding demos
of DS cartridges. Clearaudio can sound
excellent (and the brands share a
distributor, so this duo is often
encountered), but I have also
experienced Vertere and AVID being
used and enjoyed both of those.
Crucially, despite the radical
technology, the cartridges themselves
seem extremely benign in use and will
work with a good spread of turntables.
Spin doctor
Who’d have thought that when
compact disc launched back in
the Eighties and many of us
started moving our record
collections on that, some 40 or
so years later, it would be vinyl
that was in the ascendancy and
LETTERS
Rocket,
Man …
compact disc that would be the
format on its way out?
I still listen to CD and greatly
enjoy the fact that picking up
discs appears to be cheaper
than ever. However, my ageing
Technics deck is on its last
legs and I reluctantly think
it’s high time I considered a
replacement. But what to go for?
CD reviews in HFC aren’t as
frequent as they used to be and I
am a little bit lost as to what I
should go for. For example do I
consider one that is under £250
or upwards of £1,000?
I wonder if HFC’s experts could
advise on a decent budget option
I need to replace my
CD player, can you
suggest one at £250
and a £1,000+ one?
(under £500) and one closer
to £1,000 that are worth
considering. Thanks for a
Even if Elton John isn’t
continually entertaining read. your thing, the new
Gerald Bakewell, Exmouth
AudioQuest Rocket 11, like
CW: To my mind Gerald, it’s hard to
beat the value and build quality of all AudioQuest products is
budget Marantz players. Check out
the Marantz CD6007 (around £380). designed to let your music
Spend more on the Audiolab 8300CDQ
(HFC 448, around £995) and you’ll
take centre stage, our
gain extra DAC and preamp attention to detail means
functionality, but the value of the
Marantz is pretty hard to beat. that your favourite music is
DP: Who indeed would think that simply given the chance to
vinyl is now outselling CD? According
to the latest figures from the Digital shine.
Entertainment and Retail Association
(ERA), vinyl sales are up 12.2 percent
year on year – at £80,934,220. CD on
the other hand, is down by 8.1 percent
with sales stacking up at £68,851,246.
It’s a truly sobering figure, and will
JANUARY 2023 77
 May 2021

HONOUR THE April 2021

GREAT
Released to honour the 250th anniversary of the birth of
3\K^PN]HU)LL[OV]LU[OL4)SHJR3=)YLKLÄULZ
what is possible from a moving magnet cartridge. By
mounting a nude Shibata diamond on a boron cantilever,
the same combination found on our high-end MC Cadenza
UPGRADE YOUR 2M
Black cartridge, it truly is an exercise in technical excellence
BLACK TO THE NEW
that has to be heard to be believed. FLAGSHIP STANDARD
WITH THE LVB 250 STYLUS

Distributed
Distributedby
byHenley
HenleyAudio
Audio
T:
T:+44
+44(0)
(0)1235
1235511
511166
166 | | E:
E:sales@henleyaudio.co.uk
sales@henleyaudio.co.uk | | W:
W:www.henleyaudio.co.uk
www.henleyaudio.co.uk | : HenleyAudioUK | : HenleyAudio

remind many of us living in our hi-fi
bubbles that – as someone once said
– “constant change is here to stay”!
I have two suggestions for you, based
on recent testing that I have done on
models in this price range. First, Rega’s
latest Apollo (£700) CD player should
be your baseline, as it gives a warm,
engaging and musical sound. It’s a
little soft around the edges, but this
is no bad thing. Your upper budget
choice should be Musical Fidelity’s
M3scd (£1,250); this really surprised
me by sounding very accomplished
for its price. It’s more like a budget
high-end machine than a fancy budget
one, if that makes any sense. It has a
very open and engaging sound, with
lots of detail and a satisfyingly musical
nature. I know both are a little more
expensive than you specified, but
inflation is running rife right now!
What are Directivity
Control Rings and
how do they affect
a speaker’s sound?
With this ring...
I very much enjoyed the
November issue, as usual, but
was left more than a little
confused by the Exotica review
– the ELAC Concentro S530.
In the review it says: “ELAC
bundles three pairs of alloy
‘Directivity Control Rings’
(DCRs) along with each S503”
before noting that each ring
offers a different dispersion
pattern ranging: “from diffuse
to more focused”.
Can someone explain to me
what these rings are and how
they are able to offer such
apparently differing results?
All very confusing.
Matt Allen, via Facebook
NR: Hello Matt, the DCRs are metal
rings that are fitted over the midrange
unit to offer some adjustment to the
directional characteristics in the
mid-frequency range to suit the
LETTERS We’ve got the
MAINS EXPERTS SINCE 1986
“definitely offers
significant
improvements
over the standard
mains leads that
come supplied
with Hi-Fi
Musical Fidelity’s M3scd is very
accomplished for its £1,250 price
equipment”
Hi-Fi Choice
YellO Power
conditions in the listening area. ELAC mains cable
says that they are used to influence the
relationship between direct and diffuse
sound. The differences will be heard
around instrument focus and
positioning, and the appropriate ring
for your room will be found when
instruments snap into a clear position
in the soundstage. The only way to
decide the best option is by ear, as
with all speaker-focus devices.
Stop whining
LETTER In December 2021, I
OF THE bought an ex-demo
MONTH
Pro-Ject Pre Box Digital
and Amp Box DS2 to feed
my Monitor Audio BX2
speakers. I was really pleased
with the clean sound that they
produced; it was a significant
step up from my Marantz
PM6005, though I found I
missed its Loudness function,
which made for a nice, fulsome
bass. More significantly, I was
dismayed to find that shortly
after installing the new amp, I
started to hear a high-pitched
whining noise emanating from
one of the speakers.
I researched this, by internet
and phone, and tried swapping
out different components and
cables but struggled to identify
the source of the problem “I count this
(swapping the speaker cable upgrade to be
between channels only made
the noise follow suit). One of one of the most
the good people at Richer surprising and
Sounds, whom I’ve found to be
knowledgeable and experienced, significant
advised me that it was probably upgrades that I
a ‘ground loop’. He said they
don’t always manifest as a hum
have made”
and that their source can be Hi-Fi Pig
extremely tricky to identify. YellO Power and
I tried upgrading to Chord PowerBar
Clearway X speaker cable and
this seemed to help, but only
for a matter of hours. By this
point the whine was sometimes WARRANT Y
coming from both speakers,
60 DAY MONEY UPGRADE 25 YEAR
not just the left-hand channel. BACK GUARANTEE SCHEME WARRANTY
I decided to upgrade to a pair
of floorstanders, in order to
JANUARY 2023 79
WWW.RUSSANDREWS.COM/POWER
 Made in Britain
Since 1995

FU R NIT UR E TO MA KE YO U R
HIFI SOUND EVEN BET TE R

BE T T E R SO U N D – MO DU LA R D ES I G N – S I M PLE TO BU I L D

WWW.QUADRASPIRE.CO.UK

A decent earth
loop isolator
should cure
Stephen’s issues
improve my bass output, and
when the DALI Oberon 5s were
installed they certainly did that
– and the whining disappeared.
For months I thought all was
well, until... recently, I sent the
power amp away for repair
(they: “replaced the left Hypex
module”). Upon it’s return, the
same whining noise started
coming out of the left-channel
again. This time round, I realised
I could try a further experiment
and by using a couple of DACs,
with variable outputs, to feed
my power amp directly. Over an
extended period, these produced
The engineer
informed me that a
ground loop was a
hum and not a whine
no whine, thus isolating the fault
to the preamp. With no hi-fi shop
near me, I took it into a guitar
shop and the engineer informed
me that a ground loop was a
50Hz hum and certainly not a
whine. But, despite this, and
having experienced something
similar himself, in the past, he
suggested trying a ‘Ground Loop
Isolator’ (av:link), which was
only about £10 and he said
worked: “by induction”.
I’d considered the iFi GND
Defender that I’d seen reviewed
in HFC, but had put it off. This
option seemed preferable as, if
it failed, I wouldn’t be out of
pocket by much. I inserted it
between the pre and power amp
and sure enough the whining
noise disappeared! The only
side-effect is that there’s now a
significant hum for a split second
after turning it on or selecting
between inputs, but this is a
LETTERS
Hand crafted in Ogden, Utah since 1979
NEW
4PR & 8PR
with
Varistrand™
trifling price to pay and I’m now
a very relieved and happy
customer of Ayr Guitar! I
wondered whether you could
confirm whether this really
was a ground loop and, if not,
why did a ground loop isolator
work? Also, are there some
circumstances where paying
£100 for the iFi device, to plug
into the mains, would make
more sense than paying £10 for
this wee device, which bridges
between an RCA cable and input
socket? Thanks for a great
magazine that I look forward
to reading every month.
Stephen, Ayrshire
JK: That’s a mysterious one Stephen. It
sounds as if the preamp is the issue,
finding someone to repair that would
be the best long-term option.
Kimber’s legendary 'PR'
CW: Ground loops tend to be very
clear cut, an obvious hum and not a speaker cable design,
whine. A whine is far more likely to be
RF (Radio Frequency) interference. I now with Kimber
certainly don’t think your interconnects
or loudspeakers have ever been the VariStrand™ conductors
culprits, however different impedance
(load) loudspeakers could suppress
some of the interference. My suspicion
is a faulty power supply within your
preamp. However, It must be said,
you’ve obviously just been unlucky.
NR: Gosh, that’s a very comprehensive Visit russandrews.com/pr
fault-finding process – well done! It is
most likely an earth/ground loop issue. for more information
There can also be multiple earth paths
in a system and the non-linearities can
result in many harmonics, so it’s not Try it in your own system
always just a hum you hear, but more with FREE UK mainland delivery
of a buzz or whine. A good-quality and 60 Day Money Back Guarantee
earth loop isolator, such as the iFi
device, should cure the problem. In
order to provide safe and effective
WARRANT Y
isolation, good-quality components are
required so as not to introduce other
noise into the audio chain. 60 DAY MONEY BACK 25 YEAR
GUARANTEE WARRANTY
SOLD EXCLU S I V E LY
JANUARY I N T H E U K 81
2023
BY RUSS ANDREWS
SAV
VE THE DATE:

$& /.


*)
.'

Spring

2023







ғ



ғ

  

EXCLUSIIVE HIGH-END AUDIO ON DEMONSTRATION

ғ
LIVE MUSIC ғ
VINYL FAIR ғ
VINTAGE HI-FI VILLAGE
ғ
HI-FI WORKSHOPS ғ
PANORAMIC HEADPHONE ZONE
PLUS
MEET WORLD-CLASS DESIGNERS & HI-FI PERSONALITIES

ғ
FREE CAR PARKING ғ FULL BAR SERVICE ғ HOT & COLD FOOD ALL DAY

For more information, updates & ticket sales:

ZZZ
ZK
KLÀVVKRZOLYH
HF
FRP
P
* Friday Sept 29 LQYLWHGWUDGHSUHVVDQGJXHVWVZHHNHQGSXEOLF
th 8MK\Z_
d\[`Xck[

ES: My working knowledge of
electricity pretty much begins
and ends with not sticking my
fingers in plug sockets, but it
sounds like the PSU in the pre
is picking up something on the
mains that induces the noise in
the system and you are now
successfully blocking it out.
Buy without trying
I am looking for a new amplifier
to replace my Cambridge Audio
851A and have shortlisted four
possible candidates. I am for
the moment using it with
some Q-Acoustics Concept 30
speakers and a Cambridge Azur
851C CD player. The amplifiers
I’m interested in are the
Simaudio MOON 240i, Rega
Elicit MK5, Hegel H120 and
Atoll IN200.
I also have an Audiolab
CD6000T, which somewhere along
the way I would like to put into
I’m looking for an
amplifier to partner
my Concept 30
loudspeakers
service, though obviously for that
I will also need a DAC.
I listen to a broad range of
different music, though nothing
particularly heavy or classical.
My problem is that I live about
500km away from the nearest
dealers, so I’m going to have buy
without auditioning as I struggle
to get the time. I would be
grateful for any advice.
David Ching, by email
DP: Given your budget David, I’d go
for the Rega Elicit MK5 (HFC 490) or
Exposure 3510 (HFC 485). Having
heard most amps currently on sale
at this price, these two are my clear
preferences and not that different from
one another in terms of sound. Both
are smooth and musical, with lots of
air and space – although the Exposure
has more power and load driving
ability in my view, and a slightly fuller
tonality. The DAC to go for, if you can
WIN A RUSS ANDREWS YELLOPOWER
OWER
MAINS LEAD WORTH £69!
Letter of the Month winners receive
a Russ Andrews yellOPower mains
lead worth £69. Write to us
at: letters@hifichoice.co.uk
LETTERS
RACKS & SUPPORTS
Rega’s Elicit MK5 has an
involving and entertaining
sound that should suit David
afford it, is the Chord Electronics
Qutest (HFC 436)– it’s the best-
sounding thing in its class, with a very
musical sound and lots of detail.
JK: Given that you want to use your
CD transport it would make sense to
go for one of the options which has its
own DAC and of those the strongest LIGHTWEIGHT
contenders are the Rega and the Hegel
H120 (HFC 460). I prefer the sound RIGID
of the Rega, which is particularly
involving and entertaining, however CUSTOMISABLE
the Hegel has the advantage of a
streamer onboard and it has a good
reputation. If you are interested in
streaming audio that would probably
swing it, but if you really just want to
enjoy the sources you have at present
go for the Elicit.
CW: Of your contenders, I’m a fan of
the Hegel and Rega. The Hegel veers
towards a super clean, fast and precise
presentation whereas the Rega focuses
more on swing, colour and emotion.
NR: I’m assuming that CD and
streaming are your main music “I am drawn into the
sources, so a phono stage is not
required? The Rega and the Simaudio performance right from the
have built-in phono stages and it’s an beginning... The music has
extra on the Atoll. The Hegel is a
streaming amp with no phono stage improved realism
and meets your requirements well. and depth”
ES: I’m going to fly the flag for the Torlyte Platform
Rega on this one. It sounded excellent
running with the Concept 50 (HFC
491) and there’s power sufficient to
give you pretty much free choice
choosing your next speaker. It sounds
lively and engaging and didn’t struggle
across the various genres I played on it
and it’s beautifully made with plenty of
inputs. Crucially, the Wolfson DAC it’s
fitted with does good work with CD so
it could be a very solid choice for the
Audiolab, although rather different to
the Cambridge Audio.
WARRANT Y
60 DAY MONEY 25 YEAR
BACK GUARANTEE WARRANTY
O R D E R D I R E C T AT
JANUARY 2023 83
W W W .T O R L Y T E . C O M
 OPINION

Storage wars
Digital storage promised to bring an end to recordings being thrown away in an
effort to save archive space, but Neville Roberts reveals that it has its problems too

any of a certain age have seen the transition

M from physical media to digital storage happen

within a relatively short space of time. LPs,
78s, magnetic tapes, CDs, books and magazines
have all shed their physical form to be replaced by

electronic files. Physical storage is expensive and has led
television, recording companies and other music libraries
to discard older recordings to make way for the new
material. The problem is that much of our history has
ended up in a skip somewhere. Fortunately, digital storage
requires a fraction of the space needed to hold an
equivalent amount of physical media, so our musical
heritage is now safe for others to enjoy – or is it?
When what was considered to be the greatest archive
of the ancient world, the Great Library of Alexandria in
Egypt, was destroyed in 391 AD by a fire, it was thought
by many to be one of the greatest tragedies of all time.
Consider what happened as a result of the fire at Universal
Studios in June 2008. Between 40,000 to 50,000 of its
archived videos, digital and film copies and 118,000 to
175,000 master audiotapes were similarly destroyed.
Modern technology has not necessarily made data storage
any easier. Digital storage is relatively expensive to maintain.
Access to data can be lost when the older technology is
no longer supported. The fact that I have in the loft some
video cassettes of our daughter as a baby didn’t cross
my mind when I
Digital files will decided to discard
my VHS tape
become obsolete recorder decades
within the next ago. Now, I would
couple of decades store them in a
better resolution
and more efficient formats, but this highlights one of the
problems of digital storage. What happens to archive
websites when they are no longer technologically
supported, when links become corrupted and when new
technology renders older storage systems obsolete? Our
cultural history may not be as secure as we believe it to be.
Typical of the problem are the issues facing radio and
television stations struggling to store, edit and catalogue
vast collections of recorded material on disintegrating
reel-to-reel magnetic audio and video tape, vinyl records,
audio cassettes, VHS and Betamax video, and reels of
16mm film. Once they have secured the funding and
started the work to restore and file all this precious
material, the technology that they are using will most
probably be out of date, if not close to it.
In the Sixties and Seventies, the BBC and other broadcast
companies considered it more cost-effective to reuse audio
The opinions expressed in these pages are those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or opinions of Hi-Fi Choice or AVTech Media Ltd. Picture credit: Shutterstock.com/Mickis-Fotowelt
and especially video tape than to store and catalogue it. As Are digital
a result, decades of music, dance, opera and programmes storage methods
really better than
were lost forever. The tapes that survived will now require physical ones?
some restoration processes before the data can be
transferred to a modern format. Similarly, the format of
modern digital files will become obsolete within the next
couple of decades, as will the hard drives that store them.
What we now consider to be state-of-the-art storage will
probably then look like the paper tape and punched cards
that we used in the Sixties and Seventies.
Costly business
Moving to a new form of storage can be a costly business.
Audio and video magnetic tape that has not been stored
properly can suffer from shedding, where the binder that
bonds the magnetic coating to the polymer backing has
degraded. Some tapes can even have mould growth and
require careful baking to enable them to be played. This
poses the question: what will happen to hard disk drives
in the decades to come? Unless there is a process to
continually move the information to new storage, there
is a danger that storage media will degrade over time.
Don’t forget, CDs were heralded to be the first
indestructible media only to find that they could
suffer from delamination if stored incorrectly.
Many are putting their trust in Cloud storage, but could
potentially be held hostage by Cloud providers as they
charge large sums to upload data and more money to get
it back. Sadly, moving from physical storage in analogue
media to digital hasn’t solved the problem, it’s just NEVILLE ROBERTS
changed the way it has to be dealt with ● Cloud busting

84 JANUARY 2023
 Audio Science: I am going Audio Science: You will have
to give my highest the comfort of knowing that
recommendation for you have a state-of-the-art
Matrix Audio Element X. DAC, streamer and
Congratulations and thanks KHDGSKRQHDPSOLÀHUWKDW
for putting engineering puts countless high-end
DQGTXDOLW\ÀUVW products to shame.
Amir – Founder Amir - Founder

Simplify your high-res audio

£3,400

X-SABRE 3 Streamer & Dac mini-i Pro 3

£3,250 £1,050

Matrix Audio has created a highly affordable range of high end music streamers,
dacs, headphone amps and accessory products. Matrix Audio is enjoying glowing
reviews, advocates within the industry and some very happy product owners .
Isn’t it time that you took a look at www.matrix-digi.com

AUDIO SYSTEMS

Distributed by Signature Audio Systems, call: 07738 – 007776

or by e-mail to: info@signaturesystems.co.uk web: www.matrix-digi.com

The good news is...
Cheer up you lot! Nigel Williamson discovers that there’s a ton of stuff
to be thankful for, even in these grimmest of times
’m a little late to this, I know, but I’ve finally
I got around to reading Factfulness by Swedish
academic and prolific Ted Talk lecturer Hans
Rosling. It was recommended to me because I
was feeling thoroughly fed up with life as we face a cost of
living crisis, an energy sustainability crisis, war in Europe
and a British government that seems to have taken leave
of what little sense it once had. I haven’t even mentioned
climate change, war in Ukraine or the poor form of
England’s football team in the run-up to the world cup.
“Have a read of Factfulness. It will cheer you up,” my son
advised. And indeed, he was right. After reading Rosling
the world does indeed seem rosier. Subtitled: Ten Reasons
We’re Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better
Than You Think, the book is like an intellectual version of
Ian Dury’s Reasons To Be Cheerful Part Three.
Dury’s reasons included Buddy Holly, John Coltrane,
Woody Allen and Salvador Dali, “the juice of a carrot, the
smile of a parrot, a little drop of claret” – and anything
that rocks. All excellent remedies as far as they go in
Picture credits: Kiss Diouara (Vieux Farka Touré), Tadin Brego (Jake Blount), Nick Duffy (Angeline Morrison) and Angela Ricciardi (Angel Olsen).
getting us through day by day, but Rosling’s reasons
carry more existential heft. The modern world, with all its
imperfections, is a better place than we realise, he argues.
“The secret miracle of human progress” means that there
are half the number
We even saw Joni of deaths from
Mitchell back on natural disasters
than there were
stage for the first a hundred years
time in 20 years ago; the proportion
of the world
population living in extreme poverty has almost halved in
the last two decades; global life expectancy is on the rise;
80 percent of children have been vaccinated against major
diseases and 87 percent of the world now has electricity.
Although Rosling’s writing is far too elegant to put it
quite like this, his basic message is: “sure, there’s still loads
of bad stuff going on, but it really is time to count our
blessings because it could have been so much worse”.
Over the years I’ve been writing this column, I’ve
regularly moaned about the state of the music industry
and tut-tutted in a tedious tiresome ‘fings ain’t what they
used to be’ kind of way. So I thought I’d set aside the
default grumpiness and try to see how Rosling’s analysis
might apply to music. And I’m feeling more optimistic than
I have done in years.
Looking back, 2022 was a great year for music in just
about every genre. New albums by Angeline Morrison,
Jake Blount, Vieux Farka Touré and Khruangbin, Björk,
Kendrick Lamar, Animal Collective, Beach House, Angel
OPINION
Olsen, Black Country New Road and Big Thief among Just some of the
others have given hundreds of hours of pleasure. reasons for
cheer over the
After the crippling lockdowns, artists are touring again, last 12 months
this year’s Glasto was fantastic while a wonderful WOMAD
festival reminded us that great music continues to be
made in just about every country in the world. We even
saw the sainted Joni Mitchell back on stage for the first
time in 20 years, recovered from the brain aneurysm that
we all thought meant she would never sing again.
Always look on the bright side...
At the other end of the spectrum, eager kids are still being
inspired to pick up guitars and form bands while the
technology now makes it easier than ever for anyone with
a spark of creativity to realise their vision via a laptop.
Furthermore, the industry which supports this creativity
and was said to be in terminal decline turns out to be in
far ruder health than we had realised. Music consumption
continues to grow and although streaming, about which
some have mixed feelings, accounts for much of that
growth, the time-tested format of vinyl – which remains
the purest way to listen to music – has roared back with
sales soaring by 22 percent in the first half of 2022.
Some have accused Rosling of being a Polyanna and of
trying to put a Panglossian ‘all is for the best in the best of
all possible worlds’ spin on our hard times. The charge is
unfair, for he also urges us to continue the fight against the
misery that still exists everywhere in the world. But, he is
saying, let us not be cast into the pit of despair by focussing
on the negatives when there’s so much to celebrate.
And so it is with music. Roll on 2023. My gut feeling is
that it’s going to be another great year for music. And do NIGEL
feel free to upbraid me should I revert to type and start WILLIAMSON
Happy talk
moaning again in the New Year! ●
JANUARY 2023 87
 Brinkmann Bardo B&W 800 D4 dCS Bartock

ProAc K10 Dan D’Agostino Progression Integrated Sonus Faber Amati

Hegel H590 Magico A3 Wilson Audio Lo-ke-

Part exchange and home 27 Bond Street 36 Queen Street

Ealing Maidenhead
demonstrations available London W5 5AS Berkshire SL6 1HZ
T 020 8567 8703 T 01628 633 995
E w5@audiovenue.com E info@audiovenue.com
audiovenue.com
BRANDS INCLUDE Anthem, Arcam, Audeze, Audio Research, Audioquest, Auralic, Astell & Kern, Dagastino Inc, Bowers & Wilkins, Chord, Classe Audio, Control 4, Devialet, Esoteric, Focal,
Fyne Audio, Hana, JL Audio, Kaleidescape, KEF, Koetsu, Krell, Lateral Audio, Luxman, Mark Levinson, Martin Logan, Michell Engineering, Musical Fidelity, Naim Audio, Primaluna, Proac,
Project, PS audio, Quadraspire, Questyle, Rotel, Ruark Audio, Sennheiser, SONOS, Sonus Faber, Spectral Furniture, TelluriumQ, Vertere Acoustics, Wilson Audio, Yamaha, and many more…
 OPINION

The gig’s up!

Just when Steve Sutherland thought concertgoers couldn’t get any more of a raw deal,
Ticketmaster unveils a new plan to fleece music fans even more over ticket prices

egular readers will be familiar with my raging

R antipathy towards secondary ticket agencies

who fleece music fans by selling gig tickets at
obscenely inflated prices. For example, just
recently Steve Lacy announced a date at the Roundhouse
in London. I logged on to Ticketmaster well in advance of
the appropriate time the tickets had been announced to go
on sale and when that time came Ticketmaster informed
me that I was in a queue and that over 28,000 people
were ahead of me. I was encouraged to hang on in there,
which I did, and half an hour later I made it to the front at
which point I was informed there were no tickets left.
Strangely enough, though, a quick hop across to Viagogo
found tickets immediately on sale for that very same gig.
The official asking price had been £33. The cheapest on
Viagogo was £185. No great surprise about the price hike,
but the really suspicious and annoying thing is that they
were up for sale so quickly. If I didn’t know better, it’s
almost as if there may never have been any tickets on sale
officially in the first place and that they had all been
syphoned off beforehand by secondary agencies – a
suspicion somewhat compounded when I came across
a recent report that found that just three individual
traders sell most of the tickets on Viagogo and only
10 percent of the tickets listed are actually offered Ticketmaster (and the artists) can keep the extra profit. Arctic Monkeys
up by regular members of the public. According to the company, DP is: “an important shift and Ed Sheeran
are taking a
So, what to do necessary to maintaining the vibrancy and creativity stand, but other
If it wasn’t for their about this rather of the live music industry… Like sports teams, artist artists need
to follow suit
farcical situation? representatives and promoters recognise the benefit of
naked greed, artists Incredibly, pricing tickets closer to market value.” Uh, snouts in the
could put a stop Ticketmaster’s trough anybody? There’s a freaking recession going on,
to this right now answer appears people are being asked to choose between ‘heat or eat’
to be: if you can’t and now the music industry is looking to heap more
beat ’em, join ’em! Say hello to Dynamic Pricing. DP misery upon us all.
– Dynamic Pricing, or more appropriately, dog poo – is a
new Ticketmaster scam imported from America where, if Making a difference
the gig you want to go to looks like being really popular, The thing is, if it wasn’t for their naked greed, artists could
the official ticket price will rise accordingly. Fans of both put a stop to this right now. They could refuse to allow
Harry Styles and Coldplay have already been hammered Ticketmaster to apply DP to their shows or refuse to sell
by this new development, which Ticketmaster has the tickets through the company altogether. They are perfectly
nerve to claim is the answer to eradicating touts and at liberty to apply their own ticketing rules via their
giving more money directly to the artists. What baloney! promoters and fan clubs and a few have chosen to, legally
Citing the precedent of how airlines sell flights and capping the price. Ed Sheeran and Arctic Monkeys are
hotels sell rooms, inflating the going rate in proportion among the growing number who have taken a stand and
Picture credit: Aaron Parsons

to popularity, Ticketmaster has actually taken to not
publicising ticket costs ahead of time as they will change
constantly, based on demand. The logic is that by
increasing prices on the official website to match what
touts are charging on secondary sites like Viagogo
and StubHub, the touts will be scared off, meaning
tickets to their shows shown that have been resold over
the face value they’ve set will be immediately cancelled.
Here’s what I think. Until Ticketmaster does the decent
thing and ditches DP, don’t have any dealings with it. Buy STEVE
elsewhere. And if your favourite band is up for DP, just go SUTHERLAND
Fighting talk
ahead and dump ’em. Fact is, they don’t deserve you ●

JANUARY 2023 89
 92 Antwerp Requiem
ca. 1650
CantoLX,
B’Rock Orchestra
Frank Agsteribbe
Angeline Morrison
The Sorrow Songs: Folk Songs
Of Black British Experience
BORN IN BIRMINGHAM to a Jamaican immigrant
mother and a Scottish father, Morrison fell in love
with English folk music as a young girl. At 17 she
attended a folk club for the first time and was
shocked to find she was the only non-white person
in the room. It set her wondering why the experience
of enslaved black people and their descendants
is so richly chronicled in song in America and yet
there are no references to people of colour in
traditional British folk music – though there have
been black people here since Roman times. She
posed the question to the Arts Council, which
funded her to research the largely secret history of
Britain’s pre-Windrush black population and to turn
their stories into a set of narrative compositions.
The result is a wonderfully vivid, moving and
thought-provoking collection of songs about
the ancestral black British experience. Unknown
African Boy tells the story of an African boy whose
90 JANUARY 2023
94 Cluster
Cluster II
body was washed up on British shores from a
passing slave ship. Cruel Mother Country is about
enslaved Africans who ran away to fight with British
troops during the American war of Independence.
Cinnamon Water is inspired by Jamaican-born
nurse Mary Seacole who attended to wounded
British soldiers in the Crimean war, while the narrative
is extended into the 20th century with the a cappella
Hide Yourself about the 1919 Liverpool race riots
against the employment of black labour in the docks.
The songs are interspersed with snippets of
dialogue from real life, which come with a trigger
warning as they express blatantly racist sentiments.
The effect is deliberately intended to shock and
provides horrific context that illustrates the
boneheaded ignorance that immigrants have
unfortunately always had to face.
Yet The Sorrow Songs is far more than just a
lesson in black history. Accompanied by autoharp,
96 Richard Dawson
The Ruby Cord
CD Topic
concertina, banjo, melodeon and percussion
plus folk royalty Martin Carthy on guitar and the
sensitive fiddle-playing Eliza Carthy – who also
produced – Morrison frames the songs as if they
were authentic ancient folk ballads from the
times they describe, but imbues them with the
contemporary sensibility of #blacklivesmatter. If one
had to think of an American equivalent, it would
be the black Grammy-winning singer Rhiannon
Giddens. Both share the same intensity of focus
and have similarly gorgeous but sombre voices.
When not writing and performing her own songs,
Morrison lectures on Critical Popular Musicology,
Picture credit: Nick Duffy
with courses covering not only folk music but such
diverse topics as the origins of doo-wop and the
work of Joe Meek. It lends her music a broad
hinterland and even if you think you don’t like
folk music, I’d urge you to check this record out.
It’s this reviewer’s album of 2022. NW
 MUSICREVIEWS
Gaye Su
Akyol
Anadolu Ejderi
CD Glitterbeat
BORED BY WESTERN pop divas who all
sound like clones of each other? Can’t
remember the last time you heard a
rock band that sounded genuinely
different? Try this fourth album from
Turkey’s answer to Bjőrk on which
oriental rhythms collide gloriously with
grunge, post-punk, stoner rock,
psychedelia, disco, surf music and
anything else she can think of to throw
into the mix. The result is a retro-futurist
sonic storm that sounds like Kurt
Cobain making a belly-dancing record
Gaye’s mesmerising
east-meets-west
voice cuts boldly
through the maelstrom
as the trad power rock trinity of guitar,
bass and drums are accompanied by
traditional oriental instruments such
as oud and saz. Gaye’s mesmerising
east-meets-west voice cuts boldly
through the maelstrom as on Içinde
Uyanıyoruz Hakikatin (We Are Waking
Up In Reality) she namechecks Syd
Barrett and Brian Jones. Rock music
hasn’t sounded quite this daring in a
very long time. NW
92 JANUARY 2023
Plaid
Feorm Falorx
CD Warp
THE ELECTRONICA LEGENDS are back with
another beguiling combination – futuristic electro
and post-techno stylings imbued with warmth
and a certain sense of nostalgia. And while all the
usual Plaid ingredients are present and correct –
cascading harmonies, music-box melodies,
harpsichords and swirling synths – it’s an altogether
gentler affair than the duo’s last few records. While
Plaid lovers will rejoice in new material, this has the
feel of a soundtrack or concept album, which falls
into line with the album’s conceit – it’s a recreation
of a live performance given at a futuristic festival
on the imaginary planet of Falorx. PH
A requiem that’s a joyful
celebration instead of
the usual wailing
AUDIOFILE VINYL
Bastien Keb
Organ Recital
180g vinyl
THE FOLLOW UP to
2020’s heavily film
noire-influenced The
Killing Of Eugene Peeps,
Organ Recital opens
in a similar vein with a
decidedly Raymond
Chandleresque voice
over a haunted, cinematic backdrop. But this
is no repeat of that smoke and whisky-soaked
release, here we have songs over an oft murky
backing, but it’s a clear attempt to break new
ground. Organ Recital is not that heavy on organ
albeit the early songs use high chords to shine
a light on the dark and mysterious depths of the
Carl Nielsen
Symphonies 4 and 5
Danish National
Symphony Orchestra
Fabio Luisi
Streaming/download Deutsche Grammophon
BOTH SYMPHONIES ARE performed in a very
exciting and volatile manner, with Fabio Luisi
seeking to extract the maximum drama from each.
He succeeds handsomely. The orchestral playing
exudes an inspired feverish elemental quality that is
impressive. I don’t think I’ve ever heard either work
played quite so forcefully, making the whole
experience very intense. I’d not want these to
be the only performances of Nielsen 4 and 5 in
my collection, but am glad to have heard them.
The recording sounds bright and forward, with
great immediacy and brilliance, though the
upper strings and brass can be a bit fierce. JH
Antwerp Requiem
ca. 1650
CantoLX, B’Rock Orchestra
Frank Agsteribbe
CD Pentatone
REQUIEMS ARE MEANT to be dark serious
pieces, full of wailing and gnashing of teeth. There’s
sadness for the departed, but fear too – fear of
judgement and being eternally damned. However,
no one told Philippus van Steelant this; he never
got the memo. So his settings are a joyful celebration
of life, rather than sorrow and despair. Conductor
Frank Agsteribbe likens van Steelant’s music to a
Rubens painting in sound – full of exuberant
contrasts and rich colour. 17th-century vocal music
can be somewhat austere and cerebral, but not
here. Fortunately, Pentatone’s recording is vivid and
detailed with excellent clarity and dimensionality
that brings this impressive music to life. JH
Gearbox
production. The cover could be seen as an
allegory for the sound on this release, but
thanks to Gearbox’s valve-powered mastering
the vinyl has a tonal depth and richness that
elevates it to a higher level.
Picture credit: Aytekin Yalçin (Gaye Su Akyoi)
Keb hasn’t abandoned the Sixties-soundtrack
vibe he reproduced so authentically before, but
here we have different facets of that era – one
track evokes The Age of Aquarius, while another
combines a transistor radio melody with funk
backing. But the real highlights are saved for the
end of the second side. Here Joyeux Noelle’s
humming choir is followed by the down tempo
melodies and deep colours of Burrowing, which
embraces the listener in a cosy glow. JK
 TAILORED SOLUTIONS FOR YOUR ROOM

S T UD IO AND YOUR MUSIC TASTE, FROM THE

WORLDS FOREMOST AUDIO BRANDS

Not all Hi-Fi dealers are equal...

StudioAV, one of the country’s leading mid-hi end Hi-Fi W: studioav.co.uk

consultancies, welcomes you to our stylish and comfortable
demo suite in Chobham, Surrey, to experience the pinnacle of
two channel audio equipment from the worlds finest brands. E: sales@studioav.co.uk
We truly present you an experience unlike any other dealer.

The StudioAV Experience comprises: T: 01753 863300

An enviable product portfolio

Dedicated demonstration lounge
Home consultations
No fuss product loans
Excellent trade-in rates
Complimentary hi-fi check up
 MUSICREVIEWS

Jeb Loy COOL COLLECTION

Nichols Larger than life with the longest tongue
The United States Of in the world, KISS boss and bass-player
Gene Simmons has plenty to say about
The Broken Hearted just about everything. So we thought
chances are he’d have some choice
words when it comes to recommending
CD On-U Sound great albums. Turns out we were right!

JEB’S GOT A bee in his bonnet and it makes for

great source material. Despite his third-bourbon-in
warm drawl the anger for how the singer songwriter
finds the globe is apparent. Big Troubles Come In
Small Doors and the title track both cast a weary eye
over the woes of the world, but it’s not a moanfest.
The subtle arrangement, acoustic guitar, horns and
cello are as busy as it gets, providing a comforting
juxtaposition to Nichols’ melodic reportage. Fans of
cast-iron earworms will find the jaunty What Does
A Man Do All Day unshakeable. This understated,
beautifully realised music will change hearts and
minds one good tune at a time. PSH

Purcell
Dido & Aeneas; Circe
Les Argonautes, Jonas Descotte
scotte

CD Aparté
T Jimi Hendrix
The
FOR MY MONEY, Purcell’s Dido And Aeneas is
Experience
the best opera ever written. In three acts, it’s
Electric Ladyland
T
Track (1968)
blessedly short, yet covers love, betrayal and JJimi’s final studio album
death with a cast that features royalty, sorcerers, before his untimely death,
b
Electric Ladyland was a
E
witches and sailors. The work unfolds crisply, highly lauded double
h
with great music and a fast-moving plot. ffeaturing a tasty array of
No Wagnerian longueurs here! This new superstar guests and a rich exploration of styles.
“It would be a welcome album if it was a brand new
performance from Les Argonautes is lively and band today,” says Simmons. ”It still holds up. It was
dramatic, with single instruments to each part a pivotal record in the sense that you had a guitar
creating transparent open textures. The voices player, perhaps the pre-eminent one of them all,
The incidental music who actually took chances in terms of songwriting.”
to Circe makes a are bright and light, placing singers and

Picture credits: Peter Williams (Jeb Loy Nichols) and shutterstock.com/Photography Stock Ruiz (Gene Simmons)
generous filler orchestra in an airy spacious acoustic. Plus
there are some nice sound-effects – real thunder Leslie West
and rain at the start of act II for example. JH Mountain
B (1969)
Bell
The hefty guitarist’s debut
T
LLP, the project developed
Cluster Mahler iinto the forming of the
Cluster II Symphony No.9 band Mountain, which
b
went on to record such
w
Sinfonieorchester Des classics as Nantucket
c
Bayerische Rundfunks Sleighride and Flowers Of Evil. Simmons says: “His
Sir Simon Rattle playing is undeniable. And, of course, Mississippi
Queen is great – just three chords! When I picked up
the guitar and started to play licks and stuff like that,
I sounded like Leslie West, because intrinsically he’s
not about speed, he’s about melody.”
Vinyl Bureau B CD BR Klassik

HALF A CENTURY since Hans-Joachim Roedelius
and Dieter Moebius’ second set manifested, it’s still
making waves. Cluster II (a mix of studio and live
recordings) sounds so ludicrously far ahead of its
time it could have come out yesterday. It’s ambient
music with guts: Plas pulsates into earshot like
it’s existed since the dawn of time and shimmers
out again; Im Süden crunches and throbs with
post-rock intensity. Cities such as Throbbing
Gristle, Cabaret Voltaire and Double Leopards and
more are built on these foundations. This limited
anniversary edition is vinyl-only and limited to 1,000
copies, so don’t dawdle – grab it while you can! SB
YOU COULD HARDLY hope to hear a more Montrose
thoughtful fastidiously prepared Mahler 9 than Montrose
W
Warner Bros (1973)
this. The orchestra plays impeccably. Rattle’s new Montrose was the debut
M
live recording is a shade faster than his two earlier aand pinnacle of a band that
live accounts, which topped 82 minutes. Despite ssuccess eluded. Simmons
ssays: “Montrose was one
this, the performance feels broadly similar to the of the really important
o
Berlin Philharmonic on Warner. Rattle is scrupulously American statements
A
observant of Mahler’s dynamic markings and made at a time when the only rock that was credible
was English... out of nowhere, this Montrose record
everything is expertly paced, but a bit over comes out that just kills! The American bands were
prepared. The beautifully refined recording is sloppy and fat and looked like the Grateful Dead,
wonderfully natural sounding and very well and it was pathetic. But Montrose came from
the same area, the San Francisco Bay area, and
balanced. The Dynamic range is wide, but sounds it was like a breath of fresh air.”
at its very best with a slight increase in volume. JH

94 JANUARY 2023
 The audiophile power supply solution

Sbooster BOTW Power & Precision

ECO MK2 linear power supply.
This simple linear power supply upgrade will dramatically improve the performance of
your Hifi products* and you will hear the difference. At £330.00 this is one of the most
cost effective Hifi upgrades available. Contact your dealer for a demonstration.
*Must have an DC inlet.

For a full list of compatible brands please see www.sbooster.com

and search upgrades.

Arcam Auralic Bel Canto

Chord Creek Graham Slee
iFi Audio Lumin M2TECH
Martin Logan Melco Musical Fidelity
Mytek Project Rega
Roon SOtM Stax

Products from the brands above benefit sonically when used with S Booster linear power supply.

AUDIO SYSTEMS
Distributed by Signature Audio Systems, call: 07738 – 007776
or by e-mail to: info@signaturesystems.co.uk Web: www.sbooster.com

For 30 years we have designed and hand built

the world’s best Phono-cartridges.

Soundsmith cartridges can be re-tiped for 20% of the purchase price, no need to replace
your cartridge. If you want to know what vinyl sounds like with the jitter removed try a
KDQGPDGHÀ[HGFRLOWHFKQRORJ\6RXQGVPLWKFDUWULGJHµ

DEALER ENQUIRIES WELCOME

AUDIO SYSTEMS
Distributed by Signature Audio Systems, call: 07738 – 007776
or by e-mail to: info@signaturesystems.co.uk Web: www.sound-smith.com
 MUSICREVIEWS
Hans Rott
Symphony No.1
Bamberg Symphoniker
Jacub Hrusa
CD Deutsche Grammophon
GUSTAV MAHLER (NO less) thought
highly of Rott’s first and only symphony,
hailing it as: “the founder of the new
symphony as I understand it”. Rott was
Bruckner’s favourite pupil. His E Major
Symphony was written in 1878/80, so
roughly contemporary with Brahms’
2nd, Bruckner’s 5th and Dvorak’s 6th.
Scored for large orchestra, the work is
in four movements and lasts just under
an hour. Wagner’s influence is very
evident in the writing for brass, yet the
music is often refreshingly original,
The work is sonorous
and powerful and the
Bambergers produce
sumptuous power
making Mahler’s enthusiasm entirely
understandable. The work is sonorous
and powerful and Hrusa’s Bambergers
produce playing of sumptuous power
and precision. Rott’s dark richly scored
climaxes will test the transparency of
your hi-fi and its ability to clarify dense
passages. Bruckner’s Symphonic
Prelude (1876) and Mahler’s Blumine
(1884) are good fillers, and roughly
contemporary with the main work. JH
96 JANUARY 2023
Donald Byrd
Live: Cookin’
With Blue Note
At Montreux
CD Blue Note
RELEASED ON DONALD Byrd’s 90th birthday,
this recently discovered treasure 50 years lost
showcases a raw edge to the celebrated trumpeter
and vocalist. The dynamic live set opens with the
super heavyweight funk of Black Byrd, choppy
blaxploitation guitar licks duelling with red-hot
horns before Byrd drops the trumpet. It’s a marvel.
Among the originals there’s a cover of Stevie
Wonder’s You’ve Got It Bad Girl that has Byrd’s horn
on a solo run that sees his band mates sweating to
keep up. A funky snapshot from the summer of
1973 that has finally found its moment, these five
glorious tracks are well worth hunting down. PSH
Arutiunian,
Weinberg &
Shostakovich
Trumpet Concertos
Russian National
Orchestra, Hans Graf
CD Naxos
A TRUMPET CONCERTO by Shostakovich? Well,
sort of... What we have here is the popular 1st
Piano Concerto with a much-augmented trumpet
part. It works well and Shostakovich himself
endorsed the changes. Shostakovich also liked
Weinberg’s concerto, describing it as a: “symphony
for trumpet and orchestra”. Arutiunian’s concerto
is an attractive richly melodic work and soloist
Paul Merkelo plays brilliantly. All three works have
links to legendary Soviet trumpeter Timotei
Dokshizer, for many years principle trumpet of the
Bolshoi in Moscow. The recording is solid and clean,
with excellent clarity and smooth tonality. JH
Vaughan Williams
Five Mystical Songs; British
Choral Anthems
Roderick Williams
Vasari Singers,
Jeremy Backhouse
CD Naxos
THE MAIN WORK here is Williams’ ravishing Five
Mystical Songs – performed in an arrangement
for organ rather than full orchestra. This gives
the music a more spiritual feel, helped by a
nicely reverberant church acoustic. The music is
wonderful; Roderick Williams sings superbly – his
Rise Heart; Thy Lord Is Risen delivers a real tingle
factor moment. The rest of the disc features short
choral anthems for soloists, choir and organ by
various British composers. The recording is
excellent, sounding clear and detailed yet nicely
spacious and impressively atmospheric, with some
deliciously deep organ pedals for subwoofers. JH
Richard
Dawson
The Ruby Cord
T
CD Domino/Weird World
NEWCASTLE-BORN SONGSMITH DAWSON
returns with the third album in a trilogy that so far
has dealt with the distant past and the present. The
Ruby Cord casts its mind towards the future, not
one of electronic bleeps, but instead gently lilting
folk that redefines how an album could and should
be structured. The first track – The Hermit – is 41
minutes long and is a dizzying, beautiful, fragile
folk odyssey. For some artists, that would be more
than enough. But Dawson isn’t finished there –
there are six more long tracks that deliver his
fantastical vision. One of my albums of 2022. PH
Keith Jarrett
Bordeaux
CD ECM
RECORDED BACK IN July 2016, two years before
major strokes cruelly curtailed his career as the
Picture credit: Kuba Ryniewicz (Richard Dawson)
leading improvisational pianist of his generation,
Keith Jarrett’s Bordeaux captures many facets of
this inspiring artist’s style. It starts off in challenging
abstract expressionist style, with no clear melody
or rhythm of any kind. The audience is rewarded
with some radiance in the subsequent two tracks
that follow but atypically the darkness returns for
three more pieces. It’s only from Part VII that things
start to become genuinely entertaining with
Jarrett’s left hand vamp in fine form before the
concert ends on the high that is Part XIII. JK
Digital subscriptions 8MK\Z_
d\[`Xck[

available online now…

/hcc/BAR/#digital /hfc/BAR/#digital /hifi/BAR/#digital

https://hcc.secureorder.co.uk https://hfc.secureorder.co.uk https://hfn.secureorder.co.uk

O Download each new issue to your device

OA 74% discount on your Digital subscription
OAccess your subscription on multiple devices
 MUSICREVIEWS
Beethoven
Stravinsky
Violin Concertos
Vilde Frang, Deutsche
Kammerphilharmonie
Bremen, Pekka Kuusisto
CD Warner Classics
BEETHOVEN’S LOFTY EPIC Violin Concerto
is for Vilde Frang: “a piece of overwhelming
power – somehow more than music”. So, no
pressure... Fortunately, she’s not intimidated,
and plays the work sensitively with artless
simplicity and purity, plus perfect intonation
despite minimal vibrato. She’s ably supported
by Kuusisto and the orchestra who provide
responsive accompaniment. The cadenza
from the piano arrangement with timpani is
used. Stravinsky’s spiky cut-glass concerto is
played crisply with great rhythmic elan and
the recording is open and transparent. JH
Bruce
Springsteen
Only The Strong Survive
CD Columbia
EVERYONE FROM DYLAN to Rod Stewart has
done their take on The Great American Songbook
and now it’s The Boss’ turn. This offering is a little
different, for instead of Gershwin and Irving Berlin he
takes on the classic soul and R&B of the Sixties and
Seventies. Horns, strings and a backing chorus
accompany him on 15 songs that draw heavily on
Motown (What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted, I
Wish It Would Rain, Someday We’ll Be Together) but
also touch on Stax (I Forgot To Be Your Lover) and
soul-pop (The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore).
Without departing radically from the originals,
Springsteen sings them with majestic passion. NW
98 JANUARY 2023
James Johnston
& Steve Gullick
Everybody’s Sunset
CD God Unknown Records
LEGENDARY MUSIC PHOTOGRAPHER Gullick
and Johnston (ex of rockabilly boundary-pushers
Gallon Drunk) have turned their decades-long
friendship into another musical collaboration.
Recorded throughout 2021 and earlier this year,
this collection pieces together violin, organ, guitar,
banjo, autoharp, piano and synths to create
melancholic, sprawling post-rock soundscapes.
Many of the tracks are instrumental, but
occasionally Gullick’s sonorous voice enters
the fray, giving things a Tindersticks-style feel.
Everybody’s Sunset is that rare thing – meandering
yet focused and really rather lovely as a result. PH
Poppy
Ackroyd
A or NAB equalisation, but he prefers NAB, which
Pause Reworked
CD One Little Independent Records
RELEASED JUST OVER a year ago, Pause marked
Ackroyd’s fourth long player and a particularly high
point for the solo pianist who not only knows her
way around the keyboard, but also adds catchy
percussion loops by using other elements of the
piano, such as drumming out rhythms on its top
and striking the strings. This stunning EP reworks
four tracks in which this treatment is used most
effectively (Pause, Stillness, Suspended and
Unravel) to create epic soundscapes, cinematic
slow-builders and surprising tension much in the
vein of Max Richter and Nils Frahm. Superb. JDW
Sophie Jamieson
Choosing
CD Bella Union
FOLLOWING ON FROM a pair of EPs, the
London-based singer-songwriter has gone large
with an album of simple, intimate songs that
effortlessly draw the listener in. Crystal has a simple
piano motif that Jamieson’s drowsy vocals float
above, growing toward a multi-vocal crescendo
Kate Bush might nod at admiringly. A delicate piano
drives Downpour, a boozy account of unrequited
love that packs a punch. The album is made up of
small stories that seem familiar and yet particular.
The simple arrangements expose Jamieson’s
deft songwriting craft and her subject matter is
unflinching and candid. An impressive debut. PSH
REELTAPE
OPEN REEL TAPE
Schubert/
Rachmaninov
Rondo Brilliant
In B Minor +
Preludes
Open reel tape UltraAnalogue Recordings
THE TAPES FROM Dr. Edward Pong of
UltraAnalogue Recordings are always a
treat, and his tape of Alena Baeva and Vadym
Kholodenko playing Schubert’s Rondo
Brilliant In B Minor D.895 is no exception.
The recordings are quite unique in that Pong,
together with his friend and colleague Tony Ma,
designed and built much of the amplification
equipment themselves based on valve
technology. They also built valve head amplifiers
for the Studer A80 tape recorder that was used
in the recordings. The recording circuits employ
WE300b-based line stages and the transformers
are wound with silver wire. Certainly, the results
are recordings with a very low noise floor, which
according to Dr. Pong is where the real emotion
of music lives and all this helps to convey the
ambience of the recording environment. Note
that Dr. Pong offers the tapes with either CCIR
is the version reviewed here, as my Studer A810
can switch between CCIR and NAB.
The music is performed by the husband and
wife team of the Russian violinist Alena Baeva
and Ukrainian pianist Vadym Kholodenko.
Baeva’s violin is sprightly and energetic and
flows beautifully throughout with a commanding
brilliance. Kholodenko’s piano adds a fullness
to the performance as the two instruments
integrate beautifully with a professional unity of
performance. Together, they make a formidable
pair, playing with a commanding authority and
power from the outset.
The Schubert is a live recording in front of
an audience and, as such, the start and end of
the recording is very tightly edited in order
to remove extraneous noise from the final
presentation. Personally, I would have preferred
the applause at the end to have been faded out,
rather than being abruptly cut off, but that is
really down to individual preference.
The final presentation certainly captures the
dynamics and clarity of the instruments and all
the air and space of the recording hall. This,
coupled with the excellent performance of the
musicians, really breathes new life into this
classic piece of music and is certain to captivate
both classical music aficionados and listeners
that are new to the genre. NR
 HIGH-PERFORMANCE SOUND & VISION

HIGH FLYING 4K OLED

Sony XR-A95K mixes smart style with slick pictures

elping you
H the
make your
of
most cinema
home O W!
OUT N

IN EVERY ISSUE
Kit reviews, movies & TV, accessories, systems, insight,
opinion, competitions & more

n www.homecinemachoice.com n facebook.com/homecinemachoice n @hccmag

 MUSIC LEGENDS
LANA DEL REY

Wi l d a t
HEART
The closest we’ve come to a
21st-century Joni Mitchell,
Nigel Williamson celebrates
the uniquely glorious sound
of Lana Del Rey
Picture credits: Maria Mochnacz

100 JANUARY 2023


was always an unusual girl,”
I Lana Del Rey informed us a
decade ago at the very outset of
her career. “My mother told me
I had a chameleon soul”. Great artists, by
definition, are always unusual of course, and
they’re often shape-shifters, too. The quest
for a deeper truth does not lend itself to
conventional notions of ‘normality’ and
in the decade since Del Rey confessed to
her “chameleon soul” she has set about
proving her mother right with a series of
absorbing and fearless albums that have
made her a cult hero, a contentious
conundrum and a chart-topping
commercial success all at the same time.
The wheelhouse of her themes tilt to the
dark side. Many of her most memorable
songs deal with toxic romance, the tangled
intensity of relationships, drug use,
existential despair, erotic violence,
submission… and worse. In one lyric she
sang of having: “nothing much to live for
ever since I found my fame”. In another she
told us that she was: “filled with poison, but
blessed with beauty and rage”. In yet another
she sang: “In the land of gods and monsters I
was an angel looking to get f**ked”.
Since her first hit with 2011’s Video Games,
with its disorienting but potent combination
of dreams and dread, she has become famous
for her ability to manifest an exquisite
melancholia – although she insists that is only
part of the story. “I’m not just one thing,” she
told NME in 2019 on the release of her sixth
album, Norman F**king Rockwell! “But being
able to express my sadness sometimes makes
me actually more cheerful than some people I
know, because I give myself permission to
have a lot of colours”.
Summertime sadness
The spectrum of those emotional hues is
vividly expressed in one of the great voices
of our time, the velvety caress of a crooner
crossed with something altogether more
unworldly: the octave-spanning sound of a
damned angel, perhaps. She is less concerned
with the surface simplicity of what a song
sounds like, she once said, and more with
where it will transport our very soul.
Her albums straddle genres and her music
ranges from the lush to the minimal. Yet the
damaged-but-beautiful aesthetic at the core
of her songwriting has remained
unwaveringly consistent in its candour,
juxtaposing myth and dystopian reality,
dreams and disillusionment.
The juxtaposition can be both personal and
political and can be heard in all its deathless
pained beauty on her 2019 single Looking
For America, written in response to mass
Picture credit: Neil Krug (left)
shootings in Texas and Ohio, and in which,
Lennon-like, she imagines a country:
“without the gun, where the flag can freely
fly/No bombs in the sky, only fireworks
when you and I collide”.
Although her songwriting works within a
tight structure of hooks and often sky-scraping
choruses, there’s a sui generis quality to the
musical world she creates that sets her apart
from the more conventional pop protocols
of, say, Ariane Grande and Lady Gaga. Her
poetry and emotional authenticity mark her
out as the closest we have to a 21st-century
Joni Mitchell, whose For Free she gloriously
covered on her 2021 album Chemtrails Over
The Country Club.
Along the way, the controversies, social
media fires and press backlashes have come
and gone without affecting her focus – or
her success. Chemtrails Over The Country
Club became her fifth number-one album
in the UK and reached number two in
America, her sixth consecutive album to
make the top three.
The thorniest charge against her which has
created a storm among feminists is that her
lyrics glamorise domestic abuse. The most
extreme example came in the title track of
Lizzy Grant may have
been a flop, but Lana
Del Rey became an
overnight sensation
her 2014 album Ultraviolence in which she
sang: “He hit me and it felt like a kiss/
He hurt me but it felt like true love”.
She gave her critics a withering response,
insisting that it was: “pathetic that my minor
lyrical exploration detailing my sometimes
submissive or passive roles in my
relationships has often made people say
I’ve set women back hundreds of years”.
Despite such defiant words, she later
dropped the line when performing the song
in concert and voiced her support for the
Me Too movement. However, there is no
denying that many of her songs leave her
open to the accusation of revelling in female
submission and being in thrall to bad boys
MUSIC LEGENDS
LANA DEL REY
and a seedy glamour that may be superficially
delicious but at other times can also be
distinctly uncomfortable.
On the other hand, great art is meant
to disturb our comfort zone and a more
charitable interpretation might be that she
was deliberately creating a highly stylised
film noir aesthetic, as a damaged torch
singer for our age living out her Great
Gatsby/Rat Pack fantasies as a self-styled
“gangster Nancy Sinatra”, in a world
populated by seductive vixens and pouting
pin-ups but ruled by men. Her nostalgic
romanticism for this version of a lost
America reached its apogee in the
iconography she adopted in the video for her
2012 song National Anthem, in which she
played both Marilyn Monroe and Jackie
Kennedy with rapper A$AP Rocky cast as JFK.
National anthem
In another video for the title track of her
second album Born To Die, she posed
half-naked with a bare-chested tattooed
alpha male in front of the stars and stripes
and by the song’s end was covered in blood.
She took the name Del Rey after a vintage
Ford and her first name in tribute to the
glamorous but deeply troubled Hollywood
sex symbol, Lana Turner. The choices were
not by chance but the adoption of this
persona led to another media controversy.
She had begun her career under her real
name as plain Lizzy Grant and toyed with a
number of other names, including Sparkle
Jump Rope Queen and Cherry Galore. So
exactly who was Lana Del Rey?
She was attacked as “fake” and “inauthentic”.
The name, it was claimed, was a marketing
ruse dreamed up by her management and
record company. In fact, the alter ego
was entirely her own creation and the
implication that she was a pop puppet whose
strings were being pulled by powerful men
behind the scenes was inherently sexist.
JANUARY 2023 101
 MUSIC LEGENDS
LANA DEL REY

Fordham University in The Bronx. She chose

The criticisms also overlooked that the
pantheon of music legends is filled with
notorious chameleons from David Bowie to
Madonna via Robert Zimmerman and Iggy
Pop. The mask becomes part of the art. The
act and the image become blurred until they
become one with the creator.
Del Rey has done nothing to decode the
confusion. An early champion called her a
cross between Marilyn Monroe and Leonard
Cohen and she described the way she played
with identity as: “creative cosplay” – and yet
she also told us that her songs were: “notes
from my real life”. The dichotomy is all part
of what makes her music so glorious.
She was born Elizabeth Woodward Grant,
in New York, 1985, to parents who worked
for a Manhattan advertising agency, but
when she was still an infant they gave up
their high-powered Mad Men careers and
moved to sleepy, upstate Lake Placid.
Growing up, Del Rey hated the stultifying
atmosphere of what she described as: “a
small tourist town with no tourists” and
Del Rey: the self-styled
gangster Nancy Sinatra
with a chameleon soul
Since her first hit, she
has become famous for
her ability to manifest
an exquisite melancholia
longed for the big city. By the time she was
14, she was drinking and running wild and
her parents – who wanted here to become a
nurse – sent her to boarding school hoping it
would reform her.
In a way it did, but perhaps not in the way
they had anticipated as she came under the
influence of a teacher who introduced her
to such transgressive influences as the poetry
of Allen Ginsberg, Nabokov’s novel Lolita
and hip-hop.
On leaving school she couldn’t face
returning to Lake Placid and spent a year
living on Long Island with an uncle, who
taught her to play the guitar. She began
writing songs and by the time she was 18
she was in New York, playing in small clubs
under the name Lizzy Grant and sometimes
the subject because she was looking for
answers that: “bridged the gap between
God and science”.
By 2008 she had graduated, released her
first EP and was doing community outreach
work with drug addicts and the homeless on
the streets of New York. Working with the
outsiders and the dispossessed whom the
American dream had left behind was an
experience that she found hugely satisfying.
Years later on the album Norman F**king
Rockwell! she sang that: “Spilling my guts
with the Bowery bums is the only love I’ve
ever known”.
Her first full-length album appeared two
years later, but was only on sale briefly via
iTunes and was withdrawn when she found
new management, which systematically
set about wiping her past and helping
her to construct a new life and career
as Lana Del Rey. It has never had an
official physical release.
Brooklyn baby
She spent a year in London writing songs,
including Video Games, which she uploaded
to Youtube with a self-made video in 2011.
It went viral with 20-million hits in three
months and earned her a Q award for Next
Big Thing, an Ivor Novello for Best
Contemporary Song and a record deal
with Interscope/Polydor.
Lizzy Grant may have been a flop, but Lana
Del Rey was an overnight sensation. When
Born To Die – billed misleadingly as her
debut album – appeared in early 2012, it
went to number one in the UK and number
two in America, and landed her on the cover
of Vogue. The world was at her feet. Baz
Luhrmann invited her to contribute to the
star-studded soundtrack of his 2013 remake
of The Great Gatsby and her Young And
Beautiful was by the far the best song in
the movie. Then Kanye West enlisted her

ALBUM BY ALBUM
as May Jailer and studying philosophy at to play at his wedding to Kim Kardashian.

2010 2012 2014 2015

LANA DEL RAY BORN TO DIE ULTRAVIOLENCE HONEYMOON

Released digitally under the name
“Lana Del Ray (sic) A.K.A. Lizzy
Grant”, this little-heard debut
long player was withdrawn after
only three months. Del Rey
eventually bought back the rights,
but only because she wanted it
out of circulation and it has never
had an official physical release.
Bootlegs are available if you know
where to look for them.
Led by the single Video Games,
which became an internet
sensation, a revelatory set that
spanned sad-core, indie, soul-pop,
hip-hop beats and languorous
balladry. Other stand-outs include
the title track, National Anthem,
Dark Paradise and the sublime
Summertime Sadness, which in a
remix by Cedric Gervais became
her first top-ten hit.
With Black Keys frontman Dan
Auerbach producing, a vintage
guitar-led sound mixing psych
guitars, dream pop and a
Morricone-ish grandeur. Great
melodies, gorgeously sung even
if there was controversy over
some of the lyrics, made it her
most vivid and nuanced album
to date and it debuted at number
one in the US charts.
After the guitar-led ambience of
her previous album, a return to Del
Rey’s earlier cinematic, baroque
pop style. The dozen original
songs touch on the now habitual
dark themes of tortured romance,
resentment, eroticism, violence
and the souring of the American
dream and the album closes with a
haunting cover of Don’t Let Me Be
Misunderstood.

102 JANUARY 2023

 MUSIC LEGENDS
LANA DEL REY

She followed Born To Die with the

eight-track EP Paradise, which contained
several songs, particularly Ride and Gods
And Monsters, which stand among her most
potent compositions. Sensibly the entire EP
was then added to a reissued expanded
edition of Born To Die.
Early songs such as Summertime Sadness
established her as the ‘queen of sadcore’
and the image was reinforced by 2014’s
Ultraviolence, which included the minor key
masterpiece Pretty When You Cry, the title
of which became a popular meme.
Yet if the sentiments were by now familiar,
the sound of Ultraviolence was something of
a departure as producer Dan Auerbach of
the Black Keys pushed the guitars upfront
and gave the album more of a live rock feel.
It went to number one in a dozen territories,
including the US and the UK.
On the song Brooklyn Baby, she namechecked
Lou Reed along with references to hipster
jazz and beat poetry. He was scheduled
to sing backing vocals on the track, but
tragically died on the day of the session, Cat Power, whose 2022 set Covers include a To Have – But I Have It seemed to encapsulate
which gave the song an added poignancy. version of Del Rey’s White Mustang. her entire aesthetic with its references to
Del Rey has also covered Cohen, Mitchell, Sylvia Plath and its confessional meditation
Once upon a dream Lee Hazelwood & Nancy Sinatra and on God, family, troubled romance and the
Del Rey had told Vogue at the time of Born To Madonna, not to mention a charity alienation of fame. “Don’t ask if I’m happy,
Die that she didn’t think she would make recording of You’ll Never Walk Alone, so the you know that I’m not/But, at best, I can say
another album as she felt she had said all kernel of such a collection is already there. I’m not sad,” she sang with a Zen-like
she had to say. Instead, it opened the On 2017’s Lust For Life she didn’t sing other resignation that seemed oddly comforting.
floodgates and 2015’s Honeymoon was her people’s songs, but corralled the likes of The record received Grammy nominations
third album in as many years – indeed, the Stevie Nicks, The Weeknd and Sean Ono for Album of the Year and Song of the Year
fourth if one counts the Paradise EP. Lennon to guest on her songs. It lent a new for the title track.
Alongside the classic Del Rey themes, the swagger to her trademark melancholia on a The Covid lockdowns were greeted with a
sonics of Honeymoon reverted to her earlier set that straddled folk-pop, classic rock and restless flurry of activity, including a book
cinematic, baroque pop style and standouts a hint of hip-hop. of her poetry and an accompanying spoken
among the dozen original songs included Even better was 2019’s Norman F**king word album. By the time the world began to
the gorgeous Music To Watch Boys To and Rockwell!, on which Del Rey embraced the emerge from the pandemic, she had readied
Terrence Loves You with its smart references spirit of Seventies Laurel Canyon soft rock not one but two albums as Chemtrails Over
to Bowie’s Space Oddity. and swathed it in strings and synths on The Country Club and Blue Banisters appeared
The album closed with a haunting version of songs such as Mariners Apartment Complex within a few months of each other in 2021
Nina Simone’s Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood, and Venice Bitch. to confirm her as the most compelling,
which made one hope that she will one day Elsewhere, the elegiac minimalism of Hope unflinching and defiant female singer-
record an entire covers album like her friend Is A Dangerous Thing For A Woman Like Me songwriter of our times ●

2017 2019 2020 2021 2021

LUST FOR LIFE
Borrowing its title from an Iggy
Pop song, Del Rey let a little
light into the darkness with
an expansive swagger and a
cast of A-list guests including
Stevie Nicks, The Weeknd and
Sean Lennon on the Beatles-
referencing Tomorrow Never
Came. Think new age folk-pop
full of classic rock references
and a hip-hop affectation.
NORMAN F**KING
ROCKWELL!
Her masterpiece, combining
psych-pop lullabies and
gorgeous piano ballads with a
heavy nod to Laurel Canyon’s
late-Sixties singer-songwriter
scene and references to Joni
Mitchell and Crosby, Stills,
Nash & Young. The LP earned
her a Grammy nomination
for Album Of The Year.
VIOLET BENT BACKWARDS
OVER THE GRASS
A spoken word album with 14
of the 30 poems from her
book of the same name, plus
added instrumental interludes
by producer Jack Antonoff. It
was a measure of Del Rey’s
status as a hipster icon that
even an album of her poetry
could make the top 30 on both
sides of the Atlantic.
CHEMTRAILS OVER
THE COUNTRY CLUB
A folkish/Americana vibe with
acoustic picking supported by
outbursts of scuzzy electric
guitar and gorgeous, songs
about heartbreak, nostalgia,
fame and disillusionment. The
melodies are irresistible and
her voice exquisite. Standouts
include Wild At Heart and
White Dress.
BLUE BANISTERS
Released seven months after
Chemtrails, it sounds like a
sequel, although several
songs, date back to
Ultraviolence. The range of
moods finds her pivoting from
catharsis (Dealer) to wit
(“What if someone had asked
Picasso not to be sad?”), while
Black Bathing Suit may be the
smartest lockdown song ever.

JANUARY 2023 103

 er

Pioneering world class audio products

PS Audio’s Stellar range is

affordable excellence
Stellar Gain Cell Preamplifier/DAC
The Stellar Gain Cell™ combines the benefits of an exceptional
analogue preamplifier and a full-featured DAC. Fully balanced
analogue circuitry from input to output, the Stellar Gain Cell
builds upon years of research and innovation in the art of Class A
£1,800
analogue amplification and state-of-the-art digital reproduction.

Stellar S300 Stereo Amplifier

Breathe new life into your loudspeakers with the Stellar™
S300. The S300 combines the slam, linearity, and toe-tapping
pacing of a Class D output stage with the warmth, grace, and
rich inner detail of Stellar’s Class A proprietary Analog Cell.
£1,550

Stellar M700 Power Amplifier Monos (pair)

The Analog Cell is the heart of the M700’s musicality, where richly
overlayed layers of music’s inner details are preserved even in the
most complex orchestral crescendos. The Analog Cell is a proprietary,
fully differential, zero feedback, discrete, Class A MOSFET circuit,
hand-tuned to capture the smallest micro dynamics without
sacrificing the loudest macro dynamics music has to offer. £3,000

Stellar Phono Preamplifier

The new Stellar Phono Preamp has both
fixed and variable loading for moving coil
cartridges, fully adjustable from the
remote control. The unit’s ultra-low noise
allows the use of MC cartridges with output
as low as 0.15 mV. Two different tonearms
can be selected via the remote, with either £2,500
single-ended or balanced outputs. A massive, heavily-regulated power supply and full DC coupling allow the unit to provide
up to 20V rms output for powerful bass and unrestricted headroom and dynamics. PS Audio’s first product way back in 1974
was a phono preamplifier that outperformed and replaced far more expensive units. Since then, we’ve offered a number of
excellent phono preamps, but the new Stellar Phono Preamplifier is the best we’ve ever made.

“I recommend a listen to the Stellar to anyone in the market for a new phono preamp,
regardless of price. I don’t think I’ve ever written that before.” Michael Fremer - Stereophile, Jan 2020
Stellar Power Plant P3
Built as an evolution from our renowned P12, P15, and
P20 the P3 is our most affordable regenerator –
perfect for powering sources and small to medium
systems. Power Plants generate sine-wave-perfect,
regulated, high current AC power from your home’s AC.
In the process of regeneration, problems on your power
line such as low voltage, distorted waveforms, sagging
power, and noise are eliminated and the power quality
enhanced. The results are both audibly and visually £2,400
stunning when powering either audio or video products.

PS Audio Power Plants are regarded for their ability to reduce noise and THD to
virtually zero while providing rock steady voltage output.
Traditional power conditioners can only affect a portion of incoming noise and are unable to compensate for over or under voltage. Furthermore,
power conditioners raise the impedance of the power going to your system, which can bleach your sound and drain away dynamics. The P3
handles things completely differently. Through the P3’s active regeneration process, it provides perfect power while also lowering the impedance,
increasing the dynamics and openness of your system.

PS Audio introduces the Stellar Strata

integrated & M1200 Mono Power amplifiers

£3,150

Stellar Strata (full featured streaming amplifier)

The Stellar Strata combines the benefits of an exceptional analogue preamplifier, a full-featured state-of-the-art DAC,
a stereo 150 watt per channel power amplifier, and a high-resolution streaming module in one gorgeous package.

Stellar M1200 Mono Amplifier (pair)

The Stellar M1200 monoblock power
amplifier combines the rich warmth
and musicality of vacuum tubes with
the jaw-dropping power and
seemingly infinite headroom of a
1200 watt high-performance output
stage. This extraordinary hybrid
amplifier knows no limits.

£6,250

AUDIO SYSTEMS
Distributed by Signature Audio Systems, call: 07738 – 007776
or by e-mail to: info@signaturesystems.co.uk Web: www.psaudio.com
 EXTRAS

Connected-Fidelity
Float isolation pucks
MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS
HAVE adverse effects on a hi-fi.
They can affect cartridges, valves
and other electronic components,
and even the interconnect and
mains cables. Vibrations can come
from speakers, motors, transformers
and other electronic components
– all of which can cause problems.
Hope floats
There are several ways to deal with
unwanted vibrations and one is to
isolate components from the external
environment, such as with rubber,
silicone or spring supports. These
provide the necessary stability for
the equipment, while dissipating
unwanted vibrational energy as
heat. However, the principle used
here is different. These pucks don’t
use compliant or damping materials,
but an arrangement of ‘floating’
spheres held within two circular
cup-shaped channels.
Inside the body is
a chromium steel
ball race within a
non-resonant material
cage to hold the balls
apart. Three acetal
thermoplastic (POM) spheres are set
into the top and bottom faces of each
puck to act as feet to ensure stability.
The theory is that the vibrational
energy is dissipated in the micro-
movements of the POM spheres
without losing a direct connection
path between a component and the
platform it is sitting on. The Floats are
supplied with four ‘coasters’ that can
be used above or below each puck if
required. M6 and M8 threaded fixing
options are available separately for
supporting loudspeakers up to 30kg.
I install four Floats under my record
deck table and then spin an LP
of Scarlatti sonatas played on the
harpsichord by George Malcolm. I am
impressed by the overall realism, while
silences between musical phrases are
inky black, which highlights the very DETAILS
low noise floor with the Floats in place. PRICE
With the Dave Brubeck Quartet £349 for a set of 4
playing The Trolley Song, the double TELEPHONE
01491 629629
bass plucking is clear, deep and well
controlled, and the rhythmic tapping WEBSITE
connected-fidelity.
of the hi-hats in the fast section keeps com
the momentum of the piece going
extremely well. The Floats are very OUR VERDICT
well made and do a great job of
minimising those bad vibrations. NR

Ecosse
NuDiva cryogenic analogue interconnect

SUBJECTED TO A deep-cryogenic
DETAILS treatment, the NuDiva promises to be
PRICE an interesting product. The signal
£215 for 1m pair
conductors are made from silver-
TELEPHONE
07580 6918031 plated Ultra Hi-Purity-OFC wire
WEBSITE insulated with an air-foamed
ecossecables.co.uk polyethylene dielectric. The wires are
configured as a twisted pair, rope-lay
OUR VERDICT construction and have a dual screen
consisting of a conductive polymer
tube surrounded by a close-lapped
silver-plated braid. In addition, any
modulation effects due to microphony
are tackled by the use of a cotton
fibre filler and the whole assembly
is sheathed in a clear soft PVC 9mm
diameter outer jacket.
With the NuDiva connected between
my valve preamp and monoblocks, I
start with Saint-Saens’ Organ Symphony
No.3 by The Montreal Symphony
Orchestra. It has a refined, deep and
full first movement with powerful
organ. The drum rolls really make me
sit up and take notice, while all the
sections of the orchestra are perfectly
positioned within the soundstage. The
strings are clear, effortless and with
bags of detail, which is a testament to
the NuDiva’s silver-plated conductors
and cryogenic treatment.
A bright recording of Simon and
Garfunkel’s The Boxer presents a great
test for checking for any harshness
to the vocals, but the NuDiva
performs admirably. Art Garfunkel’s
voice is bright but clear, open and
not at all harsh. The guitar is clean
and particularly tuneful. When the
rhythmic patting of drums begins,
the sound is really musical and
not just a dull thump on the skins
of the instrument.
John Williams and the English
Chamber Orchestra playing
Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez
sounds enticing right from the
very start. The instrument focus is
particularly impressive and there is
a good sense of spaciousness and
depth to the soundstage when the
whole orchestra joins in with the
playing. The NuDiva is a really
fine high-quality interconnect
that fully justifies its price tag. NR

106 JANUARY 2023

 "...once you've heard it then heard it taken away, you won't want
d
to deny y can at all avoid it.."
yourself if you
"...y
.y won't't be able to remain a tweak cynic when you hear this!"
"...you th
Srajan Ebaen 6moons.com
6moons

NCF
Clear Line-EU

NCF
Clear Line-UK

Introducing
ntroducing
roducing the Furutech NCF Clear Lin
LLine
Plug
lug into anyy vacant power outlet on the same circuit as your system
sys and immediately experience improvements in the depth and focus of the sound stage,
harmonics,
i and
d tonal
t l balance.
b l The
Th NCF Clear
Cl Line
Li isi unique
i a passive
i damping
d device incorporating Furutech’s NCF material that will eliminate mechanical
and electrical resonance from your power supply.

FI-50M NCF
FI-5

FI-UK1363
FI UK1363 NCF

NCF Booster

NCF Booster-Signal FI-50 NCF

NCF Booster-Signal-L FI-E50 NCF

Furutech NCF Series

Incorporated into selected Furutech products, NCF features a special crystalline material that has two 'active' properties. First, it generates
negative ions that eliminate static. Second, it converts thermal energy into far infrared. Furutech combines this remarkable material with
QDQRVL]HGFHUDPLFSDUWLFOHVDQGFDUERQSRZGHUIRUWKHLUDGGLWLRQDO SLH]RHOHFWULFHIIHFW GDPSLQJSURSHUWLHV7KHUHVXOWLQJ1DQR&U\VWDOð
Formula is the ultimate electrical and mechanical damping material. Created by Furutech, it is found exclusively in Furutech products.

DSS-4.1 Furutech
DPS-4.1 power cable and DSS-4.1 speaker cable
)XUXWHFK¶VĮ $OSKD 2&&‐DUCC is one of a select few of conductors that
)XUXWHFKHQJLQHHUVKDYHIRXQGWRH[FHOLQKLJKHQGVRXQGUHSURGXFWLRQĮ
$OSKD 2&&±'8&&LVFRQVWUXFWHGXVLQJDFRPELQDWLRQRI'8&&8OWUD
Crystallized High Purity Copper and Furutech’s world famous Pure
7UDQVPLVVLRQĮ $OSKD 2&&
7KHKLJKHVWTXDOLW\RIIWKHUHHOFDEOHDYDLODEOHDQ\ZKHUH

DPS-4.1

+44 (0) 118-981-4238

W W W . F U R U T E C H . C O M info@soundfowndations.co.uk
 THE HOME OF REAL HI-FI

Your ide
e gu
ultimatworld of
to the nd hi-fi
high-e
OUT !
NOW

IN EVERY ISSUE
Exclusive high-end equipment reviews, vinyl, CD and hi-res downloads rated,
your letters, in-depth investigations, opinion pages, vintage tests & so much more…

www.hifinews.co.uk
 BUYINGGUIDE

Buying Guide
Selecting the components you want to audition is never
easy, but help is at hand with our pick of the best to pass
through our respected reviewing process
Recom
mends
ESSENTIA
YOU’LL L HI-FI
WA
TO OWN NT

CD players p110 Amplifiers p111 Pre/power amps p111

Cables p112-113 Network audio players p114
Music servers p114 DACs p115 Loudspeakers p116-118
One-box systems p118 Turntables p119
Cartridges p119 Phono stages p120
Headphones p120-121 Portable DACs p121
JANUARY 2023 109
 BUYINGGUIDE

CD PLAYERS

Audiolab Cambridge Audio Exposure

6000CDT AXC35 XM CD
PRICE: £380 REVIEWED: HFC 447 PRICE: £300 REVIEWED: HFC 454 PRICE: £1,200 REVIEWED: HFC 455

The 6000CDT is exceptional at revealing what’s
on your discs to deliver a great big soundstage
with plenty of detail inside. It can dig down deep
into the mix to eke out the different musical
strands while dynamically and rhythmically it’s
hard to beat at the price. In short, it’s a super,
highly affordable audiophile CD transport.
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.
A highly likeable half-width compact disc player
that presents music in an enjoyable yet
technically accurate manner, the XM CD might
lack the operational slickness and versatility
of some rivals, but it more than makes up for it
with its energetic, lively sound, dynamic light
and shade and charming character.

Musical Fidelity Rega Rotel

M3scd Saturn MK3 CD11 Tribute
PRICE: £1,150 REVIEWED: HFC 450 PRICE: £2,000 REVIEWED: HFC 490 PRICE: £400 REVIEWED: HFC 469

Able to string together elements of the mix
dextrously for a natural and believable sound,
the M3scd’s combination of detail and rhythmic
alacrity are highly impressive while its excellent
timing and tonal balance leave you wanting
more. With its lovely, lyrical sonics oozing detail
and subtlety, this is an extremely capable player.
A supremely talented digital source with appeal
well beyond the remit of a Rega system, the
Saturn MK3 demonstrates an effortlessly
musical performance that sounds gloriously
‘undigital’ without smoothing off or losing
any aspect of musicality. It also has superb
connectivity and is an utter joy in use.
A stunning team up between Marantz legend
Ken Ishiwata before his sad passing and hi-fi
luminary Karl-Heinz Fink, this is not one of
those do-it-all players. Instead, its simple,
refined sound and no-nonsense operation
combine for a stunningly frill-free approach
to superb playback at a great price.

ALSO CONSIDER

Audiolab Leema Acoustics Marantz Roksan

8300CDQ
£1,100 HFC 448
Taking the winning recipe of the
8200CDQ and adding an upgraded DAC
with DSD playback, the accurate and
uncoloured sound of the Audiolab is
unmistakable. Vast amounts of detail are
extracted from the mix, soundstaging is
incredible and music flows naturally.
Stream IV
£2,300 HFC 456
The latest update to this long-established
player feels a considerable step forward.
CD playback is highly refined, assured
and transparent, bass is rock solid with
visceral depth that positively grips your
solar plexus and streaming shares all
these qualities for the best of both worlds.
SACD 30n
£2,700 HFC 468
While its styling might be a touch
divisive, the SACD 30n’s involving,
detailed and highly refined sound is
beyond dispute whether it be with SACD
or CD. Meanwhile, its neat supreme
streaming integration ensures a great
performance without discs too.
K3 CD Di
£1,300 HFC 403
Offering the relatively rare combination
of smooth tonality with a lively and
animated way of presenting the music,
the K3 CD Di displays a sweet and
even tonal balance with a panoramic
soundstage. In short, it’s closer to good
analogue sound than digital.

110 JANUARY 2023

 BUYINGGUIDE

AMPLIFIERS

Copland Cyrus Audio Exposure

CSA150 i9-XR 3510
PRICE: £4,988 REVIEWED: HFC 479 PRICE: £3,300 REVIEWED: HFC 489 PRICE: From £2,250 REVIEWED: HFC 485

A tube/transistor hybrid that’s more than the
sum of its parts, the CSA150 is not just a fine
all-rounder as it also excels sonically with a big,
strong, engaging performance that’s also
surprisingly subtle and detailed for such a
muscular thing. Well worth an audition, it’s a
bargain at the price considering all that it does.
Minor annoyances aside (the speaker
terminals being too close together and
the headphone output on the rear), the
impressive build quality, superb spec and
outstanding performance means the i9-XR
rivals similarly priced analogue-only rivals
while offering connectivity they can’t match.
Delivering speaker control like a sergeant major
on a power trip, you’d be forgiven for thinking the
3510 has been transported from the Eighties –
all minimalist design and line-level inputs.
Additional USB/DSD64 DAC and MC or MM
phono boards are available and the performance
comes across like a sizable blast from the past.

Pro-Ject Rega Yamaha

MaiA S3 io A-S3200
PRICE: £550 REVIEWED: HFC 492 PRICE: £380 REVIEWED: HFC 475 PRICE: £5,000 REVIEWED: HFC 464

This Group-Test winning integrated ran
Rega’s io pretty close – ultimately coming out
on top thanks to the functionality it offers that
the io doesn’t. Compact and well made, this is
a great-sounding amplifier that does a pretty
impressive range of things very well indeed.
In short, top of the pile for those on a budget.
It might appear small and rather plain and it
might not be over flowing with features or boast
a huge amount of Watts, but give the io a
talented source and you can’t fail to be
impressed by its outrageous musicality and
lightness of foot. It’s at one with the music with
a supple fluency and rhythmical literacy.
This highly accomplished performer
succeeds through its breadth of ability rather
than exceeding in one specific area. A highly
capable performer, its snappy sound and
gutsy demeanour combine with speed,
grip versatility and power to create a
great-looking beast of an integrated.

PRE/POWER AMPLIFIERS

NEW
ENTRY

Cambridge Audio Elipson Exposure Rotel

Edge W
£2,500 HFC 447
The Edge W power amplifier quotes
2x 100W RMS output and has oodles of
power to drive pretty much any speaker.
It has a neutral sound with a hint of
sweetness and an upbeat nature
underwritten by plenty of insight that’s
seriously good for the money.
P1 F/A2700
£2,800/£3,000 HFC 494
Elipson’s walk on the wild side from
speakers to electronics is deeply
impressive with this exceptional
package far exceeding expectations at
the price offering a great combination
of power, smoothness, refinement
and detail that’s highly alluring.
XM7/XM9
£1,240/£1,390 HFC 429
Fast, open and three dimensional, the
XM9 pairing is capable of driving more
awkward speaker loads to high levels
without any complaint. Partnered with
the XM7 preamp/DAC, Exposure’s house
sound means a fulsome bass, midband
detail and a smooth, yet spacious treble.
Michi P5/S5
£3,300/£5,400 HFC 467
Rotel’s high-end sub-brand might not be
the last word in attack and slam, and
some might bemoan its lack of detail.
But that misses the point: when it comes
to weight, scale and a breath-takingly
natural approach to making music, few
combos come even close to this one.

JANUARY 2023 111

 BUYINGGUIDE
CABLES – INTERCONNECTS
Atlas Cables
Element Achromatic
PRICE: £86 for 1m REVIEWED: HFC 485
Achromatic means without colour and that’s very
much what you get with this affordable offering.
Compared with previous Atlas Element cables
this has increased OCC copper content on the
conductors and a new process for reduced
distortion. The result is great spaciousness to
the soundstage and imaging plus powerful bass.
Ecosse Cables
Baton MkII
PRICE: £145 for 1m REVIEWED: HFC 493
Turning out a remarkably sophisticated
performance at this price point, the Baton
MkII utilises Ultra High Purity Oxygen-Free
Copper that’s plated in Ultra High Purity
Oxygen-Free Silver to minimise signal loss.
The result is an analogue interconnect that
brings detail and clarity to the fore.
“A man who stops advertising to save money is like
a man who stops a clock to save time.”
112 JANUARY 2023
Black Rhodium
Minuet S
PRICE: £240 for 1m REVIEWED: HFC 492
Replacing the original Minuet (HFC 453),
this RCA interconnect is screened to shield
against extraneous RFI and EMI interference.
The result is improved intimacy in quieter
sections of music and great dynamics in the
louder passages. The soundstage reveals new
breadth and depth coupled with great mids.
Kimber Kable
Select USB-Cu
PRICE: From £563 REVIEWED: HFC 456
Terminated with hand-made purpleheart and
gaboon ebony connector housings, this
distinctive USB cable achieves a soundstage
that is both wide and deep. The edginess of
violins is deeply impressive while instruments
are perfectly located across the room revealing a
stunning mix of definition and clarity.
- Henry Ford
Chord Company
Clearway
PRICE: £100 for 1m REVIEWED: HFC 485
A fantastic performer across a broad range of
different music styles, the Clearway features
the company’s proprietary ARAY conductor
geometry and ensures that all the detail of
the individual instruments remains well defined,
throughout playback – adding to the overall
realism of the production.
QED
Performance
Audio 40i
PRICE: £55 for 1m REVIEWED: HFC 485
The stand-out winner of our interconnect
Group Test, this black pearl-sheathed offering
pairs a supreme sonic showing with
impressive build quality and performances
free from muddiness at a very generous price.
 BUYINGGUIDE

CABLES – MAINS POWER

Atlas Cables Black Rhodium Chord Company

Eos dd Stream Shawline
PRICE: £145 for 1m REVIEWED: HFC 452 PRICE: £450 for 1.7m REVIEWED: HFC 430 PRICE: £200 for 1m REVIEWED: HFC 438

Referring to ‘dual drain’ technology, the
Eos dd is designed to act as a filter against
incoming contamination. The result is an
inky blackness between musical phrases
and a supremely low noise floor, while
detail and imaging improve as interference
is banished.
Black Rhodium has discovered that optimum
sound quality is obtained from cables of 1.7m,
hence this offering featuring silver-plated
copper conductors. And who are we to argue,
considering the impressive clarity and focus
of instruments combined with a noise floor
displaying an impressive lack of interference.
Available at a variety of lengths, the Shawline
mains cable is made from three lots of 14 AWG
multi-strand conductors. Test highlights
include superior front-to-back imaging,
with all the tonal complexities of the
instruments really coming to life, delivering
genuine energy to orchestral performances.

Furutech IsoTek Russ Andrews

Roxy Evo3 Initium 30th Anniversary YellO
PRICE: £233 for 1.5m REVIEWED: HFC 447 PRICE: £65 for 1.5m REVIEWED: HFC 413 PRICE: £65 for 1m REVIEWED: HFC 423

Connecting the Roxy to a source
component immediately removes a layer
of glare and ‘glint’ from the sound; tonally
it’s darkly translucent instead of shiny white
gloss, allowing the listener to hear more
into the music and appreciate the space
between the notes.
IsoTek’s entry-level power cable has a
distinctive opalescent green finish that is
flexible and stylish. Once employed, there’s
a noticeable step up in the quality of musical
instrument focus while clarity improves as
the background becomes quieter and bass
more extended.
First introduced in the nineties, the YellO
benefits from years of research into the
effects of mains quality. Employing pure
copper conductors, this relaunched cable
results in a wider, deeper soundstage and the
improvement it brings to instrument focus
has to be heard to be believed.

DRAGONFLY COBALT
DAC + PREAMP + HEADPHONE AMP
The award-winning DragonFly Cobalt has the robust 2.1-volt output to drive almost any headphone, uses a bit-
perfect digital volume control for outstanding signal-to-noise ratio, enables seamless compatibility with Apple
and Android devices, and is an exceptionally competent and affordable MQA Renderer.

Cobalt’s precedent-setting performance is made possible by:

• New ESS ES9038Q2M DAC chip with a minimum-phase slow roll-off filter for more natural sound.
• New Microchip PIC32MX274 microprocessor reduces current draw and increases processing speed by 33%.
• Improved power-supply filtering, specifically designed to reduce WiFi, Bluetooth, and cellular noise.
• Includes a form-fitting Carbon-level DragonTail USB-A to USB-C adaptor.

From MP3 to MQA and Hi-Res, DragonFly Cobalt preserves the body, warmth, and natural color in all your music. Experience
more beauty at home and everywhere you listen.

JANUARY 2023 113

 BUYINGGUIDE

NETWORK AUDIO PLAYERS

Auralic Cambridge Audio Matrix Audio

Altair G2.1 Edge NQ Element X
PRICE: £4,600 REVIEWED: HFC 482 PRICE: £3,500 REVIEWED: HFC 447 PRICE: £2,800 REVIEWED: HFC 473

Not just a network-attached DAC/preamp, with
the addition of onboard storage the Altair G2.1
morphs into a self-contained music hub that
reveals itself to be a deliciously neutral and clean
source. It presents high levels of detail without
sounding mechanical or artificial and musical
involvement is top notch across all genres.
Something of a departure from CA’s usual
fare, this network music player also combines
the additional versatility of a DAC and preamp
to serve up a sumptuously wide recorded
acoustic, with a hugely expansive sound that
partners massive punch with great precision
for a clean, direct and enjoyable sound.
Supporting everything from network streaming
to 768kHz PCM, DSD1024, MQA and Roon, the
Element X can also comfortably drive a variety of
headphones. Tardis like it hides a multitude of
features in its svelte shell and operationally it
proves pretty much impossible to throw off
course. Be warned, it goes seriously loud.

NAD Naim Yamaha

M33 ND5 XS 2 WXAD-10
PRICE: £4,000 REVIEWED: HFC 466 PRICE: £2,300 REVIEWED: HFC 454 PRICE: £150 REVIEWED: HFC 442

Hot on the heels of 2019’s M10, the M33 has
raised the bar even further. In its full-size
guise it offers the same style, flexibility and
ease of use combined with a performance
that’s just as arresting with analogue sources
as it is when streaming. Throw in futureproof
MDC updating slots, and you’re on to a winner.
Delivering Naim’s distinctive flare and typically
impressive sound – superb low-end drive
with texture and presence combined with a
delicious sweetness – this Roon-compatible
network music player is supremely engineered,
over flowing with useful features and capable
of a sparkling performance.
One of the smallest options around, this
MusicCast network audio player might not
look like much, but don’t be fooled – it has it
where it counts. Tonal balance is neutral; bass
is well integrated with good detail; and the
space and three dimensionality add to the
realism, making it great value for money.

MUSIC SERVERS

Bluesound Innuos Melco Naim

Vault 2i
£1,100 HFC 452
If you see yourself buying into the BluOS
ecosystem favoured by the Canadian
brand and its cohorts, this 2TB, server,
ripper and player compatible with up to
24-bit/192kHz PCM and MQA files, is a
great way of starting off in one room
and expanding as your system grows.
Zenith Mk3
From £3,000 HFC 451
With one of the best interfaces going
and a potently flexible spec, the 4TB, CD
ripping Zenith can be used as a Roon
Core and delivers an outstanding
performance that inspires confidence
even for those starting out. It should
be right near the top of any shortlist.
N100 EX
£2,000 HFC 462
Following a software update back in
December 2019, the N100 became
the EX so it’s now powered by the
excellent Intelligent Music Library
system – the best in the business. The
sharp lines of the chassis combined with
the crisp, clean sound help seal the deal.
Uniti Core
£1,900 HFC 438
Equipped with a CD ripper and 1TB SSD,
the Uniti Core takes on an understated
role as it handles 32-bit/384kHz PCM
and DSD128 music files impeccably.
Presentation is pleasingly neutral and it
simply lets whatever network audio
player is attached get on with the music.

114 JANUARY 2023


DACS
Alpha Design Labs
Stratos
PRICE: £1,315 REVIEWED: HFC 455
Remarkably flexible at the price, the Stratos
offers an impressively wide-reaching range of
features without compromising sound quality.
The soundstage is wide and open with a refined
presentation, delicate details are reproduced
with breath-taking accuracy and instrument
separation and location are absolutely spot on.
iFi Audio
ZEN One Signature
PRICE: £350 REVIEWED: HFC 491
Supporting PCM files up to 384kHz and up to
DSD256, this converter combines a decent
selection of inputs that should be enough
for most users while offering an absolutely
exceptional level of performance competitive
with anything we’ve heard under £500.
Superb build quality seals the deal.
Audiolab
M-DAC+
PRICE: £800 REVIEWED: HFC 449
While some DACs can dive deeper into a
recording, what’s so likeable about the
M-DAC+ is its poise, control and command of
the bigger musical picture. With its stunning
grasp of flow and tempo, there’s a welcome
warmth to its presentation and its solid three
dimensional imaging is second to none.
Matrix Audio
Mini-i Pro 3
PRICE: £900 REVIEWED: HFC 482
Claiming the spoils in HFC 482’s DAC Group Test,
the Mini-i Pro 3 offers a winning combination of
comprehensive spec and features, a stunning
casework and – regardless of which way you
elect to employ its services – it sounds
absolutely superb. In short, it’s the most
accomplished digital front end for under a grand.
BUYINGGUIDE
Chord Electronics
TT2
PRICE: £3,400 REVIEWED: HFC 468
We could talk about dynamic range and noise
floor modulation, but the TT2 simply creates a
more believable illusion of a physical presence
and space than its rivals. Combining superb
build, typical design flair and stunning sound
quality, this is a DAC that not only believes in the
superiority of digital, but goes on to prove it too.
PS Audio
DirectStream
PRICE: £4,860 REVIEWED: HFC 468
By converting everything it’s fed to DSD, the
DirectStream reveals more from CDs than its
rivals for a superlative analogue-like sound
that has more in common with master tape
than anything digital can usually muster. Low-
level resolution, refinement and a majestic
sense of composure add to the positives.
JANUARY 2023 115
 BUYINGGUIDE

FLOORSTANDING LOUDSPEAKERS

ATC Bowers & DALI

SCM40 Wilkins Spektor 6
PRICE: £4,000
REVIEWED: HFC 480 702 PRICE: £500
REVIEWED: HFC 473
One of the company’s
more compact designs,
Signature This Group Test
winner positions itself
PRICE: £5,000
this 40-litre three-way REVIEWED: HFC 480 at an extremely
floorstander is a sealed competitive price
Sporting B&W’s
box cabinet with lower point and while it
tweeter-on-top, this
sensitivity than most looks like a £500
stunning three-way
(necessitating a pretty loudspeaker, it sounds
comes with a glorious
muscular amp to hear it like it costs way more.
Datuk Gloss ebony-
at its best). However, this It has a lovely natural
coloured veneer. It has
is a solid, robust, powerful tone, plus lots of detail and great dynamics. It
a big controlled sound that fills large rooms
and gutsy-sounding speaker with plenty of sounds big, confident and expansive and yet is
with ease, ensuring rousing renditions of
insight and expansive soundstaging. Subtle and never overbearing or in anyway in your face.
music overflowing with copious air and space
delicate enough for softer moments, it’s equally Throw into the mix a devastating combination of
and impressive soundstaging. Deft handling
comfortable going loud – displaying dramatically finesse and musicality and it’s insatiable appetite
and plenty of punch complete the package.
rendered crescendos and a fine sense of space. for rhythm, and it’s a no-brainer at the price.

Kerr Spendor Wharfedale

Acoustic D7.2 Diamond
K320 PRICE: £4,500
REVIEWED: HFC 456
12.3
mk.3 A crisp, open and even-
PRICE: £500
REVIEWED: HFC 491
PRICE: £7,500 sounding loudspeaker
This Group Test-
REVIEWED: HFC 480 that’s impressively
winning floorstander
This Group Test engaging and
has skills that mark
winning floorstander surprisingly dynamic –
it out as something
comprehensively especially for a
special. And first of
trounced everything floorstander at this
these is the midrange,
else in almost every price. There’s more
which is wide and airy.
way in its roundup. It boasts a tonality that’s space around vocals and
This is accompanied
a touch on the warm side of dry alongside a a lighter more spry sound to cymbals, making
by some next-level
soundstage of architectural precision. In other for a lifelike sound despite its ability to remain
transparency, spooky insight and
respects it has extended yet propulsive bass, smooth and sophisticated. The D7.2 is a
extraordinary tonal temperance. Completing
a joyously open midband and a deliciously modestly sized, highly capable, do-it-all
the picture are the supremely supple bass
lustrous treble. Plus it makes music great fun. loudspeaker that’s well worth an audition.
and glorious build quality.

LOUDSPEAKER CABLES

Chord Company Chord Company QED True Colours Industries

Epic XL
£600 1.5m, terminated HFC 450
Combining elements of Chord’s
Signature Reference/XL with its Epic
speaker cable, the XL bristles with
energy and brings fantastic detail to the
fore. Subtle elements are captivatingly
clear, soundstage depth is enormous
and clarity is supremely enhanced.
Odyssey X
£150 1m, terminated HFC 451
Made from the same materials as the
Rumour X (HFC 447), the Odyssey X
is designed to bring more control to
dynamics and definition, and boy does it
deliver. Front-to-back imaging is superb,
instruments are well focused and clearly
positioned while piano is full and rich.
XT25
£85 3m HFC 434
Claimed to achieve a lowering of
impedance compared with a traditional
large cross-sectional area twin-core cable,
the XT25 offers up great refinement and
engaging musicality. Vocals are clear and
full bodied, silence between phrases is
eerily quiet and the noise floor is very low.
Storm
£22 1m HFC 453
This flexible ribbon cable is 2mm thick,
making it ideal for hiding away under the
carpet for tidy bi-wire hook-ups, while its
tight and well-controlled performance
reveals impressive openness with a
spacious sound that’s full and entirely
uncluttered, even during crescendos.

116 JANUARY 2023

 BUYINGGUIDE

STANDMOUNT LOUDSPEAKERS

Bowers & Wilkins Fyne Audio Q Acoustics

607 S2 Anniversary F1-8 Concept 30
PRICE: £450 REVIEWED: HFC 470 PRICE: £6,000 REVIEWED: HFC 473 PRICE: £900 REVIEWED: HFC 486

More than just a range refresh, this baby box has
had new life breathed into it in a rather skilful and
expert way. So much more than
the sum of its parts, the 607 S2 Anniversary
Edition is highly engaging across all types of
music, has a super classy treble and is the best
B&W entry-level standmount yet.
If the F1-8 is anything to go by, size really does
matter. If you’re short of space, look elsewhere
as this is a beast that won’t melt into the
background. But as a speaker that merges
the strengths of the best standmounts and
floorstanders, it is dynamic, dextrous and
deeply satisfying with all types of music.
The Concept 30 is magnificently free of issues,
places no great demand on partnering
equipment and is unfussy about positioning.
Combined with great looks, it is one of the very
best standmounts available at the £1,000
pricepoint. Regardless of what you play on it, it’s
very hard to unsettle. Superb.

Sonus faber Spendor Triangle

Lumina I Classic 3/1 Borea BRO3
PRICE: £800 REVIEWED: HFC 477 PRICE: £2,730 REVIEWED: HFC 476 PRICE: £350 REVIEWED: HFC 489

A worthy entry point into the Sonus faber family
and a genuine star in its own right, the Lumina I
manages to sound bigger, more self-assured
and room filling than you’d expect from looking
at it. It does all this while still delivering on the
virtues expected from the company and looking
and feeling very pleasant at the same time.
The Spendor Classic may not be as modern
looking as some rivals at the price, but don’t be
fooled: that traditional design hides a superbly
talented standmount able to produce a
sensational blend of accuracy, scale, refinement
and sheer unadulterated fun, and it’s not too
fussy about placement.
This Group Test-winning speaker takes all the
ingrediants of an affordable standmount and
makes something rather special from them. It
presents music in a spacious and believable
soundstage while giving weight and texture
to the instruments. Its mix of energy and
refinement is very hard to resist.

LOUDSPEAKER SUPPORTS

Atacama Audio Hi-Fi Racks IsoAcoustics Townshend Audio

Apollo Cyclone 6
£100 HFC 455
Available in a choice of three sizes so
you can get the height of your cabinets
correctly positioned to suit your
listening position, this stand removes
unwanted vibrations from the
performance sharpening imaging and
instrument focus for a full, refined sound.
X50
From £180.48 HFC 453
Solidly built, these elegant yet classy
speaker stands are available in a choice
of flexible customisation options,
removing all colouration from the
performance and giving the impression
the cabinet is floating in mid-air. Great
value for money and a simple upgrade.
GAIA II
£300 HFC 427
Attaching the GAIA II feet to the
underside of your speaker provides a
high degree of isolation that gives it the
opportunity to breath and display a level
of clarity and openness that’s easy to
hear. Music just sounds right with them
in place and the price is right too.
Seismic Isolation Podium
From £1,400 HFC 426
Placing your loudspeaker on to a
Seismic Isolation Podium is a revelation.
The way it completely removes its
interaction with its surroundings is
mind blowing, bringing clarity to the
entire frequency range, enabling it to
communicate far more effectively.

JANUARY 2023 117

 BUYINGGUIDE

WIRELESS LOUDSPEAKERS

Bowers & Wilkins Cabasse KEF

Formation Duo Pearl Akoya LS50 Wireless II
PRICE: £4,000 REVIEWED: HFC 488 PRICE: £2,950 REVIEWED: HFC 488 PRICE: £2,250 REVIEWED: HFC 479

It might offer relatively poor connectivity
without the Formation Audio hub (an extra
£650), but otherwise this is one of the best
wireless speakers around thanks to its stunning
design and class-leading sound which reveals
impressive levels of power and poise under
pressure regardless of source.
Bringing a retro futuristic touch of glamour to
the wireless world, the Pearl Akoya is sold as a
single speaker only – so doesn’t come cheap.
HDMI aside, it ticks most boxes connectivity-
wise and its crisp, expansive sound ensures
it will prove more than capable for audiophiles.
Superlative space-age stereo at its best.
Combining an extensive and highly practical
specification that makes it an ideal one-stop
shop with a level of overall performance that is
truly outstanding, the LS50 Wireless II might not
be cheap, but it is unquestionably a quite superb
all-in-one solution that images better than most
rivals and is sonically fabulous.

NEW
ENTRY

KEF Q Acoustics System Audio

LSX Q Active 200 Legend 7.2 Silverback
PRICE: £1,000 REVIEWED: HFC 446 PRICE: £1,500 REVIEWED: HFC 488 PRICE: £1,700 each REVIEWED: HFC 494

It might not offer the muscle and dynamic
reach of the LS50 Wireless, but the LSX is cut
from the same sonic cloth. Size, style, flexibility
and sound quality all impress, but it’s the active
ingredient which enables a performance that
similarly priced passive systems will find hard
to match that wins the day.
With each cabinet boasting a pair of Balanced
Mode Radiators – each with its own DSP and
amplifier channel – this Group Test-winning
standmount has a hi-fi like sound that’s tonally
neutral, smooth and well balanced. Offering a
combination of great sonics, stylish design
and superb connectivity, it’s the one to beat.
Perfect for those that are short on space, this
wallmount dispels the myth that because it’s
not a standmount or floorstander it’s not up to
scratch. There’s superb solidity to the sound
that permits great dynamic freedom,
impressive bass and everything from
the mids upwards is open and lucid.

ONE-BOX SYSTEMS

Audiolab Cambridge Audio NAD Naim

Omnia
£1,600 HFC 490
Despite some operational foibles, the
Omnia offers a level of performance
that very little under £2,000 can get
anywhere near. It combines excellent
functionality and spec with a supreme
level of performance across its wide
spread of connections.
Evo 150
£2,250 HFC 477
In terms of functionality, the Evo
150 offers little over a dedicated
streaming amp such as Hegel's H95.
As an object of desire, however, it's
on a different plane – as lovely to look
at as it is to use and to listen to. There
will be many takers for it.
M10
£2,200 HFC 451
With its super flexibility, powerful
amplifier design, big front panel
touchscreen and impressive BluOS
platform, this is a supremely stylish
offering. Sonically it’s a very powerful
and refined system while its definition
and precision is in ample supply.
Uniti Star
£3,500 HFC 433
Fast, powerful and grippy with oodles of
emotion and a pleasingly expressive
tonality, the Uniti Star might not have the
forensic detail resolution of some
similarly priced rivals, but it isn’t far off.
Otherwise it’s practically impossible to
find fault at the price.

118 JANUARY 2023

 BUYINGGUIDE

TURNTABLES

AVID Linn Pro-Ject

Volvere SP Majik LP12/Krane Debut PRO
PRICE: From £5,500 REVIEWED: HFC 472 PRICE: £3,500 REVIEWED: HFC 477 PRICE: £700 REVIEWED: HFC 487

With its dynamic, detailed and confident
presentation, the Volvere SP delivers all of the
thrills hidden in your vinyl's grooves and adds a
few more just for good measure. Rock solid,
unerringly precise and gloriously natural, it’s a
triumph that combines the joys of a belt drive
with the accuracy of a direct drive.
For such an old design, this Group Test winner
sounds surprisingly modern. It’s not as soft and
rounded as it used to be, but still retains enough
of the traditional Sondek character for it to
charm listeners. The result is a big, confident
and enjoyable sound that’s tonally a little warm
but with high levels of technical virtuosity.
Easy to setup and uncomplicated to use,
the Debut PRO has been dubbed the most
audiophile Debut yet. With its newly designed
tonearm, TPE-damped metal feet and 1.6kg
platter, it’s difficult to disagree. With plenty
of room to upgrade, even in stock form, this is
among the very best at the sub-£1,000 price.

Rega Roksan
R Technics
Planar 10 Attessa SL-1500C
PRICE: £4,500 REVIEWED: HFC 456 PRICE: £995 REVIEWED: HFC 493 PRICE: £900 REVIEWED: HFC 453

A masterpiece that is without doubt one of
Rega’s finest achievements, the Planar 10
manages to deliver a performance that is
outstanding even at this lofty price point.
Utterly unflappable, it offers incredible detail
retrieval combined with a naturally low noise
floor to dish up captivating vinyl execution.
This all-in-one package includes (an admittedly
overly fiddly) tonearm, Dana cartridge and
phono preamp (which can be switched off).
Sonically, the Attessa is distinguished by its vast
soundstage and engaging musicality. Throw
in its massive recorded acoustic and supreme
midband, and you’ve got an ideal starter option.
The built-in phono stage is terrific, while the
take-no-prisoners sonic personality sounds
joyously lively, enthusiastic and ‘on it’. Thanks
to its legendary torque and stability, it locks
down timing and rhythm with start-stop
precision and its firm, deep and expressive
bass adds unrivalled impetus and authority.

CARTRIDGES

Audio-Technica Goldring Hana MoFi

AT-OC9XEN
£300 HFC 452
This Group Test-winning moving-coil
cart utilises an elliptical nude stylus
mated to an assembly using two coils
rather than one – which is something of
an A-T trademark – and balances excellent
performance with a useful boost to user
friendliness, thanks to its threaded body.
Eroica HX
£550 HFC 492
Replacing the H as the only high-output
moving-coil in Goldring’s range, the
Eroica HX can work into a standard
moving-magnet input. The result is a
cart that though fiddly to fit rewards with
a spacious and convincing soundstage
with impeccable control and flow.
Umami Red
£3,400 HFC 483
Translating from Japanese as ‘brilliant’'
and ‘gorgeous’, this Group Test-winning
low-output moving-coil cart more than
lives up to its name. It sounds beautiful
with a superb combination of power,
poise, musicality, detail and insight, and
makes music sound utterly magical.
UltraGold
£1,500 HFC 485
This good-looking medium-output
moving-coil cartridge from the US
record label retains the warmth and air
we’ve come to expect of MC offerings,
but partners it with the sort of impressive
trackability you’ll struggle to match at
the price. A real smooth operator.

JANUARY 2023 119

 BUYINGGUIDE

PHONO STAGES

Chord Electronics Hegel iFi Audio

Huei V10 ZEN Phono
PRICE: £900 REVIEWED: HFC 459 PRICE: £1,300 REVIEWED: HFC 474 PRICE: £150 REVIEWED: HFC 495

The Huei’s appeal extends from its rock-
solid build and playful, sphere-based
control system to its impressive knack
of extracting the best from a turntable/
cartridge combo without being too
painfully honest about the ropier
aspects of less-than-pristine recordings.
It might be fiddly to setup and ensuring you
pick the best combination of DIP switches for
your cartridge isn’t the most of intuitive of
processes, but the V10 is effortlessly smooth,
gloriously insightful and impeccably voiced
for a crystal-clear performance with a wide
range of different MM or MC pick-ups.
An astonishing performance and superb flexibility.
Until you find yourself at the price where
features like adjustable loading and capacitance
are possible, the spec for the asking price is
outstanding. This is one of a tiny number of
designs anywhere near this price that can do
justice to pretty much any cartridge under £500.

Musical Fidelity Pro-Ject Tom Evans

M6x Vinyl Phono Box RS2 MicroGroove+ X mkII
PRICE: £1,700 REVIEWED: HFC 475 PRICE: £1,300 REVIEWED: HFC 481 PRICE: £1,000 REVIEWED: HFC 469

This multi-talented design offers a superb
combination of excellent connectivity,
versatile loading and gain options, a great
user interface and excellent sound. Tonally
it’s very neutral with a crisp clean and
spacious tone that’s less euphonic than some
may like, but nonetheless fun to listen to.
The RS2’s transparency is genuinely
impressive, even judged at the price and its
lack of colouration is potentially very useful
indeed. This is the product you buy when
you’re already satisfied with the tonal
balance of your system and simply need a
well-specified phono stage to complete it.
The closest thing the UK has to a phono
stage guru, Evans designed the circuit for
this stunning stage in 1989. Unapologetically
plain, light and unassuming, the MicroGroove
cuts the sonic mustard like nothing else to
make even mid-priced turntables sound far
higher end than they actually are. Superb.

IN-EAR HEADPHONES

Audeze Audio-Technica Sennheiser Bowers & Wilkins

LCDi3
£900 HFC 478
Clarity, subtlety and coherence meet
scale, air and an utterly compelling
sense of dynamic freedom on this
stunning Group Test-winning planar
magnetic in-ear. With great poise and
even handedness, it never gives the
impression of trying too hard.
ATH-CKS50TW
£150 HFC 4901
This chunky Group Test-winning
wireless noise canceller boasts a 15-hour
battery (20 with ANC turned off), aptX,
aptX Adaptive and AAC processing as
well as Sony’s 360 spatial audio format.
Excellent value, it provides a supremely
spacious and well-balanced performance.
IE 900
£1,100 HFC 478
If dynamic dexterity and resolution that
would shame a spy satellite are what you
crave, the IE 900 scours the noise floor
like few other in-ear offerings at the
price. Articulation, separation and drive
are equally impressive while treble
extension and refinement are superb.
PI7
£349 HFC 478
The first pair of True wireless in-ears
from B&W does a supreme job of
capturing fine details and stitching them
into a wider whole. Bass extension is
deep without being at the expense of
speed and noise cancelling works
without effecting the tonal balance.

120 JANUARY 2023

 BUYINGGUIDE

HEADPHONES

NEW
ENTRY

Audio-Technica Bowers & Wilkins Philips

ATH-M50xBT Px7 S2 Fidelio L3
PRICE: £180 REVIEWED: HFC 450 PRICE: £380 REVIEWED: HFC 495 PRICE: £300 REVIEWED: HFC 486

Taking its M50x and turning it into a very
capable wireless design (thanks to Bluetooth
v5.0) without altering its sonic character, Audio-
Technica has come up trumps here. Balance
and refinement join crunching bass, impressive
three dimensionality and decent noise-
cancelling to seal the deal.
With redesigned 40mm drivers and updated
active noise-cancelling features this refresh
to the already superb Px7 (HFC 486) offers
crystal clear clarity, supreme balance and
impressive depth when it comes to low
frequencies. Most impressive of all, this
is in both wired and wireless guises.
This wireless noise-cancelling headphone Group
Test winner ticks pretty much every box at the
price. Boasting aptX HD, a 38 hour battery life
and decent noise cancelling, it is well built and
comfortable. And while the accompanying app
makes operation a doddle, the music just flows
in an easy going, unforced way.

NEW
ENTRY

Rosson Audio Sennheiser T+A

Design Momentum 4 Solitaire P-SE
RAD-0 Wireless PRICE: £3,000 REVIEWED: HFC 477

PRICE: £2,500 REVIEWED: HFC 481
A largely viceless implementation of planar
magnetic headphone that delivers the
commendable virtues of the design with very
few of the downsides. Comfortable and well
made, the RAD-0 sounds absolutely superb.
PRICE: £300 REVIEWED: HFC 495
Its 42mm dynamic drivers may be the same as its
predecessor, but the Momentum 4 has updated
Bluetooth and battery, ensuring that regardless
of wired or wireless use its sound quality,
versatility and noise-cancelling are superb.
Shaving as much as 40 percent off the price
of its flagship P headphone, while retaining
more than 60 percent of the capability, this is
a stunning open-back, planar magnetic T+A
offering. It might be expensive, but the sheer
levels of performance and the quality of the
build and design mean it is one of the best.

PORTABLE DACS

NEW
ENTRY

Chord Electronics Chord Electronics iFi Audio iFi Audio

Hugo 2
£1,800 HFC 428
An essential audition, the Hugo 2 is not
just a portable DAC/headphone amp,
but the best hi-fi digital converter
available at or near the price. Music
ebbs and flows along in an organic and
unforced way and it images with
stunning pinpoint precision.
Mojo 2
£450 HFC 488
It might be £50 more than its predecessor,
but the follow-up Mojo makes the
superb original sound opaque, coloured
and closed-in by comparison. Prepare to
experience complex textures, limpid
transparency, striking stereo and
unnoticed details like never before.
GO bar
£330 HFC 494
A near technically perfect example
of a portable DAC, the GO bar sets
new standards of for the breed with
functionality for every occasion.
Accurate, with a potent yet engaging
sound, it partners great features with
exceptional sound.
xDSD
£400 HFC 439
Justifying its inclusion on sound alone,
the xDSD delivers a wide variety of
musical styles with admirable clarity and
precision. It’s engaging, lively sonics and
versatile connectivity make it equally
adept for mobile or desktop use and the
only minor downside is its battery life.

JANUARY 2023 121

 Reader Classified ads www.hifichoice.com
For sale / Wanted

Reader
Classified
ROTEL RB-1092 stereo power amp, in mint condition,
c/w box and instructions. Includes Bowers & Wilkins
heavy spiked wooden isolation plinth. Cost new
£1,800 including plinth, happy to demo. Would
like £750: 07884 430988 (North Staffs).

Welcome to Hi-Fi Choice Reader Classified, a preamp, with remote

a free private ads service for buying and
selling second-hand hi-fi components.
These pages are a must-read if you’re
thinking about buying used kit, or if you
have hi-fi you want to sell. It’s free – simply
submit your ad with no more than 50
words (we reserve the right to edit it if not),
remembering to include your email, phone
FOR SALE
NAIM Uniti Core, pristine,
all original packaging &
accessories including
(unused) Powerline Lite.
1TB Samsung Evo 850
SSD drive. Collection
preferred £1,500. Will
courier for £40 (domestic
only): 07500 700454
or email: chromium51@
icloud.com (Reading
area).
CHORD ELECTRONICS
Mojo DAC only £125.
Pro-Ject Phono Box USB
V (Black): 19 months use;
original cables & manual
(not box), spare phono
lead. Ecosse Reference
RCA-RCA cable ‘The
Best Boys’ 1m, £30. Both
look & work as new:
07856 201830 or email:
stsbm01@gmail.com
(Ayrshire).
RUSS ANDREWS Torlyte
mk2 isolation platform
£100. Super yellow limited
edition power cable 1.5m
£125. RA ultra tuning fuse
boxed £35. ISO Acoustics
Orea indigo iso pucks
boxed set of three £100.
Tricot Dino phono preamp
control and Naim Lite
mains cable, excellent
condition, collection
only £650: 07740
number and county. Simply email your ad 868420 or email:
to: letters@hifichoice.co.uk. This service cliveangel57@gmail.com
is open to private advertisers only. Just (Southampton).
one ad per household and please note LIVING VOICE
that images are for illustration only and Auditorium IBX-R2
do not represent what is for sale. speakers in Black Ash,
immaculate condition, in
original boxes £1,800 ono:
£35: 01825 722936 or Will accept £10 each or
07905 312191
email: Stewartandjoy@ £95 for the complete set.
gmail.com (Sussex). Cash on collection only: NAIM ND5 XS2 network
07708 431963 (Crewe, streamer (2018). All
TOWNSHEND Seismic
packaging and manual.
Bars size 1.Type B Cheshire).
Excellent condition.
(Yellow) load cells. MCCORMACK TLC-1
Prefer buyer audition and
10.4-22kg, excellent preamp & DNA125 power
collect: email: ruane.
condition complete with amp. Owned from new,
hp157@virginmedia.com
instructions and box. both excellent condition
(Essex).
Collection only £500 including original boxes
TOWNSEND Allegri+
ono: 07399 835417 £1,850 plus P&P: 07508 passive preamp £900.
(Lincolnshire). 035671 or email: andy. Accoustic Energy AE1
HI-FI CHOICE magazines aldridge@gmx.com active loudspeakers piano
A5 size from 1975 (the (Cumbria). walnut with matching
very first issue) to 1987. NAIM DAC-V1 headphone stands £800. Linn
15 magazines in total. amp or can be used as Majik 109 loudspeakers
in oak £750. All in
excellent condition with
boxes: 01202 402509
(Ringwood).
WORLD DESIGNS Pre4
valve preamp & PSU3
power supply, nearly
new £950 ono plus P&P:
07508 035671 or email:
andy.aldridge@gmx.com
(Cumbria).
SUGDEN ANV50
amplifier, less than
years old, immaculate
condition: £3,000 ono:
ARCAM R-Dock iPod dock with power cable. Adds email: nnewby49@
extra dynamics and resolution to music. Excellent hotmail.com
condition. Happy to post. £40: 07941 387692 or
email: fernahnah@gmail.com (Essex). ROSSO FIORENTINO
Giglio two-way
standmount speakers
with matching stands.
The cabinets are finished
in black with leather front
and side cheeks and
magnetic speaker grilles.
The speakers and stands
are in A1 condition with
boxes for both £900
ono: 07956 584363
or email: Bernandjan@
virginmedia.com.
PRO-JECT Phono Box
USB V; 19 months use;
original cables & manual
(not box), spare phono
lead thrown in: £120. Pro-
Ject Connect-IT E phono
Lead (1.1m) with ground;
15 months use, £35.
Ecosse Reference
RCA-RCA cable ‘The
Best Boys’ 1m, £30. All
look & work as new:
07856 201830 or email:
stsbm01@gmail.com.
TELLURIUM Q Graphite
1.5m pair loudspeaker
cables new/old stock,
ex-demo purchased
August 2021. Excellent
condition banana/
banana tighten up collars,
original box £525 ono:
07432 245911 or email:
christophermaynard02@
gmail.com.
SENNHEISER HD 800 S
headphones, in excellent
condition, boxed, with
normal and balanced
cables and all paper work
£750: 07923 047638
or email: dave.drew@
talktalk.net (Yorkshire).
THORENS TD160B Mk II
SME III arm with Ortofon
SME30H arm/cartridge.
Very good condition with

BUYING TIPS BUYING SECOND-HAND can be a great way to pick up a bargain. A formerly expensive second-hand component might well prove a better long-term bet than a
brand-new product if the price is right. DO SOME RESEARCH on which brands have a good service back up, so if something does go wrong, you can get it fixed. Unless you
purchase from a dealer, you’re unlikely to get any warranty, so it’s up to you to ensure the fitness of any gear that you buy. USUALLY speakers should be less prone to breakdown than
amps, and amps should be more reliable than CD players. But any abused component could be trouble – have a proper demo and judge the seller as well as the goods!

122 JANUARY 2023

Reader Classified ads
manuals. Any reasonable
offer accepted: email
cbchinoy@outlook.com
(Sevenoaks area).
NAIM Nait 1 (Red LED).
Sounds great with lots of
different speakers. Good
condition and comes
with mayware adaptor.
Reluctant sale £340:
07410 408954 or email:
4444anwar@gmail.com.
300B single-ended
triode valve line amplifier
(12 WPC) in excellent
condition, but one of
the 300B valves will
need replacing. Lovely
sound quality. £4509.
Cash on collection only:
07708 431963 (Crewe,
Cheshire).
ARCAM A90 amp 100W/
channel with phono
board, owned from new
£300. Systemdeck IIX,
Rega 220 arm, Origin Live
arm mod with Goldring
1042 cartridge £325. Both
in excellent order. Buyer
collects. 01258 454084
(Blandford, Dorset).
RUSS ANDREWS Kimber
Kable Silver Streak
(Limited Edition) analogue
interconnect. 0.5m,
WBT-=114CU plugs and
mimit zaps with burn-in.
Used (five months old).
Excellent condition £195:
07305 303448 or email:
glynn.Nicholas@yahoo.
com (Isle of Wight).
ACOUSTIC RESEARCH
The AR Turntable two-
speed (33 & 45rpm),
belt-driven turntable
with Grado Black MM
cartridge. Classic Eighties
suspended turntable,
great smooth-sounding
player. Excellent working
condition, upgraded by
Origin Live with a new
motor and separate
power supply. Includes
SENNHEISER HDV 820 headphone amplifier,
two years old, boxed as new, excellent condition,
£1,500 including postage to UK Mainland:
07910 387221 or email: philbailey46@gmail.com
(Epsom Surrey).
acrylic lid £450:catlingaj@
aol.com
WANTED: I am looking
for a Cyrus One in mint
condition. Offers welcome:
remibalestie@yahoo.fr
NAIM NAT05 tuner,
‘Red Dot’ version with
Philips tuner head. In full
working order, no marks or
blemishes and in original
box. Buyer collects or
pays postage. Will reply to
sensible offers with phone
number: oakey1963@
gmail.com (near Chester).
KEF Reference 5 speakers,
Satin American Walnut,
all accessories, boxed
£8,750. KEF R300 Gloss
Black, boxed £400. From
BR3 5TL: 07973 132199 or
email: time2gojb@gmail.
com
REGA Elex-R amp, one
year old, as new. All
packing, remote etc. £625.
Creek Evolution 50A in
black, all packing remote
etc. great condition
£375. Collection only:
07398 642586 or email:
Johnakeanelangley@
gmail.com (Slough).
PRIMARE i30 amp £650,
Primare CD31 £650. Both
black, boxed with remotes:
0208 4649055 or email:
billmilla@virginmedia.
com
PMC DB1+ transmission
line monitors, Rosewood
veneer. Cyrus 8 Amp and
CD6 both silver. Mission
Stance sand-filled stands
are available. No original
boxes, but manuals.
Sensible offers please:
01249 655280 or email:
dorix1725@hotmail.com
(Wiltshire).
ATLAS Hyper 2.0 speaker
cable 4m Atlas plugs as
new £135 ono. Kudos KS-1
speaker cable 4m, Chord
Ohmic plugs as new
£135 ono. Ecosse Master
Reference 2.0 DCT RCA
Element
0.7m good condition
offers. MS HD Power
double wall sockets,
silver, boxed x3 offers:
email: stevecousins136@
gmail.com
ICON AUDIO MB845 Mk.1
monoblock amplifiers.
Upgraded to SE version
with new Mundorf
capacitors. New 845
valves on one amp.
Boxed. Great powerful
sound. Sensible offers:
07717 752288 or email:
captain_b99@yahoo.
co.uk (Bristol).
BOWERS & WILKINS CM9
floorstanding speakers
in black and in excellent
condition. They work well
with a range of amplifiers.
Boxed, service manual,
plinths and rear plugs
£950: 01539 732006 or
email: lindamarycott@
btinternet.com
(Cumbria).
have minimal impact on the signal – with virtually nothing added,
Now standard on Element, Equator, Hyper & our new Ailsa cables.
Our high-precision Achromatic RCA and Z plugs are designed to
ATACAMA Nexus 6i
speaker stands (satin
nothing taken away – resulting in improved sound quality.
black) and tub of Atacama
Atabites. As new. £50.
Collect only. 01529
304908 (Lincolnshire).
CLEARAUDIO 300Hz
calibrated strobe and 12in
test disc. Professional
set-up tool for the
discerning amateur
audiophile or for the
professional workshop. Element
Never used £95 inc p&p: Achromatic
07976 606369 or email:
RCA
Sws999@btinternet.com
(Devon). S/PDIF
VERTERE Pulse-B
analogue RCA 1.65m
interconnect cable (RRP
£949). Boxed as new
£400: 07979 080525
(Lancashire).
ICON AUDIO Stereo 40
mklll with Jensen caps
and recent valves £800
ono. Buyer collects:
07531 835575.
QUAD ESL988
loudspeakers in black.
Superb condition, full
service history, with mains
leads, instruction manual
and original boxes and
fillers £1,000 ono: 01827
284023 or 07855 579797
(Tamworth, Staffs).
LEAK Stereo 20 power/
preamp, dark grey £500:
atlascables.com
07988 081094
HiFi Addiction
CASH
C FOR YOUR HIFI
IFI
QUALITY USED HIFI
BOUGHT & SOLD
FROM A SINGLE COMPONENT
TO A COMPLETE COLLECTION
Hifi Addiction offers a simple and quick
solution to selling your hifi
IT’S AS EASY AS 1, 2, 3...
1. Phone or email for a quick quote
2. Payment via cash or bank transfer
3. Safe collection arranged*
NATIONWIDE COLLECTION
*For larger collections we can collect nationwide.
For single items we arrange courier collection using your original boxes
xess
or we can supply boxes and packaging materials.

Contact us now for a fast quote

07595 021922 ian@hifiaddiction.co.uk uk
O w.hifiaddiction.co
o.uk
Online quote form – www.hifiaddiction.co.uk

ID -19ossiblel
V n p cia
COollectieoting sdoelines
c i
fe me gu
Sa hile cing
w tan
dis
 IAN HARRISON HIFI
SALE!
SALE!UP
UPTO 40%OFF!
TO 40% OFF!
TEL: 01283 702875 ian.harrison@mercian.myzen.co.uk
ACAPELLA MUNARI
ACOUSTIC
SIGNATURE
MUSIC HALL SPECIAL OFFERS!!
PASSION FOR SOUND
MUSIC TOOLS
ACOUSTIC SOLID MY SONIC LAB
AIR TIGHT VAN DEN HUL MC10 SPECIAL £775
NAGAOKA
ALPHASON NORSTONE
AMAZON AUDIO OPERA AUDIO ORTOFON CADENZA BLUE £950
AMG ORIGIN LIVE EDITORIAL TEAM
ATACAMA ORTOFON ORTOFON 2M BLACK £445
AUDEZE PARASOUND
Editor Steve Sutherland
BENZ MICRO PEERLESS ORTOFON 2M BLUE £160 Production Editor Jake Day-Williams
BEYER PROJECT Art Editor Emily Hammond
BLACK RHODIUM PSB ORTOFON QUINTET BLUE £299
BLUESOUND PURE SOUND
CABASSE Q ACOUSTICS CONTRIBUTORS
CARTRIDGE MAN ORTOFON QUINTET RED £210
QED Simon Berkovitch, Paul Hirons, Paul Hocker,
CREEK QUADRASPHIRE
CUSTOM DESIGN MICHEL ORBE £POA James Hughes, Cliff Joseph, Jason Kennedy,
REED
DECCA LONDON ROKSAN
David Price, Neville Roberts, Ed Selley,
EAR YOSHINO ROTHWELL
MICHEL ORBE SE £POA David Vivian, Chris Ward, Nigel Williamson
EMT
SENNHEISER
EPOS WHEST AUDIO TWO.2 £POA
ERGO SOUNDSMITH PHOTOGRAPHY
FIDELITY SOUNDSTYLE
SRM TECH WHEST AUDIO THREE SIGNATURE £POA Mike Prior
GOLDRING
GRADO SUGDEN
GRAHAM SUMIKO WHEST PS40RDT £POA ADVERTISING
GRAHAM SLEE SUPRA
T+A Sales Sonia Smart Tel: 020 4522 8220
HANA EAR/YOSHINO £POA
HARBETH TAYLOR ACOUSTICS Mobile: 07972 117331
HELIUS TECHDAS BLACK RHODIUM £POA Email: sonia.smart@hifinews.com
HIFI RACKS THORENS
ICON AUDIO TOM EVANS PROJECT £POA
IKEDA TRACK AUDIO SUBSCRIPTIONS
INSPIRE TRICHORD UK – New, Renewals & Enquiries
ULTRASONE GOLDRING £POA
IXOS Tel: 01858 438 446
KUBALA-SOSNA VALVET
LEHMANN VAN DEN HUL BEYER £POA Email: avtech@subscription.co.uk
LUXMAN WHEST AUDIO USA/CANADA – New, Renewals &
MICHELL WIREWORLD LEHMANN AUDIO £POA Enquiries
MOERCH ZENSATI US Toll Free: 001 866 647 9191
MOTH ZYX SENNHEISER £POA
REST OF WORLD – New, Renewals
PLEASE PHONE TO CONFIRM PRICE & AVAILABILITY PRIOR TO ORDERING. & Enquiries
ALL GOODS ARE BRANDNEW & BOXED WITH FULL U.K GUARANTEES. Tel: +44 (0) 1604 828 748
NO EX-DEM OR EX-DISPLAY GOODS. NO GREY IMPORTS. GOODS ARE NOT
BACK ISSUES
SUPPLIED ON APPROVAL. SORRY NO GENERAL CATALOGUES.
PLEASE PHONE OR WRITE FOR SPECIFIC REVIEWS, BROCHURES OR PRICES. Website: mags-uk.com
*CALL FOR DETAILS ESTABLISHED 1986. Contact: mags-uk.com/contacts/

MAIL ORDER ONLY FROM; IAN HARRISON, 7 MILL HILL, REPTON, DERBY, MANAGEMENT TEAM
DE65 6GQ TEL: 01283 702875 9AM-9PM INCLUDING SUNDAYS. Group Editor Paul Miller
Group Art Editor John Rook
Chief Executive Owen Davies

Published by AVTech Media Ltd.,

Suite 6G, Eden House, Enterprise Way,

AUDIO DESTINATION
Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 6HF
Phone: +44 (0) 203 8556105
www.hifichoice.com
Distributed in the UK by Seymour
Distribution Ltd.
Where Music Matters
Moon | VPI | Norma Audio | Entreq
IsoAcoustics | REL | Audioquest | Totem
Published by AVTech Media Ltd. All rights reserved, 2015. ISSN 0955-1115. The Publisher’s written consent must be obtained before any part

Auralic | Hegel | T+A | Lindemann Audio of this publication may be reproduced in any form whatsoever, including photocopiers, and information retrieval systems. All reasonable
care is taken in the preparation of the magazine contents, but the publishers cannot be held legally responsible for errors in the contents of
this magazine or for any loss however arising from such errors, including loss resulting from negligence of our staff. Reliance placed upon
the contents of this magazine is at reader’s own risk.

and more.... Hi-Fi Choice, ISSN 0955-1115, is published monthly with an additional issue in July by AVTech Media Ltd, a division of MYTIMEMEDIA
Ltd, Suite 6G Eden House, Enterprise Way, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 6HF, UK. The US annual subscription price is 67GBP (equivalent to
approximately 95USD). Airfreight and mailing in the USA by agent named Air Business Ltd, c/o Worldnet Shipping Inc., 156-15, 146th
Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11434, USA. Periodicals postage paid at Jamaica NY 11431. US Postmaster: Send address changes to Hi-Fi
Choice, Worldnet Shipping Inc., 156-15, 146th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11434, USA. Subscription records are maintained at CDS
Global, Tower House, Lathkill Street, Market Harborough, Leicestershire, LE16 9EF. Air Business Ltd is acting as our mailing agent.

If you don’t want

to miss an issue

Please reserve/deliver my copy of Hi-Fi Choice on a regular basis, starting with issue:
Title First name
Surname
Address

01884 243584
info@audiodestination.co.uk Postcode
Telephone number

www.audiodestination.co.uk If you can’t always find a copy of this magazine, help is at hand! Complete this
form and hand in at your local store, they’ll arrange for a copy of each issue
to be reserved for you. Some stores may even be able to arrange for it to be
delivered to your home. Just ask!
 SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM

DIRECT DEBIT SUBSCRIPTIONS UK ONLY

HURRY
Yes, I would
ld lik
like to subscribe
b ib to Hi-Fi
i i Choice
h i OFFER
Print + Digital: £14.07 every 3 months CLOSES
Print subscription: £11.99 every 3 months 29TH DECEMBER
2022
YOUR DETAILS MUST BE COMPLETED
Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms........................... Initial................ Surname...........................................................
Address ...................................................................................................................................................
....................................................................................................................................................................
Postcode .............................................................. Country ................................................................
Tel ........................................................................... Mobile.....................................................................
Email ...................................................................... D.O.B ......................................................................

I WOULD LIKE TO SEND A GIFT TO:

Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms........................... Initial................ Surname...........................................................
Address ...................................................................................................................................................
....................................................................................................................................................................
Postcode .............................................................. Country ................................................................

INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUR BANK/BUILDING SOCIETY PRINT + DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION

Originator’s reference 422562 One year’s worth delivered to your door
Name of bank.........................................................................................................................................
Great savings on the shop price
Address of bank.....................................................................................................................................

..................................................................................................................................................................... Download each new issue to your device

................................................................................................. Postcode ...............................................
A 75% discount on your Digital subscription
Account holder.......................................................................................................................................

Signature....................................................................................... Date ................................................ Access your subscription on multiple devices

Sort code Account number
Instructions to your bank or building society: Please pay MyTimeMedia Ltd. Direct Debits from
the account detailed in this instruction subject to the safeguards assured by the Direct Debit
Guarantee. I understand that this instruction may remain with MyTimeMedia Ltd and if so, details
will be passed electronically to my bank/building society.

Reference Number (official use only)

Please note that banks and building societies may not accept Direct Debit instructions from
some types of account.

CARD PAYMENTS & OVERSEAS

Yes, I would like to subscribe to Hi-Fi Choice, for one year
(13 issues) with a one-off payment
UK ONLY: EUROPE & ROW:
Print + Digital: £58.29 EU Print + Digital: £78.29
Print: £49.99 EU Print: £69.99
ROW Print + Digital: £78.29
ROW Print: £69.99

PAYMENT DETAILS
Postal Order/Cheque Visa/MasterCard Maestro
Please make cheques payable to MyTimeMedia Ltd and write code HFC2022 on the
back

Cardholder’s name..............................................................................................................................
Card no: (Maestro) PRINT SUBSCRIPTION

Valid from...................................... Expiry date.......................... Maestro issue no......................

One year’s worth delivered to your door
Signature................................................................................ Date..................................................... Great savings on the shop price
Offer ends 29th December 2022. Current subscription year equates to 13 issues. AVTech Media collects your data so
that we can fulfil your subscription. We may also, from time to time, send you details of AVTech Media offers, events
and competitions but you always have a choice and can opt out by emailing us at unsubscribe@hifichoice.co.uk
Never miss an issue
Please select here if you are happy to receive such offers by email ❏ by post ❏, by phone ❏.
We do not share or sell your data with/to third parties. Details you share with us will be managed
as outlined in our Privacy Policy here www.mytimemedia.co.uk/privacy-policy.

POST THIS FORM TO: HI-FI CHOICE SUBSCRIPTIONS,

MY TIME MEDIA LTD, CDS GLOBAL, TOWER HOUSE,
LATHKILL STREET, MARKET HARBOROUGH
LEICESTERSHIRE, LE16 9EF.
SUBSCRIBE TODAY
Please visit www.hifichoice.com/terms for full terms & conditions CODE HFC2022
 S
AV UB DIG
AI SC ITA
LA RI L

Great savings
B L PT
E O IO
NL N S
IN
E!

when you subscribe to Hi-Fi Choice today

SAVE
75% ON
YOUR DIGITAL
SUBSCRIPTION*

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 29 December 2022. *This digital
discount is only available when you subscribe to the ‘Print + Digital’
package. You still get a great discount on the digital package, please
visit the URL stated below for more information. Hi-Fi Choice currently
produces 13 issues a year. The publisher reserves the right to amend this.
Please see www.hifichoice.com/terms for full terms & conditions.

SUBSCRIBE SECURELY ONLINE CALL OUR ORDER LINE Quote ref: HFC2022

https://subs.hifichoice.com 01858 438 446

Lines open Mon-Fri 9.00am – 6.00pm or email: avtech@subscription.co.uk
Calls are charged at the same rate as standard UK landlines and are included as part of any inclusive or
free minutes allowances. There are no additional charges with this number. Overseas calls will cost more.
 1QUEEN LIZZO
THE FIRST
Hot on the heels of Lizzo’s Amazon
Prime Video reality series Watch
Out For The Big Grrrls comes Love,
Lizzo a documentary released via
HBO Max. According to the bumf,
it will explore: “the journey of a
trailblazing superstar who has
become the movement the world
desperately needed just by being
herself… The film will chronicle
the inspirational story behind her
humble beginnings to her meteoric
rise with an intimate look into
the moments that shaped her
hard-earned rise to fame, success,
love and international stardom.”

2’HORSE SENSE
This Is Sparklehorse is a new
feature-length documentary about
the music of the late Mark Linkous,

REASONS TO BE
Exciting things
coming your way in
the month ahead
just released on Vimeo. It features
David Lynch, Grandaddy’s Jason
CHEERFUL
B&W’S PX8 007 travel down the hallways further
and further from the sound.”
Lytle, Portishead’s Adrian Utley EDITION COMES IN
and more discussing the life and
legacy of the influential singer- A NEW MIDNIGHT 4THE TIDE
IS NIGH
songwriter and producer. The
movie was made by UK
BLUE FINISH Streaming platform Tidal has
announced that members can
filmmakers Alex Crowton and 1 show Blonded Radio, which create a profile to share their
Bobby Dass of Bo-Ho Films has been sharing new music and favourite playlists with family,
and written and narrated rarities over the past few years, friends, and music fans across
by Angela-Faye Martin. airs on 3am on Fridays BST, and the platform. The company
is described as: “a one-hour says joining the scheme, called

3HOMER SYSTEM
Singer Frank Ocean has
just launched his latest Apple
Music radio show through his
company, Homer. Homer Radio,
the follow-up to his Apple Music
window into what plays
around our office after hours.”
A full statement from the
US singer-songwriter reads:
“Twin line array speakers hold
court, they’re only a little loud.
Someone’s vacuuming the
carpets in another room adding
white noise to the song. A
security guard coming back up
from a cigarette break can hear
it all from inside the elevator.
Magnified eyes see through a
headset loaded with grids of light
and lenses and loupes. Skulls
on swivels make no sudden
movements helicoptering over
paperwork, pens, blades, vices,
metals and gems.
“Artificial light pours from small
canisters like those dragons that
spring from cylinders, like the
never-ending ribbons pulled from
a magician’s ear. Media fires back
and forth and back again across
the net. Sorkin-like walk and talks
Tidal Profiles, is simple: “Tidal
members can choose and update
their display name at any time –
emojis included. Once set-up,
members have the option to
make playlists they’ve created
public for other listeners to
search for within the Tidal app.
Playlists can also be shared
publicly with shareable links.
Tidal profiles will replace ‘My
Collection’ as the in-app location
for all saved content for members
on mobile. For existing Tidal
members, all saved content is
accessible to listeners after they
create a new profile.
Tidal profiles are available
in-app on iOS and Android
as well as desktop and web.

128 JANUARY 2023

 REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL

musical instruments, recording

equipment, or indeed anything
that will help you to progress your
musical journey,” the bumf says.
Marr added: “It’s a privilege
to make a contribution to the
creative development of young
people. The Salford Foundation
Trust is a great example of
positive local action that
makes a difference. It’s
an honour to be involved.”
Peter Collins CBE, Managing
Trustee from The Salford
Foundation Trust, added: “I am
very grateful for the support
from Johnny Marr – we can’t let
financial difficulties stand in the
way of talent and this fund gives

5 BOND’S
ON THE
’PHONE
Here’s a little
something for
James Bond fans.
To celebrate the
60th anniversary of
the release of Dr. No,
Bowers & Wilkins has
created a bespoke version of its
new Px8 wireless headphones,
the Px8 007 Edition, featuring a
Midnight Blue finish inspired by
the dinner jacket worn by Sean
Connery as Bond in his first
on-screen appearance. The
’phones are available from
Bowerswilkins.com and the
007Store.com for quite a whack
picked up as a
limited edition
62-track six LP
a young person in Salford for
each of the next three years a
chance to progress their talent”.
vinyl set with Interested candidates can find
book (£130) or a an application form online as
20-track, two-LP well as submit a video of
vinyl set (£30) themselves performing.
depending on
preference. Among
the artists featured on
this ice-cool collection are Sisters
8IN VOD WE TRUST
Damon Albarn’s cartoon
band Gorillaz has done a deal
Of Mercy, The Cure, The Cult, with Smirnoff vodka to create
Siouxsie & The Banshees, The some brand new cocktails and
Cramps, Dead Or Alive, The has redesigned the No. 21 bottle.
Birthday Party, Alien Sex Fiend Each of the band’s characters has
and Specimen. taken ownership of a drink, so
we get the Vodka Murdini
7MARR FOR
THE COURSE
A new funding award named
courtesy of Murdoc, the

at double-oh-£700. in honour of Smiths guitarist
Johnny Marr has been set up to
SUBSCRIBERS TO
10PAINT IT BLACK
Sonus faber has unveiled
a new finish option for its
Olympica Nova AV speakers. The
TIDAL CAN NOW seven-strong collection includes a

6RELEASE
THE BATS!
Goths rejoice! Young Limbs
Rise Again – The Story Of The
Batcave Nightclub 1982-1985 is
released in February. Released,
appropriately enough, via
Demon/Edsel, it’s a 90-track,
five-CD boxset with an 80-page
book priced at £110. It can also be
support the next generation of
young musicians in Salford.
Launched in partnership with
The Salford Foundation Trust,
the Johnny Marr Award will be
presented to a Salford musician
aged under 25 to help further
their budding career.
“This Award will provide up to
£1,000 funding to go towards
MAKE PROFILES TO
SHARE PLAYLISTS
Smirnoff Brooklyn thanks to
Russell, the Vodka Eyeball from
2D and the Sayanara Martini,
which is Noodles’ little number.
To get your paws on the one-off
bottles and recipes, head over to
Amazon or Bar.com.
standmount, three floorstanders,
two centres and an on-wall model
and is the second iteration of
Sonus faber’s original Olympica
collection – originally launched in
Walnut and Wenge finishes. As of
this month, there’s an all-new
piano black finish too.
11COUNTRY
CLASSIC
Fans of country music are in for a

9 LOST ANGEL
November saw the New York
premiere for Lost Angel: The
Genius of Judee Sill, a fantastic
documentary about the highly
revered singer-songwriter
featuring interview footage with
Jackson Browne, Graham Nash,
Weyes Blood and more. The
blurb says the film: “follows
the little-known-but-well-loved
singer-songwriter through a youth
of armed robberies and drug
addiction that ultimately led to
an all-too-brief music career
derailed by an overdose”.
true treat because Showtime has
picked up George & Tammy, a
six-episode miniseries chronicling
the legacy of country icons (and
one-time spouses) George ‘No
Show’ Jones and Tammy ‘Stand
By Your Man’ Wynette. Starring
Michael Shannon and Jessica
Chastain, George & Tammy is
based on the book, The Three of
Us: Growing Up With Tammy And
George, which was written by
the former couple’s daughter,
Georgette Jones. The series has
been created by Abe Sylvia and
directed by John Hillcoat.

JANUARY 2023 129

 Month

SIMPLY THE BEST!

2022’SS TOP standmount,

floorstanding and wireless
loudspeakers, integrateds,
turntables, over-ear, open-
back and in-ear headphones,
DACs, CD players, mains
and interconnect cables,
network audio players,
phono stages…
We’ve got the lot covered

29 DECEMBER
 OOR by Ferrum
oops, we did it again

Ferrum OOR, the second Ferrum product to win an EISA award

When our HYPSOS won an EISA award in 2021, we knew we were on the right track and
went on to follow our dreams of delivering the best possible audio gear we could think of.
When we learned OOR was chosen by the honourable EISA members as best Headphone
Amplifier of 2022-2023, all our dreams came true. As did HYPSOS, OOR is a ground-up
design without precedent, created from a profound exploration of analogue audio in its
purest form. Understated looks married with sophisticated power delivery and amplifier
technologies, delivering ultra-low distortion, huge dynamics and unrivaled detail. For those
who want to go even further in unleashing unheard musicality, OOR is, of course, designed
to pair perfectly with the HYPSOS Hybrid Power System.

Ferrum HYPSOS Hybrid Power System Ferrum OOR Headphone Amplifier

• Linear/switching PSU design • 110 ~ 240V AC in • • Truly balanced design • > 8W into 60Ω (bal. mode) output power •
• 5 ~ 30V DC out • 6A/80W • 21,7 x 20,6 x 5,0 cm • • headphone output impedance < 0,3 Ω • 21,7 x 20,6 x 5,0 cm •

Check www.ferrum.audio for your local dealer

 power w i t h pre c i s i o n

“High-end integrated amp of the year”

StereoNET – Product of the Year 2021 Award

“A wonderful blend of musicality, pace and timing”

The Ear – Best of 2021 Award

+44 (0)20 89 71 39 09 info@absolutesounds.com absolutesounds.com

For Your Nearest Dealer Please Visit The Absolute Sounds Website