The latest iteration of Auralic’s streamer/DAC boasts a new generation of the Tesla platform at its core, and an updated version of its ‘Lightning’ operating system
Almost as tricky as keeping up to speed with Taylor Swift releases is staying abreast of the range offered by network audio specialists, Auralic. Wrestling with the products’ naming and respective functionality can also be less than straightforward... The Altair G2.2 is the latest version of the company’s streamer/DAC, designed to be used into a conventional preamp, or direct into power amplification or active speakers via its analogue volume control.
This month we review and test releases from: Eline Hensels & Daniël Kramer; Guy Yehuda; Arve Henriksen/Harmen Fraanje; Arve Henriksen/Harmen Fraanje; and Vince Guaraldi
Once again there’s nothing fishy about this innovative Dutch brand’s latest catch – a reference-quality stereo Class D amplifier netted into the Kaluga’s mono chassis
Time, it seems, to forget all the stereotypes of high-output power amplifiers as massive devices that dim the lights when fired up and convert even the chilliest of spaces into a listening-room sauna. Instead, the £7299 Perca stereo power amp from Dutch manufacturer Mola Mola is just 215mm wide and 110mm tall, and weighs a mere 5.25kg, yet claims a stereo output of 150W/8ohm, doubling to 300W/4ohm.
Naim Audio’s latest single-box solution takes the Uniti Nova, with its NP800 streaming platform, and swaps out the Class A/B amplifier for a higher power Class D engine
The term ‘game-changing’ is widely overused, but it’s fully justified in the case of Naim’s original Naim Uniti. Launched in 2009, it was in the vanguard of CD/streaming/amplifier products, a concept now more widely adopted in the past decade and a half. And in the 15 years since the original Naim Uniti appeared, the company has continuously developed the technology inside the series, not to mention spinning it off into component network players and its Mu-so network speaker systems.
Debuted at the UK Hi-Fi Show Live 24, Audio Research’s new flagship monoblocks are not quite its most powerful ever, but are the first to feature the mighty KT170 output tubes
The latest arrival from US high-end brand Audio Research Corp., the Reference 330M monoblock amplifier (£92,000 per pair) may not quite be the most powerful amp the company has ever built, but by any standards a rated output of 330W – into 4ohm or 8ohm speaker loads – is going some for an amplifier using tube technology. Indeed, it will come as something of an eye-opener for those still subscribing to the belief that for the purity of the valve sound – or whatever else you consider to be the sonic traits of the genre – you must settle for low output power, and start looking for speakers of appropriately high sensitivity.
This month we review and test releases from: Serol Yapici & Héctor Sanz Castillo, Norma Winstone & Kit Downes, Andrew Wilcox, Ola Kvernberg, and Sasha Witteveene
Conceived as the ‘command centre’ of a modern high-end system, T+A’s powerful all-in-one system embraces CD and streamed audio, in all its flavours, and radio too...
Looking for a simple, no-frills, ‘straight wire with gain’ amplification solution? If so, it’s a case of ‘move right along, please – nothing to see here’, for T+A’s R 2500 R, available in black or silver at £12,905, is a prime example of large-scale integration in the quest for one of those ‘just add speakers’ systems. Yes, you could connect other source components to it, thanks to a choice of analogue and digital inputs – but really, why would you want to?
Compact yet highly capable, the DAC204 may look like a simple USB device, but within is a host of its Swiss manufacturer’s focused engineering and precision construction
Today’s digital audio world, having largely switched from the playback of physical media to files stored on computer drives or streamed from the Internet, seems populated by products of ever-greater complexity. They may still be DACs, but they have built-in network streaming interfaces and often volume and preamp functions so they can drive power amps, or active speakers, directly. Sometimes they do all that and more, thanks to Bluetooth, Chromecast and even integrated voice control.
This month we review and test releases from: Jordina MillÀ & Barry Guy; OTOOTO; Tomasz Stanko, Tomasz Szukalski, Dave Holland, Edward Vesala; Maven Grace and Beans On Toast