LATEST ADDITIONS

Loudspeakers
Castle Windsor Duke Loudspeaker
Review: Adam Smith,  |  Nov 06, 2023
hfnoutstandingNo citadel in the sky, these latest Castle speakers are firmly grounded in great sound courtesy of the FinkTeam

What do you get if you take a venerable British loudspeaker marque, mix with the (from 2007) owners' fabrication facility in China, stir in a highly respected German loudspeaker designer and top the whole creation with British assembly? In this case, it's the Castle Windsor Duke loudspeaker, an elegant £4500 standmount design that's the fruit of a truly worldwide network.

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Vinyl Icons
John Martyn: One World
Johnny Sharp  |  Nov 03, 2023
A spot of R&R in Jamaica, followed by a lakeside recording set-up back in Blighty, was all it took for a disillusioned John Martyn to recapture his music mojo. The resulting album, released in 1977, mixed folk, electronica and the sound of geese...

For much of the '70s it was customary for bands or recording artists to retire to a rural bolthole for a spell, hoping the country air would help them get their head together. Disillusioned and burnt out from recording and touring, in 1976 John Martyn tried this himself. But in his case the destination was another country, halfway across the world.

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Network Audio Players/Servers
HiFi Rose RS130 Music Library/Streamer
Review: Andrew Everard,  |  Nov 02, 2023
hfnoutstandingKorea's HiFi Rose has moved upmarket with its first DAC-less, transport-only network player – the result is an impressive combination of purity and innovative technology

As if on a one-company mission to prove all the variations possible when it comes to network audio, Korean brand HiFi Rose has gone in very short order from being an upstart newcomer to its current role as a pillar of the digital establishment. And it's done so not by the simple expedient of taking one platform and pitching it at a range of price-points, but rather by expanding its offering to fill every niche from the all-in-one 'just add speakers' system [HFN Mar '22] to the highly-focused high-end network component explored on these pages.

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Audiophile Vinyl
Audiophile: Vinyl, October 2023
Ken Kessler  |  Oct 31, 2023
This month we review: John Lee Hooker, The Doobie Brothers, The Id and The Undertones.
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Audiophile Digital
Audiophile: Digital, October 2023
Ken Kessler  |  Oct 31, 2023
This month, we review: The Alan Parsons Project, Eva Cassidy With The LSO, The Kinks and Paul Simon.
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Rock
Rock, October 2023
Mike Barnes  |  Oct 30, 2023
This month we review: Big Big Train, Soft Machine, Fassine and Rain Parade.
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Jazz
Jazz, October 2023
Steve Harris  |  Oct 30, 2023
This month we review: Zoe Rahman, Linley Hamilton, David Hazeltine Trio and Dan Wilson.
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Classical
Classical, October 2023
Peter Quantrill  |  Oct 30, 2023
This month we review: Fuge, Williams, Singapore SO/Venzago, Freiburg Baroque/Von Der Goltz, Lied Haga, Apekisheva and Weser-Renaissance Bremen/Manfred Cordes.
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Hi-Res Downloads
Hi-Res Downloads, October 2023
Andrew Everard  |  Oct 27, 2023
This month we review and test releases from: Sebastian Rochford/Kit Downes, iril Heide-Steen, Cappella Romana, Alex. Lingas, Josh Nelson and Mull Historical Society.
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Network Audio Players/Servers
Volumio Rivo Network Audio Streamer
Review: Jamie Biesemans,  |  Oct 26, 2023
hfncommendedItalian brand Volumio is responsible not just for a series of network-attached digital players, but also an open-source OS and bespoke app. The Rivo (stream) is its 'bridge'

Launched in 2022, the Rivo is the middle model in a trio of new streaming devices from Florence-based Volumio, and this digital-only streamer, together with the second-generation Primo streaming DAC and the Integro networked amplifier, concludes an unlikely journey for the Italian start-up.

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