Review: Paul Miller

Philips DCC-600 versus the Marantz DD-92

Review: Paul Miller | Apr 25, 2025 | Published: Oct 01, 2024 | 0 comments

Paul Miller compares the Philips DCC-600 with the Marantz DD-92, two DCC recorders with the same PASC encoder but different ADCs and DACs

This review deals with two first-generation DCC players. Philips and other companies are committed to this medium, to judge from the fast expanding list of pre-recorded software, if not in the range of hardware to match. DCC will certainly not oust CD: it is better to think of it as a stepping stone between analogue compact cassette and the digital audio systems of the future – systems that must surely avoid the cumbersome format of tape. But for the time being, these machines may be counted a success.

From the Vault

Aura CD-50

Review: Paul Miller | Mar 03, 2025 | Published: Dec 01, 2024 | 0 comments

This stylish, slimline partner for the British brand’s amplifiers adopts familiar Philips technology but makes its own mark, says Paul Miller

Much gnashing of teeth and wringing of corporate cheque books later, and the B&W Group has become the latest recipient of Philips’ cherished Red Book licence: an exorbitant magic wand that bequeaths the rights to design and assemble own-brand CD players, rather than simply modify an existing box. Incidentally, I hear from trusted sources that manufacturers who have traditionally opted for this cheaper halfway-house will soon be stomped on from a great height. B&W can therefore sleep soundly at night as two variants of a new BitStream player are launched under its ‘Aura’ brandname.

Cables

English Electric EE1 Network Filter

Review: Paul Miller, | Apr 19, 2024 | 0 comments

Audiophiles are assaulted by a fog of noise, and not just from the Internet. Chord aims to remove the hash from our wired Ethernet.

Filters, particularly AC mains filters and regenerators, have long been an audiophile staple but the genre has expanded in recent years to accommodate our embrace of digital and streaming audio in particular. With 'high speed' digital transmission comes the prospect of a sea of extraneous noise and interference, from both outside and inside the 'system loop', that washes though our equipment. Jitter in the digital domain and RF-related IM and other distortions are the least of what we understand as the audible consequences of this entirely unwanted hash.

Turntables, Arms & Cartridges

DS Audio ES-001 Eccentricity Stabilizer

Review: Ken Kessler, | Dec 26, 2022 | 0 comments

Ever worried about off-centre LP pressings? Neither did we – until we tried DS Audio's mind-boggling ES-001 Eccentricity Detection (and correction) Stabiliser

As I stated in a recent column: I'll no longer be making apologies for high-end pricing. So £5500 is needed to acquire the DS Audio ES-001 Eccentricity Detection Stabiliser, a highly specialised device that allows for the correction of off-centre pressings. It is, I believe, the first attempt at resolving this issue since the demise of Nakamichi's TX-1000 and Dragon CT turntables (1982-1993), which tackled the issue mechanically using a sliding two-part platter [see Vintage Review, HFN Aug '16].

Outboard DACs

AudioQuest JitterBug FMJ

Review: Andrew Everard, | Feb 28, 2022 | 0 comments

Revised and refined, and now clad in metal, AudioQuest's USB noise filter is still a compelling upgrade for portable DAC users.

As we described in our review of AudioQuest's original JitterBug [HFN Oct '15], this little serial plug-in is not a re-clocker for digital datastreams, but rather a purely passive device (drawing no power from the USB hub) that provides transformer-isolation and RF filtering of both the 5V USB 'VBUS' and its differential data lines. The promise, according to AQ, goes something like this: 'the dual-discrete noise-dissipation circuits reduce internally generated RF noise for improved streaming audio, [reducing] jitter and packet errors'.

Loudspeakers

Scansonic MB5 B Loudspeaker

Review: Andrew Everard, , | Jul 09, 2020 | 0 comments

From a new and extended Raidho family these Scansonic floorstanders now benefit from the 'GamuT touch'

We've been here before, reviewing the Scansonic MB5 speakers three years ago [HFN Aug '17]. However, collective amnesia has not set in, for despite the £6249 MB5 B looking near enough identical in its choice of black or white silk finishes, it is in fact a new version of the design, reworked by chief designer Benno Baun Meldgård. Hence the 'B' suffix on the new model.

Loudspeakers

Magico A1 Loudspeaker

Review: Paul Miller, | Mar 18, 2020 | 0 comments

More than a chip off the Magico block, the A1 sets the standard for pint-sized standmounts

Chalk and cheese. Night and day. Or perhaps David and Goliath... Call it what you will, but the transition between Avantgarde's huge, horn-loaded Duo Primo XDs departing my listening room, and the diminutive A1s arriving, demanded a recalibration of reality. Just 20kg versus 185kg per enclosure and a drop of 20dB in sensitivity – so the volume control on our resident dCS Vivaldi One DAC/preamp also needed a reset from 500mV output to 6V.

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Review: Paul Miller