Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2024 i Hi Fi News

What does ‘flagship’ mean to you? Different things to different eras, and nationalities, of audiophiles I’d suspect. For aficionados in the ’50s there was no greater aspirational buy than Quad’s seminal ESL-57 electrostatic loudspeaker. When Ralph West explored the design in HFN Nov ’57, he described it in understated tones as ‘an excellent domestic speaker’. That’s ‘speaker’ in the singular because at £52 each they were originally sold into mono set-ups. The US had its own national flagbearers of course, albeit hitting its stride through the 1960s and ’70s with the Infinity Systems SS-1 electrostatic/dynamic hybrid, followed up by the legendary IRS V and iconic Beveridge 2SW, a 6ft electrostatic column. Wilson Audio’s Modular Monitor system (WAMM) was unveiled at CES in 1982 but with an asking price of some…

Since Heinz Lichtenegger acquired Musical Fidelity in 2018, the company has appeared truly revitalised, particularly at the upper end of its range. Working with the UK design team, the Pro-Ject boss has resurrected the nuvistor tube-based Nu-Vista line with a slew of new models. And Lichtenegger is a big believer in separates – just in case the many pocket-sized boxes Pro-Ject produces hadn’t made that clear – so while on the one hand the EISA Award-winning Nu-Vista 800.2 integrated amplifier [HFN Aug ’23] provides a one-stop solution, there’s also Musical Fidelity’s Nu-Vista PRE/PAS pairing [HFN Mar ’23], the Nu-Vista Vinyl 2 phono stage [HFN Feb ’24], and now the Nu-Vista DAC. There’s also a separate, outboard power supply slated for the Nu-Vista range, and it’s hardly a secret that a…

Canor Audio, based in Slovakia, is certainly not the most famous of hi-fi brands, but has been around for longer than many will realise. And, cunningly, it sidesteps the minefield of online rage surrounding tube versus solid-state amplification by manufacturing hybrid amps, a solid-state design, and fully fledged tube products. Canor is clearly smart enough to hedge its bets. Still, at its heart Canor considers itself ‘a tube specialist’, albeit a pragmatic one which realises that sometimes other designs can offer more bang for the buck. For example, its forthcoming Virtus A3 all-in-one, designed by hi-fi guru John Westlake, is a tube/transistor hybrid. The Virtus I2 here, however, is an all-analogue integrated amplifier that wholeheartedly embraces tubes while also claiming Class A operation [see PM’s boxout, p63]. MONOBLOCK POTENTIAL Priced…

Filters, particularly AC mains filters and regenerators, have long been an audiophile staple but the genre has expanded in recent years to accommodate our embrace of digital and streaming audio in particular. With ‘high speed’ digital transmission comes the prospect of a sea of extraneous noise and interference, from both outside and inside the ‘system loop’, that washes though our equipment. Jitter in the digital domain and RF-related IM and other distortions are the least of what we understand as the audible consequences of this entirely unwanted hash. English Electric, the ‘hardware’ arm of The Chord Company, is not alone in producing a simple, passive in-line barrier to this noise, but while there’s an equal amount of noise on the Internet about these devices, the EE1 is the ‘real deal’.…

THE LONG RYDERS September November Cherry Red CDBRED878 Alt-country fans know that one of the genre’s most musically valid – and underappreciated – practitioners are the Sid Griffin-led Long Ryders. As is their wont, the songs are imbued with the spirit of The Byrds (especially the plaintive Gene Clark) and The Buffalo Springfield, but the 12 original tunes are not mere pastiches and ‘Elmer Gantry Is Alive And Well’ merits hitting the ‘repeat’ button. Yes, it’s all a bit time-warp-y, Big Star-meets-Blood-On-The-Tracks-Dylan, but what’s not to love? Count our blessings: they’ve only released five albums in 40 years. Sadly, this is their first without the late bassist Tom Stevens, but two tracks form a fitting tribute. KK Sound Quality: 85% ALICE COOPER Billion Dollar Babies Rhino/Quadio BA2 2685 (Blu-ray quadraphonic)…

JOEL HARRISON Anthem Of Unity HighNote Records HCD7348 Versatile and much-recorded guitarist Joel Harrison joins forces here with Hammond virtuoso Gary Versace, but this is no ordinary organ-combo album as it brings together four diverse and long-respected talents. On tenor sax and (occasionally) clarinet is Gregory Tardy, who combines limitless technique, a lithe way with melody and a warm human sound; on drums the great Jack DeJohnette, who despite having been born in 1942, has never sounded less like a veteran. Apart from a jaunty take on Rollins’ ‘Doxy’ and a playful ‘Times They Are A-Changing’, you get six originals, all full of ideas, ear-catching melodies and engaging rhythms. It’s absorbing and enjoyable. SH Sound Quality: 85% ETHAN IVERSON Technically Acceptable Blue Note 5581218 After 17 years as pianist with…

Barry Willis Journalist for top American audio-video publications 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 newspapers and magazines This past autumn, approximately 40 years after its first release, Stop Making Sense came roaring back to select cinemas, to near-universal acclaim. Jonathan Demme’s ultimate concert film chronicles art-rock band Talking Heads at the height of their frenetic creativity. Pieced together from several performances at the same venue, the film opens with lead singer/band founder David Byrne solo on a bare stage, accompanying himself on guitar with rhythm supplied by a boom box. PERFORMANCE ART After the opening song ‘Psycho Killer’, band members appear: bassist Tina Weymouth, drummer Chris Frantz, keyboardist Bernie Worrell, percussionist…

Steve Harris Contributor 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 It’s 100 years since the invention of the moving-coil loudspeaker, a huge leap forward from existing moving-iron types, and still the dominant principle today. British audio pioneer Paul Voigt applied for a patent on the 20th of May 1924, but he was too late, because an American patent had been filed just weeks earlier, on the 27th of March. Voigt, working at the Edison Bell company, designed a complete recording system including a moving-coil disc cutter. He patented the tractrix speaker horn contour in 1927. When Edison Bell folded in 1933, Voigt set up his own company, Voigt Patents Ltd.…

Sitting in a neat stack on the desk in front of me as I write, the subjects of this review remind me of those pretty Toshiba Aurex units of yesteryear [HFN Apr ’16]. There are three Micromega components in all: the Microdrive CD transport (an improbably small device, this); the Variodac, comprising a Bitstream digital-to-analogue converter with remote power volume control and an additional line input; and finally, the Microamp, a neat-looking stereo power amplifier block. HOT STUFF Each unit measures just 220mm wide by 60mm high, but the power amp is deeper than the other two units at 205mm front-to-back. It is rated at 25W per channel into 8ohm, and is claimed to be highly tolerant of loading, including electrostatic speakers. Warnings explain that the heatsink runs hot, at…

Premium pair SONUS FABER’S FLAGSHIP SYSTEM PARTNERS FLOORSTANDERS AND SUBS Comfortably ranged above Sonus faber’s Lumina Amator series [p70], the Suprema is the Italian manufacturer’s new flagship design, and comprises two floorstanders, one (or two) subwoofers and an outboard crossover unit. Launched to mark Sonus faber’s 40th anniversary, the system – in its ‘2.2’ dual subwoofer guise – is priced at £695,000, while a Suprema 2.1 option is £625,000. Both are available built to order in graphite, red, wenge or walnut finishes, with the towers boasting a Poltrona Frau leather front panel. Each Suprema floorstander features ten drivers in a 4.5-way configuration. The central ‘Voice of Sonus faber’ array features a newly engineered 165mm midrange, 38mm tweeter and 20mm super-tweeter, and is flanked top and bottom by a total of…

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…

If I was to give a vinyl enthusiast a choice of high-quality turntables made by Technics, Yamaha, Denon or the team behind Micro Seiki, and then stated that two of the options were direct-drive, I’ll wager they would think I was about to take them on a vintage shopping spree. However, it’s 2024 and, remarkably, the above selection comprises a range of models that can be bought new today. The Technics SL-1200 series [HFN Nov ’17] is back with a vengeance, Yamaha’s GT-5000 [HFN Oct ’20] was a welcome surprise a couple of years ago, and you can buy turntables with Micro Seiki DNA thanks to TechDAS. Now, Denon has thrown its hat back into the ring with the £2299 direct-drive DP-3000NE on test here. This is a modern design…

Arriving to crown Audiolab’s top-flight 9000 series, which launched with the 9000A integrated amplifier and 9000CDT CD transport [HFN Aug ’23], the 9000N is arguably the most intriguing model in the range. This streaming DAC, priced at £2499, and styled to match, marks a point of departure for the brand as its association with DTS Play-Fi is cut in favour of a new streaming platform and app. Audiolab’s website doesn’t shout much about the change, which is understandable as its DTS-equipped 6000N Play and 7000N Play models are still current. Instead, it simply discusses the 9000N’s ‘incredibly capable and equally stable streaming platform’ and a new 9000N-specific app, free for iOS and Android [see boxout, p67]. However, it doesn’t mention that this app is a ‘reskinned’ version of that used…

DANIEL KNAGGS Two Streams (192kHz/24-bit, FLAC) www.cappellarecords.com; Cappella Records CR-429 Like me, you’ll be forgiven for not being familiar with Daniel Knaggs’ 2021 cantata for voices and strings, based on the messages received in prayer by Polish nun Faustina Kowalska – this is, after all, a world premiere recording, performed by the excellent Houston Chamber Choir plus soloists, and string ensemble Kinetic. And it turns out this is both a striking piece, drawing on musical styles from the medieval to the modern, and a fabulous recording, with a simple but enveloping sound evoking the contemplative nature of the work. Dedicated to Knaggs’ father, who didn’t live to hear the finished piece, Two Streams conveys Kowalska’s message that peace cannot be achieved without mercy. Moreover, it does so with amazing vocal and…

BERGEN PO, ET AL/SIR MARK ELDER Delius: A Mass of Life LAWO LWC1265 (two discs; downloads to 192kHz/24-bit resolution) Does Delius’s magnum opus stand up against other turn-of-the-century, soul-seeking choral epics such as Sea Symphony and Gurrelieder? Recordings, let alone performances, have been so few and far between that a fair judgement has been almost impossible. Freed from dusty sound (Beecham/Del Mar) and worthy but dull interpretation (Hill/Hickox), the score gleams and dances as never before under Elder, who directs with the blazing authority of his best nights in the pit. The engineering picks out the glittering French accents of Delius’s orchestra, brings huge choral forces back and forth, and sets an opulent solo cast (led by Roderick Williams) in a realistic perspective. Unmissable for Delius lovers and sceptics alike.…

Andrew Everard Reviewer/writer Andrew Everard has reviewed consumer electronics for over 30 years and is still effortlessly enthusiastic about new developments, discovering new kit – and music The other day, with just a little time on my hands, I took a few moments out from downloading the control app for an inbound network player onto my phone, and did a quick headcount of how many similar pieces of software I had cluttering up my screens. The result rather shocked me – I had no fewer than 33 of them, including the new one, testament to a life spent with an almost continuous procession of network-capable audio gear passing through my listening room. FINGERTIP CONTROL That’s not a problem most users will ever face – chances are you’ll have a single…

Odd though this might sound, it bothers me when PM gives me a sequence of exceptional loudspeakers to review. Can there really be that many miraculous designs, one after the other – or am I growing soft? Following models from DeVore Fidelity [HFN Aug ’23] and Wilson Audio [HFN Sep ’23], and reborn LS3/5As, I find myself with a new Franco Serblin speaker that has rocked my world. The Accordo Goldberg could be, overall, the best yet to come out of the fertile brain of the inspirational if, sadly, late designer. Costing £8888 plus £2798 for optional stands (a situation to be discussed below), the Goldberg is slightly dearer than the smaller Accordo sans suffix [HFN Jan ’18]. Above it is the floorstanding Accordo Essence [HFN Jan ’21], but that’s…

For nearly nine years, I have been listening to Quad’s ribbon-hybrid S-1 speaker – the brand’s smallest two-way box-type system – as part of my day-to-day desktop set-up. When they were launched, I revelled in the realisation that they were a throwback to Quad’s first ever loudspeaker, the Corner Ribbon of 1949 [see PM’s boxout, p59], and the all-new Revela 1 tells you that the company’s boffins, based in the UK and China, haven’t been sitting idle since 2015. At under £500 per pair, the 285x156x 240mm (hwd) S-1 was a beer budget bargain, and the Revela 1 looks to repeat the experience in much the same way as the floorstanding £3499 Revela 2 updates Quad’s S-5 [HFN Jan ’16]. Admittedly, at £1799 per pair, the Revela 1 is far…

Think Sonus faber, and the chances are you’ll imagine speakers with luxurious finishes and price tags to match. After all, the company used the 2024 CES event to roll out its Suprema speaker system [p22], comprising two main ‘towers’ and two subwoofers, with a £695,000 price tag. But such lofty ambition also brings the option of ‘trickling down’ new technologies to less expensive models, including the £2999 Lumina V Amator floorstander we have here. There’s more to the new arrivals – there’s also a £1299 Lumina II Amator two-way bookshelf speaker – than the eye-catching real-wood veneers of the main baffle, available in glossy red, walnut and wenge finishes with a striking 45o grain orientation. In common with other Sonus faber Amator models [HFN Apr ’21], the new speakers also feature…

LAETITIA SADIER Rooting For Love Duophonic DS45CD62; LP: DS33LP62 Sadier is best known as lead singer with Stereolab, where she explores a retro-futurism with hints of Françoise Hardy and the vintage electronics of Jean Jacques Perrey – her soft, characterful voice charms the listener into a lyrical zone where Marxism meets existentialism as serious fun. Here, her messages of empowerment and positivity are cut with wry humour as she plays the ‘famous linguist’s wife’ on the buoyant, funky ‘Don’t Forget You’re Mine’. She’s a really imaginative arranger, using trombone, vibes, keyboards and samples to colour her intricate songs, which range from groovy pop to moodier settings, and her voice is complemented brilliantly by a mixed choir on ‘Who + What’. MB Sound Quality: 90% BLACK GRAPE Orange Head DGAFF DGAFF1CDX;…

Barry Fox Technology journalist 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 Mention bugging and we think of radio mics, parabolic gun arrays, spies with pocket Nagras and Richard Nixon turning the White House into a clandestine recording studio. But what happened before Major John T Mullen grabbed a couple of the Magnetophon tape recorders, used during the Second World War to time-shift Hitler’s speeches, and shipped them back to the US where knock-off tape recorders were built that let Bing Crosby play more golf by time-shifting his radios shows? WAR STORIES Before Mullen, bugging relied on bulky studio microphones and 78rpm disc recorders, and two stage…

Peter Quantrill Music Journalist 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 The name of Anshel Brusilow is likely to stir only a faint glimmer of memory even among dedicated collectors. Brusilow, who died in 2018 at the age of 89, was a violinist turned conductor from a Ukrainian-Jewish family. His parents emigrated in flight from a Cossack pogrom, and settled in the US. He studied violin with Zimbalist and conducting with Monteux, who advanced his protégé’s career as a soloist until Brusilow decided to marry against Monteux’s wishes. IMMEDIATELY MUSICAL Eventually joining the Philadelphia Orchestra, Brusilow became ‘Ormandy’s leader’ until that relationship went south, too. Brusilow had…

The story of DPA is not uncommon among small and specialised hi-fi manufacturers. Arriving in 1992, it actually represented the second iteration of a company co-founded by Robert Watts (who has since gone on to be digital design consultant at Chord Electronics). And while Deltec Precision Audio, which debuted in 1984 with its CTA80 preamplifier, had ultimately shut up shop in the early ’90s, the ideas behind its original models clearly had some merit – it was soon back with Watts onboard, albeit under a slightly different name. One of the first products released was a new pre/power system. Composed of the DSP-200S preamplifier and the buyer’s choice of one or two DPA-200S power amplifiers (a single DPA-200S would give 2x50W, while two running in bridge mode would give a…