LATEST ADDITIONS

Classical

Classical, May 2023

Peter Quantrill | May 30, 2023

This month we review: Sir András Schiff, Stile Antico, Chiaroscuro Quartet and Munich Phil./Zubin Mehta.

Hi-Res Downloads

Hi-Res Downloads, May 2023

Andrew Everard, | May 26, 2023

This month we review and test releases from: Takács Quartet, Ralph Towner, Cupertinos/LuÍs Toscano, Eva Bjerga Haugen and Dave Douglas Quintet.

Loudspeakers

MoFi SourcePoint 10 Loudspeaker

Review: Mark Craven, | May 25, 2023

Hi-fi's 'go-to' speaker innovator, Andrew Jones, is behind MoFi's first loudspeaker – a robust standmount featuring a dual-concentric driver with nothing less than a 10in cone

Launched in the 1970s as an audiophile-grade record label, Chicago's Mobile Fidelity has acquired a celebrated reputation among vinylistas, particularly for its One-Step pressings [HFN May '17]. Its move into the world of vinyl replay in 2016, under a new MoFi Electronics division, was arguably a long time coming. The range now extends to cartridges [HFN Jan '22], phono preamps [HFN Mar '20], and three turntables – the StudioDeck [HFN Jan '20], UltraDeck [HFN Jul '19] and the luxurious, Fender-branded PrecisionDeck. And the next obvious step? Loudspeakers.

From the Vault Pre/Power Amplifiers

DNM PA3 S Power Amp

Martin Colloms | May 23, 2023 | First Published: Jun 01, 1998

Does enormous power always make musical sense? Martin Colloms hears a new stereo power amp from a designer who begs to differ

DNM's long-awaited update to the PA3 power amplifier has finally arrived. Fully regulated, the PA3 S reflects the uncompromising approach of its designer Denis Morecroft. Offering just 23W per channel but costing £3750, this stereo power amp has undergone a long gestation, the reasons for which Morecroft outlines in our interview boxout.

Pre/Power Amplifiers

Manley Jumbo Shrimp/Mahi Preamp & Monoblocks

Review: Ken Kessler, | May 22, 2023

'Tubes Rule' is the Manley Labs mantra as we catch up with an aquatically-inspired pre/ monoblock combo that have been at the core of its range for the best part of 20 years

Timely or what? When editor PM pointed out that the Manley Jumbo Shrimp Line Preamplifier (£5849) and Mahi Monoblock Amplifier (a stereo pair at £7599 making up Mahi-Mahi – geddit?) had been in the catalogue for ages, I learned from company president EveAnna Manley that it was exactly 20 years to the day of their debut that I was auditioning the latter.

Turntables, Arms & Cartridges Vintage

B&O Beogram 4002 Turntable

Review: Tim Jarman, | May 19, 2023

This turntable from 1975 saw the company cut its costs by replacing digital logic with a system that included a lamp, a photocell and paint. Did sound quality suffer?

It certainly says something about the enduring appeal of a turntable when the company that made it buys up examples that are over 40 years old and sells them on to a new generation of buyers. It sounds remarkable, but this is precisely what Bang & Olufsen did recently with its 'Recreated Limited Edition' Beogram 4000c. Although offered as a revival of the Beogram 4000 [HFN Jul '14], it was actually the later Beogram 4002 that formed the basis of the project.

Network Audio Players/Servers Outboard DACs

dCS Bartók APEX Network-Attached DAC

Review: Andrew Everard, | May 18, 2023

Debuted in the flagship Vivaldi, and now trickled down to the Bartók, dCS's APEX upgrade brings enhancements to the PSU, Ring DAC clocking and analogue output

Maybe it's a sign of the times, or the state of the specialist high-end audio market, but this latest version of dCS's Bartók streaming DAC, often referred to as the company's 'entry-level' model, is now almost twice the price of the original [HFN May '19]. Then, the Bartók was £9999, or £11,999 when fitted with the optional headphone amplifier; now the Bartók APEX, taking on board the company's latest package of enhancements, first seen in the Vivaldi APEX [HFN Jun '22], is £19,000, rising to £21,500 if you choose to take the headphone option.

Vinyl Release

CSN&Y: Déjà Vu

Steve Sutherland | May 16, 2023

Adding Neil Young to CSN brought supergroup status and a multi-selling album, but the band were not happy, says Steve Sutherland, as he hears the 180g reissue

This is Graham Nash talking about David Crosby just over a year ago: 'Who are you? Are you a decent person? Or are you an a**hole? It would be very easy for me to get into why I don't want to do any more Crosby, Stills and Nash or Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young work. There are too many reasons. It's too complicated. It's too painful. I'm just telling you, it's over. It's an incredible shame because when we're good, we make very good music that touches people's hearts and changes their minds. But he tore the heart out of CSN and CSN&Y because he's not a really great person'.

Loudspeakers

PS Audio aspen FR20 Loudspeaker

Review: Andrew Everard, | May 15, 2023

Less than a year after PS Audio launched its inaugural loudspeaker, this flagship floorstander has already inspired a trickledown sibling. Will the FR20 unseat the FR30?

The advice given by Apple's Steve Jobs to 'Start small, think big' is pretty sensible, going hand in hand with that old saw about not trying to run before you can walk. That recommendation seems to have eluded Colorado-based company PS Audio, which launched its speaker line last year with the big aspen FR30 [HFN Jun '22], arriving in the UK with a price tag now running at £30,000, and clearly aiming high straight out of the box.

Inside the Studio

Hyde Street Studios

Steve Sutherland | May 12, 2023

This facility in San Francisco has been home to bands as diverse as The Grateful Dead, Green Day and Santana. But first Steve Sutherland salutes the man behind the brand

During my late teens in the mid 1970s, whenever I browsed through the stock in a record shop, if I came upon an album produced at Wally Heider Studios, no matter who it was by, I was more than likely to buy it. Such was the quality guaranteed by the Wally Heider brand that the studio became a kind of shrine to me, a far-off holy grail that shone in my imagination as did that holiest of live venues, the Fillmore West.

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