Available now for £4195 in natural or black anodised aluminium, Lumin's P1 Mini adapts much of the core technology of the Hong Kong brand's P1 streamer/DAC/preamp into a new, compact chassis. Dual ES9028PRO DAC chips and a proprietary FPGA clock system are employed in a conversion stage supporting files to 384kHz/32-bit PCM and DSD512, via network or USB-B connections - further inputs are optical, coaxial and HDMI.
Matrix Audio's three-strong M series finds the digital music brand expanding into new markets with the £9000 MS-1 streamer joined by the £7000 MP-1 pre and £16,000 stereo/bridged mono MA-1 power amp. Claiming to 'simplify human-machine interaction'....
Re-Imagined Watt/Puppy Speaker Returns For Brand'S Half Century
To mark its 50th anniversary, Wilson Audio has resurrected its iconic WATT/Puppy for a ninth iteration - and the first since the dual-enclosure loudspeaker was discontinued in 2011. Called, simply, The WATT/Puppy, it sells for £41,998 in standard WilsonGloss colourways, with custom and premium finish options, plus choice of grille colour, available.
Naim Audio at last offers a CD player, but how does the CDS compare with its rival from Linn, wonder Christopher Breunig and Steve Harris
Apr 1992
My patience was put to the test with the Naim CDS. As I unpacked the two units and coupled them together I experienced a flush of old 'brand loyalty'. Since the days of the original 12S preamp and NAP160 power amp, my meetings with company founder Julian Vereker had been cordial and I had spent several pleasurable years with my NAP250. My frustration came with the waiting time for the player to warm up before listening began.
A very early use of laser interferometry saw B&O sculpt an injection-moulded speaker cabinet that controlled resonances and could be placed on the wall or floor...
Imagine the difficulty of designing a high-quality loudspeaker with a radically new appearance. While buyers were happy to accept amplifiers, tuners and cassette decks with fascias that looked like the dashboard of a Concorde, speakers were furniture and so had to blend in - square box, plain grille and nothing more. If anyone could solve this problem it would be Bang & Olufsen, masters of creating designs that are at the same time futuristic-looking, appealing and enduring.
It's renowned for its drum sound, custom Neve console and the room in which Rumours and Nevermind were recorded... Steve Sutherland on an old Vox amp factory in the US
The jury was hung on the question of his talent. Neil Young said, 'This guy is unbelievable - he makes up the songs as he goes along, and they're all good'. So good, Young tried to get Warner Brothers to sign him. To no avail. Beach Boy Brian Wilson wasn't so sure and said something like, 'He hasn't got a musical bone in his body'. And Terry Melcher, Doris Day's son and hotshot producer of The Byrds, told him, 'I really do appreciate your talent but there's nothing I can do for you'.
The guitarist's first album for Warner Bros saw him put together a twin-keyboard band and dig even deeper into his fusion-jazz style. The result? A set that topped the Billboard charts and brought him a Grammy award for its only vocal performance...
Overall, I think the jazz police never forgave me for taking George Benson from the jazz area to where he became a pop artist', record producer Tommy LiPuma told jerryjazzmusician.com in 2022. 'I was always a pop music freak, but I was also a big jazz fan.'
A jealous husband, a young nun, a cunning father... late-style lightness of touch is the key when it comes to this still-underrated masterpiece of verismo, says Peter Quantrill
By rights, every major opera company should be mounting Il trittico in this Puccini anniversary year, marking the centenary of his death. Yet they will likely revive the reliable house-fillers of Butterfly, Tosca and Turandot, and the reasons are not hard to find. Trittico lacks a true diva role. It demands instead a tightly knit company cast of diverse talents, and a conductor and director who both believe in the unity of the whole as its composer did.
Blow away the fog of acronyms and iFi Audio's 'mk2' NEO iDSD DAC/headphone amp boasts the latest 'hi-res' BT 5.4, aptX Lossless, an analogue input and a lot more power
Did Ifi Audio actually need to upgrade its Neo Idsd Dac/Headphone Amp? Well, change is seemingly inevitable in the fast-moving range of this Merseyside-based company, given the pace with which products - new and revised - seem to flow from its own factory in China. Indeed, there's an element of 'blink and you'll miss it' about iFi Audio's releases, which now encompass a wide range of hi-fi devices from pocket headphone amplifiers to products aimed at the pro audio market.
Naim Audio at last offers a CD player, but how does the CDS compare with its rival from Linn, wonder Christopher Breunig and Steve Harris
A very early use of laser interferometry saw B&O sculpt an injection-moulded speaker cabinet that controlled resonances and could be placed on the wall or floor...
Blow away the fog of acronyms and iFi Audio's 'mk2' NEO iDSD DAC/headphone amp boasts the latest 'hi-res' BT 5.4, aptX Lossless, an analogue input and a lot more power
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