Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2023 i Hi Fi News

Nostalgia, so the saying goes, isn’t what it was, but the attraction of celebrating the past while embracing the future remains as popular as ever. By way of illustration, the spring and autumn Audiojumbles, held in Tonbridge, have never been more popular – everyone from vintage buffs to the plain curious is looking for that rare item to complete a set, or even a full system to re-experience the sounds of a misspent youth. Recognising that retro is not just ‘cool’ but also sufficiently enticing to modern-day audiophiles, the manufacturers themselves are now tapping into the zeitgeist of reminiscence. We could have told them, of course, as our unique ‘Vintage Review’ feature has proved unshakably popular since we launched the series in HFN Jan ’10 [this month, the B&O Beogram…

FOR YOUR REFERENCE Available in 1m, 2m, 3m and 5m lengths, priced £149, £159, £179 and £199 respectively, QED’s new Reference Ethernet cable is intended for use in network-based audio systems. Featuring twisted pair OFC conductors, shielded gold-plated Telegartner plugs and a multi-layer construction finished in a white PVC jacket, the cable meets the Class 1 Cat 8.1 standard and claims data rates up to 40Gbps. www.qed.co.uk CALL TO ARMS UK distributor Absolute Sounds has added Lithuanian tonearm/turntable manufacturer Reed to its portfolio. Five arm ranges are available, starting from £3098 for the carbon-fibre 1H at 9.5in, 10.5in and 12in, up to £15,000 for the flagship 5T, a tangential pivoting model with laser-based motion tracking and five wood body options. Reed’s turntables are the Muse 1C (belt drive, £9998; friction…

AUDIO FILE Floorstanding three-way ABR-loaded loudspeaker Made by: PS Audio, Boulder, Colorado Supplied by: Signature Audio Systems Telephone: 07738 007776 Web: www.psaudio.com; www.signaturesystems.co.uk Price: £19,995 The advice given by Apple’s Steve Jobs to ‘Start small, think big’ is pretty sensible, going hand in hand with that old saw about not trying to run before you can walk. That recommendation seems to have eluded Colorado-based company PS Audio, which launched its speaker line last year with the big aspen FR30 [HFN Jun ’22], arriving in the UK with a price tag now running at £30,000, and clearly aiming high straight out of the box. Not only that, but it also threw away much of the high-end speaker rulebook, debuting a tall, slender column apparently ‘floating’ on an integral stand, and with…

AUDIO FILE Two-way coincident-driver standmount loudspeaker Made by: MoFi Electronics, Chicago, USA Supplied by: Karma-AV Ltd, York Telephone: 01423 358846 Web: www.mofielectronics.com; www.karma-av.co.uk Price: £4500 (£550 stands) Launched in the 1970s as an audiophile-grade record label, Chicago’s Mobile Fidelity has acquired a celebrated reputation among vinylistas, particularly for its One-Step pressings [HFN May ’17]. Its move into the world of vinyl replay in 2016, under a new MoFi Electronics division, was arguably a long time coming. The range now extends to cartridges [HFN Jan ’22], phono preamps [HFN Mar ’20], and three turntables – the StudioDeck [HFN Jan ’20], UltraDeck [HFN Jul ’19] and the luxurious, Fender-branded PrecisionDeck. And the next obvious step? Loudspeakers. Priced at £4500 a pair and available in either a satin walnut or black ash real…

AUDIO FILE Integrated BluOS-equipped amplifier. Rated at 100W/8ohm Made by: NAD Electronics International, Canada Supplied by: Sevenoaks Sound and Vision, UK Telephone: 01732 459555 Web: http://nadelectronics.com; www.sevenoakssoundandvision.co.uk Price: £1799 Since its founding in 1972 NAD has grown into one of the mainstays of the hi-fi industry, and to celebrate its first half-century of existence, the brand has launched the C 3050 LE streaming amplifier. Taking cues from forerunners such as the C 700 [HFN Feb ’22] and the C 389, it’s a just-add-speakers package, including HDMI connectivity and an MM-only phono input. That’s ‘LE’ for ‘Limited Edition’, by the way, indicating the amplifier is one of only 1972 units that will be produced. In the US the C 3050 LE is sold for $1972, subtly ramming home the point that…

While his main interest is high-end audio, Barry Willis also writes about the culinary industry, visual art and theatre for a huge variety of us newspaper and magazines Special interests make sense to those inside the cult, but are objects of ridicule for those on the outside. Contemporary art and extreme hi-fi are two such interests. A friend was once on track to become a partner with a prestigious law firm, one with a contemporary art collection proudly displayed in its offices. Among the pieces that baffled him was a brick in a vitrine – artist unknown to me, but apparently one highly desirable among collectors. The firm had spent $150k on the piece, nothing more than an ordinary construction brick under glass, somehow transformed by the artist’s touch. It…

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 The late Angus McKenzie, MBE (1933-2005) appears briefly in Steve Sutherland’s history of Olympic Studios [HFN Dec ’22], as he was its founder and first owner. Angus sold his interest in the facility before the studio upped sticks and moved to Barnes in 1966, but he went on to become a household name, in hi-fi households at least, as a leading audio expert. Angus had lost the sight of one eye at 16, and poor vision forced him to give up his studies in electronics and acoustics. After spending time in Hungary helping refugees of the 1956 uprising, he worked briefly at a…

Hi-Fi News Jun 1998 Each month HFN will bring you an article from our vast archive of features and reviews from yesteryear DNM’s long-awaited update to the PA3 power amplifier has finally arrived. Fully regulated, the PA3 S reflects the uncompromising approach of its designer Denis Morecroft. Offering just 23W per channel but costing £3750, this stereo power amp has undergone a long gestation, the reasons for which Morecroft outlines in our interview boxout [see p129]. He would be the first to accept that the PA3 S forms part of DNM’s pre/power architecture, which includes the long-running and oft-upgraded 3B preamp, plug-in cards for which were recently revised to take into account the anticipated leap forward in performance of the PA3 S power amplifier. For the purposes of this review,…

The 12th-generation Uni-Q driver with Metamaterial Absorption Technology (MAT), which first appeared on KEF’s LS50 Meta [HFN Jun ’21] and latterly its Blade Meta(s) [HFN May ’22] and Reference Meta lines, has now trickled down to a relaunched R Series. Seven loudspeakers are included (with two centre channel/LCR models and Dolby Atmos surrounds) in a range that represents the manufacturer’s mid-level tier, above its Q Series. Crowning the lineup is the £5500 R11 Meta floorstander, which marries KEF’s 125mm coaxial mid/tweeter Uni-Q array to a quartet of 165mm ‘hybrid’ aluminium cone woofers in a 1.25m-tall, 36.5kg enclosure. The mid-size R7 Meta (£4000) features two 165mm bass drivers, while the smallest R5 Meta floorstander (£3000) uses a pair of 130mm cones. For more compact hi-fi set-ups, KEF’s R3 Meta is a…

AUDIO FILE Network-attached DAC with optional headphone amp Made by: Data Conversion Systems Ltd, Cambs Supplied by: dCS Ltd Telephone: 01954 233950 Web: www.dcsltd.co.uk Price: £19,000 (£21,500 with headphone amp) Maybe it’s a sign of the times, or the state of the specialist high-end audio market, but this latest version of dCS’s Bartók streaming DAC, often referred to as the company’s ‘entry-level’ model, is now almost twice the price of the original [HFN May ’19]. Then, the Bartók was £9999, or £11,999 when fitted with the optional headphone amplifier; now the Bartók APEX, taking on board the company’s latest package of enhancements, first seen in the Vivaldi APEX [HFN Jun ’22], is £19,000, rising to £21,500 if you choose to take the headphone option. Given this, and the performance on…

AUDIO FILE MM/MC phono preamp Made by: Lehmannaudio Vertriebs GmbH, Germany Supplied by: Henley Designs Ltd, UK Telephone: 01235 511166 Web: www.lehmannaudio.com; www.henleyaudio.co.uk Price: £3149 With the notable exception of flatscreen TVs and very high-end hi-fi, generally speaking, technology is enabling smaller product solutions. German brand Lehmannaudio has been leading the charge for bijou components since its founding [see boxout, p63], and the principle is perfectly illustrated by the Jubilee variant of its evergreen Decade phono stage, released to celebrate the brand’s 30 years, and retailing for £3149. The Decade Jubilee phono stage and PWX II LC power supply come in matching cases, far deeper than they are wide or high, but our pictures might give the impression they are half-width components, like the Exposure XM series [HFN May ’17…

AUDIO FILE BT/USB DAC-equipped integrated amplifier. Rated at 80W/8ohm 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: £1049 Mini hi-fi, very much ‘a thing’ in the 1980s, is still breathing today thanks to Heinz Lichtenegger’s Pro-Ject brand. ‘Small is better’, according to Pro-Ject’s head honcho, stating that modern music lovers want great sound without bulky hi-fi gear. Surprisingly, the MaiA DS3 integrated amplifier tested here is one of the larger of Pro-Ject’s ‘Boxes’, being part of its DS line which, together with the RS line, trades some compactness for improved electronics. The company’s budget E and more accomplished S series are the home of truly diminutive devices. But make no mistake, the MaiA DS3 – ‘MaiA’ stands for ‘My…

It’s hardly surprising that a band formed from the ashes of tragedy should take a while to truly find their own musical identity. But after singer Ian Curtis’s suicide brought Joy Division to a premature end in May 1980, New Order had shown intermittent moments of brilliance on a string of singles, but not across a whole album. Until Low-life. The band’s third album, released on the 13th of May 1985, is still regarded as a career high watermark – not just by fans and critics, but the band themselves. ‘Even if we didn’t realise it at the time, we were somewhere near the top of our game’, wrote drummer Stephen Morris in his 2020 memoir Fast Forward. He also ended up as the LP’s cover star (more of which…

AUDIOPHILE: VINYL THE KINKS Muswell Hillbillies/Everybody’s In Show-Biz – Everybody’s A Star BMG BMGCAT720DBOX (six LPs + four CDs + Blu-ray) Although vying with The Beatles for ‘Who makes the costliest box sets?’, The Kinks have done us a service by combining two RCA-era LPs into one package, but circa-£150 still requires sacrifice. This pair has long been overshadowed by The Village Green Preservation Society, and are surely worth reassessing. As is now the norm, the set contains completely remastered original releases and a vast amount of extras. Show Biz was a double to begin with, half-live/half-studio, so this expands on the concert material, while a baffling assortment of LP-only and CD-only editions allows you to pick and choose to suit your budget. KK Sound Quality: 95% LEONARD COHEN Hallelujah…

Jim Lesurf has spent a lifetime in audio, both as an engineer at UK hi-fi company Armstrong and reader in physics and Electronics ay St Andrew’s University Should you feel guilty if you use a Class A power amplifier in your audio set-up? The eye-watering elevation of energy prices has meant many are focused on keeping their energy use low. Alas, Class A is inherently inefficient when it comes to playing music. So it seems a bad idea. Back in the early days of transistor audio, the actual transistors available were poor compared to those that became available in later decades. Designs such as those by Jim Sugden made good sense. But modern transistors and designs are far better nowadays. So should we kick Class A out into the cold?…

24-25 MAR Montréal Audiofest 2023, Hôtel Bonaventure, Montréal; Canada; https://montrealaudiofest.org 14-16 APR Axpona 2023, Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Convention Center, Illinois, USA; www.axpona.com 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 [see pic, right]. 2. Products reviewed in Hi-Fi…

AUDIO FILE Preamp and mono power amps. Rated at 40W/8ohm Made by: Manley Laboratories, Inc., CA, USA Supplied by: SCV Electronics Ltd, Herts Telephone: 03301 222500 Web: www.manley.com; www.scvdistribution.co.uk Prices: £5849 (preamp)/£7599 (monoblock pair) Timely or what? When editor PM pointed out that the Manley Jumbo Shrimp Line Preamplifier (£5849) and Mahi Monoblock Amplifier (a stereo pair at £7599 making up Mahi-Mahi – geddit?) had been in the catalogue for ages, I learned from company president EveAnna Manley that it was exactly 20 years to the day of their debut that I was auditioning the latter. In addition to a longevity that recalls the days when companies like Quad and Klipsch kept models in production for decades, Manley Laboratories Inc has over 40 models in constant production. ‘We do not…

AUDIO FILE Network-attached player/DAC Made by: Pixel Magic Systems Ltd, Hong Kong Supplied by: Sound Design Distribution Ltd, Cardiff Telephone: 0800 0096213 Web: www.luminmusic.com; www.sounddesigndistribution.co.uk Price: £4195 The product catalogue of Hong Kong’s Lumin, neatly divided between four network players, three network transports, and one-off power amp and streaming amp options, deserves the description ‘small but perfectly formed’. That would also be an apt way of looking at its T3, a network player/DAC possessing a neat, easy-to-accommodate design and a feature roster designed to satisfy the needs of the performance-hungry streaming audio enthusiast. In essence, it takes much of what’s offered by Lumin’s flagship one-box P1 [HFN Jul ’22], but trims the spec. (and size) down to a price point of £4195, almost half that of its bigger brother. For…

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 Non-disclosure agreements or NDAs have been in the news because of the way people who work for famous musicians, and royals, only get their jobs if they sign a legally binding pledge not to reveal what they see behind closed doors. It’s like signing the Official Secrets Act. But I suspect few people realise the extent to which ‘our’ world of hi-fi and home electronics also relies on NDAing. An NDA, which is pretty much the same as an embargo, lets a manufacturer talk freely about new tech or products ahead of public launch. Everyone signs a form, agreeing…

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 By the time you read this, the red carpet on Hollywood Boulevard will probably have been rolled away and we will all know whether or not Cate Blanchett has won a Best Actress Academy Award for her portrait of the dysfunctional (and fictional – see below) conductor Lydia Tár. She deserves to: aside from fans of Michelle Yeoh and Michelle Williams, everyone who has seen the movie seems to agree on that, if on little else. In some ways it would be poetic justice for a conductor to win an Oscar. The ceremony itself embodies a peculiar and unlikely –…

It certainly says something about the enduring appeal of a turntable when the company that made it buys up examples that are over 40 years old and sells them on to a new generation of buyers. It sounds remarkable, but this is precisely what Bang & Olufsen did recently with its ‘Recreated Limited Edition’ Beogram 4000c. Although offered as a revival of the Beogram 4000 [HFN Jul ’14], it was actually the later Beogram 4002 that formed the basis of the project. ON A TANGENT The Beogram 4000 was a revolutionary turntable in that it incorporated important innovations in every aspect of its design. It may have been derided by traditional hi-fi hobbyists, but the 4000 was taken to heart by wealthy music lovers who appreciated its superb styling and…