Taking its cues from the industrial design and Darlington topology of the L-509X, the latest L-509Z variant demonstrates how subtle revisions can exert a big sonic impact
At first glance, since they look like twins, you might wonder what Luxman has done to the L-509X integrated amplifier [HFN Jan ’18]
to justify the Z suffix. The pesky price increase from £8500 to £10,999 reflects six years of inflation and recent world turbulence, but don’t be fooled by nearly identical looks. The devil is in the details.
For a company that's embraced the digital, online world (founder Paul McGowan is well known for his regular YouTube videos), it’s a little odd that PS Audio hasn’t completely thrown itself into networked audio playback. Its AirLens streamer, newly launched at £1995, is its only networked product – unless you count the Bluetooth-equipped Sprout integrated amplifier, or its earlier Stellar Strata integrated [HFN Mar '21], now superseded by the (non-networked) Stellar Strata MK2.
We've had guys calling literally from gaol. They’re getting out the next day and they’re booking their time because, let’s face it, they’ve had plenty of time to write their lyrics…’ We’re listening in to Kevin Churko who, apart from chewing the fat about The Hideout recording studio in Las Vegas, which he just happens to own, also has a bit of a personal history behind him.
Any ambitious artist needs to challenge themselves sometimes, and there’s nothing like a concept album to set the bar high. Why release a collection of a dozen or so unrelated ditties when you could link them all together into a grand statement, an epic tale or a shaggy dog story in song?
Chinese portable/desktop audio brand Fiio, winner of an EISA Award for its M11 Pro digital audio player, has launched a new top-of-the-range model incorporating AKM’s AK4191EQ dual-chip DAC for playback of 384kHz PCM, DSD256, and MQA files...
Priced £3000, the new ATH-AWKG headphone from Audio-Technica features over-ear housings made from Japanese Kurogaki wood, giving each model a unique finish. The material, here lacquer-coated, is also said to help define the performance of A-T’s latest flagship, which features ‘exclusive’ 53mm drivers back by permendur-based magnets and OFC voice-coils.
Wharfedale has expanded its Heritage loudspeaker series with another model that revisits the Denton design of the 1960s/’70s. Yet unlike the previous two-way Denton 80 and Denton 85, released in 2012 and 2017, respectively, the £999 Super Denton – sold in walnut, mahogany or black real wood veneer finish – references the three-way Denton 3 from 1971.
Arriving to crown the 5000 series launched by Q Acoustics in 2023, the 5050 floorstander (£1299) mirrors the triple-driver configuration of the 5040 model (£999), but partners its 25mm ‘mechanically isolated’ soft dome tweeter with 150mm Continuous Curved Cone (C3) bass/mid units – up from 125mm. Correspondingly, Q Acoustics has doubled the number of Helmholtz ‘pressure tubes’ inside ...
A decade since the S3 was launched, and then surpassed by the MkII, this three-way has been reborn with trickledown tech from Magico’s flagship M9 loudspeaker
The latest version of Magico’s S3 speaker, which was first reviewed in these pages a decade ago [HFN Nov ’14], isn’t what you’d call a mild refresh. Just as the company’s MkII version was a major reworking of the original, so this new arrival has been comprehensively redesigned, drawing both on the technology of the flagship M9 model and the measurement abilities of Magico’s enhanced development tools. It’s yours for a couple of pounds short of £57,000 a pair in the five powder-coat M-Cast finishes Magico offers, or £66,000 in a choice of six high-gloss M-Coat shades, including the striking blue colourway pictured here.
Exposure says it has added the ‘final piece’ to its mid-level 3510 series, with the launch of the £2500 3510 CD Player. Able to function as both player or transport, with digital outputs on Toslink optical and coaxial, the unit leverages the bespoke top-loading drive mech with sliding lid [pictured below] previously featured on Exposure’s XM CD [HFN Nov ’19]. Inside, a double-sided PCB hosts a bespoke clock, dual mono Burr-Brown PCM1704 DACs and a discrete analogue output stage feeding single-ended RCA connections.
Taking its cues from the industrial design and Darlington topology of the L-509X, the latest L-509Z variant demonstrates how subtle revisions can exert a big sonic impact
For a company that's embraced the digital, online world (founder Paul McGowan is well known for his regular YouTube videos), it’s a little odd that PS Audio hasn’t completely thrown itself into networked audio playback. Its AirLens streamer, newly launched at £1995, is its only networked product – unless you count the Bluetooth-equipped Sprout integrated amplifier, or its earlier Stellar Strata integrated [HFN Mar '21], now superseded by the (non-networked) Stellar Strata MK2.
© 2024 Hi-Fi News
