From Japan's Soulnote comes one of the most flexible phono preamps ever developed – RIAA, plus no fewer than 144 legacy playback curves, and support for 'optical' pick-ups!
In the quest for a universal phono stage, designers have to accommodate all manner of cartridges, but for most of us they fall into just two categories: moving-coil (MC) and moving-magnet (MM). Even within those types, however, there are plenty of variants such as moving-iron, moving-flux, whatever you call Deccas, both high- and low-output MCs and even low-output MMs. The list is endless, but Soulnote's E-2 phono amplifier handles all of the above configurations plus DS Audio optical cartridges via a built-in energiser and equaliser.
It wouldn't be a PMC loudspeaker without transmission line bass loading, and the diminutive prodigy1 is no exception
One of my secret loves has long been transmission line speakers. I miss IMF (named after the designer, Irving M. Fried), the doyen of the genre, although the technology has been used by other brands – most notably PMC. You can therefore imagine my delight when the prodigy1 arrived at a mere £1250. I'd been hearing about it for months, as the prodigy1 (with lowercase 'p') was a talked-about launch at the 2023 Munich High-End Show.
Some ten years after its introduction, the minimalist Vega USB DAC has grown into a fully-fledged streaming solution incorporating a host of proprietary technologies
The Auralic Vega G2.2, selling for £6899 in best basic black, comes in at just £100 more than the previous G2.1 [HFN Oct '22], and appears to offer evolutionary changes rather than anything truly radical. One thing's for sure, however – the brand has come a long way since it launched its original Vega model, which was basically a USB-input DAC, getting on for a decade ago [HFN Jan '14].
With solid-state and tube/transistor hybrid models in its range, Copland returns to its roots with an all-analogue, all-valve integrated that supports aftermarket tube upgrades
By Copland's own reckoning, its noughties-era CTA405 integrated amplifier [HFN Aug '07] was an 'object of desire for audiophiles worldwide'. Now, some 16 years later, it has taken the idea of that model and considerably overhauled it – the £6500 CTA407 is both recognisably a descendant of the '405 and also markedly different.
The aim was to cut costs, yet only by revisiting the tech that kickstarted the company's first entry into the CD market was no performance lost. We fire up this late '80s player
In recent Vintage Reviews we have looked at some of the more affordable CD players that arrived during 1986 and 1987. Taking advantage of new technology in order to popularise the format among the wider public, machines such as the Toshiba XR-J9 [HFN Jun '23] and Sony CDP-7F showed that the rigorous rationalisation of every aspect of a CD player's design could yield an attractively priced package that still gave consumers all the perceived benefits of digital audio.
Famed for its Vox Olympian model, Living Voice's new R80 is built to bring more than a taste of the flagship
Drop in on Derbyshire-based speaker company Living Voice at any hi-fi show, and it's hard not to be mesmerised by its Vox Olympian flagships. With styling somewhere between the brass section of an orchestra of several centuries ago, and a steam-powered Victorian imagination of a Dalek from Doctor Who, these £200,000+ models – £435,000 with the optional Vox Elysian subwoofers – are a riot of horns, tubes and 'trumpets'. Even in a high-end arena not known for its understated looks, they stand out. Moreover, once experienced, they are never forgotten.
This German institution offers a vast catalogue, including the Reference-inspired Vento range, topped by the 100
Canton is not only Germany's largest loudspeaker manufacturer, it might also be one of the most prolific speaker builders in the world. Yet within an extensive range that includes everything from on-wall and in-ceiling speakers to soundbars and subwoofers, its Vento series has long been a main 'pillar' of the brand, in production for nearly two decades. And now, as part of a recent refresh of the Canton catalogue overseen by technical director Frank Göbl, it's been comprehensively upgraded.
Built into an enhanced H590 chassis but featuring 'sound tuning' from the P30A/H30A pre/power, Hegel's fully-networked flagship integrated gets off to a flying start
After an extended period of Covid and component shortage-related calm, Oslo-based Hegel has seemingly shifted into overdrive, launching multiple new products in just half a year. First up in 2023 was a major update to its flagship pre/power system in the form of the P30A and H30A [HFN Jun '23], followed by the Viking CD player [HFN Sep '23]. The third act is the launch of the H600, which takes over from Hegel's popular, top-tier H590 integrated streaming amp, and sells for £10,500 in a very dark grey, almost matt black finish.
Surprisingly advanced yet appealingly affordable, this semi-automatic flagship deck from 1985 sought to unseat Rega's market-leader. How does it sound today?
Vinyl fans in the early '80s were well catered for when it came to affordable turntables. If your budget was tight, the capable NAD 5120 made a fine starting point. But if you could stretch your funds a little further then there was only one choice: the Dual CS 505 [HFN Feb '13]. First introduced in 1981, it proved to be a robust and reliable performer at its bargain price of £75.
The baby of MartinLogan's Motion range features a compact version of the brand's second-generation 'Folded Motion Tweeter' – this little box is full of big surprises!
How time flies: it's just over a decade since MartinLogan applied its expertise with hybrids to box-type systems instead of the usual electrostatic-panel-plus-cone-woofer which defined most of its models. Even though MartinLogan started out with a full-range ESL – the legendary CLS [HFN Feb '87] – its engineers swiftly excelled in the black arts of combining two speaker technologies, so the Motion range created a whole new field for them to plough. In this case, it's a cone woofer and a 'Generation 2 Folded Motion Tweeter', found here in the £1395-per-pair Motion B10 standmount model.