LATEST ADDITIONS

Disc Players Integrated Amplifiers Network Audio Players/Servers

AVM Ovation CS 8.3 Black Ed. All-In-One Solution

Review: Jamie Biesemans, | Jan 24, 2023

AVM's flagship all-in-one network/CD music system combines cool-running power with huge flexibility while the top 'Black Edition' features a custom finish and selected tubes

Nowadays there's a wealth of all-in-one units available but AVM was one of the brands to spot the trend early on. That partly explains why, even in an industry that loves extensive model ranges, the company has an impressively large product offering – including five streaming receiver solutions. And there's little concession to price in this range, so the top-of-the-line £14,950 Ovation CS 8.3 model boasts ample power reserves, a full range of streaming capabilities and a slot-loading CD player.

Turntables, Arms & Cartridges

DS Audio DS-W3 Cartridge

Review: Ken Kessler, | Jan 23, 2023

Updating the DS-W2 with a host of trickle-down technology from the brand's flagship 'dual mono' Grand Master, the new DS-W3 'optical' pick-up looks to steal the limelight

An object lesson in how to create a monopoly: make something no-one else can copy. As tricky to manufacture as CD players, electric cars, digital cameras and quartz watches might have been at the outset, competitors soon emerged for each. Not so DS Audio's 'optical' cartridges, which have captivated the high-end since arriving in 2015. Imitators have yet to emerge.

Vinyl Release

Pink Floyd: Animals

Steve Sutherland | Jan 20, 2023

For the group's tenth album, Roger Waters put his own spin on George Orwell's famous parable. The result was 'nobody's favourite Pink Floyd LP', says Steve Sutherland

Kate Bush had her Bronte. And her Joyce. The Doors had their Blake via Huxley. Dire Straits had their Shakespeare. Led Zeppelin had their Tolkien. The Police had their Nabokov. It seems like since time immemorial rock and pops stars have plundered literature for lyrical inspiration. Even Ozzy had his Crowley. And Pink Floyd were no exception.

Turntables, Arms & Cartridges

VPI Avenger Direct Turntable Package

Review: Adam Smith, | Jan 19, 2023

Having rolled out its first direct-drive deck in the HW-40 Anniversary, VPI has grafted its proven motor design into the flexible Avenger platform, complete with arm and MC

We may have a first here as VPI offers its Avenger turntables in belt-drive, rim-drive and direct-drive guises, the latter £36,500 Avenger Direct bringing the range to a total of four models. The genesis of the Avenger Direct was bittersweet, however, because it was inspired by, and has subsequently 'leap-frogged' over, the long-awaited VPI Vanquish flagship. In the meantime, the launch of the £100,000+ Vanquish remains on hold...

Classical Companion

Johann Strauss II: Die Fledermaus

Peter Quantrill | Jan 17, 2023

'The Bat' has charmed audiences for almost 150 years, but does the fizz stay fresh or fall flat on record? Peter Quantrill raises a glass to the ultimate New Year's operetta

Johann Strauss's third operetta was an instant hit when it opened at the Theater an der Wien in April 1874. Austria had suffered a stock-market crash the previous year and audiences were in the mood to rinse away their troubles with buckets of sekt and a slice of escapist nostalgia. Strauss set to work and sketched the whole operetta in six weeks, boiling down a typical, if confused-looking, medley of German farce, French vaudeville (the original story by Meilhac and Halévy) and Viennese adaptation.

Cables

Atlas Arran Transpose Loudspeaker Cable

Review and Lab: Paul Miller | Jan 16, 2023

Newly launched to fill the void between its Mavros and flagship silver Asimi ranges, these Arran cables might just be the sweetspot in the Atlas portfolio.

While audiophiles might ordinarily associate the 'home of the brave' with Linn Products, Scotland is also home to the hand-made Atlas Cables. Its new Arran interconnects and speaker cables are a clear evolution, taking inspiration from its solid silver Asimi range [HFN Dec '18], utilising the same geometry but with OCC (Ohno Continuous Casting) copper.

Inside the Studio

Olympic Studios

Steve Sutherland | Jan 13, 2023

From Dusty to Deep Purple, The Beatles and The Stones, in the '60s and '70s this studio quickly became home to pop and rock's leading lights. Steve Sutherland has the story

So, here's how you do it. Take two synchronised tape copies of a finished recording and play them simultaneously into a third master recorder, all the while manually retarding the rotation of one of the two tape reels by pressing on the flanges, manipulating the phase difference between the two sources. Easy-peasy. Now you can flange.

Pre/Power Amplifiers

PS Audio BHK M600 Power Amplifier

Review: Mark Craven, | Jan 12, 2023

PS Audio grows its hybrid tube/MOSFET amplifier range with a new flagship that's the crowning achievement of the late and hugely respected designer Bascom H King

Until this year, the flagship power amplifier in PS Audio's stable was the BHK Signature 300 [HFN Jul '16]. Still on sale, it bears the initials of Bascom H King, the veteran designer (Infinity, Constellation Audio and more) who was given license by the Colorado-based company to engineer a high-output monoblock amp around his favoured tube/solid-state hybrid topology. Six years on from launch, the '300 model has been relegated to second-tier status, replaced by the PerfectWave BHK M600.

Integrated Amplifiers Vintage

Goodmans One Ten Receiver

Review: Tim Jarman, | Jan 10, 2023

Handsome, affordable and boasting a top-notch tuner to boot, should this early '70s receiver top your list when it comes to securing a pre-cherished radio star? We find out

Almost all audio enthusiasts will know Goodmans for its range of loudspeakers. However, the company's other hi-fi products are less well remembered, despite the fact that more than one or two achieved considerable popularity among buyers.

Turntables, Arms & Cartridges

Ortofon MC Diamond Cartridge

Review: Adam Smith, | Jan 09, 2023

As the 'Anna' is dropped from Ortofon's MC Diamond, its new flagship retains the sintered titanium body and diamond cantilever but adopts a Verismo-like suspension...

It's long been said that 'diamonds are a girl's best friend' but, according to Ortofon, they also have the potential to be the number one chum of any vinyl fan. While diamonds have been used for styli for decades, few manufacturers have the skill or, indeed, the budget to implement them elsewhere. Enter the Ortofon MC Diamond – the company's new £7349 flagship low-output moving-coil that features not only a diamond stylus, but also a diamond cantilever.

Search form

LATEST ADDITIONS

Pages