Opinion

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Opinion
NXT’s flatpanel speaker
Steve Harris  |  Apr 16, 2025  |  First Published: Mar 01, 2025
Steve Harris looks at the legacy of NXT’s flatpanel speaker, which once promised to revolutionise audio replay. Did you realise the technology is now more widely available than ever before?
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Opinion
Never too old
Peter Quantrill  |  Apr 16, 2025  |  First Published: Mar 01, 2025
The longevity of conductors can be misleading, says Peter Quantrill, when the sentiment of the occasion obscures the vitality of the music-making. Yet with age can come great wisdom...
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Opinion
Reviving radio's lost dynamics
Jim Lesurf  |  Apr 16, 2025  |  First Published: Mar 01, 2025
After concluding that a well-designed digital FM tuner can surpass the best analogue super tuners of old, Jim Lesurf wonders if software can be used to revive the lost dynamics of music on radio
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Opinion
A night at the opera
Barry Willis  |  Apr 16, 2025  |  First Published: Mar 01, 2025
Front-of-centre drama, battles behind the scenes... Barry Willis attends the opening of Verdi’s Un Ballo in San Francisco, but for him it’s the acoustics that truly bring down the house
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Opinion
Is it worth recording at hi-res?
Barry Fox  |  Apr 16, 2025  |  First Published: Mar 01, 2025
Are only certain musical genres and acoustics ‘worthy’ of recording at high sample rates, or is it more a case of cost and practicality? Barry Fox is in favour of capturing every overtone
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Opinion
Cutting your own vinyl
Steve Harris  |  Apr 01, 2025  |  First Published: Feb 01, 2025
You’ve made homebrew cassette recordings and burned music files to CD, but what about cutting your own vinyl? Steve Harris looks at the options available from low-fi to hi-fi
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Opinion
Death of the orchestra?
Peter Quantrill  |  Apr 01, 2025  |  First Published: Feb 01, 2025
Peter Quantrill finds reasons to be cheerful in the proliferation of young-musician ensembles based on more flexible models of organisation – but can traditional venues follow suit?
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Opinion
Digital to the rescue
Jim Lesurf  |  Apr 01, 2025  |  First Published: Feb 01, 2025
As DAB proliferates, has the era of high-quality FM tuners come to an end? Jim Lesurf believes modern technologies could be used to put the sparkle back into analogue radio
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Opinion
Gallium’s going places
Barry Willis  |  Apr 01, 2025  |  First Published: Feb 01, 2025

Following a flying visit to an audiophile friend’s listening room, Barry Willis believes Gallium Nitride (GaN) power transistors could be just what the amplifier world has been looking for

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Opinion
Mending cables
Barry Fox  |  Apr 01, 2025  |  First Published: Feb 01, 2025

There are often affordable solutions to tech problems, says Barry Fox, whether that’s a cable failure or a stuttering home network. You might even want to write your own ‘Idiot’s Guide’

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Opinion
That Friday feeling
Steve Harris  |  Mar 13, 2025  |  First Published: Jan 01, 2025
Steve Harris has been thrilled by the Radio 3 revival of the BBC’s venerable Friday Night Is Music Night programme – as will anyone with a love of light music, show tunes and pre-’60s pop
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Opinion
Too young for Brahms
Peter Quantrill  |  Mar 13, 2025  |  First Published: Jan 01, 2025
A pair of prestigious piano competition finals has Peter Quantrill wondering if particular pieces and composers are best left on the shelf, waiting for a musician’s life to catch up with their ability
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Opinion
You and AI
Jim Lesurf  |  Mar 13, 2025  |  First Published: Jan 01, 2025
Jim Lesurf admires the technology used to finish off the long-lost John Lennon ballad ‘Now And Then’, but believes Artificial Intelligence brings with it problems as well as solutions
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Opinion
Performance art
Barry Willis  |  Mar 13, 2025  |  First Published: Jan 01, 2025
Can a good hi-fi demo count as art? Barry Willis discovered the crowd-pleasing nature of high-quality music reproduction – and some ‘interesting’ systems – at San Francisco’s MOMA
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Opinion
A guide to home networking
Barry Fox  |  Mar 13, 2025  |  First Published: Jan 01, 2025
For music lovers entering the world of home networking, Barry Fox delves into its many acronyms and foibles, before singing the praises of Amazon’s affordable Fire TV Stick
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