Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2015 i Hi-Fi Choice

PRICE: £249-£299 AVAILABLE: NOW CONTACT: 0845 6435064 WEB: MITCHELLANDJOHNSON.COM Following the rebranding of Sansui UK as Mitchell and Johnson at CES in Las Vegas earlier this year, the new British-based hi-fi manufacturer is launching the SAP-201V (pictured) – an updated and improved version of the slim-line integrated amplifier previously sold under the Sansui brand name, and a matching CD player (CDD-201). Internal modifications at the £299 amp’s component level have, claims M&J, improved its audio performance significantly without increasing the price. The amplifier boasts 40W per channel into 8ohm and features seven inputs, including four line-level analogue inputs, a 3.5mm front panel socket and a dedicated phono input. The high-resolution 24-bit/192kHz Wolfson DAC enables digital audio sources, such as computers, portable players or the soon-to-be-launched matching network music player to…

PRICE: £699 AVAILABLE: SEPTEMBER CONTACT: 0330 1231240 WEB: PIONEER.CO.UK THE NEW U-05 USB/DAC headphone amplifier will play regular PCM signals with a resolution up to 32-bit/384kHz and is also compatible with 2.8MHz and 5.6MHz DSD files. According to Pioneer, jitter and noise have been eradicated thanks to a high-precision master clock circuit and dual Sabre 8-channel chipset. But the U-05 is not just a USB DAC. It also includes two optical and two coaxial digital inputs and an XLR (AES/EBU) input, allowing connection to several digital sources such as CD players or network audio players. The amplifier section is, says Pioneer, fully balanced and uses a shielded power transformer with anti-vibration structure. The XLR-terminals on the front – a set of three-pin terminals and a single four-pin option – are…

WHEN THE SHINY new Compact Disc came along in the eighties, the death of vinyl was predicted within a few years and record producers wasted no time in cooling down LP production and releasing music on the new digital format. CDs were sold to us as a virtually indestructible format offering superior sound quality, with no clicks or pops to mar our enjoyment. The tide has turned Wind forward 30 or so years and CDs themselves are seemingly on the brink of becoming a legacy format, as music fans move to downloads and streaming. Curiously we are also in the midst of a resurgence of music releases on vinyl – so much so in fact that a new official vinyl sales chart was recently announced – see p79. Many more…

DETAILS PRODUCT Numark TTUSB ORIGIN China TYPE Belt-drive turntable with USB WEIGHT 3.5kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 515 x 174 x 436mm FEATURES ● 33 & 45rpm ● USB output ● Ion Audio ICT04 cartridge supplied DISTRIBUTOR InMusic Brands TELEPHONE 01252 896040 WEBSITE numark.com Known for its range of DJ equipment, Numark has a turntable that is aimed at the domestic market and is designed for digitising music. Having said that, the styling is unashamedly ‘DJ’ in appearance with its curved plinth, tapered-edge platter. The TTUSB provides a USB output for connecting to a computer, as well as line-level RCA outputs fed from the built-in phono preamp to enable it to be hooked up to any line-level input of your amplifier. The built-in preamp can be bypassed so the turntable can be…

DETAILS PRODUCT Stanton T.62 ORIGIN China TYPE Direct-drive turntable WEIGHT 6.3kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 452 x 87 x 370mm FEATURES ● 33 & 45rpm ● SME detachable headshell ● Stanton 500.v3 MM cartridge supplied DISTRIBUTOR Focusrite Audio Engineering Ltd TELEPHONE 01494 462246 WEBSITE uk.focusrite.com; stantondj.com In 1946 Stanton was one of the first American firms to make and sell magnetic cartridges. Its founder, Walter Stanton, is claimed to be the inventor of the easily replaceable phonograph stylus, which made it possible for users to replace the stylus assembly when it wore out instead of having to send it back to the factory. This invention has become a standard of moving magnet cartridge design. Nowadays, Stanton is focussing on the professional market with its range of audio products including high-performance cartridges, CD…

DETAILS PRODUCT FiiO X1 ORIGIN China TYPE 24-bit/192kHzcapable digital audio portable WEIGHT 106g DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 57 x 96 x 14mm FEATURES ● APE, FLAC, ALAC, WAV, WMA, AAC, OGG, MP3, MP2 playback ● microSD XC slot (128GB max) ● 2in 320×240-pixel screen DISTRIBUTOR Advanced MP3 Players TELEPHONE 08432 896880 WEBSITE fiio.net If you’ve been itching to get into portable hi-res audio but can’t justify the outlay of an expensive player, the FiiO X1 is here to try and lure you in. At a whisker under £100 this is by far the most affordable hi-res digital audio player (DAP), with its closest competitors being the Sony NWZ-A15 (HFC April 2015) and FiiO’s own X3 Mk 2, both of which sell for £159. Given that serious audiophile hi-res players from the likes…

DETAILS PRODUCT Cyrus Stereo 200 ORIGIN UK TYPE Stereo power amplifier WEIGHT 6.9kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 215 x 73 x 360mm FEATURES ● Quoted power output: 2x 200W (6ohm) ● Speaker impedance detection system ● Balanced XLRs and unbalanced RCA inputs DISTRIBUTOR Cyrus Audio Ltd TELEPHONE 01480 410900 WEBSITE cyrusaudio.com Audiophiles can sometimes be a bit snobby about Class D; they tend to be more interested in the As and ABs of this world, and feel D can sound a little opaque and musically unconvincing. Class D is an extremely efficient mode of producing power, though – and is surely the future in tomorrow’s energy-saving world. Personally, I have always found the old adage that, “it ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it” applies here – I’m…

Like many readers, I dare say, my early fascination with music first came from listening to the countdown of the best-selling singles in the Top 40 chart, complied by Gallup in my time – having replaced the British Market Research Bureau as the body that collected the sales figures – and broadcast by BBC Radio 1 every week. Listening to the chart was a routine that I stuck to religiously throughout my early to mid-teens; sat beside my Sanyo radio cassette player poised to hit the record button the instant the presenter stopped talking over the song intro so that I could capture it for myself and endlessly play it back in the days that followed. Listening to the charts was a rite of passage for any self respecting young…

Progress can be an entirely merciless thing, and when a technology or concept becomes outmoded there is seldom any return for it or the associated trends that went with it. It is possible that in possessing the potential to sound truly excellent, vinyl is not strictly bucking this trend, but the current popularity of analogue has meant that a blast from the past is making an unlikely return – the album club. In a world of streaming services and online stores offering overnight shipping, the idea of a subscription service that routinely mails one or more albums once a month seems wilfully archaic. By the time that CD was well established, they were rare beasts indeed and while there have been honourable exceptions to this, as a commercial venture, the…

Pandit (Hindu for ‘master’) Ravi Shankar needs little introduction: the musician and composer is the most worldfamous sitar player of the 20th century – who, incredibly, performed into his late eighties. His first LP, Three Ragas (a raga being an Indian scale using ascending and descending patterns) was recorded in 1956 in London, and Shankar toured Europe in the early sixties. The fantastic Portrait Of Genius (1964) helped to bring his name to a wider audience, but his popularity soared when The Beatles introduced the instrument to pop music buyers. Indeed, his adoption by the emerging Western counterculture is best illustrated by his appearance at the Monterey and Woodstock festivals, documented on LP. Shankar’s two contributions to the Music from India series showcase different styles. His first, with sarod player…

At a very early age, Banerjee began the study of the sitar under his father, Jitendra Nath Banerjee. Years of intense practice under his tutors led the young Banerjee to develop a unique improvisatory approach to traditional ragas, skilled in both melody and rhythm. This is heard to great effect on 1968’s slower-paced Ragas: Lalit, Sindhu Bhairavi & Puriya Kalyan, with gorgeous renditions of popular dawn and morning ragas. Here, Banerjee performs with Viram Jasani on tambura and table player Kanai Dutt, who made several recordings with this distinguished but publicity-shy sitar player. The same year as this beautiful recording for the series, Banerjee was awarded the honorary title Padma Shri, for distinguished contributions to the arts. Considered to have been one of the finest musicians of his generation, posthumous…

PRICE: £50 TELEPHONE: 01707 278113 WEBSITE: harmankardon.co.uk DETAILS PRODUCT Harman/Kardon BTA 10 ORIGIN China WEIGHT 35g FEATURES TrueStream; power adaptor DISTRIBUTOR Harman UK COMFORTABLY THE SMALLEST model here (at 50 x 16 x 50mm (wxhxd), the BTA 10’s weight is slightly at odds with its size – reassuringly so when you hold it in your palm. The four sides are matt finish, while the top is gloss and gently slopes down on each side to form a basin. Its reassuring weight is backed up by the rubberised underside, which in theory should – along with its weight – help it stay put when connector cables are plumbed in. Connections include mini-USB and 3.5mm-jack audio out. H/K supplies a power adaptor with Euro-zone or UK plugs, and a choice of 3.5mm-jackto-jack…

PRICE: £90 TELEPHONE: 01223 203200 WEBSITE: arcam.co.uk DETAILS PRODUCT Arcam miniBlink ORIGIN China WEIGHT 40g FEATURES PCM 5102 24-bit DAC; aptX; 3.5mm-jack output DISTRIBUTOR Arcam UK A BEAUTIFUL PEBBLE-SHAPED unit, with a flash of silver streaking through its middle, the miniBlink is easily the most aesthetically pleasing model here. It’s a similar size to the Philips at 60 x 30 x 75mm (wxhxd), and weighs the same at 40g. The lack of rubberised feet on the underside keep those perfect clean lines going, but it’s a concern in terms of solidity. The miniBlink can either be powered by mini USB or a wallwart adaptor supplied with four different regional plugs. The power lead is accompanied by two stereo cables – 3.5mm-jack-tojack and 3.5mm-jack-to-RCAs. There’s no digital out, unsurprisingly given Arcam…

DETAILS PRICE £8 per metre, plus £96 for 8 banana plug terminations TELEPHONE 01980 625700 WEBSITE chord.co.uk OUR VERDICT APART FROM SOUNDING great, the cables that connect your power amp to your speakers often have to be routed inconspicuously around the edges of a carpet. Therefore, something that can handle the power from the amplifier has to be balanced with a cable that is both flexible and thin. Loudspeaker cables don’t get much more discreet than the Sarsen, which combines a clever mixture of materials to produce a high-performance speaker cable with a diameter of less than 4mm. Chord says not to let the diminutive size of the cables fool you. The company believes that when the correct choice of materials is used for the construction of the cables, then…

DETAILS PRICE £500 for 1m pair (RCA or XLR) TELEPHONE 01332 342233 WEBSITE blackrhodium.co.uk OUR VERDICT PRICED AT £500 for a 1m pair, the Sonata VS-1 interconnect is positioned as a middling proposition in Black Rhodium’s comprehensive stable of cables. Extensive attention to detail appears to have been applied to every element of its design and construction. At its heart are two silver-plated copper cores for positive and negative signal flows. Some audiophiles claim copper cables give more satisfying bass weight and pure silver cables provide subjectively sweeter, more extended treble, but many would agree that, done well, silver-plated copper can deliver the best of both worlds. The cable cores are connected in opposite directions as Black Rhodium claims from extensive listening tests that this provides the lowest noise floor.…

Pop quiz time. What’s the biggest growing sector within the hi-fi industry of the last four or five years? Bluetooth adaptors? Hi-res music streamers? Portable music players? No, give up? Would it come as a surprise if we were to reveal that headphones is the answer? Probably not given the fact that the rest of the page is filled with pictures of them... Headphones have always been popular with hi-fi enthusiasts as the perfect way to listen at home without disturbing others or as an effective solution to making the daily commute to and from work less of a drag. But recently they have become big business and pretty much every serious hi-fi manufacturer (and some not so serious ones) have jumped onto the bandwagon in an effort to grab…

PRICE: £1,500 AVAILABLE: NOW CONTACT: 01903 768910 WEB: HIFIHEADPHONES.CO.UK SINCE SONY’S WALKMAN first hit the streets back in July 1979, we’ve been obsessed with music on the move. The first blue and silver cassette models changed our relationship with music forever and instantly turned a train or bus ride to the office or school into an energising experience that could put a smile on faces even on a dismal Monday morning commute. Wind forward to 2015 and the landscape may have changed somewhat, but take a look around and you’ll realise our desire for portable listening devices is getting ever stronger with a raft of Digital Audio Players (DAP) and headphones for a life of music and movement. Like all things in the world of hi-fi the (DAP) market is…

PRICE: £259-£599 AVAILABLE: JUNE/JULY CONTACT: 0207 3652413 WEB: SONY.CO.UK SONY IS SET to release a batch of speakers designed especially for multi-room use. The seven-speaker X99 system (£599) delivers 154W through a 2.1-channel setup that includes four super tweeters. The £349 SRS-X88 boasts 90W in a more compact casing with a subwoofer, mids and two super tweeters and the portable SRS-X77 (£259) has a built-in rechargeable battery, allowing you to enjoy audio for up to 10 hours between charges. Designed to expand your multi-room options, Sony has also announced its CMT-SX7B Wireless Micro hi-fi system. Slip in either a CD or USB drive, access online services via Google Cast and Spotify Connect, listen to your favourite DAB radio station or alternatively hook up your iPad/iPhone/iPod or Walkman for a full…

PRICE: £650 AVAILABLE: NOW CONTACT: 01923 691800 WEB: OPTOMA.CO.UK Hot on the heels of its DDA120 integrated amplifier (see page 60), NuForce has unveiled details of its latest stereo power amplifier, the STA120. Engineered for high-quality audio, the 120 has a claimed power output of 85W into 8ohm (or 125W into 4ohm), and connections include a brace of analogue RCA inputs and speaker binding posts. Beneath the lid, the power amp’s 400kHz PWM switching frequency constantly adjusts to the input signal, output current demands and loudspeaker impedance variations, says the company. Enclosed in an anodised aluminium casing that’s in keeping with the look of the NuForce range, the STA120 can be partnered with the DAC80 digital preamp and WDC200 wireless DAC. It’s available in either a black or silver finish.…

DETAILS PRODUCT Audio-Technica AT-LP120USBHC ORIGIN Japan TYPE Direct-drive turntable with USB WEIGHT 10.7kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 450 x 157 x 352mm FEATURES ● 33, 45 & 78rpm ● USB output 16/44.1 & 48kHz-compatible ● AT95E moving magnet cartridge DISTRIBUTOR Audio-Technica UK TELEPHONE 0113 2771441 WEBSITE eu.audio-technica.com A name that’s well-known to vinyl enthusiasts, Audio-Technica has been around for many years. It has certainly moved with the times and produced this bang up-to-date package that includes its AT95E moving magnet cartridge, a built-in phono stage that can be plugged straight into any line-level input or can be bypassed when used with equipment that has a moving magnet phono input stage. There’s also a USB output to connect it to a computer for digitising LPs at CD quality of 16-bit/44kHz or 48kHz, and…

DETAILS PRODUCT Pro-Ject RPM 1 Carbon ORIGIN Austria TYPE Belt-drive turntable WEIGHT 3.8kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 380 x 110 x 350mm FEATURES ● 33 & 45rpm ● S-shaped tonearm made from carbon ● Ortofon 2M Red MM cartridge supplied DISTRIBUTOR Henley Designs TELEPHONE 01235 511116 WEBSITE henleydesigns.co.uk The distinctive, minimalist design of the Pro-Ject RPM 1 Carbon is available in striking red, white and black high gloss finishes. It will certainly add an air of modern elegance to any hi-fi setup and has a real feel of quality about it. The motor is mounted outside the platter and the drive is taken from the pulley to the circumference of the platter via the belt. The motor sits inside a hole in the plinth, but doesn’t touch it. It stands on your…

DETAILS PRODUCT Onkyo A-9010 (UK) ORIGIN Japan/China TYPE Integrated amplifier WEIGHT 6.5kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 435 x 130 x 333mm FEATURES ● Quoted power output: 2x 44W (8ohm) ● 4x RCA, 1x 3.5mm line inputs; 1x RCA line output ● MM phono stage DISTRIBUTOR Onkyo UK TELEPHONE 08712 001996 WEBSITE uk.onkyo.com Ah yes – Cool Britannia, Absolutely Fabulous, Blur vs. Oasis – remember it well! As the nineties slowly morphs from contemporary to historical, let us pause and reflect on the hi-fi of that decade. CD players were king, floorstanding loudspeakers were just beginning to catch on and we suddenly saw a procession of Japanese-made budget amplifiers which were “tuned for British ears”. It was all the Pioneer A-400’s fault as I remember, and this started a fashion for Sonys, Kenwoods,…

DETAILS PRODUCT Raumfeld Connector 2 ORIGIN Germany TYPE Digital music hub WEIGHT 0.3kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 172 x 28 x 127mm FEATURES ● RCA line input; USB-A port; Ethernet port ● Optical digital and RCA line outputs ● Playback support for: MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC, ALAC, FLAC, OGG DISTRIBUTOR Lautsprecher Teufel GmbH TELEPHONE 03308 080489 WEBSITE raumfeld.com Multi-room networked music systems are very much bang on trend right now, but German brand Raumfeld is the new kid on the block when it comes to UK audio fans. Already reasonably well established on its own turf, it looks set to make waves over here with a growing range of well thought-out components available via its online store offering an eight-week trial period. With a range of active speaker models, networking capabilities and…

Music has always been a passion for me”, says the softly spoken but charming Tufan Hashemi, reclining behind his desk in Roksan’s London headquarters. “It was always a hobby when I was in university, and Roksan really started just as a fun thing for me when I was working in the City”. Formed in 1985 with Touraj Moghaddam, the company was started to sell the Xerxes turntable which he says, “Wasn’t initially something I wanted to retail, it was something just to use at home”. As it transpired, somebody else wanted to sell it. “Some friends had opened a shop in London, and they had a room at the London hi-fi show. They had a pair of those little Wharfedale Diamond speakers and a Naim Nait amplifier, but no record…

Remember Digital Audio Tape? I loved it, because it was my first taste of how digital audio could sound beyond what was offered by Compact Disc. In today’s world of 32-bit/384kHz DACs, its 16-bit/48kHz digital vital statistics don’t sound so impressive, but in 1987 many were in awe. Indeed, they were right because it soon became the new standard for digital mastering – many early nineties albums were mastered on what was regarded as the peak of digital sophistication. The idea of being able to own a digital tape recorder that was the same as that used to master music had great appeal to me personally, so just before I moved to Japan in the early nineties, I elected to record some of my (then) 3,000-strong LP collection onto a…

It would be churlish to want to deny the world its United Nations-sanctioned International Day of Happiness last month. Indeed, it seems rather mean that we are only allowed one a year, but did we really need Ban Ki-Moon using the occasion to launch the UN’s official “world’s happiest playlist”? The UN secretary general revealed that he is “never happier’’ than when he is listening to Stevie Wonder’s Signed Sealed Delivered. To compile the rest of the UN’s happy toons list he enlisted a bunch of celebrities to nominate their favourite songs from the sunlit uplands – and a miserably predictable bunch of platitudinous standards they came up with, too, by the likes of the Spice Girls, Kylie Minogue, Destiny’s Child, Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake. What was perhaps most…

Barely a week goes by without a faintly hysterical article bemoaning the cost of living in London appearing somewhere, and there is no escaping the fact that the capital is an expensive place to live. This means that many hi-fi dealers have followed the area’s upmarket cost and are firmly high-end in their portfolio and outlook. Affordable hi-fi frequently doesn’t get a look in. Bartlett’s on the Holloway Road in North London remains an honourable exception to this upward trend. Founded in 1958 by Robert Bartlett before being taken over by his son George, the store has always tried to focus on the requirements of the surrounding area and this ensures that it is firmly set on more real-world brands, products and systems. This means that a number of classics…

Before Ustad (Persian for ‘master’) Bismillah Khan took the simple-looking shehnai – similar to the oboe – to his lips, it was primarily associated with temples and religious occasions. As with other wind instruments, the shehnai calls for a great deal of finger-dexterity and superb breath control from the player. In the hands of this incredible performer, it entered the sphere of Hindustani classical music. In 1965, both Bismillah Khan and sitar player Vilayat Khan appeared at the Edinburgh Festival, enrapturing both public and critics. The musicians are captured on blistering form on the first instalment of the series, Duets, released the same year. Accompanied on tabla by the sublime Shanta Prasad, the slowly unfurling jugalbandi raga that occupies the album’s first side captures the performers operating at near-telepathic levels…

PRICE: £55 TELEPHONE: 01642 754000 WEBSITE: lindy.co.uk DETAILS PRODUCT Lindy BTX-50 Audio Receiver Pro ORIGIN China WEIGHT 60g FEATURES AptX; NFC; optical digital output; 3.5mm-jack output DISTRIBUTOR Lindy THE BIG BOY of the group – with 84 x 23 x 75 dimensions (wxhxd) and weighing in at 60g – the BTX-50 resembles the front of a racing car, and on paper looks the part too. Including NFC (Near Field Communication) and Bluetooth 3.0 wireless capability, it adds optical digital and 3.5mm-jack connections, and recommends you use the former. However, despite supplying RCA hookups (which bizarrely need to be plumbed into a supplied adaptor cable), Lindy neglects to include an optical cable. It’s powered via a USB-DC cable, so you’ll have to hook it up to a computer, or get an…

THIS IS AN interesting lineup of Bluetooth hi-fi adaptors at various price-points with some useful features. In last place the Lindy is let down by the sort of interference that you simply cannot ignore at any price. Sure, the other three adaptors also hiss a little, some more than others, but with all of these the interference is only audible when right next to the loudspeakers and does not at any time detract from the audio performance when listening to music streamed from a Bluetooth-enabled device at typical volume levels. The hiss produced by the BTX-50 makes it impossible to be able to fully evaluate its performance and so it’s difficult to recommend it in any meaningful way. On paper the Arcam has the potential to beat the rest, with…

DETAILS PRICE £200 TELEPHONE 0208 2418890 WEBSITE isokinetik.co.uk OUR VERDICT HAILING FROM THE ISOkinetik range of accessories, this detachable headshell is made from high-density graphite (HDG) carbon formed of microscopic spheres that have a high capacity for dissipating vibrations. Unwanted vibrations can be transmitted from a cartridge through the tonearm and back again which can negatively affect sound quality, and the graphite material dissipates the mechanical vibrations and stops them from entering the audio system. This headshell is suitable for any tonearm that features a SME-style 0.5in connector headshell, such as SME, Jelco and many other high-end tonearms. It weighs 16g and given that my standard metal headshell weighs 12g, an adjustment to my turntable’s tonearm tracking force is necessary when swapping between the two. The ISOkinetik headshell has a…

It’s difficult to imagine there are that many people that haven’t purchased something off of the internet at one time or another. Unlike your local high street or shopping centre, shopping online offers a wealth of choice and is invariably considerably cheaper. In fact it’s actually possible to live comfortably without ever leaving your home, using just your credit card and laptop to provide you with all the food and amenities you could ever need. And hi-fi equipment similarly follows this trend, with every brand under the sun available at the click of a button and often at prices that are lower than you might find in physical bricks and mortar premises. But just because you can, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you should. While it might seem anachronistic to…

My first memory of vinyl records was sitting on my father’s knee putting 45s onto his Pye radiogram,” explains Mark Dicker, owner of the Doghouse record store in Bridport, Dorset. “He really liked Johnny Cash, Jim Reeves and the Stones. He had a real ear for a hit and always surprised me with the music he liked; very eclectic for the late sixties and early seventies. Later, when we moved into a pub, he used to give me the singles out of the jukebox when he changed them every week.” We’re talking next to rows and rows of vinyl, deep in the bowels of Mark’s unusual second-hand vinyl emporium in Dorset’s ‘Notting Hill-on-sea’, and Mark’s on a roll. “The first 45s I actually paid for in 1972 were Life on…

PRICE: £799 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: DALI-UK.CO.UK THE NEW DALI Menuet is a diminutive loudspeaker that promises an astonishing level of detailed sound reproduction, thanks to a design upgrade (taking it from the Mentor Menuet to the Menuet) in line with Dali’s highly acclaimed Rubicon series. This compact bass reflex loudspeaker features a 4.5in woofer and a 1.1in soft-dome tweeter. The woofer is airflow optimised in order to achieve the best possible coupling between the wood fibre cone and the real-wood veneer cabinet, claims Dali. The oversized tweeter is 30 percent lighter than comparable standard domes and is designed to start and stop with speed and precision due to the very low mass of the dome assembly. Whether bookshelf or wall mounted (using the optional bracket), the Menuet offers what the…

PRICE: £699 AVAILABLE: NOW CONTACT: 0208 9002866 WEB: MUSICALFIDELITY.COM As one of the very first hi-fi manufacturers to introduce a digital-to-analogue converter, Musical Fidelity knows a thing or two about DACs, and has been at the forefront of the technology for some time now. So when it says that its latest addition to the range of converters flooding the market is “almost perfect” it’s worth paying attention to, particularly as – for the first time – it will include compatibility with the hi-res DSD format. Constructed from custommade extrusions using Mil-spec aluminium, the new MX-DAC boasts ultra-low distortion combined with a wide bandwidth and low noise. Musical Fidelity claims that it’s technical performance is “On a par with any other DAC at any price” and that conversion of any digital…

Power Chord Where better to test the build of your hi-fi than under a Russian BMP tank? In this video Chord’s Hugo DAC gets the same treatment dished out to its QBD76 DAC back in 2011, revealing its build to be as strong as its sound: youtu.be/0jkksIWX1wc Whiskey cans Chief Frodo impersonator Elijah Wood presents this short film into the collaboration to craft Grado headphones from Bushmills whiskey barrels. Grado of course isn’t the first to plough this furrow, with Linn’s Highland Park LP12s breaking the seal in 2013: youtu.be/jW66ldROOsg Arcam app Arcam’s new free MusicLife app for iOS devices is designed to work with Bluetooth and media servers for fast and reliable streaming on almost anything when used with a miniBlink or rBlink DAC. We’ve also had great results…

Hi-fi Choice employs the most rigorous test and measurement regime in the business. Here’s how we do it... TURNTABLE GROUP TEST ENSURING A TURNTABLE is properly set up takes considerable time, care and effort, and it, therefore, isn’t really practical to audition this group with our usual blind listening test panel. Instead, we opt to extend our test period over a week, allowing for each deck to be tested with its supplied cartridge, to gauge the ability and value for money of the overall package. Before testing begins, we check all the cartridges that come pre-installed for correct alignment, downforce using a digital stylus force gauge and bias adjustment. The decks are tested without lids (where supplied) and in sequence with both their supplied cartridges and our reference Goldring 2400,…

DETAILS PRODUCT Connected Essentials CET-500 ORIGIN China TYPE Belt-drive turntable with USB WEIGHT 3.3kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 450 x 152 x 352mm FEATURES ● 33 & 45rpm ● USB output ● Own-brand MM cartridge supplied DISTRIBUTOR Connected Essentials TELEPHONE 01704 823567 WEBSITE connectedessentials.co.uk If the brand name doesn’t sound that familiar to you then you’re not alone. Connected Essentials has been in the electronics and telecoms business for some time, offering a range of AV furniture and accessories. The CET-500 is the first deck we’ve seen from the brand and given its versatility it’s a welcome addition to the group and won’t break the bank. Although no software is included, Connected Essentials recommends the use of Audacity software, which is available to download free from: audacity.sourceforge.net. The CET-500 is supplied with…

DETAILS PRODUCT Rega RP1 Performance Pack ORIGIN UK TYPE Belt-drive turntable WEIGHT 7kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 450 x 120 x 360mm FEATURES ● 33 & 45rpm ● Rega RB101 tonearm ● Rega Bias 2 MM cartridge supplied DISTRIBUTOR Rega Research TELEPHONE 01702 333071 WEBSITE rega.co.uk With a hi-fi heritage spanning several decades, Rega is the name that undoubtedly comes to mind when considering British turntables and tonearms. Its classic Planar turntable dates back to the seventies and was a budget belt-drive deck employing a solid plinth instead of the suspended chassis that was used in many quality turntables from the early sixties onwards. Keeping with tradition, Rega’s latest entry-level turntable RP1 is also a solid plinth and is supplied in the Performance Pack upgraded version as seen here, which includes a…

DETAILS PRODUCT Ming Da Piccolo (MC368-B902) ORIGIN China TYPE Integrated valve amplifier WEIGHT 16kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 330 x 310 x 230mm FEATURES ● Quoted power: 2x 18W (4 or 8ohms) ● 2x KT90; 2x 12AU7, 1x 5U4G/5AR4 valves ● 3x RCA phono inputs ● VU meter DISTRIBUTOR Ming Da UK TELEPHONE 07831 197019 WEBSITE mingda.co.uk Remember the seventies? Early on in that decade we saw a wave of new Japanese products begin to appear in the shops and on our roads. The result was that by the end of the decade, Honda, Datsun, Sony and Panasonic were household names and everyone who bought them couldn’t praise them enough. This same thing is now happening with China. It’s a work in progress I grant you, but some companies have an excellent…

DETAILS PRODUCT NuForce DDA120 ORIGIN Taiwan TYPE Digital integrated amplifier WEIGHT 1.2kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 241 x 51 x 216mm FEATURES ● Quoted power output: 2x 50W (8ohms) ● USB; 3x digital in and analogue inputs ● aptX Bluetooth DISTRIBUTOR Optoma Europe Ltd TELEPHONE 01923 691800 WEBSITE optoma.co.uk/soundproducts We’re used to some unusual ownerships in the audio business, from Formula 1 parent companies to guitar makers and furniture manufacturers, but the takeover of amplifier firm NuForce by Optoma, while keeping things within the consumer electronics world, wasn’t the most obvious move. After all, Optoma is known for its projectors – produced for everything from home cinema to business applications – while NuForce was always a slightly leftfield hi-fi company, making everything from exceptionally dinky headphone amplifiers to digital amps. Where the…

Iguess we all remember with rose-tinted affection the components we dared to call our first ‘hi-fi system’. If we started early – I was in my mid-teens and funded the purchases by stacking shelves at Dartford’s Co-op in my summer hols – it was likely that our choices would be guided by impecuniosity rather than naked desire but that, with a little help from a sympathetic hi-fi shop, a lifelong love affair with music and its reproduction could be ignited. My journey began in a small establishment at the bottom of West Hill called Woods & Porter. It sold cameras on the ground floor and hi-fi from a larger room upstairs. I’ve just checked on the internet and it still seems to be there, it’s now reduced to repairing photographic…

Barely a moment went by in the seventies when someone, somewhere, did not play a vinyl record on a Garrard SP25 turntable. As popular as a Mini 850, it fulfilled the same role in society, being classless fun, cheap to buy and run and child’s play to use. You didn’t buy a Garrard SP25 for what it was, but for what it did – play records reliably, while serving up an enjoyably musical sound. Like the aforementioned car, it was of questionable build quality in some respects, but was always better than the cheapest products of its type on the market. When it did go wrong, it was easily fixable; there was nothing new fangled or overly ‘electronic’ lurking within. The SP25 series gave music to the masses, and fuelled…

Within the context of popular music, East met West in 1965. That year, hithertounheard exotic noises tumbled from the grooves of some of the UK’s key releases. Distinctive 45s from The Kinks (See My Friends) and The Yardbirds (Heart Full Of Soul) emulated the sound of the sitar, indisputably the most widely known instrument used in the performance of Indian classical music, on electric guitar. The Beatles went further still, with guitarist George Harrison adding sitar lines to one of the decade’s most enduring recordings – Norwegian Wood from Help!. The Rolling Stones’ Paint It Black single the following year helped to cement the multi-stringed instrument’s place in the premier division of pop culture. Through his subsequent association with Harrison – key to popularising Indian classical music in the West…

Following a rigorous apprenticeship that saw him practicing up to 18 hours a day, Ali Akbar Khan gave his first performance on the sarod – a 25-stringed, metal fingerboard skin-faced lute – at the age of just 13, accompanying Ravi Shankar on the sitar three years later, marking the first of the two musicians’ many jugalbandis recorded together. In addition to his jugalbandi with Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan contributes the fifth instalment of the seminal series: Raga Durga & Dhun In Khamaj (1966). Ably accompanied by the accomplished Mahapurush Misra on tabla, who began to study the percussion instrument when he was four, it’s an exhilarating workout for a notoriously difficult-to-play instrument, here in the hands of a master. Indeed, he once wrote of his instrument of choice: “If you…

PRICE: £35 TELEPHONE: 0207 9490241 WEBSITE: philips.co.uk DETAILS PRODUCT Philips AEA2700/12 ORIGIN China WEIGHT 40g FEATURES MultiPair; NFC; aptX; optical & coaxial digital outputs; 3.5mm-jack output DISTRIBUTOR Philips Europe BREAKING WITH CONVENTION thanks to its streamlined chrome finish, the Philips is the second largest in the test with 74 x 28 x 74mm (wxhxd) dimensions. As well as Bluetooth 3.0, it supports aptX and NFC. Unlike the others, it only pairs with three devices, although MultiPair means they can be connected simultaneously, without having to un-pair and re-pair. Press play on a second or third paired unit, and the song on the first stops with the new one taking over. Connections include optical and coaxial digital outputs, alongside a 3.5mm stereo jack output that comes supplied with the appropriate jack-to-phono…

DETAILS PRICE From £149 TELEPHONE 01757 706372 WEBSITE evoaudio.uk/wychwood.htm OUR VERDICT THE BENEFITS OF effective mains treatment on the performance of a system are widely acknowledged to be worthwhile and, depending on what other activity is going on around you, can be more effective than a number of other upgrades. One of the biggest issues of mains filters is separating the effective from the decorative. While some products are extremely capable, others are simply dressed up bits of standard mains paraphernalia or worse still, not actually certified for use in their supposed role. Enter WychWood Audionics and its range of F3 filters. Born from the rather merciless environment of internet hi-fi forums, F3 is a compacted reference to ‘Foo-Free Filter.’ Foo in this instance refers to marketing pseudoscience and to…

One of the most indefinable areas in the successful assembly of a great system is the relationship between components. Logic dictates that taking our recommendations for a piece of source equipment, amplifier and speakers while paying a small amount of attention to the claimed performance to avoid glaring incompatibility will most likely result in a great-sounding system. Sometimes this is the case, but maddeningly just as often the product of this combination doesn’t deliver the performance that you think it should. Synergy is a peculiar thing and very often what creates a great-sounding system is a complex blend of different components that’s not necessarily made up of what you might expect. Achieving this synergy is usually achieved one of three ways; luck, trial and error and experience. We are all…

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 of up to 50 words (we will edit them if not), remembering to include your email, phone number and county. The simplest way to send your ad is via email to: letters@hifichoice.co.uk or mail: Reader Classified, Hi-fi Choice, AVTech Media Ltd, Enterprise House, Enterprise Way, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 6HF. This service is open to private advertisers only. Just one ad per household. Images are for illustration only and do not represent what is for sale FOR SALE ATLAS Elektra interconnect (i/c), 1m pair £150 (£450). Chord Cadenza i/c with VEE plugs, 1m pair £90 (£200). van den Hul The First Ultimate 2…