LATEST ADDITIONS

Christopher Breunig | Sep 10, 2019

Composed when he was 34, this tone poem for large orchestra quotes from his earlier works and Beethoven's Eroica Symphony. Christopher Breunig looks at the recordings

Go back 60 years and look at the LP catalogue and you'll only find a single version of Richard Strauss's 1898 tone poem Op.40, Ein Heldenleben ['A Hero's Life'], with the Vienna Philharmonic, no less, under Clemens Krauss. He was a conductor largely associated with that composer [Decca 478 6493 has all his orchestral recordings and includes the opera Salome] as well as the 'other' Strausses.

Integrated Amplifiers

Krell K-300i Integrated Amp/DAC

Review: Andrew Everard, | Sep 09, 2019

We're a long way from the old idea of hairshirt hi-fi here: the latest heavyweight integrated amp from Krell's Connecticut factory comes fully-loaded – and then some!

You need to do some serious rethinking on first encountering the Krell K-300i. If you're expecting a simple device all about massive power and minimalism, you're going to be disappointed, but for those looking for an amp able to handle all the needs of the modern music listener, this one could just be bang on the money.

Investigation

Vintage hi-fi: what's hot?

Tim Jarman | Sep 05, 2019

Tim Jarman tracks the trends in the current vintage hi-fi market...

Vintage hi-fi, like many collecting and preservation hobbies, is subject to the '30-year rule'. This states that today's top collectables are those products that were new about 30 years ago. The reasoning is that when you are young you covet certain items as objects of desire, yet lack the means to buy them. As life progresses, you (hopefully) become wealthier and look again at what it was that caught your imagination when young.

Turntables, Arms & Cartridges

MoFi UltraDeck+M Turntable Package

Review: Ken Kessler, | Sep 04, 2019

Mobile Fidelity, champion of audiophile vinyl, has succumbed to the lure of producing its own turntables, like record labels of the past: enter the MoFi UltraDeck

Back in the early days of audio, numerous record labels had electronics divisions, or vice versa. You would see the logos of EMI, Philips, RCA, Decca, JVC and others on both LPs sleeves and hardware. The logic was that they originated the material and could also control the entire chain, from artist to listener. So, who better to introduce its own turntables than Mobile Fidelity, for decades the most prolific source of audiophile LPs? Now you can spin its platters on, well, its platters.

Headphones

HiFiMan Sundara Headphones

Review and Lab: Keith Howard, | Sep 03, 2019

The Chinese company claims a decade of planar driver technology development with these robust mid-priced open-backed 'phones – are they a cause for celebration?

With HiFiMan's UK distribution now switching to Signature Systems, we are at last able to get our hands on this idiosyncratic range of headphones from China. What makes them idiosyncratic is not merely their use of planar magnetic (aka isodynamic) drive units – something which is becoming increasingly mainstream – but that these drivers are reminiscent of isodynamic units of the past in respect of their low sensitivity.

From the Vault

CD: The story so far

Martin Colloms | Aug 30, 2019 | First Published: Mar 01, 1984

A year after the launch of CD, Martin Colloms looks at the progress made by player manufacturers before reviewing the new generation of machines

This issue marks the first anniversary of CD's UK launch, the Philips CD100 appearing on these shores in March 1983. There has been some comment in the press concerning a 'second generation' of CD players and this appears to be the case for some manufacturers.

Loudspeakers

Focal Kanta No1 Loudspeaker

Review: Nick Tate, | Aug 29, 2019

Celebrating its 40th anniversary, Focal continues to diversify and expand – its Kanta range now three-strong

Sitting smack-bang in the middle of the company's vast loudspeaker range, the Focal Kanta series is described as 'a new vision for a premium speaker', no less. Personally I'm not entirely convinced that this is so revolutionary, but the £4499 Kanta No1 still makes a fine case for itself. It's attractive, very well finished and sports some novel technologies.

Audiophile Vinyl

Audiophile: Vinyl, June 2019

Ken Kessler | Aug 28, 2019