Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2023 i Hi Fi News

Forty years after CD catapulted hi-fi into the digital age [see p111], Nick Cave, the singer/songwriter behind Aussie rockers Bad Seeds, is having his own baptism of fire with a potentially more sinister offshoot of binary code. I’m talking about ‘AI’, and chatbots in particular, whose algorithms have now evolved to the point where essays and other scripts may be ‘authored’ by software that draws upon the combined intellect of the Internet. University lecturers are understandably alarmed at the number of dissertations being submitted that bear the hallmarks of ‘chatbot’ penmanship. Some AI software is now sufficiently sophisticated it can even mimic the style of specific authors… including songwriters. So when a well-meaning Bad Seeds fan sent the great man himself the Cave-emulating lyrics for a new song he was,…

FIVE-STRONG FOCAL Vestia, a new speaker range from Focal, includes one bookshelf and three floorstanding options, plus a centre channel model. All feature Black High Gloss, Dark Wood or Light Wood finishes – with either black or white leather effect baffles – and sport ‘Slatefibre’ cone drivers and ‘M-shaped’ inverted dome tweeters. Pricing begins at £799 for the two-way Vestia No 1 bookshelf and reaches £2599 for the three-way No 4 floorstanding model. www.focal.com B&W BUDDIES UP Priced £249 and £349 respectively, B&W’s Pi5 S2 and Pi7 S2 ‘true wireless’ earbuds upgrade on their first-generation predecessors with improved rechargeable battery life, a choice of new ‘premium’ finishes and an enhanced integrated Bluetooth antenna resulting in a claimed transmission distance of up to 25m. Both are active noise cancelling designs, and…

Astell&Kern is again targeting desktop head-fi fans, this time with the ACRO CA1000T, an upgrade on its earlier CA1000 player/DAC/headphone amp [HFN Jan ’22]. New features include a 768kHz/32-bit and DSD512-capable digital stage based around dual ES9039MPRO DACs, now with a twin-triode KORG Nutube vacuum stage. Wide-ranging connectivity includes Bluetooth 5.0 and Wi-Fi; coaxial, optical and USB-C digital inputs; and analogue outs including balanced XLRs. Headphone sockets are 2.5mm/4.4mm (bal) and 3.5mm/6.35mm (single-ended), while music playback and system settings are adjustable via the unit’s 4.1in touchscreen display. The ACRO CA1000T is available now priced £2299. Astell&Kern, South Korea, 01279 501111; www.astellnkern.com…

AUDIO FILE Pre/power amplifier wth ouboard PSUs. Rated at 300W/8ohm Made by: Musical Fidelity (Audio Tuning Vertriebs GmbH), Austria Supplied by: Henley Audio Ltd, UK Telephone: 01235 511166 Web: www.musicalfidelity.com; www.henleyaudio.co.uk Prices (PRE/PAS inc. PSUs): £20,499/£21,999 Ever get the feeling we’ve been here before? Well, the arrival of the latest amplifier system from Musical Fidelity brings a new twist to the whole déjà vu thing as the Nu-Vista naming and macho aesthetics are familiar from the historically hefty Nu-Vista 800 integrated amplifier [HFN Nov ’14]. In practice that classic nuvistor [see PM’s boxout, p42] tube-equipped integrated amplifier, also rated at 300W/8ohm, has provided the inspiration for both the industrial and technical design of the PRE and PAS we see here, the hybrid nuvistor/transistor concept now evolved into a pre/power set-up,…

AUDIO FILE Belt-driven turntable system with electronic speed control Made by: Pro-Ject Audio Systems, Austria Supplied by: Henley Audio Ltd, UK Telephone: 01235 511166 Web: www.project-audio.com; www.henleyaudio.co.uk Price: £2099 (inc. arm and cartridge) Launched in 2022, the X8 is the new LP spinner that Austria’s Pro-Ject is betting on to entice vinyl lovers onto that next step beyond the entry-level and midrange products that are the brand’s bread and butter. To justify its higher price point, this sleek-looking deck borrows features from the company’s top-tier Xtension turntables, making it Pro-Ject’s most affordable ‘mass-loaded’ model to date. It’s also fitted with a rigid 9cc Evolution carbon tonearm, which is an upgrade on the carbon-aluminium arms found on its lower-range offerings, including the X2 B [HFN Sep ’22]. Par for the course,…

Barry Fox trained in electronics with the RAF and worked as a patent agent, but he gave that up to enter journalism. He is one of the world’s top technology writers Here’s my prediction: we will soon have a new audio format war. It will be a humdinger, with two industry giants tearing chunks out of each other. In one corner we have Google, the company that re-wrote the way we use the Internet, and in the other we have Dolby Labs, the audio pioneer founded by Ray Dolby. Essentially, it’s ‘if you are not 100% with us, you are against us – so we don’t want to talk to you’. Dolby’s marketing maestros are now heavily promoting Dolby Atmos for music as well as movies; both original recordings made…

Peter Quantrill has been writing about music for magazines and record labels for 30 years. When not hunched over a CD player, he’ll be at a concert, or the cricket If you are a UK reader outside London and listen to more music on record than in the raw, you may well look at the latest round of Arts Council (ACE) spending cuts and ‘adjusted priorities’ and shrug your shoulders. They’re regrettable, inevitable, even welcome. Perhaps you don’t care much for opera. Maybe you think culture in London receives more than enough money. Or you’d prefer to see public funds spent on grassroots amateur projects. LONDON CALLING So let me put the case for the survival of the English National Opera (ENO), London’s second opera company. ACE wants the ENO…

It has been ten years, shy of a month, since a Sanyo product last appeared in the HFN Vintage Review pages. This was the Fisher AD 800 [HFN Apr ’13], the company’s first ever CD player, which was marketed in the UK under the firm’s specialist hi-fi and video brand. Despite Sanyo’ size and obvious technical expertise in other areas, it didn’t produce much in the way of truly memorable hi-fi, although the brand name always had a presence in the market. Many will remember its sturdy music centres and well engineered entry-level stack systems from the 1970s and early 1980s. But unlike Sony, Technics and B&O, etc, whose audio components ranged from ‘starter’ all the way up to ‘premium’, Sanyo offered little in the way of an upgrade path.…

AUDIO FILE Three-way reflex-loaded floorstanding loudspeaker Made by: B&W Group Ltd, West Sussex Supplied by: B&W Group Ltd Telephone: 0800 232 1513 Web: www.bowerswilkins.com Price: £4200 Although a major player in the domestic hi-fi market, B&W’s loudspeaker catalogue appears relatively streamlined – beginning with the entry-level 600 series and crowned by the flagship 800 series, and with these latest 700s sandwiched in-between. This lineup, which we’re told is aimed both at ‘performance-orientated’ audiophiles and ‘non-specialist’ buyers, surely marks B&W’s sweet spot. And that’s certainly an apt description for the 703 S3s auditioned here. Priced £4200, this speaker is the 700 series’ middle floorstander, flanked by the larger 702 S3 (£5500) and smaller 704 S3 (£3000). Like those offerings, it’s available in a choice of three very smart finishes – Gloss…

AUDIO FILE Integrated amplifier with digital inputs. Rated at 200W/8ohm Made by: Boulder Amplifiers Inc, Louisville, CO, USA Supplied by: Padood, Cambridge, UK Telephone: 01223 653199 Web: www.boulderamp.com; www.padood.com Price: £13,499 (digital module, +£2500) The Boulder story begins in 1984, with the release of the 500 Power Amplifier. A professional audio company back then, Boulder’s stereo model was destined for music studios and broadcast suites, but founder Jeff Nelson soon realised the hardware had domestic potential too, resulting in the 500AE ‘audiophile edition’. Today, nearly 40 years and an expanded product portfolio later, the Colorado-based manufacturer remains a darling of the high-end hi-fi scene, albeit one whose designs still have a ‘pro audio’ air about them. So too does the company’s ethos. Boulder’s hardware appears built to last – right…

While his main interest is high-end audio, for Barry Willis also writes about the culinary industry, visual art and theatre for a hugethe variety US newspapers and magazines Among my acquaintances are a father-and-son audiophile duo that I will call ‘Cooper Senior’ and ‘Cooper Junior’. The father is a lifelong gearhead, a fan of opera, classical music, and small-combo jazz. His 30-something son is a rocker still on the upward slope of the audiophile learning curve. Cooper Junior appreciates nuance but his primary motivation is sheer sound pressure level (SPL), something he’s achieved with towering multi-driver loudspeakers, massive amps, two huge externally powered 18in subwoofers, and a cavernous room. His favourite demo pieces shake the windows and rattle the walls, to his father’s dismay. The two don’t share a residence.…

Steve Harris edited Hi-Fi News between 1986 and 2005. He loves jazz, blues music, vinyl and vintage hi-fi and anything that makes good music come to life Roughly 40 years ago, in March 1983, the audio Compact Disc was launched in Europe. It’s perhaps hard to imagine now, but the arrival of CD was to bring new life to the hi-fi market and a return to prosperity for the record business. Following the global recession of 1981, hi-fi was in the doldrums. Before that, the late-1970s arrival of Betamax and VHS home video recorders had ended the UK’s already fading audio boom. Yet without the development of video tape recording – first with professional systems and then the domestic VCR – there would have been no digital audio in the…

Launched 30 years ago with the Guarneri standmount [HFN Dec ’93], Sonus faber’s Homage range has been a company stalwart ever since. New for 2023 is a quartet of models – a fifth-generation iteration of the Guarneri, plus Serafino G2 [pictured], Amati G5 and Vox G3 (centre channel) options. All feature improved ‘lute’ cabinet designs informed by the Italian brand’s buy-out of the De Santi woodworking plant, in red, wenge or graphite finishes. The £30,000 Amati G5 floorstander uses a new 150mm mid and dual 220mm bass drivers with FEA-optimised magnet/heatsink system. The £22,000 Serafino G2 marries the same 150mm midrange to two 180mm woofers, while the £13,000 Guarneri G5 (plus stands at £3200) features a 150mm bass/mid unit. The trio all sport 28mm Damped Apex Dome (DAD) tweeters and…

24-26 FEB Bristol Hi-Fi Show, Marriott City Centre Hotel, Bristol; www.bristolshow.co.uk 05 MAR Spring Audiojumble 2023, The Angel Leisure Centre, Tonbridge, Kent; www.audiojumble.co.uk 18-21 MAY High End, Munich, Germany; www.highendsociety.de 17-18 JUN North West Audio Show, Cranage Hall (De Vere Cranage Estate), Cheshire; http://audioshow.co.uk 29-01 OCT The UK Hi-Fi Show Live, Ascot Racecourse Grandstand, Ascot Berkshire SL5 7JX; www.hifishowlive.com…

You hold in your hands the world’s oldest and most respected hi-fi magazine – Hi-Fi News – where heavyweight audio engineering is our stock in trade. All our review products are typically subject to a one-month test process from shipping, unpacking, installation, photography, lab work, extended listening, disassembly/packing and collection. This practice was maintained right through the pandemic period, with full Covid biosecurity adding to the logistical complexity of our four-week issue schedule. But we did it… never missing one issue of the magazine or compromising the ‘Hi-Fi News Pledge’: 1. Our hardware reviews are never brief ‘hands on’ experiences of a product from a press conference, brand-led demo or distributor’s back room spun up into a four or five page article. 2. Products reviewed in Hi-Fi News already have…

AUDIO FILE Network-enabled media storage device/streamer Made by: Aurender, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea Supplied by: Padood Ltd, Cambridge, UK Telephone: 01223 653199 Web: www.aurender.com; www.padood.com Price: £22,900 You’re on somewhat shaky ground when reviewing a big-ticket music server, especially one with no onboard digital-to-analogue conversion. The scythes and flaming torches of the ‘digits is digits’ brigade might appear at any moment on the path up the mountain on which such devices are perched, and there’s always the nagging doubt that the choice of partnering DAC will have more impact on the final sound. What, then, to make of the £22,900 Aurender W20SE, the latest version of the Korean company’s ‘Flagship Caching Music Server and Streamer’, as it chooses to describe it, even though it sits below the two-box N30SA, which sells…

AUDIO FILE Compact, two-way floorstanding loudspeaker Made by: DeVore Fidelity, NY, USA Supplied by: Absolute Sounds Ltd Telephone: 0208 971 3909 Web: www.devorefidelity.com; www.absolutesounds.com Price: £9998 Here’s a platitude which should adorn a t-shirt made mandatory attire for all audiophiles: ‘It’s OK To Like More Than One Thing’. In my view, hi-fi is no more cut-and-dried than wine, cars or shoes. Components are not mutually exclusive. With speakers in particular, there are more competing, different-sounding technologies than just about any other part of the chain. And what DeVore Fidelity has in its £9998-per-pair Orangutan O/93 is a design which ticks numerous boxes, all the better to alleviate any guilt about loyalty to a single topology. I admit to loving ribbons and ’statics and two-way mini-monitors. A pair of O/93s, on…

AUDIO FILE Factory-terminated, shielded loudspeaker cables Made by: Supra Cables, Sweden Supplied by: Wavelength Distribution, Cambs, UK Telephone: 07711 939519 Web: www.supracables.se; www.wavelength-distribution.com Price: £1700 (3.0m terminated stereo set) With its blue-tinged foil screen positively glowing through a tight, translucent PVC jacket, Supra’s flagship speaker cable, priced at £1700 for a 3m terminated set (£300 per additional stereo metre), makes for a vivid statement. It’s a world away from the speaker cables that helped Tommy Jenving launch his Swedish Supra brand in 1976. Its Supra Cable 4 and 2.5 used bunches of very fine copper strands in a standard figure-of-eight geometry. Its later 10mm2 Supra Cable 10, with 2562x0.07mm 4N copper strands, still has the lowest series resistance that I’ve measured (3.1mohm/m) when tested nearly 30 years ago [Hi-Fi Choice…

AUDIOPHILE: VINYL THE BEATLES Revolver Apple 4559952 (four 180g vinyl LPs/1x7in EP) This is the best revamped Beatles album so far, beyond Giles Martin’s skills improving with each new set, thanks to technology developed for Peter Jackson’s epic Get Back which enables engineers to isolate individual instruments on each track. Purists will always prefer the originals, but this simply pops out of the speakers with depth, clarity and detail to inspire a non-stop binge. Mono and stereo LPs, two of alternative takes and demos, and a 7in EP with mono and stereo remasters of ‘Rain’ and ‘Paperback Writer’. The 5CD box [Apple 4559941] is identical, with the same stupendous 100p hardback book. My wallet fears Apple will use the new tech as an excuse to remix the other boxes all…

Jim Lesurf has spent a lifetime in audio, both an engineer at UK hi-fi company Armstrong and reader in physics and Electronics ar St Anderw’s University I’m ancient enough to recall the ‘rolling blackouts’ of the 1970s. Until recently I’d assumed that we now had a sufficiently robust energy supply that they’d never occur again. However, as I write, people are starting to wonder if, perhaps, they should buy some candles. Being of a certain age, I still have some – but they won’t make reading my copies of Hi-Fi News easy… and nor will my mains-powered audio systems work without power from the mains. POWER IN YOUR POCKET Fortunately, I do have a couple of decent portable radios – one of which I built for myself. These can be…

Threshold has been making high-quality amps for many years, its preamps showing early use of FET circuitry and the power amps distinguished by an output stage design which Threshold calls ‘Stasis’, a kind of active Class A operation. Company founder and chief designer, Nelson Pass, remains fully involved and his signature appears on the circuit diagrams included in the excellently documented operating manuals supplied with the units. Threshold is not a large concern, but a modular approach to design has spawned a wide range of power amps in the SA or Stasis series. There are five, ranging from the SA/3.9e tested here at 60W/channel to the ’4, ’6, ’10 and ’12, the latter being a 250W-per-channel behemoth. Below the SA series come the four ‘s’ models, which have a lower…