Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2016 i Hi-Fi Choice

THE HEADPHONE MARKET continues to grow, so it’s no coincidence that we’re able to visit headphone amplifiers as a six-way Group Test category once again just 12 months after our last roundup. At no other time in headphone history have so many heads felt the gentle embrace of pillowy ear pads and the gift of being absorbed in a very private music experience. Some folk – a growing number it would seem – wouldn’t chose to listen to their music any other way. As discerning audio fans seek more luxurious headphones for quality listening, so this group looks to more upmarket dedicated amplification models than we’ve previously tested to ensure that you’re getting the best possible performance. Bit of heaven Home listening on headphones is a very intimate musical experience.…

DETAILS PRODUCT Lehmannaudio Linear Pro ORIGIN Germany TYPE Headphone amplifier WEIGHT 1.5kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 110 x 50 x 280mm FEATURES ? 2x 6.35mm headphone outputs ? 18kohm balanced input impedance ? Input via Neutrik XLR connections DISTRIBUTOR Henley Designs Ltd TELEPHONE 01235 511166 WEBSITE henleydesigns.co.uk A quick glance at the rear panel of the Linear Pro should make it fairly clear that the Lehmann is slightly different to the other models here. Designed with a view to the pro or home studio environment, it is related to the Linear model (see box out) and sheds its RCA connections in favour of a pair of Neutrik plugs. For the purposes of testing, the review sample comes supplied with a pair of jack-to-RCA adapters so that the same partnering equipment can be…

DETAILS PRODUCT Trilogy 931 ORIGIN UK TYPE Headphone amplifier WEIGHT 1.7kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 140 x 50 x 244mm FEATURES ? 6.35mm headphone socket ? Impedance range: 10-600ohm ? 2x RCA inputs DISTRIBUTOR Symmetry TELEPHONE 01727 865488 WEBSITE symmetry-systems.co.uk Best known for its capable hybrid amp and preamp models that mix valve and solid-state circuitry, Trilogy Audio is not so wedded to the idea of amps that it won’t go solid state when the need arises. The 931 is evidence of this and is the more affordable of two headphone amplifiers in its range without a valve in sight. This is a single-ended design that runs in Class A and the circuit itself contains a single output device per channel with no output capacitors or similar in the circuit. Power is…

Remember that classic Star Trek episode, The Trouble With Tribbles? There’s something about the new Audiolab M-ONE that makes this spring to mind. In that illustrious classic sci-fi show, Captain Kirk takes a landing party down to a planet, where they encounter some incredibly cute, small furry animals. They decide to take one back to the ship and it has babies, which then also quickly reproduce, and suddenly the USS Enterprise is full of the things. No one seems to notice, because they’re so adorable and nice to have around. I can see this happening with the ONE series, because it too is small but perfectly formed, superbly finished and more than a little charming. It all started with the M-DAC (HFC 359), launched nearly five years ago, which was…

I started Heybrook with my friend Stuart Mee because we both realised we would love to own a small loudspeaker with a very wide bandwidth, and such a thing didn't seem to appear at the time”, says Peter Comeau. It was the late seventies, and he’d spent nearly a decade selling hi-fi , and latterly reviewing for hi-fi magazines too. Few people knew the speaker market better… “Stuart was living with a pair of Celestion Ditton 15s, which he thought were good but not outstanding, and was looking for something better. He came into the shop I was managing at the time looking for a replacement but frankly I couldn't suggest anything within his price range or that was of a similar or slightly smaller size that would do the…

Jerrald King “Jerry” Goldsmith is the name behind some of the most memorable movie scores in modern cinema history, including celluloid landmarks such as Chinatown, L.A. Confi dential and fi ve fi lms in the Star Trek franchise, but his contributions to the horror genre are his most distinguished – and by far the most unsettling. Born in the twenties and playing piano by the age of six, he began to compose music for American radio in the fi fties, quickly graduating to live TV shows. Signifi cantly, this early part of his career included scoring episodes of Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone – a gig also enjoyed by Psycho composer Bernard Herrmann (see overleaf). The wild, inventive and unconventional soundtrack to Planet Of The Apes made the composer’s name…

In the absence of Black Sabbath writing soundtracks, could there be a more aptly named group for the job than Goblin? Predominantly instrumental, the Italian rock group’s synthesiser-heavy take on the horror score is an exhilarating blend of jazz, prog and metal, gracing some of Dario Argento’s greatest works. Goblin rose from the grave of Italian progressive rockers Cherry Five, who had signed to Cinevox, a label with a healthy interest in soundtrack publishing. This connection led to cult director Argento and a successful period of collaboration, beginning with Profondo Rosso (1975). The brilliant soundtrack to Argento’s visceral classic Suspiria (1977) is arguably the group’s fi nest hour. The group split temporarily after working on George A Romero’s classic undead shocker Zombi AKA Dawn of the Dead, but there was…

The world of British rock music was an amazing place to be back in 1968. The Beatles had just released The White Album and The Rolling Stones had come storming back to form with Beggar’s Banquet. Jimi Hendrix was at his explosive peak, The Who were about to release Tommy and Cream were the heaviest group around. In this fertile and feverish creative environment, you could be forgiven for failing to notice the emergence of a new group called Led Zeppelin, arising out of the ashes of the Yardbirds and fronted by a singer from an obscure band called Hobstweedle of whom nobody had ever heard and a session guitarist who had played on middle-of-the-road hits by the likes of Lulu and Tom Jones. Yet Led Zeppelin’s timing was perfect.…

TO SAY THAT the Core is a little speaker that packs a big punch is something of an understatement. It’s not without flaws, but the sheer power, audio quality and versatile high-tech features that Mass Fidelity has crammed into this little black box are undeniably impressive. Measuring just 150mm wide and deep and 100mm high, it will sit comfortably on any shelf or table without taking up too much space. It’s a little chunky to carry around in a backpack – not to mention fairly heavy, at around 1.5kg – but it does include a rechargeable battery so you can easily carry it from room to room at home, or take it out to the garden. Listening to the Core over a long bank holiday weekend gives about 10.5 hours…

AN EQUIPMENT PLATFORM is an ideal way to isolate sensitive audio components from external vibrations. It is particularly important for turntables as well as for CD players where mechanical vibrations can increase jitter. Apart from providing isolation, platforms can also help to dissipate vibrations and the BaseTwo M PRO equipment platform from bFly Audio is designed to do exactly that. The BaseTwo range is based on a 30mm slab of layered birch wood. On the upper side is a 3mm aluminium plate that is bonded to the wood with a soft polymer adhesive. Each wooden layer is designed to provide fi ltering of different vibration frequency ranges, which according to the designers offers an improved cumulative effect when compared with a single piece of wood. In addition to absorbing vibrations,…

It wasn’t so long ago that the idea of being able to enjoy different types of music in different rooms or to pause what you’re listening to in the bath only to restart it once you’re in the bedroom seemed like the stuff of science fi ction. But now, of course, this is very much part of everyday life. There are more multi-room systems available offering more ways to enjoy hi-res music than ever before, meaning that the ability to listen to Stevie in the shower, Lionel in the lounge or Bono in the bedroom is at long last possible even for the most picky of audiophiles. This month’s extra special prize will enable you to do just that, thanks to the good folk at Musaic. Stemming from experienced hi-fi…

PRICE: €15,000 APPROX. AVAILABLE: MARCH 2017 CONTACT: 0844 8111116 WEB: UK.YAMAHA.COM THERE ARE FEW loudspeakers that encapsulate the standards of the time quite as well as Yamaha's NS-1000M monitors. Launched in 1974, the then flagship model was easily ahead of anything else of the day, and used incredibly light, ultra-advanced beryllium drivers to produce a fast and agile sound that still manages to impress speaker enthusiasts more than 40 years on. An innovation at the time, Yamaha is keen to continue the legacy with its new NS-5000 flagship, planned for launch in 2017. In keeping with the almost legendary NS-1000M, the NS-5000 is a 30cm three-way design with newly developed tweeter, midrange and bass driver diaphragms made from a futuristic-sounding synthetic fibre created in Japan called Zylon, said to boast…

PRICE: £1,000-£2,500 AVAILABLE: OCTOBER/NOVEMBER CONTACT: 0207 3652810 WEB: SONY.CO.UK The annual IFA show in Berlin, held in early September, is the autumn showcase event for big-name brand launches. This year was no exception, as Sony introduced the flagship Signature series to celebrate its 70th year. The new high-end audio range comprises the MDR-Z1R over-ear closed-back headphone (£1,700) fitted with 70mm HD drivers, which claims to achieve a wide frequency range that extends from 4Hz to 120kHz. A high-class luxury design, it’s made using premium materials and is supplied with a selection of connectivity options (see Comment on page 7). To partner the MDR-Z1R, the TA-ZH1ES headphone amplifier (£1,600) supports hi-res PCM and DSD audio files via the USB input’s built-in DAC. Although it has been designed to partner headsets from…

DETAILS PRODUCT Audeze Deckard ORIGIN USA TYPE Headphone amplifier with DAC WEIGHT 2.4kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 155 x 46 x 257mm FEATURES ? 6.35mm headphone output ? Impedance range: up to 600ohm ? 32-bit/384kHz USB input ? 1x RCA line input; 1x RCA line output DISTRIBUTOR Exertis Unlimited TELEPHONE 0208 2008282 WEBSITE audeze.com Californian-based Audeze is perhaps best known for its comprehensive range of headphones, including extremely capable planar magnetic designs. It also produces a pair of headphone amplifiers, and the Deckard is its most affordable model. This doesn’t mean that it is stripped down to the bone, though. As well as offering a single RCA line input, it also has a USB digital input – the only model on test to do so (see box out). Internally, it is built…

DETAILS PRODUCT Pro-Ject Head Box RS ORIGIN Austria/Slovakia TYPE Headphone amplifier WEIGHT 2.2kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 206 x 72 x 200mm FEATURES ? 6.35mm headphone socket ? Switchable output impedance ? XLR and RCA inputs and matching outputs ? Twin 6922 valve input stage DISTRIBUTOR Henley Designs Ltd TELEPHONE 01235 511166 WEBSITE henleydesigns.co.uk The Head Box RS is the flagship headphone amp in Pro-Ject’s upmarket audio line, and comes equipped with a specification that reflects this. It also has some design decisions that make it stand out from the other models here. Chief among the differences is that the input stage is built around a pair of 6922 valves. These are partnered with a Class A solid state output stage. The Pro-Ject is a dual mono design and the only model…

DETAILS PRODUCT Pro-Ject The Classic ORIGIN Austria TYPE Belt-drive turntable WEIGHT 10.2kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 460 x 131 x 351mm FEATURES ? 33 & 45rpm speed ? 9in carbon fibre/aluminium tonearm ? Ortofon 2M Silver MM cartridge supplied DISTRIBUTOR Henley Designs TELEPHONE 01235 511166 WEBSITE henleydesigns.co.uk At first glance you’d be forgiven for thinking that this is a Thorens TD160 or Linn LP12 deck. But Pro-Ject’s The Classic turntable is far from a vintage model and it uses modern materials and techniques in a traditional frame design. Reminiscent of a turntable from the sixties, The Classic is based around a framed ‘two-plinth’ design. This allows the motor to sit on a plinth that is separate from the one that supports the bearing and tonearm to reduce the transference of any unwanted…

Home networking has revolutionised the way we live our lives, providing us with the opportunity for greater flexibility in the way that we work, network and communicate with our family and friends, as well as offering us shopping convenience, plus access to our favourite TV and radio programmes and a whole new world of instantly accessible music. There's a lot to be grateful for, and HFC readers will appreciate that it's the continuously improving broadband infrastructure that has enabled us to expand our music collection and knowledge – either as physical downloads or virtual libraries from streaming services stored in the cloud. Computer audio has opened up a brave new world of opportunities, as music is piped into our homes via superfast broadband services and streamed – either wirelessly or…

Recently, I was fortunate enough to be invited to Air Studios in London for a mastering session of a recording that was made a week earlier by Mike Valentine of Chasing The Dragon records (see HFC 415). Chasing The Dragon is a record label that specialises in audiophile recordings of classical and jazz music, owned by Mike and Françoise Valentine. Mike is particularly passionate about direct-to-disc or direct-cut, recordings. The last time I heard of direct-to-disc was back in the seventies with the Sheffield Labs records. Mike’s latest recording is a direct-to-disc LP entitled A Tribute To Ella Fitzgerald (see the review on page 100) featuring Clare Teal with the Syd Lawrence Orchestra. In addition to cutting the vinyl master, Mike also made 30in-per-second recordings on a ½in Studer A80…

As a reader of HFC, you are unquestionably someone of great knowledge and taste and I’ll wager even before you fully clocked the products that comprise this setup, you already knew on a subconscious level. This is two of the original high-end audio brands in partnership together. The products are new and their features and abilities have changed a little, but in essence this pairing is one of the hi-fi industry’s power couples. Audio Research is one of the few companies that has been consistently committed to the use of valves throughout its existence – even to the point where doing so was almost painfully unfashionable. What is almost as important is that when the company does not see a benefi t to using vacuum tubes, it chooses not to.…

The legendary fi lm-maker and composer’s Twitter handle sets his stall succinctly and accurately: TheHorrorMaster. His movie output between the mid-seventies and late eighties, from cult sci-fi black comedy Dark Star (1974) to Reagan-era paranoia-fest They Live (1988), is now regarded as classic – as are their scores, many composed – or co-composed with Alan Howarth – by Carpenter himself. On the rare occasions his fi lms don’t feature his distinctive touch, however, he shows impeccable taste: the soundtrack to gruesome sleeper success story The Thing (1982) is a case in point, provided by no less a talent than prolifi c Italian composer Ennio Morricone. An early adopter of emerging technology since his debut feature Dark Star, the music teacher’s son’s interest in synthesisers arrives fully formed on genredefi ning…

Regina Spektor Remember Us To Life ALBUM OF THE MONTH EVERY NEW FEMALE singer-songwriter invariably seems to get compared to either Joni Mitchell or Kate Bush. The two great touchstones of the genre, one is noted for her confessional poetry, the other for her quirkiness. Regina Spektor has it both ways and draws smartly upon elements of both to emerge as perhaps the most exciting, literate and complex of a new generation of female troubadours. Born in Moscow into a Russian-Jewish family, she left the Soviet Union with her parents in 1989 and the family was given refugee status in the United States. Brought up in the Bronx, she took classical piano lessons and graduated in composition from the Conservatory of Music at New York State University in 2001. By…

Some people wrongly assume that standmount speakers are just a stepping stone on the path to ‘proper’, grown-up, full-range floorstanders and therefore are designed for convenience and flexibility rather than the nth degree of listening detail. That might be the case in the wireless world, but not here. For these fi ve thoroughbreds, absolute sonic ascendancy is the name of the game. Anything that converts one form of energy (ie electrical) into another (mechanical) has its job cut out. Factor in the physics – such as internal cabinet volumes and material construction plus electronic factors like impedance – and the number of variables that can affect performance is quite considerable. Add to this a speaker’s interaction with a listening room, and installation care is required to get them giving their…

HARKING BACK TO the dance craze created by Chubby Checker, the Twist VS-4 speaker cable is designed to deliver fast and sharp leading edges to your loudspeakers. A development of Black Rhodium’s original Twist loudspeaker cable (HFC 359) and built on the design philosophy of the company’s Samba VS-1 cables (HFC 393), it comes in at a lower price point. The Twist VS-4 promises a natural open sound on vocals and excellent timing on piano notes, coupled with more natural lingering decays as the notes die down. This is achieved by the use of thick low-loss silicone rubber insulation, which increases the distance between conductors, reducing the influence of the magnetic fields of the conductors on each other that results from the current flowing in the wires. The benefi t…

NAMED AFTER THE 1983 hit Little Red Corvette by Prince, the Corvette tonearm cable is the second in the range of analogue interconnect cables from The Vinyl Adventure. It is the company’s philosophy that great hi-fi doesn’t need to cost a fortune and this is reflected in its Rebel copper tonearm cable, reviewed in HFC 415. The Corvette is available in a variety of styles to suit most turntable requirements. It can be supplied with either straight mini-DIN-to-RCA phono connectors, 90° mini-DIN-to-RCA phono connectors or RCA phono-to-RCA phono. All have separate earth connection leads built in. Silver service The cables themselves are made from two independently shielded 4-core pure silver wires, one for each channel. The wires are insulated in 21AWG Teflon oversized tubing dielectric. The wires run side by…

PRICE: £430-£650 AVAILABLE: NOW CONTACT: 0208 8363524 WEB: PIONEER-AUDIOVISUAL.EU/UK FOLLOWING ITS MERGER with Onkyo in Japan, Pioneer has unveiled three networked CD receiver systems. Each has wi-fi , Bluetooth and AirPlay connectivity options with support for 24-bit/192kHz and DSD audio files as well as TuneIn, Spotify, Tidal and Deezer streaming services and Google Cast. The range-topping X-HM86D (below) claims 2x 65W of Class D amplification, and costs £650. Both the X-HM76D (£470) and X-HM86D are equipped with a DAB/DAB+ tuner. Each system includes matching speakers tuned to the electronics, but the X-HM86D can also be supplied without for £400.…

HEADPHONE AMPS GROUP TEST AFTER ALL SIX amps are run in for an agreed period of time with each of the suppliers, they are setup on a Quadraspire QAVX equipment rack (HFC 395). Power is supplied by a conventional six-way mains distribution board as some manufacturers prefer that no mains conditioning is used with their models. Source equipment for the test is a Naim ND5 XS network audio player (HFC 352) with XP5 XS external PSU connected to a Melco N1A NAS (HFC 397) and all running from an IsoTek Evo 3 Sigmas mains conditioner (HFC 394). Connection between the RCA output of the Naim and the amps is via a Chord Company Shawline RCA (HFC 412) interconnect. For the main listening tests, Focal’s Elear headphone (see full review on…

DETAILS PRODUCT Graham Slee Solo Ultra Linear Diamond Edition ORIGIN UK TYPE Headphone amplifier WEIGHT 510g DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 107 x 50 x 185mm FEATURES ? 6.35mm headphone output ? Impedance range: 16-600ohm ? 2x line-level RCA input DISTRIBUTOR Graham Slee HiFi System Components TELEPHONE 01909 568739 WEBSITE hifisystemcom ponents.com As the flagship model in Graham Slee’s headphone amp range, this Diamond Edition is an updated version of the earlier Solo Ultra Linear design. It retains the same basic layout and specification of the earlier model, but has been refined to lower noise levels and improve its suitability for use with high-sensitivity devices such as earphones. The Solo Ultra Linear Diamond Edition is a solid-state design, but the ethos of its construction is with a view to mimicking the positive attributes…

DETAILS PRODUCT TEAC HA-501 ORIGIN Japan/China TYPE Headphone amplifier WEIGHT 4.1kg DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) 290 x 81 x 244mm FEATURES ? 6.35mm headphone socket ? Impedance range: 16-600ohm ? XLR and 2x RCA inputs ? RCA output DISTRIBUTOR Pioneer & Onkyo Europe GmbH TELEPHONE +49 8142 4208 141 WEBSITE teac.com Such is the level of success that TEAC has achieved in recent years with its affordable components, it is all too easy to forget that it has a long and distinguished pedigree with high-end hi-fi. The HA-501 headphone amp sits in a range of components that includes DACs, integrated amps and network streamers that are badged as TEAC units, but have some aspects of their design thinking in common with the brand’s pricier Esoteric components. The HA-501 is a three-input headphone…

Gregor Szymczyk of Veracity Audio hands me a heavy, armoured black flight case and says “enjoy” in his wonderfully evocative Polish accent. Unlocking the case and lifting the lid reveals an unusual, dark device nestled in grey foam that looks like it’s come from a Star Trek set. But no, it turns out that this is the Mystra valve DAC/preamp. Almost every manufacturer builds to a budget, but Gregor Szymczyk confirms he mostly builds to engineering tolerances that achieve sound qualities. All components in this dual mono design are hand picked and hand construction is second to none, with silver-plated OFC Kapton wiring and pure silver wiring in this example actually recycled from the space shuttle programme. Each Mystra or Chrysalis (Veracity’s top of the range) DAC is built to…

Mytek is a company on a mission, it seems. It has been going since 1992, but is really getting traction now internationally with its range of interesting niche products – and the new Brooklyn DAC will speed this further still. Michal Jurewicz is Mytek’s founder and principal designer, and has a redoubtable history of working in pro audio – he started his career as technical engineer at The Hit Factory recording studios in New York in 1989, no less. Although headquartered in the USA, manufacturing is in Michal’s native Poland – which likely explains the keen price tag. Mytek prototypes end up with major mastering and recording engineers in New York for field testing, before the final production versions arrive. Perhaps that’s how the conversation started that saw the inclusion…

DP: So how’s it going for Master Quality Audio (MQA)? BS: We’re very pleased! The MQA company is now a year old and the project is three years old. But it’s been pretty much my full-time activity for a couple of years and I’m now full time working on the MQA project. I am handing over the technical reigns of Meridian so I attend board meetings, but am not involved in the day-to-day business of Meridian now. MQA is three full-time jobs all on its own. We think we’re doing really well. There’s a lot more to do than can be done, but in general the response is overwhelmingly positive. What’s the plan? Warner has signed an agreement with us, it is onboard to allow us to provide all of…

It had to be done! There they were, staring at me on ebay, saying “Buy It Now”. I pressed the magic button and became the proud owner of a Sony TA-73 integrated amplifier and matching ST-73 tuner, for the princely sum of £40. Launched in Autumn 1976 and sold until 1979 – by which time they were heavily discounted – both these products cost £62 when new and were the company’s cheapest stereo amplifier and tuner available. Why, then, would I want such basic, bottom-of-the-range stuff? After all, I own some substantially more expensive classic and modern hi-fi gear – even the top-of-the-range turntable, cassette deck, reel-to-reel and loudspeakers from that year. The dinky TA-73 with its measly 10W RMS per channel, and the ST-73 with its single signal strength…

Have you noticed how coverage of rock music in the mainstream media seems to have been reduced to a series of landmark anniversaries? In recent weeks, I’ve read about the 60th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s first number one Heartbreak Hotel, the 50th anniversary of the Beach Boys’ masterpiece Pet Sounds, the 40th anniversary of the infamous Sex Pistols/Clash festival at the 100 Club which launched punk, the 25th anniversary of grunge and Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit and the 20th anniversary of the Spice Girls’ debut and ‘girl power’. I’m not knocking this celebration of rock’s history. Far from it, I am mindful that the last time I wrote in this column about rock ’n’ roll turning into a heritage industry I was quite rightly taken to task by a…

Music buyers’ craving for vinyl is insatiable across every genre, but horror movie soundtrack collectors have never been better served. Public-service labels such as One Way Static, Mondo, Waxwork Records, Blackest Rainbow, Silva Screen and Death Waltz continue to raid the movie crypts, emerging into the light with dusty reels of scores from the sixties, seventies and beyond – some forgotten; others legendary; many previously unreleased; increasing numbers seminal. To put the current cream of the crop into context, we need to go back to the beginning… Little shop of horrors A marriage made in hell, the unholy wedding of atmospheric music to spine-chilling moving images predates the advent of home hi-fi . Terrifying its Weimar audiences, the moment that the shadow of Max Schreck as Count Orlok the vampire…

With his revolutionary score to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), Bernard Herrmann dragged horror movie scores out of the cosiness of fi fties’ atmosphericbut-forgettable orchestral suites. Once heard, never forgotten, this angular score – composed entirely for strings – was the perfect foil for the director’s infamous shower sequence featuring Janet Leigh. Collaborators on numerous Hitchcock fi lms, the two men shared an unconventional approach to their art. The Birds is a fi lm without a score… but its soundtrack is created by Herrmann who made eerie birdsong from electronics. Parting company with Hitchcock over his unused score for Torn Curtain, Herrmann brought his talent to fantasy fare such as Jason And The Argonauts and The Twilight Zone. Post-Hitch, his work showed little sign of slowing in the late-sixties and seventies,…

Having taken the time and care to pull together the best components for your home hi-fi , it’s all too easy to forget the last important factor – fine tuning the room that you listen to your music in. There are nearly as many myths about how to go about this as there are different speakers to chose from and the real trick is separating the fact from the fi ction. Some say that you should aim to create as close to an anechoic chamber (a room where all sound reflections are completely absorbed by the surfaces) as possible, while others insist that it’s a good idea to stick egg boxes up on the walls. The truth is that you shouldn’t need to go to such extreme measures and that…

SCREENING A MAINS cable can help reduce the amount of interference that is injected into a sensitive piece of audio equipment via the mains supply. It can also reduce the radiated 50Hz field generated by the mains lead itself, especially if it is taking a high current. This is especially important if the mains cable is used close to, say, a phono stage or record deck. The Black Series DSP 2.5 Dual Screened power cable contains two screens and is made with three highpurity 2.5mm2 copper conductors. Every cable is hand assembled and tested in the company’s workshop in Yorkshire. The tightly twisted core construction is covered in a clear Mylar polyester fi lm, a dual over-lapped layer of aluminium foil, and then dense tinned copper braid that has…