Review: Andrew Everard

Review: Andrew Everard, | Aug 15, 2019 | 0 comments

The celebrated brand has given its miniature integrated amp a comprehensive update to mark its fifth anniversary. So is it still a winner in an increasingly crowded market?

We live in uncertain – and expensive – times: the average price of a flat in Greater London is currently north of half a million, which is why there's a major property building boom underway, with almost any space or building being turned over to housing. And with prices so high, it's also no surprise that space is at a premium. Even with London salaries typically higher than those outside the capital, the average income, run through the usual multipliers, doesn't get you a mortgage able to buy anything palatial.

Integrated Amplifiers Network Audio Players/Servers

NAD M10 Streaming Amplifier

Review: Andrew Everard, | Aug 05, 2019 | 0 comments

As a major partner in the BluOS project, it makes sense for NAD to have its own all-in-one network player, and it's aiming very high with this fully-loaded, fine-sounding system

No-one could ever accuse NAD of lacking ambition. Alongside its acclaimed core range, on which the company has built its reputation over the past four decades, it also has its Masters series of high-end components, several of which have been reviewed favourably in these pages in the past, including the EISA Award-winning M32 integrated amp – sorry, 'DirectDigital DAC/Amplifier' – [HFN Jul '18].

Pre/Power Amplifiers

Audia Flight Strumento No1 mk2/No4 mk2 Pre & power amplifier

Review: Andrew Everard, | Jul 23, 2019 | 0 comments

Very much hi-fi on the grand scale, this Italian-made pre/power amplifier combination is a sweet-sounding heavyweight with more than sufficient output to match its size

For a while, the amplifier combo you see here was almost literally the elephant in the editor's listening room. Delivered for review just at the end of 2018, its sheer mass – 28kg for the £12,500 Strumento No1 mk2 preamp alone, plus a further 95kg for the No4 mk2 power amp, which sells for £16,250 – defied almost all efforts to move it into PM's lab for test work before I could listen. It finally inspired our esteemed editor to relent and buy himself a trolley – and so, at last, the review literally began to roll...

Network Audio Players/Servers

Novafidelity X45Pro Digital Media Player

Review: Andrew Everard, | Jul 19, 2019 | 0 comments

This do-it-all unit, designed as the hub of a digital music system, combines ripper/server, streamer, player, DAC and more. Is this a total solution, or is it trying too hard?

Here's a simple suggestion for anyone thinking of moving from 'physical media' to computer-stored music, or at least adding a collection of files to their system: buy the most complex piece of equipment you can find. Yes, that may seem like some kind of lunacy for the beginner in ripping, serving and streaming, but then the £5099 Novafidelity X45Pro, the flagship of its manufacturer's range, will do everything you could ever think of in the world of digital audio – and then some.

Loudspeakers

ATC SCM100SE Loudspeaker

Review: Andrew Everard, | Jun 28, 2019 | 0 comments

The Special Edition version of these big active ATCs is not exactly a great beauty, but its sound is highly revealing

Well they're not exactly what you'd call pretty… The imposing ATC floorstanders you see here may be a 'Special Edition' model, selling for just over £36,000 in this active version, but in the piano black and nickel/gold inlay finish of the review pair they have a look best described as 'purposeful'.

Integrated Amplifiers

Emotiva BasX TA-100 Amplifier/DAC

Review: Andrew Everard, | Jun 21, 2019 | 0 comments

Budget hi-fi, from the USA: Emotiva's BasX TA-100 isn't quite what at first it seems – however, given what it does, it's hard not to conclude that it's something of a bargain

Well, this is rather confusing: look up the Emotiva BasX TA-100, which sells in the UK through Karma Audio Visual for £519, on its US-based manufacturer's website, and you'll find it appears under 'Preamps'. In fact Emotiva has a stack of preamps, and even more power amps, in its unusually extensive catalogue.

Network Audio Players/Servers Outboard DACs

Bel Canto e.One Stream Network Bridge/DAC

Review: Andrew Everard, | Jun 14, 2019 | 0 comments

Part of the Minnesota brand's compact Evolution One series, this 'Asynchronous Network Bridge' can feed a DAC with streamed music, or be used straight into an amp

Why can't products just be what they claim? Elsewhere in this issue you'll find a high-end network player that's also a very fine DAC, and a very affordable preamp that comes with a built-in tuner and power amplification. It's all very confusing – and then along comes Bel Canto's £1500 e.One Stream, launched at last year's Hi-Fi Show Live in Windsor, and demonstrated in an all-Bel Canto system with YG Acoustics speakers. An unassuming compact component, its 'half-width' casework impeccably finished in a choice of black or silver, the e.One Stream purports to be an 'Asynchronous Network Bridge'.

Network Audio Players/Servers Outboard DACs

Naim Audio ND 555/555PS DR Network-Attached DAC

Review: Andrew Everard, | Jun 11, 2019 | 0 comments

The new flagship player network player from Naim ups the ante – not to mention the price – from the company's previous range. Is the performance elevated, too?

The ND 555, sitting at the top of Naim's latest three-strong network player/streamer/call-it-what-you-will range at £12,999, isn't a direct replacement for the 'old' NDS. Yes, that player is now discontinued, but note I said the ND 555 isn't a 'direct' replacement – after all, the new model is more than twice the price of its forebear...

Loudspeakers

Dali Callisto 6 C and Sound Hub Wireless Loudspeaker

Review: Andrew Everard, | May 30, 2019 | 0 comments

Wireless speakers aren't new, but Dali ups the game with this hefty floorstander and versatile connection hub

Were all the column-inches expended over the years about wireless hi-fi justified, the world's audio cable companies would have long ago gone out of business. Think back a decade or more and we were already being told that our music was about to come from miraculously-powered speakers attached to nothing, yet able to pluck all the music available in the world out of thin air and play it in quality previously unimaginable.

Loudspeakers

GoldenEar Triton Five Loudspeaker

Review: Andrew Everard, | May 21, 2019 | 0 comments

This slim column hides its light under a bushel – or at least a sock – but is an addictively attractive performer

You might seem to be setting yourself up for a fall if you call your company GoldenEar Technology. It's a cue for all those jokes about effects heard only by those claiming such aural ability, grist to the mill of the 'design them properly and they all sound the same' brigade. Fortunately for the team behind the GoldenEar Triton range – including the £2300 Triton Five we have here – the product lives up to its billing, for the Five is perhaps the most striking speaker I have heard at this price level for a very long time.

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Review: Andrew Everard

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