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CRITERION AUDIO LTD System 1 – Naim, ProAc

WHEN IT COMES to the range of drive, unfussy about positioning and in the room. They’re perfectly Space race features and functionality that able to work in a range of room sizes. defined in front of the underpinning today’s all-in-one systems offer, you’d Both components also feel like electronica, but never separate it. be forgiven for wondering why furniture. This might not seem hugely The deep low notes are felt as much Five years after it first opened its doors, Criterion Audio anyone bothers with separates any important, but in this beautifully as heard, but there isn’t any more. This Naim and ProAc pairing specified listening room, it is something sluggishness or overhang. At any has added two exceptionally impressive demo rooms. emphatically proves this very point. you become more aware of. You can volume level the control remains In its current Uniti range, Naim place this combination in any room pretty much absolute. Ed Selley goes along for a listen has some of the most exceptionally and it won’t feel incongruous to do Criterion House, Oakington Road, capable all-in-one systems on the so. The Uniti is one of the best pieces Champagne super Nova hen we last visited laid out to allow for tidy installations, Cambridge, CB3 0QH market. The range-topping Uniti of industrial design on the market Neither is this solely the preserve of Criterion Audio in 2015 ventilation routed in such a way to Nova is a fearsomely capable bit of today with its tactile volume and vivid doom-laden electronica. Bat For (HFC 402), it was newly keep noise levels to a minimum and a Tel: 01223 233730 kit. Beyond the core attributes of an display. The D20R is less overt, but no Lashes lovely live cover of The Boys W criterionaudio.com opened and seeing how its meticulous level of fit and finish. Not 80W amp that applies traditional less immaculate in its fit and finish. Of Summer is delivered with the carefully proposed business model for the first time, the decision to base Naim virtues of fanatical attention Making use of the newly added same effortless realism. The crowd is would work in reality. We were out of town has paid off because I naimaudio.com to the layout and power supply and Qobuz support, the manner in which pushed to the outer edges of the left impressed at the time and customers cannot see how such spaces could proac-loudspeakers.com a streaming platform that has been this system deals with So Heavy I Fell and right channels leaving Natasha have been too, so much so that it has have been created on the high street. nagraaudio.com carefully honed into one of the very Through The Earth, the opening track Khan in the centre sounding as rich since expanded its premises. In the last five years, the Criterion falconacoustics.co.uk best in the business (that now and immediate as if she were in the Director Mike Cunningham has portfolio has also changed a little. yg-acoustics.com features Qobuz support), it is the room. For all the technical correctness overseen the construction of a stock Many of the originally stocked brands burmester.de extras that truly impress. You can Low notes are felt of what I’m hearing, the emotional sme.co.uk room and two new demo rooms remain, but Mike has made some send audio to it via Bluetooth, hook is what really grabs you. As shelter-audio.co.jp as much as heard, that must rank as some of the most considered substitutions in response AirPlay and Chromecast, connect cover versions go, this is a premier Simple but enormously impressive spaces I’ve ever seen in a to feedback and demand. Criterion your TV via HDMI Arc and it is but there isn’t any league effort and this system finds talented, a UK dealership. Both have non-parallel remains able to offer system solutions equipped for a record player if you sluggishness the joy in it, both in Khan’s evident modern marvel walls and carefully considered starting from a few thousand pounds, fancy going down that route. pleasure at performing it and the dimensions to ensure they perform and an example of its more affordable of Grimes’ Miss Anthropocene is a crowd’s delight at hearing optimally. The attention to detail is offerings is in the first of the new Rapid Response wonderful example of her work. The her do so. absolutely superb with wall sockets rooms ready and waiting to go... In comparison ProAc’s Response combination of impossibly delicate It might be something 2 D20R is almost understated, but it is vocals overlaying the cold electronic of a cliché to suggest that seriously impressive nevertheless. It fury she does so well, is a stiff challenge this is all the system takes the basics of the proceeding that is perfectly reproduced here. you’ll ever realistically D18 and replaces the soft dome The ribbon of the D20R is a star need, but there’s more tweeter with a ribbon design that turn. It releases these vocals as a than a grain of truth to the company uses right up to the tangible, three-dimensional presence it. We’re about to go a upper echelons of the range. By long way further up the carefully reworking the crossover 1 NAIM UNITI NOVA £4,199 Criterion portfolio, but to make best use of this light and 2 PROAC RESPONSE D20R £2,885 I’m in no rush to stop exceptionally fast treble unit, the CHORD COMPANY RUMOUR listening to this superbly D20R ensures it has the perfect 2 LOUDSPEAKER CABLE complimentary setup. partner for the 165mm glass fibre (6M TERMINATED) £108 Even at its terrestrial price mid/bass cone. In its own way, it is point, it sets a very high as practical as the Naim; easy to TOTAL £7,192 bar to follow.

System test music GRIMES Miss Anthropocene So Heavy I Fell Through The Earth Qobuz 24/44.1 FLAC 1 STANLEY JORDAN Magic Touch Eleanor Rigby Qobuz 16/44.1 FLAC

FOUR TET Pink Locked 180g vinyl

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System 2 – Nagra, Falcon Acoustics, Aurender System 3 – SME, Shelter, Burmester, YG Acoustics SOME OF YOU reading this will isolation platforms is a thing of personality but so little colouration, BURMESTER HAS SLOWLY but instantly vanishes. It’s the perfect Remember To Breathe by Sturgill inevitably already browsed the absolute loveliness. but the more you listen the more surely been building a following in combination of an accurate signal Simpson and that same effortless, prices for this system and have a Ostensibly, connecting a speaker sense it makes. The moment this the UK and Mike feels it is a superb treated right, given the power it unforced brilliance shines through. few questions. While ‘front-end first’ that costs £3,274 to this little lot system reproduces voices, things addition to the portfolio. Even needs and handled by a speaker with For all their astonishing technical is an entirely valid system building makes no sense, but there is a method step up another level. I can’t resist before you turn them on, these the reaction time of a trapdoor spider. attributes, these components can still philosophy, I think this might be the in the madness. The Falcon LS3/5a is trying Regina Spektor’s Consequence components manage to perfectly In short, it’s utterly addictive. take the heartfelt canned synth and greatest lengths I’ve seen it taken to. a perfect recreation of this seminal Of Sounds and even with a track I epitomise the ideals of high end. guitar of One True Pairing’s I’m Not There is a method in the madness, BBC monitor and the attention that know incredibly intimately it still This isn’t simply a collection of Spin doctor Afraid and find the joy in them. It is though, and given it combines two has gone into its construction is springs surprises. I’d never picked up nice boxes, though. Take the 151 Of course, it does some amazing rare that a system this capable across of my favourite brands, it augers no less impressive than the Nagra on the change in intonation in the Musiccenter. You can pop a CD in things with sounds that aren’t the board can also be so viceless to well in performance terms. equipment. There is a school of repeat of the second verse before and play it as normal, or you can rip mechanical noises too. The title track live with, but that is the case here. Nagra is a relatively recent arrival thought that in nearfield conditions it and, quite possibly, never will again. it to an internal hard drive. You can on Fink’s Resurgam is incredibly This is an unashamed demonstration Fronting this at Criterion, but Mike is already a is still all the speaker you’ll ever need, then access music over network or intimate. This is a big system that of just what the high end is capable of. setup with the LS3/5a makes huge fan. This setup is a combination so there is a definite excitement to Special delivery from streaming services and tie it all doesn’t struggle to fill this large total sense of valves and solid state with the firing this system up. This combination also has truly together via bespoke software. The listening room, but there’s no sign 1 YG ACOUSTICS HAILEY 2.2 £53,000 valve-equipped Tube DAC and its outstanding timing. The gentle Rest 088 preamp, meanwhile, balances of unwanted scale or loss of subtlety. 2 SME MODEL 20A WITH SERIES V TONEARM £15,450 partnering off-board power supply Assured by Ayo depends on being an elegant circuit with such niceties It’s understated in its brilliance, Even with a track I 3 SHELTER 901 III £2,300 1 being paired with the Classic delivered with immediacy and this as input level adjustment and naming but brilliant nevertheless. The 151 4 BURMESTER 151 MUSICCENTER £14,800 preamp (which also benefits from know incredibly setup effortlessly delivers. The deep and optional phono modules. The Musiccenter is no less impressive as a 5 BURMESTER 088 PREAMP WITH the PSU) and Classic power amp. intimately it still drum notes in this wonderful 911 MkIII power amp that completes source. It manages to be completely MC PHONO STAGE £15,800 Nothing about any of the numbers recording do a fine job of reminding the trio disposes of 350W into a 4ohm free of any sense of processing or 6 BURMESTER 911 MKIII POWER this system generates is going to me that the bass output from Falcon’s load and can be bridged should you effort to what it does, but still takes AMPLIFIER £17,500 springs surprises A serious suddenly make the price points lovingly crafted homage is just that need more power. This is seriously the Ayo track Rest Assured that system 2X CHORD SARUMT BALANCED high-end INTERCONNECTS AND SPEAKER CABLE seem logical, but everything is I kick off with Stanley Jordan’s little bit better than the original clever equipment that’s also beautiful. masterclass two thrived with and put its own spin (3M) £9,600 sublimely over engineered. The eclectic Eleanor Rigby cover. At times could ever muster. In the smaller that’s great fun on proceedings. Reverse course 100W of the Classic amp is a far he sounds like two guitarists, which space that this system is running in, Gimme shelter completely and ask for the TOTAL £128,450 from outrageous figure, but it can make listening to him almost it is completely sufficient. They are joined by an SME Model dementedly wonderful spends much of its time operating fatiguing as you strive to make sense Ultimately, the performance is 20A with SME V arm and the rarely 1 in Class A and is designed with of it all. Here, there’s no ambiguity governed by the LS3/5a. In that encountered Shelter 901 III unconditional stability in mind. at all. You can clearly perceive the regard, it can’t escape its constituent moving-coil cart acting as a vinyl unique playing style where he uses parts. If you like what this speaker source plus YG Acoustics’ Hailey 2.2 3 You Tube the fingerboard to effectively get two does, however – and I do – this is the floorstanding speaker. YG has been The Tube DAC is every bit as tunes from one instrument. best LS3/5a setup there will probably part of Criterion’s portfolio since the 2 uncompromising as its siblings. It Jordan is a living presence conjured ever be. The Nagra equipment takes very beginning and in a building full has 25 internal power supplies and by the Falcon. You sense his movement, it to levels I didn’t think possible of impossibly well-made objects, it there is total separation between the points of emphasis and his flow. to achieve and I don’t merely still ranks right at the very top. the analogue and digital sections. There is something contradictory understand it, I covet it absolutely. I kick off with a vinyl half-speed It relies on the external power about a system that has so much System three has its work cut out... master of Four Tet’s Pink as the 4 supply to deliver opening track Locked contains a bass these two feeds noise that defies easy description and is fed a signal and only truly sounds its best on of commensurate 2 vinyl. The opportunity to experience 5 quality by it on something like this is simply Aurender’s N10 too good to pass up and it doesn’t music server. disappoint. In the build up, the SME Everything about and Shelter demonstrate all the the electronics, attributes of great vinyl: it’s utterly from the tiny but silent at idle, pitch stability is 6 precise controls to absolute and it finds space in this those beautifully dense recording that you feel you over engineered can walk around in. And then, everything combines 3 for ‘the noise’. It’s a dense, mechanical 1 FALCON ACOUSTICS LS3/5A £3,274 4 (INC. STANDS) ‘whun-whun’ sound and in the 2 NAGRA CLASSIC AMP £13,000 hands of this setup it appears from 3 NAGRA CLASSIC PRE (POWERED BY nowhere, resonates in your chest CLASSIC PSU) £14,500 4 5 cavity like a distant explosion and 4 NAGRA TUBE DAC PACKAGE: WITH PSU, CLASSIC VFS, SPIKES AND DC CABLES £30,500 5 AURENDER N10 £8,900 Spend more than a few minutes at you can partner a £3,000 speaker with What elevates Criterion is its listening 2X SILTECH CROWN PRINCESS/CROWN Criterion and it becomes clear that these £40,000 of electronics. The result is as space. This premises truly feels up to the PRINCE BALANCED INTERCONNECTS/ systems aren’t accidentally brilliant. clear in the first setup as it is in the last. job of representing the incredible kit it LOUDSPEAKER CABLES (2M) £18,710 SUMMING Mike and his team have listened to pretty What’s more, all of them are clever, easy contains. Purchasing components of this UP much everything that they sell with a to use and utterly painless to live with, nature should always be an experience, TOTAL £88,884 view to knowing just how it relates to well and truly able to work in the sort of and Criterion Audio has what it takes to everything else. This is how you find out spaces we have in the UK. ensure it is an extraordinary one.

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