“Powerful, but with great poise, it is also the life and soul of the party”

6RQXVIDEHU6HUDƂQR7UDGLWLRQ HiFi News - Nick Tate

“The Amati is one sexy-sounding speaker.”

Sonus faber Amati Tradition HiFi News - Ken Kessler

“They have acted as custodians of the Sonus faber ethos”

Sonus faber Guarneri Tradition HiFi Plus - Alan Sircom

We all want to live “the sweet life” and Sonus faber’s new Homage Tradition loudspeakers let you do just that.

Inspired by the work of traditional luthiers in Cremona DQGWKHƂQLVKRIWKHPRGHUQLFRQLF5LYD

Designed to ignite musical passion in the listener, but with a sculptural intent that is a perfect foil for even the most design-oriented home.

These aren’t simply music makers; in the Homage Tradition series, Sonus faber has created audio art that will look as elegant decades from now as it does today.

absolute sounds ltd. International Distributors & Consultants of Specialised Hi-End Audio & Video Systems 58 Durham Road, London, SW20 0TW T: +44 (0)20 89 71 39 09 W: www.absolutesounds.com E: [email protected] For Your Nearest Dealer Please Visit The Absolute Sounds Website

One More Time

Sometimes perfection needs a few takes

Like the best recordings, Chord Company cables “The Shawlines are really top-class are made with care and attention to detail. interconnects... Give them an audition and hear for yourself” Our aim is to get closer to the artist’s intended sound. Every part we use is crucial to the final OUR VERDICT performance. Non-essential components are Chord Shawline Analogue RCA removed, but if we find a way to improve things, Hi-Fi Choice Jul 2016 we don’t hesitate to incorporate it.

The result is a range of award-winning, cost- effective, high-performance interconnects and “..there is certainly great energy and excitement speaker cables featuring our unique ARAY with the performance. The ShawCan sure can deliver sonic benefits and so consequently comes conductor technology, advanced shielding and very highly recommended.” insulation materials and ground-breaking connector OUR VERDICT designs, backed-up with over 30 years of experience and constant innovation. Chord Shawline ShawCan headphone cable Hi-Fi Choice Nov 2017 Designed and built in England by music lovers since 1985. Enjoyed by music lovers all over the world. “The tonal complexities of the instrument really come to life in my listening room Demonstration cables available from all good with the Shawline installed. This is an Chord Company retailers. Find your nearest at: excellent power cable that delivers real sonic benefits.” www.chord.co.uk OUR VERDICT

Chord Shawline Power Chord Hi-Fi Choice Jul 2018 INTRODUCTION Welcome PASSION FOR SOUND www.hifichoice.co.uk Issue No. 444 January 2019

With more ways to listen to music than ever before, the type of products we choose to use differs for many of us. While I always prefer to hear my favourite tunes on my main hi-fi system – comprising floorstanding speakers, pre/power amplification and dedicated sources for all 42 format types – the majority of my friends and family Markaudio-Sota listen to their's via discreet smart speakers. At first Cesti MB glance, some might see my setup as old fashioned, but play an LP, CD or music stream and its doesn't take long to see why I have the setup I do. Here at Hi-Fi Choice we realise that listening to music in this way isn't always possible due to the practicalities of our domestic arrangements, and consumer electronics firms along with the specialist hi-fi industry 117 have been quick to identify the interest in small wireless Pro-Ject music systems that meet our practical demands while Primary E Phono offering great sound quality. Although active speakers have been slow to get off the ground in hi-fi circles, Dynaudio's Xeo 20 (p16) is a fine example of this increasingly popular breed and combines traditional speaker design with 260W of stereo amplification and support for wireless hi-res streaming. For those looking for sounds from something more compact still, the world of intelligent 98 speakers with voice recognition, sound calibration and José James multi-room capabilities is hotly contested. To find out Lean On Me which one we rate the best, turn to p24.

BADGES EXPLAINED Lee Dunkley Editor OUR AWARDS

Follow us: twitter.com@HiFiChoiceMag facebook.com/hifichoice.co.uk EDITOR’S RECOMMENDED: GROUP TEST CHOICE: Products that WINNER: hifichoicemagazine Awarded to those we feel meet a Comparative tests products that are high standard of can only have one judged to deliver performance winner, and this outstanding badge says it all! SUITE 25, EDEN HOUSE, ENTERPRISE WAY, performance

Picture credit: Cherry Chill Will (José James) Cherry Chill Will credit: Picture EDENBRIDGE, KENT TN8 6HF

JANUARY 2019 3 Contents hifichoice.co.uk Issue No. 444 January 2019

NEWS & OPINION GROUP TEST 6 Audiofile The latest news on the hottest products 24 from the world of hi-fi coming your way We put the emphasis 69 Letters on sound quality as we Put your points of view and queries on check out six best of audio matters to our team of experts breed smart speakers 79 Opinion The Hi-Fi Choice team say it as they see it as they discuss the issues of the day 93 Music Reviews The month’s essential new CD, vinyl and hi-res releases given a work out READER SERVICES 122 Reader Classifieds Sell your unwanted hi-fi for FREE here 130 Next Issue The sonic treats to look out for next month FEATURES 10 Show Report Highlights from the UK’s most important high-end audio show The Hi-Fi Show Live

62 62 The Music Of Doctor Who As the popular TV series thrills viewers, we pay tribute to the Radiophonic Workshop 88 Beautiful System 93 What no speakers? This month’s stunning setup is designed for music on the move 100 Music Legends Let’s get it on with the definitive voice of soul music, the legendary Marvin Gaye 106 Destination Richmond, Yorkshire Blues Night opens its doors with its unique take on all things related to blues music 108 Gift Guide 6 Treat the hi-fi lover in your life or even yourself with our roundup of present ideas Audiofile: KEF LSX wireless speaker system Music Reviews: Good, The Bad & The Queen

4 JANUARY 2019 CONTENTS JANUARY 2019 “What’s Going On found a resonance more than 8,000 miles away on Robben Island 113 where Nelson Mandela heard it” Samsung VL5 Music Legends: Marvin Gaye p100 TESTED THIS MONTH

50 Audiolab 6000A

16 Dynaudio Xeo 20 REVIEWS GROUP TEST 52 Kit testing Wireless speaker systems Melco N100 16 Dynaudio £200-£500 Xeo 20 two-way active wireless 27 Apple HomePod standmount loudspeaker 29 Bluesound Pulse Mini 2i 42 Markaudio-Sota 31 Google Home Max Cesti MB full-range, single-driver 33 JBL Link 500 standmount loudspeaker (Exotica) 35 Riva Audio Stadium 46 AVID 37 Sonos One Ingenium Plug&Play belt-drive turntable 50 Audiolab 6000A integrated amplifier CHOICE EXTRAS 52 Melco 113 Samsung VL5 wireless speaker N100 2TB music server 115 Audio-Technica 54 DALI AT-VM95E moving-magnet cartridge Oberon 7 two-way floorstanding 117 Pro-Ject loudspeaker Primary E Phono turntable 59 Lindemann 118 True Colours Limetree Headphone amplifier Industries Tiger II RCA interconnect 54 118 Soundeck DALI Oberon 7 PM platter mat Never miss an issue – turn to p120 for our latest subs offer Picture credits: Pennie Smith (The Good, The Bad & Queen Pennie credits: Picture and BBC (Doctor Who)

JANUARY 2019 5 THE LATEST INDUSTRY NEWS… Wireless world KEF introduces its LSX stereo speaker system, bringing together fully active speaker duties and wire-free connectivity in a neat compact design

PRICE: £1,000 AVAILABLE: NOW CONTACT: 01622 672261 WEB: UK.KEF.COM

FOLLOWING ITS AWARD-WINNING LS50 driver – recognised for its wider stereo imaging Wireless active loudspeaker system introduced in over a larger area – and is combined with the 2017 (HFC 413), respected hi-À speaker maker company's Music Integrity Engine DSP to ensure KEF looks set to continue to be the go-to-brand in accurate time alignment and phase coherence, compact music systems with the introduction of no matter where the LSX is placed in a room. its £1,000 LSX wireless stereo speakers. Packing The twin active stereo speakers support wi-À in 200W of Class D ampliÀ cation (2x 30W + 2x and Bluetooth connectivity – with Apple AirPlay 70W), the smaller two-way standmount design 2 support expected early in 2019 via a À rmware measures 155 x 240 x 180mm (WxHxD). It update. Optical digital and 3.5mm analogue employs the respected Uni-Q driver array with inputs are also onboard for hardwired a 19mm aluminium dome tweeter and 115mm connections. The LSX is available now in a choice The LSX packs 200W magnesium/aluminium alloy cone mid/bass of fabric-clad colours as well as gloss white. of Class D amplification

6 JANUARY 2019 COMMENT HEAD STRONG Every once in a while, a product category in the consumer electronics industry almost inexplicably seems to come from nowhere before growing in popularity to the point where every manufacturer is jumping on the bandwagon in an ef ort to get in on the action. Forget vinyl, over the last few years it's headphones that have seen the most surprising growth. Once something used exclusively for enjoying music at home by considerate The LSX wireless stereo listeners that didn't want to disturb their speaker system comes neighbours or other members of the household, the growing popularity of in a range of attractive mobile devices has meant that consumers started ditching the poor-quality in-ears fabric-clad colours as usually bundled with their kit and thought well as gloss white nothing of spending vast amounts of cash on top-notch replacements. And it appears as though the trend isn't going to die out any time soon. Market research specialist (the imaginatively named) Research And Markets states that the global earphone and headphone sector is expected to grow at a compound annual growth of 7.31 percent from now until 2023, before achieving an astonishing $20 billion in revenue by 2023. Meanwhile, Futuresource (another slightly better named market research specialist), states that shipments of 'earspeakers' will have grown by four percent, while retail value increases to 23 percent by the end of 2018, with annual revenues approaching $21 billion worldwide. In fact, every market specialist seems to be saying the same thing: headphones are huge, the market is continuing to grow and the action looks set to continue for some time yet. Wireless is currently the biggest growth sector – due to the increased removal of headphone sockets from mobile phones – closely followed by noise-cancelling designs, and with prices expected to continue to rise, this can only spell good news for the hi-fi industry. The only hope is that some of those users start to think about partnering their headsets with a portable DAC, before turning their attention to their home setup... Picture credit: Sennheiser credit: Picture

JANUARY 2019 7 AUDIOFILE

Harman’s luxury line 5000 Series amps by Mark Levinson

PRICE: £7,000£8,000 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: MARKLEVINSON.COM

MAKING ITS UK debut at The Hi-Fi Show Live (see Show Report starting on p10), Harman’s Luxury Audio Group showed the À rst two models from the Mark Levinson 5000 Series with the N° 5805 and N° 5802 fully discrete, direct-coupled, Class AB integrated ampliÀ ers. Both designs claim a power output of 2x 125W into 8ohm and the 5805 has three stereo line-level inputs – one balanced XLR and two single-ended – and a newly designed MM/MC phono stage with front panel selectable gain levels and infrasonic À lters, and rear panel capacitive and resistive loading settings. Four digital audio inputs are also provided: one coaxial and two optical S/PDIF, and one asynchronous USB for up to 32-bit/192kHz PCM, DSD128 and MQA support. The 5802 is a digital-only design with six digital audio inputs and offers the same USB À le support plus Bluetooth connectivity with aptX HD. Designed and built in the USA, both integrateds have 25mm-thick aluminium front panels with a seamless glass display and are priced at £8,000 and £7,000 respectively.

IN BRIEF XCAN WITH SVS Prime wireless systems PRICE: £549£699 AVAILABLE: NOW BLUETOOTH CONTACT: 01423 358846 WEB: KARMAAV.CO.UK

UK distributor Karma-AV standmount, the aptly named control. A dedicated output introduces two new systems Prime Wireless Speaker System provides a wired connection to a from SVS with the Prime Wireless handles connectivity via Bluetooth sub, while a USB port accepts the Speaker System and Wireless – with aptX support – and wi-fi as US-based company’s SoundPath SoundBase bridge, priced at well as wired connections from Wireless Audio Adaptor for £699 and £549 respectively. optical and line-level sources. wireless subwoofer connection, Measuring 160 x 260 x 180mm Control is via smart device over which can also be used for (WxHxD) and claiming a total of wi-fi using the DTS Play-Fi charging mobile devices. O Expanding its portable X-Series 200W amplification split four app, which of ers multi-room The SoundBase bridge is a range of components, iFi Audio’s ways to drive the individual capability for up to 16 zones and compact integrated amplifier £299 xCAN is a pocket-sized 25mm tweeter and 114mm supports 24-bit/192kHz playback measuring 230 x 80 x 224mm analogue headphone amp with the mid/bass driver fitted to each as well as Amazon’s Alexa voice (WxHxD) claiming 2x 150W into added convenience of Bluetooth 4ohm that can also operate as to enable quality streaming from a wireless streaming source via compatible digital devices. Housed its pre output. It supports aptX in a similar lightweight case to the Bluetooth, wi-fi and wired audio company’s xDSD (HFC 439), it connectivity via optical and RCA measures 67 x 19 x 95mm (WxHxD) inputs, and also of ers complete and weighs 127g. It eschews the USB multi-room integration using the audio connectivity and standalone DTS Play-Fi app. DAC capability of ered by its Both models come in a sleek similar-looking sibling, and is strictly black finish and are available now. a headphone amp that of er 2x 1,000mW of power output to drive headphones connected to its 3.5mm and 2.5mm TRRS balanced jack sockets. Additionally, there’s a three-position bass control and eight hour battery use per charge. IFIAUDIO.COM

8 JANUARY 2019 Special Forty. Simply innovative.

Cutting-edge acoustic technology in a classic Dynaudio design

New soft-dome tweeter. New woofer. New magnet system. New anniversary speaker. Our legendary technologies, taken back to the drawing board. Special Forty

dynaudio.com SHOWREPORT

THE hi-fi SHOW

Windsor As The Hi-Fi Show Live moves to a new location in 2019, the last ever ‘Windsor Show’ was packed with spectacular high-end sound. Here are some of the highlights

THE HI-FI SHOW Live returned to the Beaumont House by designers and audio experts. Iconic brands including Estate for the sixth consecutive year over the weekend of Bowers & Wilkins, Chord Electronics, ELAC, KEF, Mark 10-11 November, hosted by our sister magazine Hi-Fi News Levinson, Raidho, Sonus faber, T+A, Wilson Audio and & Record Review and AVTech Media. As with previous many others all demonstrated their ultimate products, events, the show continued to attract hi-À enthusiasts from while numerous manufacturers also chose to exclusively around the UK to the gorgeous grounds of the Beaumont introduce new models to the UK for the À rst time. House Estate conference centre in Old Windsor and was In between the intimate listening sessions, the White bursting at the seams with the highest number of visitors House, Windsor, Sandringham, Lancaster, Buckingham to date, all eager to experience the UK’s largest speciality and Kensington suites provided the ideal environment for high-end audio event. Whether you prefer your music special presentations with unique insights from industry played from CD, vinyl or streamed via a server, there was experts that captivated audiences. something for everyone at the two-day showcase. With visitor numbers up 11 percent on previous years, Attendees had the unique opportunity to experience the event has already outgrown the Beaumont’s exhibition some of the world’s À nest high-end audio under one space and so the new bigger and better UK show will roof with incredible demonstrations of some of the move to the Grandstand at Ascot Racecourse in 2019,

best-sounding hi-À components installed and presented running from 26-27 October. See you there! Sydenham Selley & Andrew Ed credits: Picture

10 JANUARY 2019 SHOWREPORT

1 Harman Kardon’s Mark Hockey with the £2,200 Citation Tower wireless smart speaker, employing twin mid/bass drivers along with a sub bass driver and tweeter and rated at 200W power output per speaker. uk.harmanaudio.com

2 Monika Lowe poses with ELAC’s eye-catching Vela BS 403 standmount. It uses a JET 5 tweeter partnered to a 150mm mid/bass driver and comes in gloss black or white finishes priced at £1,750 or in walnut for £1,840. elac.com

3 Once again Mike Valentine of Chasing The Dragon joined Symmetry Audio to give a spirited presentation of his latest 1 2 direct-cut recording, with twice daily presentations using reel-to-reel, hi-res files and vinyl. chasingthedragon.co.uk 4 Headphone fans welcomed SCV to the show and its award-winning models on display from Benchmark, Focal, Questyle, Meze as well as streaming solutions by Novafidelity and supports from IsoAcoustics. scvdistribution.com

5 JBL’s £44,000 K2 S9900 wowed visitors to the Sandringham suites alongside demos of its L100 Classic (centre) and the UK debut of Mark Levinson’s £8,000 N° 5805 integrated. marklevinson.com; jblsynthesis.com

6 Every seat was taken with audiophiles eager to hear Bowers & Wilkins’ recently 3 4 launched premium 800 Series Diamond Prestige Edition in the form of its £19,500 802 floorstander to discover what makes it so very special. bowers-wilkins.co.uk

7 Kevin Akam (left) of Signature Audio Systems and Dr Edgar Choueiri join The Hi-Fi Show Live to showcase Theoretica’s BACCHSP dio digital ‘stereo purifier’ – a digital processor, DAC and streamer all-in-one. signaturesystems.co.uk 8 Joining AudioQuest was Kudos Audio’s new Titan 505 standmount (£7,000), which features a bypassable crossover to enable active operation with selected systems including Linn Exakt and Devialet Expert. kudosaudio.com 5

6 7 8

JANUARY 2019 11 SHOWREPORT THE hi-fi SHOW 9 SME unveiled its £14,950 Synergy turntable with its UK distributor Padood. Its first packaged deck tantalised audiences with its magnesium tonearm, moving-coil cartridge and built-in phono stage. sme.co.uk; padood.com

10 Kog Audio’s Mark Standbridge debuted the Avalon Acoustics Precision Monitor series with the new to the UK entry-level PM1 floorstander priced at £17,000, driven by Vitus Audio’s RI101 integrated amplifier. kogaudio.com

11 Swedish brand Larsen showed its range-topping 9 loudspeaker priced at £12,000. Designed to stand flush against the wall, it uses room reflections to 9 10 deliver a wide soundstage even in smaller spaces. soundfowndations.co.uk 12 High-end distributor Absolute Sounds had some of the most popular rooms at The Hi-Fi Show Live and Copland’s new CTA 408 integrated valve amp (second left) was one of its newest models on display. absolutesounds.com

13 Melco’s Alan Ainslie previewed the company’s new flagship half-width, two-box N10 music library fitted with a 3TB SDD, USB DAC supported by the newly launched HD Music control app for iOS devices. melco-audio.com 14 KEF’s £1,000 LSX Wireless speaker got a warm welcome at The Hi-Fi Show Live. 11 12 It claims 200W of Class D amplification, is wi-fi, Bluetooth and AirPlay 2 compatible and comes in a choice of four fabric finishes or gloss white. uk.kef.com

15 Class D guru Bruno Putzeys was on hand to talk about the Kii Three active speaker with ingenious DSP along with the first UK outing of the matching BXT modules. Total system starts at £27,495. sounddesigndistribution.co.uk 16 Raidho’s £21,500 C2.2 2.5-way floorstander is driven by the Ayre Acoustics KX5 Twenty preamp and two VX5 Twenty 175W power amps (£9,750 each) to stunning ef ect and enthralled

visitors. decentaudio.co.uk 13

14 15 16

12 JANUARY 2019

SHOWREPORT THE hi-fi SHOW 17 Building on the near-perfect Technics SL1000R, Sound Hi-Fi displayed its £26,810 packaged deck fitted with Glanz MH104S tonearm, Timestep T01HS Ebony headshell and Miyajima Madake Blackwood cart. soundhifi.com

18 Partnering with Wilson Benesch’s £28,000 Endeavour standmount, CAD showed its £12,000 CAT Audio Transport into a £13,000 CH Precision L1 preamp and two £39,500 M1 power amps. computeraudiodesign.com

19 Atlas Cables MD Kevin Kelly showcases the engineering-led specialist’s designs with regular demos of its new flagship Asimi Luxe speaker 17 cables as well as its ‘cold-soldering’ termination technique. atlascables.com 20 KEF’s Muon graces The Hi-Fi Show Live once again, partnered with Chord Electronics’ Blu MkII transport, DAVE DAC/ preamp and the world’s first outing of its £30k (each) ULTIMA mono power amps. uk.kef.com; chordelectronics.co.uk

21 Clearaudio’s eye-catching Reference Jubilee £17,500 turntable (left) and the £21,900 Master Innovation fitted with a Magnify tonearm £2,760 and DS Audio DSW2 £9,900 optical cartridge and phono stage. soundfowndations.com 22 Audio Note presented its TTOne Deluxe turntable fitted with ARMOne/II 18 19 tonearm and IQ3 moving-magnet cartridge, which filled its busy room with superb sound from its classic line ANK standmounts. audionote.co.uk

23 JBL’s 4429 Studio Monitor (£5,800) showed a stunning skill set in the comfort of Karma AV’s listening area, as did Falcon Acoustics’ Studio RAM Studio 30 floorstander (HFC 442) priced from £3,495. karma-av.co.uk 24 Absolute Sounds showed just how good physical formats can sound with the £32k Kalista DreamPlay One CD player and Continuum Audio’s Obsidian deck and Viper tonearm priced around

£40k. absolutesounds.com 20 21

22 23 24

14 JANUARY 2019 HD 820 For the love of sound.

Take your time. Listen. Experience the unparalleled sound of the new HD 820 dynamic closed back headphones. German engineered, these hand crafted ear pads cushion the listener and provide excellent attenuation of ambient noise, whilst unique domed glass covers over each transducer reflect sound to minimize resonances. Without doubt, a new benchmark in audiophile sound quality. sennheiser.com/HD820 DYNAUDIO IN-DEPTH XEO 20 £1,999

16 JANUARY 2019 DYNAUDIO XEO 20 £1,999 IN-DEPTH

DETAILS the magnetically attached grille is removed. Dynaudio has a term for it: PRODUCT Dynaudio Xeo 20 ‘Nordic simplicity’. Whether you ORIGIN choose the white or black satin Kings of Denmark lacquer À nish, I’d settle for clean, TYPE smart and décor-friendly. 2-way active The 140mm Esotec magnesium wireless standmount silicate polymer (MSP) mid/bass convenience loudspeaker driver and 28mm Esotec soft-dome WEIGHT tweeter are no different to those used 6.2kg in the Xeo 4 and each is powered DIMENSIONS by a dedicated 65W pulse width Dynaudio has given its active wireless range (WxHxD) 180 x 320 x 257mm modulated Class D ampliÀ er module, a makeover, promising more style and FEATURES 15W up on the Xeo 4’s output. But it’s O 1x 28mm soft the new, more powerful DSP-derived dome tweeter crossover network (see Q&A), performance. David Vivian checks its out O 1x 140mm mid/bass driver together with the larger internal O Quoted power volume and, not least, zero Á uff f we ignore solo wireless compelling guise (that’s true active output: 4x 65W voicing lifted from Dynaudio’s LYD 5 O Inputs: 1x digital speakers and soundbars, with an ampliÀ er per driver and optical; 1x stereo pro studio nearÀ eld monitor, that are I stereo systems right now electronic crossover network rather RCAs; 1x 3.5mm claimed to cement this small speaker’s break three ways. First, than passive with an integrated stereo mini-jack; aptX sonic cred – wherever you want to Bluetooth; wi-fi there’s the all-in-one streaming- amp housed in one of the enclosures) via add-on site it. As well as crossover duties and enabled hub to which you merely is the possibility of better sound Connect unit engineering deeper bass than you add your speakers of choice which, quality than any similarly priced DISTRIBUTOR might expect from such a modestly as a lifestyle-friendly hi-À proposition, system using passive speakers, be Dynaudio UK sized cabinet, the DSP can EQ for is clearly on a roll. Think Naim Uniti it a do-it-all hub or coalition of TELEPHONE boundary effects. There are three Star (HFC 433), T+A Cala SR (HFC separates. It means that after years 01863 721089 settings catering for wall, corner 431) and Quad Artera Solus (HFC of being largely overlooked by a WEBSITE and free space placements. Nor is dynaudio.com 434). In a way, this type of system is reticent hi-À community for the sitting down to listen a one-person, the natural foil to the time-honoured more orthodox source and amp one-position (exactly mid-way but inevitably less tidy old-school with passive speakers approach, between the speakers) deal. The separates approach, which affords the undeniable upsides of active job sheet for the Xeo 20 speciÀ ed a transducer tech, À rmly established Room placement larger overlap between the drivers’ Crisp sounds crisper, in the pro sector, are À nally À nding options are easy frequency ranges with the aim of favour in the home. The traditional to configure improving not just integration and soft sounds softer, case against active (that because the separation crystalises amp is inclusive you can’t buy a bigger, shinier one) carries less clout out of the haze for those craving a À t-and-forget ‘system solution’ and not a trip down complete freedom to combine and the long and winding upgrade road. upgrade whatever source, amp and speaker you want and for that reason Time to get active will always have an enthusiastic Danish speaker maker Dynaudio sums audiophile audience. it up succinctly with the description Thirdly, and possibly neatest of all, for its new £1,999 Xeo 20. It calls it a is the emerging new generation of compact digital active wireless hi-À powered wireless speakers that speaker delivering hi-À performance incorporate all the connectivity of without the hi-À system. Much the a modern ampliÀ er – some with same could have been said for its an on-board DAC and DSP for good predecessor, 2014’s Xeo 4, but along measure – delivering a smaller overall with the softer aesthetic, the footprint and less posterior tangle. refreshed Xeo lineup (which also Add the sources you require and includes the smaller Xeo 10 you’re good to go. KEF’s all-embracing standmount and Á oorstanding Xeo LS50 Wireless (HFC 433) and 30) has souped-up sound quality, too. Acoustic Energy’s much simpler AE1 Facelift? As well as its softened and Active (HFC 421) more or less bookend rounded-off corners, the Xeo 20’s the movement in its current state, cabinet, sporting a rear-À ring though KEF’s second contribution slot-type bass port, is slightly larger to the genre, the LSX (essentially a than the Xeo 4’s and presents a smaller and more affordable LS50 ‘neater and cleaner’ face to the Wireless – see p6), underlines the world with the metal elements of the company’s belief in its future. drivers now À nished in black and the Neatness and Á exibility are obvious infra-red receiver moved from the top attractions. But what makes this to just beneath the mid/bass driver, emerging category so appealing incorporated in a logo plate, for a to some in its more technically more balanced-looking bafÁ e when

JANUARY 2019 17 DYNAUDIO IN-DEPTH XEO 20 £1,999

À rst time – both are well-worn hi-À clichés. But I’ve seldom auditioned a two-way standmount where such descriptions have seemed more spookily apt. The swirling textures and wispy organ counterpoints of the background synth wash on God Rest… have a transparency and tender beauty that’s achingly delicate and yet every strand remains clear and distinct when McDonald – seemingly a fully three-dimensional and palpable presence in front of the speakers – challenges the Xeo’s dynamic reach with a soaring, soulful, slightly mufÁ ed vocal. Where even good passive speakers tend to blur the quietest detail when things get loud and busy, the active Xeo 20 preserves it and keeps it in perfect proportion, however heartily McDonald À lls his lungs. Scalp-prickling stuff. It’s as if you really are getting an bass response, but also off-axis Sound quality accurate earful of what the recording performance, widening the sweet spot. When I reviewed the previous engineer heard at the mixing desk Straight out of the carton, the Xeo generation Xeo 2 in my smaller and with all the imaging solidity and 20 offers numerous ways to get going listening room back in HFC 411, I temporal veracity that implies. In and if you’ve got nearby mains set the DSP EQ switches to open this respect, the Xeo 20 sounds quite sockets and a sturdy pair of stands space and, despite there being only different to KEF’s identically priced already in place – Dynaudio a little more than a foot to the back The tweeter and LS50 Wireless, which despite its recommends its own sand- llable and side walls, the balance sounded mid/bass driver prodigious power and poise is a tad À are the same as Stand 20 (£475 per pair), but there’s spot on with À rm, remarkably those found laid back and lush in comparison, also back plate provision for wall well-extended bass given the bijou on the Xeo 4 though ultimately can go louder and mounts – so much the better. As with stature of the speaker. With the the Xeo 4 and, indeed, the smaller larger Xeo 20 on the same Slate Xeo 2 (HFC 411), you must À rst Audio stands in the same position identify the master speaker – easy and Michael McDonald’s curiously enough as it’s the one with the most mesmeric, chilled funk version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen from If ever there was a his Season Of Peace Christmas Collection CD in the tray of my perfect example Cambridge Audio CXC CD transport of win-win, the (HFC 401) optically connected to the Xeo 20’s on-board DAC, the Xeo 20 is surely it open space EQ setting isn’t so successful, simply pumping too connections set into the rear panel. much bass into the room when the Here you’ll À nd three direct source track’s low and weighty bottom inputs: 24-bit/192kHz Toslink digital notes kick in. Click back through optical, stereo RCA phono and 3.5mm the wall to the corner setting, mini-jack plus a USB port to update though, and the rather thick and À rmware. And a dead convenient amorphous low-end quality switch to ‘hand’ the master speaker dissipates and what’s left is as left or right channel (there’s a impressive control and extension corresponding one on the back of the without the extraneous energy. other speaker). By-passing cables Balance is restored, while altogether is aptX Bluetooth, which believability snaps into place. like the physical inputs can be And when I say ‘believability’, I accessed from the supplied remote. mean the kind only a well-designed The one thing you won’t need is and engineered active speaker can speaker cables as the master speaker deliver. Initially, the Xeo 20 seems communicates with its ‘slave’ via a a little too pristine, a little too full-fat 24-bit/96kHz wireless signal. squeaky clean, a little too hyper If that isn’t enough, the optional real. Crisp sounds crisper, soft Dynaudio Connect box (£295) adds sounds softer, separation crystalises functionality, including multi-room, out of the haze – only it’s a haze DLNA and wireless 24-bit/96kHz you never registered before. hi-res audio, though that hasn’t Hearing À ner degrees of subtlety been supplied here. and nuance, hearing things for the

18 JANUARY 2019 DYNAUDIO XEO 20 £1,999 IN-DEPTH

IN SIGHT Q&A 1 2 Roland Hoffman 1 28mm soft-dome tweeter Director, Dynaudio Academy

2 Rear-firing bass port slot

3 3 Wall-mountable fixings

4 DSP switches

5 140mm MSP mid/bass driver DV: In which areas does the Xeo 20 improve on the Xeo 4 it replaces? Despite the increased performance, the mid/bass driver and tweeter are in fact the same. The cabinet is slightly taller and wider, allowing a much better bass performance from the larger cabinet volume, but the 4 main benefit comes from the 5 significantly better DSP. It is a much more powerful processor and we’ve used the gained headroom in many CONNECT MORE ways: full 24-bit/96kHz capability, an Dynaudio’s Connect box can be used to expand the Xeo The Connect box automatically hooks up to a home improved crossover resolution with 20’s repertoire, extending its reach to multi-room and wi-fi network and can stream music directly from any a better balance between the two hi-res audio with a wi-fi network as well as offering more suitable mobile device or computer. It’s equipped with drivers, a more precise speaker inputs for additional sources such as a CD player, streamer both analogue and digital inputs including a 3.5mm and turntable. Even the TV needn’t feel left out. And stereo jack, RCA, USB for computers, aptX Bluetooth for placement compensation when because it uses wi-fi, digital files can be accessed from mobile devices and the aforementioned 24-bit/192kHz positioning the speaker near a wall any DLNA device on the network. This extra functionality optical and coaxial digital audio inputs. or corner and an improved limiter joins its built-in aptX Bluetooth support for streaming from The free Dynaudio Control app for iOS can be algorithm, which makes the speaker any suitably equipped device – including smartphones, downloaded to replace the Xeo’s handheld remote and sound better and more composed tablets and computers, while the digital optical and controls both speakers directly as well as the Connect even when playing loud. Last but not coaxial inputs accept 24-bit/192kHz hi-res audio files (USB box itself. And, conveniently, the app makes it possible least, the amplifiers for the mid/bass is 24/96). And if you want to stream wireless hi-res to the to flip between user-nameable inputs, adjust the volume and tweeter are more powerful with Xeo 20, Connect also outputs 24-bit/96kHz over the air. and switch zones in a multi-room setup. 2x 65W per speaker, compared with the 2x 50W in the Xeo 4. That’s drive a big room more easily. This clover. Yes, it is amazing how good ultimately a 130W-per-channel isn’t to say that the Xeo 20’s can’t iPlayer Radio 4 can sound via aptX stereo amplifier. We’ve also added switch it up when asked. The latest Bluetooth as handled by the active functionality with analogue and outing from Muse, Simulation Theory, Dynaudio. Moreover, it’s small HOW IT digital direct inputs as well as a sounds suitably massive and dense on and smart and doesn’t need an COMPARES Bluetooth receiver on board. vinyl as dispatched to the line-level equipment rack. But the real beauty Spending £1,900 input from my resident Elipson of the Xeo 20 is what it can do with Do you see the sales of active on ATC’s SCM11 speakers over taking passive Omega 100 Carbon Black and Rega a hi-res digital feed or even CD, not standmount and types in the future? Fono phono stage. The opener, to mention vinyl. Active speakers Rega Brio amp (HFC Algorithm, is a pounding, synth-laced, have been absent from our homes 422) makes a potent When we introduced our first wireless active Xeo generation back in 2012, pomp rock powerhouse that bumps for too long, but thanks to the arrival passive/analogue it was quite a surprise to many. along the ragged edge of overkill so of designs from KEF, Acoustic Energy alternative, but lacks the Dynaudio’s two- Since then, Dynaudio’s growth as joyously it’s almost a crime not to and Dynaudio the movement is box simplicity and a company has come from active crank up the volume. The Dynaudio gathering momentum and, for music flexibility. The most speaker ranges such as Music, Xeo doesn’t mind a bit, giving the track lovers, that’s great news O obvious rival is KEF’s and Focus XD. So long term, it’s identically priced all the low-frequency weight and easy to see sales of active speakers drive it deserves and, perhaps more LS50 Wireless (HFC 433), which is bigger overtaking. However, there will remarkably still, great dynamic and weightier, and always be music enthusiasts freedom. It’s enough to break out OUR VERDICT that’s how it sounds, more interested in comparing the air keyboard, but for those less too. It’s also a little and selecting individual audio SOUND QUALITY LIKE: Compact; inclined to get carried away just flexible; terrific, studio- more sophisticated components. Dynaudio plans soaking up the pitch-perfect rendition clear sound quality with wi-fi network to continue with its passive of the instrumental collision and VALUE FOR MONEY DISLIKE: Care needed compatibility and loudspeakers and will also introduce with positioning; DSP more finely graded new models and new technology sheer work rate on display could EQ settings DSP EQ options, BUILD QUALITY in its designs, with at least two new be reward enough. WE SAY: Seldom which means it has clutter-free offers better ranges to come in 2019. convenience looked Conclusion FEATURES material value. As or sounded so good If ever there was a perfect example for ultimate sound quality, the Xeo 2 of win-win for the hi-À shopper, the OVERALL just about shades Xeo 20 is surely it. Assuming that it for musical insight high-performance system seekers and transparency. aren’t set on separates, they’ll be in

JANUARY 2019 19

Hi-Fi Choice employs the most rigorous test and measurement regime in the business. Here’s how we do it...

REFERENCE SYSTEM SOURCE/CONTROL DEVICE Apple iPad Pro Unique group tests Apple iMac Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 Pro (Android) Dell Latitude 5290 (Windows) Our Group Tests are supported by rigorous and exhaustive listening tests carried out by experts

WIRELESS SPEAKER SYSTEMS GROUP TEST TEST MUSIC AS WELL AS being vital to voice-recognition music À les. Apple’s HomePod only works with JÓHANN JÓHANNSSON tech, any built-in microphones also allow the Apple devices, so we test this with an iPad and Orphée Flight From The City 16/44.1 ALAC speakers to calibrate their sound output to suit iMac computer, while an Android tablet is used the layout and acoustic properties of the room with the Google and JBL speakers that rely on they’re placed in. Some speakers, such as Google’s Chromecast software. Apple’s HomePod, perform this calibration Each manufacturer provides its own app to automatically each time they are switched on. control its speakers, and these also offer access But for models like the Sonos One, we follow to online streaming services. However, models the instructions in the app and use Apple or that support Apple’s AirPlay can stream any Android tablets to manually optimise the sound music service from any Apple device without to the room before listening commences. needing it to be embedded in the manufacturer’s Although wired and wireless connectivity own app. This gives us the opportunity to options are available, our tests focus on stream hi-res MQA material supported by Tidal’s streaming music via a wi-À network, which streaming service for the Queen and Jóhann DAMIEN RICE provides greater bandwidth for our lossless Jóhannsson tracks as well as 16/44.1 À les. O The Blower’s Daughter 16/44.1 ALAC

BLONDIE Atomic: The Very Best Of Blondie Rapture 16/44.1 ALAC

BLIND LISTENING TESTS high enough to make dif erences consensus, or otherwise then This crucial process is very easily discernible. Then the forms the basis of our sound QUEEN carefully controlled so that we choice of music is agreed – it quality section. Bohemian Rhapsody (OST) get reliable and consistent needs to be familiar, but also well At the end of the session, Bohemian Rhapsody 16/44.1 ALAC results in a relaxed and friendly recorded and of su icient variety there’s a final debrief when atmosphere. Our listeners must to give meaningful listening panellists discuss their findings. not feel that they’re being tested, comparisons. The chosen It’s an exhaustive process, but despite being unaware of the selection of music is played, and carried out in this way is free brand or price of the products the panellists are encouraged to from prejudices based on brand, they are auditioning. discuss their impressions of the price or appearance, while the The session begins by setting sound of the product. This is then dif erent sensitivities of the the volume level to an agreed repeated, and periodically the listeners help to round out point, one that all three panellists panel listens to earlier products the analysis in order to make feel comfortable with, yet that is for reference purposes. The it more widely applicable.

22 JANUARY 2019

WIRELESS SPEAKER SYSTEMS £200-£500 Smart thinking As the new generation of intelligent speakers puts an emphasis on sound quality, Clif Joseph listens to six popular models

24 JANUARY 2019 SMART SPEAKERS HAVE been with more emphasis on sound quality and entry-level Sonos One speaker, which is us for a few years now since Amazon À rst raised the bar for the rapidly expanding no longer just a gimmick, but the way launched its Echo offering back in 2014. sector. It’s a competitive area, and in many of us now interact with our music Costing less than £100, its mediocre recent months a number of respected systems as we go about our daily routine. sound quality hasn’t won it many fans audio manufacturers have updated their With additional features such as among audiophiles, but its Alexa own smart speaker designs that look multi-room connectivity as well as the voice-recognition system has proved to be to combine good sound quality with option to pair two speakers for wireless a big hit and kick-started a new category state-of-the-art smart technology and stereo sound, it’s worth looking at the of intelligent speakers almost overnight. more Á exible connectivity options. full range of features provided by each Google’s Home smart speaker arrived model to determine if it can form part a couple of years later, but it wasn’t until Look who’s talking of a wider music system in your home. Apple unveiled its HomePod in early 2018 Sonos was the À rst, adding support for To À nd out which sounds the best and that smart speakers À nally began to put Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant to its has the smartest tech, read on...

ON TEST

Apple Bluesound Google JBL Riva Audio Sonos HomePod £319 p27 Pulse Mini 2i £499 p29 Home Max £399 p31 Link 500 £350 p33 Stadium £449 p35 One £199 p37 Its launch had a few Bluesound treats smart A respectable attempt An attractive smart US-based Riva Audio Excellent value for hiccups and it only voice technology as an by Google to move its speaker that opts for is a bit of a newcomer money, this compact works with Apple optional extra, but this range of smart speakers Google’s Assistant to the UK market, but its and affordable little devices, but the updated version of the more upmarket but, as technology, the Link 500 Stadium speaker makes speaker provides good HomePod’s sleek popular Pulse Mini with Apple’s HomePod, provides a clear, detailed a big impression with its sound quality and a design combines brings together the its appeal is mainly sound and the clever powerful and precise selection of smart attractive sound company’s sound limited to smartphones DSP ensures it delivers sound quality, good technologies that quality with Apple’s quality expertise and and tablets that use its plenty of bass for rock connectivity and will appeal to a wide Siri voice technology. multi-room support. own software. and pop music fans. competitive price. range of users.

JANUARY 2019 25 Carbon DomeTM Tweeter for amazing accuracy

Solid Body Tweeter for life-like imaging

ContinuumTM cone for exceptional transparency

Decoupled FSTTM chassis for the cleanest midrange

AerofoilTM7YVÄSLSV^ frequency drive units for deep and dynamic bass

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And now for a limited time, with every 700 Series purchase, you will receive up to £400 of Chord Company factory terminated loudspeaker cable. See your local participating retailer for more information.*

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MIX AND MATCH

For all its slick hardware design, the real game-changer for the HomePod could prove to be AirPlay 2. The software allows you to pair two HomePod speakers together or to create a multi-room setup with several HomePods in dif erent rooms. Better still, Apple has licensed AirPlay 2 to other manufacturers – including Sonos and Bluesound. This means that any speaker that uses the software will be able to connect with compatible AirPlay 2 speakers from other manufacturers as well. So, rather than buying a complete Apple multi-room system from a single company, such as Sonos, it is now possible to have a Sonos One in your HomePod £319 kitchen, a HomePod in the bedroom, and the larger Bluesound Mini 2i in This compact smart speaker sounds good, but will its your lounge – with all three speakers unwillingness to play nicely with others hold it back? linked together via AirPlay 2.

DETAILS here’s no denying you can stream audio from NetÁ ix or it stretches out its repeated refrain as PRODUCT the ingenuity of the BBC iPlayer as easily as Spotify or though afraid to À nally let go. It even Apple HomePod T HomePod’s design. Apple’s own music streaming service. manages to pick out some of the ORIGIN Standing just 172mm lower notes on the guitar, which USA/China high, the cylindrical unit houses a Sound quality sometimes get lost on lesser products TYPE circular array of seven tweeters that The HomePod shows an admirably on this distinctly low-À piece. Wireless multi-room À re sound through a full 360° around light touch with the sad stillness of The HomePod proves light on its smart speaker the speaker, topped off with a single, Flight From The City, as the mournful feet as Blondie changes pace with the WEIGHT 2.5kg upward-À ring woofer. There are six rumble of the low piano underpins crisp, sharp cymbal crash that kicks DIMENSIONS separate microphones squeezed in as the melancholy mood and contrasts off Rapture. The percussion skips (WxHxD) well to detect your commands when with the lighter strings that hang along with a lively rhythm, while 142 x 172 x 142mm using Apple’s Siri voice technology. gently in the air. It’s an attractive, the bass line stands out well from the FEATURES In other respects the HomePod is open sound that gently breathes out jangling guitar riff, despite the modest O Quoted power output: Not specified actually quite limited. You can only and À lls the room without sounding size of the speaker. It’s only with O Up to 16-bit/ stream music to it via your home wi-À strained, giving each instrument Bohemian Rhapsody that it comes 44.1kHz playback network, and only from Apple devices plenty of room to express itself. up a little short. To be fair, it handles O Wi-fi and AirPlay 2 wireless connectivity such as its Mac computers, an iPhone That relaxed, open sound works the bombast of the operatic chorus DISTRIBUTOR or iPad. There’s no Bluetooth and no well with The Blower’s Daughter, so well, capturing all the detail of Apple UK wired inputs. But if you live in an that Damien Rice’s low vocal – “life the multi-layered harmonies, and TELEPHONE Apple-only home, AirPlay 2 provides goes easy on me… most of the time” lending a sharp edge to Roger Taylor’s 0800 0480408 versatility and ease of use. As well – sounds like a live performance in shrieking falsetto. But when the song WEBSITE as stereo-pairing and multi-room my living room. Again, the HomePod launches into the head-banging rock apple.com/uk capabilities, AirPlay 2 allows you to creates an effective contrast between section, Brian May’s guitar riff could stream music or audio from any app the light strumming of the acoustic use just a little extra weight and or online service that you choose – so guitar and the rich, resonant cello as impact to make it truly convincing O

OUR VERDICT SOUND QUALITY LIKE: Pleasingly open sound with impressive clarity and detail VALUE FOR MONEY DISLIKE: Only works with Apple devices; poor connectivity BUILD QUALITY WE SAY: A classy little speaker, but its Apple-only focus is a FEATURES considerable limitation

OVERALL

JANUARY 2019 27 STORIED SOUND FOR EVERY MOMENT.

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SEMI SMART

The Pulse Mini 2i undeniably sounds good, but in some ways it’s the least ‘smart’ speaker in this group. It doesn’t have an internal microphone, so – on its own – it can’t listen out for your voice commands to control it or more traditional smart features like ordering a pizza. It is, however, ‘semi-smart’ as it includes a piece of software – called a ‘skill’ – that allows it to work with the Amazon Alexa voice assistant when used in conjunction with one of Amazon’s Echo devices. We’re not too keen on the main Echo speaker (£89), but Bluesound there’s a cheaper option in the form of the Echo Dot (HFC 421). At £40 this provides an af ordable microphone Pulse Mini 2i £499 add-on that allows you to use voice control with the Pulse Mini 2i if It might not be the smartest, but the Pulse Mini 2i of ers smart operability really remains excellent multi-room and hi-res steaming support an important consideration to you.

DETAILS upplied in black or white Bluesound’s Controller app can Rhapsody. This is one of the largest PRODUCT À nishes, Bluesound has group speakers together as part of a and heaviest speakers in the group, Bluesound S reÀ ned the four internal multi-room setup, but the simple task and its solid build allows it to handle Pulse Mini 2i drivers and two ampliÀ ers of playing music from my iPad leaves the power of the song’s À nal rock ORIGIN inside its Pulse Mini 2i speaker to me lost in a maze of menus. refrain with ease, keeping the bass Canada/China provide a total 100W output along and crashing cymbals clear and TYPE with support for the latest multi-room Sound quality distinct. There’s no distortion as I Wireless multi-room smart speaker and smart voice technologies from The À rst thing that really stands out push up the volume either, so a single WEIGHT Amazon and Apple. with the Pulse Mini 2i is the imposing speaker will be enough for most 3.7kg There is one caveat here, though. 100W output, as the cymbal-crash rooms – although there is still an DIMENSIONS The Mini 2i is designed to support that launches Rapture rings out like option to pair two speakers together (WxHxD) both Apple’s AirPlay 2 software, shattering glass even with the volume if you want a true 2.0 stereo system. 335 x 172 x 155mm and the Amazon Alexa smart voice at just 25 percent. I can hear every The Mini 2i isn’t just about power, FEATURES O Quoted power technology, but at the time of its light touch of the infectious tick-tick however. There’s a relaxed, natural output: 100W launch in November Bluesound rhythm on the cymbals and as the tone to the lightly strummed guitar O Up to 24-bit/ was still waiting for À nal approval to bass guitar starts to swing along with on The Blower’s Daughter that really 192kHz playback O Wi-fi; Bluetooth; ‘activate’ those features, so you’ll need effortless ease, it’s clear that this is a captures the feel of a live performance. 3.5mm analogue/ to check before buying (see boxout). good option if you want a powerful Damien Rice’s vocal sounds very optical inputs Along with wi-À networking, it’s speaker that can get the party started. natural too, and there’s an attractive DISTRIBUTOR one of the few speakers in the group It doesn’t lack detail though, and warmth to the brief burst of harmonies Sevenoaks Sound & Vision that also provides both Bluetooth the twin pairs of bass drivers and towards the end. And, À nally, the TELEPHONE streaming and wired inputs, with tweeters provide just enough Bluesound also knows when to relax 01732 740944 a dual 3.5mm analogue/optical separation to capture the sense of a little and just allow the strings to WEBSITE connector as well as a USB port for scale in the cascading harmonies and simply hang in the air and then fade bluesound.com/ playing music from a memory stick. widescreen production of Bohemian slowly away at the end of the song O en-gb

OUR VERDICT SOUND QUALITY LIKE: Versatile connections; powerful and detailed sound VALUE FOR MONEY DISLIKE: Complex BluOS app; some facilities awaiting BUILD QUALITY software update WE SAY: A little pricey, but a powerful FEATURES performer packed with the latest tech OVERALL

JANUARY 2019 29

WIRELESS SPEAKER SYSTEMS £200£500 GROUPTEST

PARANOID ANDROID

The Home Max uses Chromecast to stream audio over wi-fi and to link multiple speakers in dif erent rooms. Many smartphones and tablets that use Google’s Android software already have this built in, making it a good choice for Android users. Some other speakers – such as JBL’s Link 500 – also use Chromecast, allowing you to connect speakers from other manufacturers as well. There is a Google Home app for the Apple iPhone and iPad that lets you use the Google Assistant voice technology, but it doesn’t support a very wide Google range of online music services. This means Apple users will have to rely on Bluetooth for listening to music Home Max £399 from their device. There’s no app for Mac or Windows computers either, so A newcomer to the audio market, this is a credible Bluetooth is again the only option if attempt to combine smart tech with strong sound you intend to use your computer.

DETAILS vailable in either chalk or Sound quality extremes of high and low frequencies. PRODUCT charcoal shades, the Home Google may be a newcomer to the The midrange seems constrained and Google Home Max A Max boasts respectable audio market, but the Home Max the guitar is often overshadowed by ORIGIN audio hardware, with two makes a good À rst impression. The the bass and percussion. UK/China 114mm mid/bass drivers and a pair solidity of the speaker lends the lower It also struggles to balance the TYPE of 18mm tweeters. It’s very solidly piano notes on Flight From The City a multi-layered bombast of Bohemian Wireless multi-room built too, with a weight of 5.3kg that deep, ominous rumble and there’s a Rhapsody. The operatic section seems smart speaker outguns most rivals in the group. real sense of physical separation while to favour the higher, falsetto vocals, WEIGHT 5.3kg Unsurprisingly, it leans heavily the lighter strings Á oat higher in the as the lower voices fade into the DIMENSIONS towards smartphones and tablets air as the sound easily À lls the room. background. To its credit, it handles (WxHxD) using Google’s Android software, The strings work well on The the power of the heavy rock pretty 336 x 190 x 154mm as well as its Chromecast music Blower’s Daughter too, wringing well, putting a strong focus on May’s FEATURES streaming software. This bias means a rich, woody texture from the guitar and Mercury’s solo vocals. But O Quoted power output: Not specified it’s not a good choice if you want to mournful cello. Rice’s voice sounds once again, the midrange suffers with O Up to 24-bit/ use it with Apple devices or Windows full and warm, and the resonance of the piano and drums struggling to 96kHz playback computers, but it isn’t quite as blinkered the acoustic guitar’s strumming adds keep up as the song drives towards O Wi-fi; Chromecast; Bluetooth; 3.5mm in its approach as the HomePod. As a sense of urgency to the song. its climax. Ironically, perhaps, the line-in well as offering wi-À and Chromecast, However, the Home Max starts to Home Max reminds me of Apple’s DISTRIBUTOR the Home Max also boasts Bluetooth lose its balance as we move onto Beats headphone – a strong, lively Google streaming and a 3.5mm audio input. more densely layered sounds. Rapture sound that favours the bass end of WEBSITE If you really want the full versatility kicks off nicely, with a À rm, precise the spectrum. It’ll be great for parties, store.google.com of multi-room connectivity and stereo drumbeat leading through the intro. but doesn’t really have the necessary pairing, the Home Max works best The bass guitar has a full sound to it balance and precision for audiophiles with Android devices that can connect as well, but at times the Home Max who want to delve into every little to it via wi-À . leans a little too heavily towards the detail of their music collection O

OUR VERDICT SOUND QUALITY LIKE: Lively, powerful sound; good connectivity VALUE FOR MONEY DISLIKE: Midrange feels a little weak; bias towards BUILD QUALITY Android devices WE SAY: A good first attempt, but Google is FEATURES still learning the ropes in the hi-fi market OVERALL

JANUARY 2019 31 PREMIUM QUALITY AUDIO PERFORMANCE

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STEREO NO-GO

With its twin pair of mid/bass drivers and tweeters and big bass port on the back, the Link 500 is designed as an all-in-one stereo system. Because of that – and unlike most of the smart speakers here – you can’t pair two units together for wireless stereo. However, Chromecast can still be used to link dif erent speakers as part of a multi-room system, which also ensures that the Link 500 works with other Chromecast-compatible of erings such as the Google Home Max. But, as with the Home Max, the Link 500 is less compatible with JBL other types of devices. You can only stream music through a handful of online services, and if you store your Link 500 £350 music library on Apple computers and mobile devices or a Windows JBL’s considerable audio know-how meets Google’s PC, you’ll have to rely on Bluetooth digital tech, but will it be a match made in heaven? to be able to listen to it.

DETAILS ne of the few speakers to Sound quality It’s left to up-tempo rock and pop PRODUCT use Google’s Assistant The Link 500’s performance can tracks like Rapture to show the Link JBL Link 500 O to respond to your voice be decidedly erratic. Despite its 500 at its best. The bass guitar doesn’t ORIGIN commands, rather than respectable 60W output, it is almost overwhelm the other instruments, USA/China Amazon’s Alexa, the Link 500 also inaudible at below 30 percent volume, driving the song along aided by the TYPE relies on Chromecast to connect to especially on more delicate tracks like sharp, precise percussion. The Link Wireless multi-room your home wi-À network and provide Flight From The City, which needs a 500 keeps its eye on all the details smart speaker multi-room streaming. It’s this gentle touch to coax its light strings too, including the tinkling cowbells WEIGHT 3.5kg emphasis on Google tech that means into life. If you’re looking for some and blaring sax during Debbie Harry’s DIMENSIONS that the Link 500 works best with late-night mood music, the JBL isn’t proto-rap interlude. (WxHxD) Android smartphones and tablets going to be the best choice. It also handles the rich harmonies 370 x 200 x 157mm packing Chromecast. Other devices, Thankfully, the sound starts to gain of Bohemian Rhapsody very well. The FEATURES such as Apple’s iPhones and iPads, presence as you near the halfway gentle voices in the introduction are O Quoted power output: 60W will be limited to Bluetooth. mark and that large bass radiator smooth and detailed, and it’s nice to O Up to 24-bit/ Otherwise, the Link 500 boasts two adds a dramatic weight to the deep hear John Deacon’s bass clearly in the 192kHz playback 89mm mid/bass drivers and a brace piano chords that underpin the piece. À rst couple of verses for a change. O Wi-fi; Chromecast; Bluetooth of 20mm tweeters – arranged in pairs There’s a clear, precise sound to the There’s a real edge to the operatic DISTRIBUTOR on the left and right sides – along strings as well, which is also evident chorus that keeps the cascading Harman with a large, passive bass port on the in the acoustic guitar on The Blower’s voices clear and balanced. And while Consumer UK back of the unit. The speaker supports Daughter, picking out all the little it might sound a little anaemic at TELEPHONE a good spread of audio formats, but À nger noises of Rice’s light strumming. lower volume levels, the Link 500 0161 2223325 the Google Home app used to control The bass port gets a little out of hand works a treat when it rolls up its WEBSITE uk.jbl.com it doesn’t support a wide range of here, however, with some of the deep sleeves for the headbanging climax, streaming services, forcing you to rely cello notes booming out and rather keeping guitar, bass and drums clear on Bluetooth for Qobuz or Tidal. overwhelming the sound at times. and well separated throughout O

OUR VERDICT SOUND QUALITY LIKE: Clear, precise midrange and higher frequencies VALUE FOR MONEY DISLIKE: Lacklustre at lower volumes; bias for Android devices BUILD QUALITY WE SAY: A good option for rock and pop, but it rather FEATURES lacks sonic versatility

OVERALL

JANUARY 2019 33

WIRELESS SPEAKER SYSTEMS £200£500 GROUPTEST

STADIUM ROCK

There’s a reason why this speaker is called the Stadium – and it’s not just down to its enormous 200W output. Riva Audio is an of shoot of Audio Design Experts, and CEO Rikki Farr has a long history in promoting and producing live music, including early performances from Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. Farr is a technology pioneer and an early adopter of wireless technology in live performances, which required the development of ‘live concert time alignment’ tech that is now widely used in the industry. Riva’s audio Riva Audio research continues with features such as the Stadium’s ‘Trillium’ system, which up-mixes two-channel Stadium £449 stereo to produce a wider virtual soundstage through the three sets A relative newcomer in the consumer market, can of drivers – front, left and right – Riva’s years of industry experience give it the edge? housed within the speaker.

DETAILS omething of an unknown others, Riva says that AirPlay 2 will Turning on a sixpence, it kicks into PRODUCT in the UK, Riva’s recently come in a future software update a gentler mood with The Blower’s Riva Audio Stadium S released Stadium certainly along with Amazon Alexa software Daughter picking up the barely ORIGIN makes an impression. The and multi-room support. audible strumming in the opening USA/China chunky speaker weighs in at a hefty and gently lifting the sound up to TYPE 6.4kg and houses three woofers and Sound quality drift through the air. The simple Wireless multi-room tweeters, powered by six amps to Riva’s experience in the music four-note refrain on the cello carries smart speaker provide a full 200W output. There are business stands it in good stead a world-weary sadness of tone – WEIGHT 6.4kg also four passive bass radiators, with (see boxout), and the Stadium can made even more poignant when it’s DIMENSIONS two each on the front and back. handle the quiet moments in Bohemian repeated later in the song with the (WxHxD) The Riva Voice app is only available Rhapsody as comfortably as the heavy more fragile sound of the violin. 365 x 180 x 200mm for iOS and Android mobile devices, rock riffs. There’s a warm, full tone to The Stadium even handles the FEATURES but the speaker supports Amazon’s the piano, a crisp, sustained shimmer mournful Flight From The City with a O Quoted power output: 200W Alexa voice technology, AirPlay, on the cymbals and then just the well-judged lightness of touch. The O Up to 24-bit/ Bluetooth and DLNA for network lightest touch on the chimes. four bass radiators keep the deeper 192kHz playback media players along with a 3.5mm It takes Queen’s operatic wall of piano notes À rm and contained, while O Wi-fi; AirPlay 2; Bluetooth; DLNA; line-in, optical input and USB port. sound in its stride, carefully balancing the rich tone of the strings slowly 3.5mm jack; optical The app isn’t that slick and takes a each set of voices, from the deeper draws you in. Meanwhile, it shows digital; USB port few attempts to successfully connect tenor chants up to the glass-cutting the gentlest of touches on the chimes DISTRIBUTOR the speaker to my home network. falsetto. The sheer power of the that seem to Á oat just out of reach. Riva Audio Multi-room features haven’t been speaker means Brian May’s guitar riff The sound quality of the Stadium TELEPHONE 0871 9006000 À nalised at the time of launch, but takes off like a rocket, but doesn’t recommends itself and if Riva is able WEBSITE AirPlay support allows me to stream overwhelm the rest of the band and to deliver the promised multi-room rivaaudio.co.uk Tidal’s MQA music from my ofÀ ce it’s Taylor’s sharp cymbal strikes that features in its updated app, it will Mac, which is a nice touch. Like ring out and set the pace. represent excellent value for money O

OUR VERDICT SOUND QUALITY LIKE: Powerful and precise sound; good wired and wireless VALUE FOR MONEY connectivity DISLIKE: Some functionality awaiting BUILD QUALITY software update WE SAY: Despite a quirky app, sound, FEATURES features and value are hard to beat OVERALL

JANUARY 2019 35 6000 Series

Ȋ$KXJHO\FDSDEOHVWHUHRDPSOLȴHUȐ FOHDUUHȴQHGDQGDUWLFXODWHVRXQGȐELJ VSDFLRXVSUHVHQWDWLRQȋ (6000A) What Hi-Fi? Sept 18

IAG House, 13/14 Glebe Road, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, PE29 7DL, UK Tel: +44 (0)1480 452561 Fax: +44 (0)1480 413403 www.audiolab.co.uk WIRELESS SPEAKER SYSTEMS £200£500 GROUPTEST

ONE FOR ALL

The Sonos One is a modest little speaker in size and price, but of ers plenty of scope for expanding your music system to suit your taste. As you’d expect, the One can be used with other Sonos speakers as part of a multi-room audio system, but you can also fit it into a home cinema setup as well. A couple of Ones along with the Beam soundbar (HFC 441) will provide front and centre channels for watching films on TV, and you can add rear speakers as well, using the larger Play:3 or Play:5 (HFC 412), or even the Sonos Sub to Sonos really beef up the sound of those Hollywood blockbusters. There’s a new Sonos Amp on the way in One £199 February and Sonos has also worked with other manufacturers, such The leader in multi-room audio has added smart voice as Onkyo, to make its speakers technology to its range, but is it still top of the pops? compatible with their receivers.

DETAILS e were impressed with the this one of the most versatile smart Turning things down a little allows PRODUCT Sonos One when it À rst speakers currently available. the Sonos to settle back into its Sonos One W launched in 2017, since comfort zone, and the rich tones of ORIGIN then it’s added Amazon’s Sound quality Flight From The City swaddles my ears USA/China Alexa smart technology and AirPlay 2. It may stand just a little over 160mm like a winter duvet. Without Queen’s TYPE This means that as well as using the high, but the Sonos One punches well sonic overload to deal with, the One Wireless multi-room Sonos as part of a multi-room setup above its weight. Even at modest allows the simple piano and string smart speaker with its other speakers, you can volume levels the bass guitar on arrangement to À ll the room with WEIGHT 1.85kg now link it together with AirPlay 2 Rapture stands out and bounces along sound, while the light electronic DIMENSIONS offerings from other manufacturers, with infectious rhythm. The percussion chimes linger in the air as those (WxHxD) such as Apple’s HomePod. is a delight too, fast and pacey but deep piano notes rumble mournfully 120 x 161 x 120mm The Sonos Controller app is well precise enough to pick out the into the distance. FEATURES designed and provides plenty of tinkling cow-bells alongside the If your musical tastes lean more O Quoted power output: Not specified assistance when getting started – drums and cymbals. That precision towards bombast, then the One might O Up to 16-bit/ although it will help if you’re able to doesn’t fade in the face of Bohemian not have the solid build or sound 48kHz playback connect the speaker directly to your Rhapsody, managing to pull out the required to function as your main O Wi-fi, Ethernet router using an Ethernet cable during À rm underpinning of drums and bass music system, but it will work a treat DISTRIBUTOR Sonos UK the initial set-up process. Once that’s in the operatic section even as Queen for more delicate sounds, especially TELEPHONE done you can switch over to wi-À if are fandango-ing at the top of their when used in smaller rooms such as 0800 0261526 you prefer – but not Bluetooth or lungs. But, like the HomePod, it a bedroom or kitchen. And, at this WEBSITE wired inputs, which both remain struggles with the heavy rock passage. price, there’s always the option of sonos.com/en-gb absent. The Controller app works It is – somewhat surprisingly – loud beeÀ ng up the performance with a with a wide range of devices and enough to À ll the room, but the sound second speaker for wireless stereo currently includes 61 different online starts to get a little fuzzy around the in the living room, while still having streaming services as well, making edges as you push the volume up. change left from £400 O

OUR VERDICT SOUND QUALITY LIKE: Impressive sound; versatile multi-room features; VALUE FOR MONEY comprehensive streaming integration DISLIKE: No Bluetooth BUILD QUALITY or wired inputs WE SAY: Perfectly formed, great FEATURES value entry-level smart speaker OVERALL

JANUARY 2019 37 WIRELESS SPEAKER SYSTEMS GROUPTEST £200£500

Group test verdict Smart voice technology may be the latest must-have, but it’s the performance that matters in the end says Clif Joseph as he reveals the final countdown

IN THE CONTEXT of this roundup, arrangements more effectively – computers and mobile devices, and the ability to do something like although both speakers lean a little its clumsiness is redeemed by a ordering a pizza simply by talking to heavily on the bass. This is À ne for sure-footed sound that combines your speaker is far less important party time, but less suitable for more clarity and detail with just enough WINNER than the sound quality it offers. Even discerning listening. power to roar when it needs to. so, the technology used by our test Apple’s HomePod delivers an The Sonos One provides a Riva Audio’s Stadium models often reÁ ects a bias towards attractively light and detailed sound, versatile app that works with most combines heavyweight certain types of devices. The Google but its limited connectivity and the computers and mobile devices, as power with a light, open Home Max and JBL Link 500 work fact that it only works with Apple well as supporting an unrivalled and detailed sound that works equally well with best with Android devices. The former devices are annoying and rather choice of streaming services. It classical music and is a creditable attempt by Google to short-sighted limitations. doesn’t quite have the presence heavy rock. Throw in appeal to audiophiles, but ultimately Bluesound’s Pulse Mini 2i is more required to function as your a good selection of its power and enthusiasm are held of a mixed bag. Its app is unhelpful primary speaker system, but its wired and wireless back by a slight midrange weakness. at times and its smart voice features performance is admirable for a connections, and the The Link 500 is capable of a more are relatively limited. However, the compact offering that costs barely Stadium represents great value too. balanced sound, able to handle denser app works with a wide range of half the price of some of its rivals.

Make/model Apple Bluesound Google JBL Riva Audio Sonos HomePod Pulse Mini 2i Home Max Link 500 Stadium One

Price £319 £499 £399 £350 £449 £199 Sound Value Build Features Overall , Decent clarity and A powerful, detailed Good connectivity A clean precise The quirky app is the The absence of both detail, but limited performer albeit at a and a lively sound performance that only concern on this inputs and Bluetooth connectivity and high price and with are let down by a loses impact at otherwise highly are the main flaws for compatibility fiddly operation lacklustre midrange lower volume levels impressive performer this worthwhile option

Key features

Streaming 16/44.1 24/192 (MQA support) 24/96 24/192 24/192 (MQA support) 16/48

Control app iOS iOS/Android iOS/Android iOS/Android iOS/Android iOS/Android

Chromecast No No Yes Yes No No

AirPlay 2 Yes Yes No No Yes Yes

Bluetooth No Yes (aptX HD) Yes Yes Yes No

TRY WITH THESE

PORTABLE DAC/AMPLIFIER: MUSIC HI-RES PORTABLE iFi Audio xDSD £399 HFC 439 STREAMING MUSIC PLAYER: The emphasis may be on wireless streaming, but many SERVICE: Astell&Kern A&Norma smart speakers also provide wired connections too, and Tidal £20/m SR15 £600 HFC 443 the xDSD is an excellent option if you want to connect a HFC 414 A&K’s latest player sounds a lot computer to play hi-res music files up to 32-bit/384kHz There’s been better than it looks. The chunky PCM and DSD256 controversy over design – with its oddly angled via USBAudio. It’s its subscriber screen – doesn’t mar the SR15’s portable too, with a numbers, but Tidal’s £20 premium subscription excellent sound quality. The handy Bluetooth includes its MQA Masters streaming format, and is player supports high-quality aptX option and still the most affordable option for people who want HD for Bluetooth streaming, and rechargeable hi-res audio (although Qobuz has just cut its hi-res can even be used as a DAC with battery pack. subscription to £25 per month). either Mac or Windows PCs.

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MARKAUDIOSOTA EXOTICA CESTI MB £995

42 JANUARY 2019 MARKAUDIOSOTA CESTI MB £995 EXOTICA

DETAILS and the Cesti MB changes gear in a nanosecond, capturing the full impact PRODUCT Markaudio-Sota of this incredibly expressive track. Cesti MB This is a speaker that is far faster Going solo ORIGIN and more responsive than its China speciÀ cations might suggest. Bass TYPE is surprisingly potent and clean from Can this single driver standmount speaker Full-range, single- driver standmount such a diminutive driver in such an design really deliver full-range qualities? loudspeaker elegant box. WEIGHT On-axis, the speaker is claimed to Chris Ward pulls up a chair to find out 6.1kg have a natural treble lift over 10kHz DIMENSIONS for a wider sweet spot. Swapping (WxHxD) 226 x 336 x 194mm the speakers left to right is also ingle driver, full-range You can even turn another Cesti MB FEATURES fascinating. With the scalloped loudspeakers have been on its side if you wish to utilise it as O 1x 110mm waveguide on the inside, the sweet a holy grail in audio circles a centre speaker in a multi-channel metal cone spot appears to be wider, and when S full-range driver since the dawn of sound setup. Around the back, high-quality O Quoted sensitivity: reversed the speakers image even reproduction. A successful one-way binding posts take all common cable 87dB/1W/1m (6ohm) more precisely. design will reproduce deep bass to terminations and there’s even a raised DISTRIBUTOR The highest treble energy can soaring treble highs beyond the range guard between the terminals to stop Markaudio-Sota occasionally feel a little chamfered off of human hearing while maintaining accidental shorting, which is a neat TELEPHONE when compared with speaker designs perfect phase, such that all touch. A rear bass reÁ ex port sits off 07534 104023 with a dedicated tweeter, but this is frequencies seamlessly emanate from centre to complete the understated WEBSITE nowhere near as pronounced as other markaudiosota. a perfect point source. This nirvana design. The front grilles attach co.uk one-way designs I’ve heard. In fact, enables the intrusive and often magnetically, so there are no À xings the treble feels so correct that any loss heavy-handed passive crossover that to spoil the elegant lines. of extension is more than made up for commonly passes high frequencies to Given the nature of any one-way by a far greater coherence with the tweeter and lower notes to any design, the Cesti MB beneÀ ts from midband detail. This is most evident mid/bass drivers to be removed from taller stands (around 60cm) that raise with acoustic instruments. For the audio chain altogether, avoiding the speaker to ear level when seated, example, the brass solo in Little any unconvincing overlaps and but treble dispersion is claimed to be Brown Jug by The Syd Lawrence further increasing transparency. very forgiving. I experiment with Orchestra is utterly compelling, as Those that chase this seemingly lighter, open frame designs and more pure notes, vibrato, textural rasps and substantial pillar supports with a harmonic overtones are conveyed as a Bass is surprisingly slight preference for higher mass single instrument rather than cobbled designs, which aid bass performance. together from traditionally disparate potent and clean The gloss I hook up a Shanling CD-T100 cabinet comes mid/bass drivers and tweeters. Out from such a HDCD player via Chord Company in black, white of curiosity, I swap out solid-state Epic interconnects to a Hegel Röst or red finishes ampliÀ cation for a pair of Audion diminutive driver integrated ampliÀ er (HFC 418) linked to the speakers using Black Rhodium impossible dream often get close to Foxtrot speaker cable (HFC 412). The the addictive coherence that is run-in period recommended by the promised, only to pay the price of designer is a lengthy 100 hours, and I lacklustre treble and weedy bass. So, note continual improvements during when relative newcomer Markaudio- this time. The Cesti MB appears very Sota claims a reassuringly deep 40Hz tolerant of room position and I can up to an ultrasonic 25kHz from its subtly adjust bass quantity and pint-sized, Cesti MB standmount, I’m quality by proximity to the rear wall, preparing to be polite. but settle with the speaker about Saying something is “a thing of 30cm away and with a slight toe-in. beauty” is an overused term, but while unboxing the Cesti MB I’m Sound quality really struck by its silky curves Listening to Imagining My Man on and Á awless À nish. The cabinet is CD by Aldous Harding is a treat. seemingly hewn from pristine marble The opening piano and guitar are such is the quality of high-density portrayed as real instruments in a À breboard construction and the highly believable acoustic space with immaculate lacquered paintwork compelling roundness and body. – available in gloss white, black or Harding’s quiet, close-miked vocals even bold red. Central and proud is a appear centre stage with loads of diminutive 110mm metal driver that textured detail and air that the Cesti incorporates an integrated dust cap. MB takes in its stride. It is already The wide bafÁ e has an attractive apparent that the speaker has asymmetric shallow scalloped excellent bandwidth, with plenty of waveguide that is claimed to gently top-end extension that seamlessly alter sound dispersion, such that the compliments a beautifully transparent speakers can be placed left or right midband. Harding injects loads of according to the listener’s preference. power and emotion into another lyric

JANUARY 2019 43 MARKAUDIOSOTA EXOTICA CESTI MB £995

Q&A IN SIGHT

Mark Fenlon 1 110mm metal cone Designer and chief engineer, full-range driver

Markaudio-Sota 2 Single wire binding posts

3 Rear-firing bass reflex port

CW: What led to the creation of the company and this speaker? MF: I founded Markaudio to revive and modernise full-range audio drivers, especially around bass output, frequency range and dispersion. Sota Acoustics was 2 3 formed by Steve Cheng, founder 1 of Telefield group, who has extensive manufacturing excellence across Asia and is passionate about bringing non-orthodox loudspeaker systems Golden Night 300B triode valve Highly tolerant of room position, to wider markets. We brought the two monoblocks. One might imagine with the Cesti MB has remarkable imaging entities together in 2014. The Cesti less than 10W per channel that the and punches far above its weight for MB speaker is the culmination of all Cesti MB might be constrained, but bass extension. Treble can feel slightly we do best. We wanted to produce far from it. It relishes the different veiled on tracks with truly intense an attractive, modern, affordable, current delivery from the tubes and high-frequency passages, but the usable and practical loudspeaker appears to be a very easy load. It’s a design gives such credible treble for that exploits our point-source single- transparent and uncoloured transducer, the vast majority of listening that driver technology to suit a wide range so you get out more of what you put the trade off is completely worth it. of rooms, systems and musical tastes. in, meaning it’s unlikely to be a BrieÁ y swapping back to a more limiting factor as sources or traditional two-way design there is a Full-range speakers are notoriously tricky, what makes this different? ampliÀ cation improve. hint of extra top-end sparkle, but this Markaudio full-range drivers are Playing a live version of Hotel now somehow feels more like hi-À unique and 100 percent in-house California by the Eagles on HDCD is glitter than the musical gold that the custom designed and made. Our really insightful. The opening drum Cesti MB mines. design deploys low mass with a long has real punch and the live acoustic mechanical stroke and a shallow space is vividly painted, high and Conclusion cone profile made from aerospace- wide in front of me in my listening This all-rounder will keep reggae, grade mixed alloys. We use the room. The speaker has a superb rock or electronica fans happy, but highest grade of ceramic magnets HOW IT ability to place sounds into a precise absolutely comes into its own with COMPARES and advanced suspensions that three-dimensional soundscape well-recorded acoustic music, where maximise linear elasticity. KEF’s LS50 (HFC 384) while also giving a relatively wide the spatial placement and complex The cabinet utilises HDF to enhance is a noteworthy and consistent sweet spot. Just tonal timbre of real instruments is rigidity, minimise panel resonances competitor of similar occasionally the single driver does lavishly depicted. While there’s only a and provide a very stable substrate proportions around the reveal very small compromises and single driver, the attention its designer for our high-quality lacquer finishes. same price. Its use of dual-concentric drivers lower volume listening isn’t quite has lavished upon performance, As well as being aesthetically as dynamic, with treble and bass engineering and aesthetics makes attractive, the shallow asymmetric is more incisive on the highest frequencies but performance seeming to be optimal it one of the best I’ve heard O waveguide gives additional tuning the more you listen to as the volume increases. The classic flexibility, allowing owners to adjust the Cesti MB, the more guitar motif rings out and the dispersion. But alongside all this you appreciate the lack audience erupts with applause and technical excellence we do a lot of of crossover. Both the sheer mass of high frequencies at beta testing with end users to get speakers have excellent OUR VERDICT this point feels slightly recessed, as vital feedback. Sound quality is very imaging and the KEF SOUND QUALITY LIKE: Coherence; wide subjective and we love to learn from does approach the though the driver is a little congested bandwidth; decent our customers. coherence of the and needs to make some tough bass; build quality Cesti MB, but there is choices. It’s a subtle and short-lived VALUE FOR MONEY DISLIKE: Slight something more natural compromise, though, as Glenn Frey’s congestion on truly Where next for Markaudio-Sota? and organic that seems dense treble BUILD QUALITY My personal passion is designing to set the Cesti MB vocals enter centre stage and the WE SAY: Superb more with less. My dream is to apart. The £1,850 Heco distinctive voice is placed rock solid in coherence and dynamics without make Markaudio drivers ever more Direkt Einklang (HFC the mix with plenty of air, roundness EASE OF DRIVE the usual downsides performance efficient, replacing 431) is a sonic rival, but and presence – and is quite of a one-way design overly complex systems that at roughly twice the remarkable how such a modestly price and twice the needlessly consume materials, sized standmount loudspeaker can OVERALL resources and energy, while size, it’s not quite as easy on the eye. reproduce such an assured, fast and making the most beautiful music. dynamic performance.

44 JANUARY 2019

AVID REVIEWS INGENIUM PLUG&PLAY £1,250

DETAILS more ornate chassis and sub-chassis PRODUCT arrangement of the company’s more AVID Ingenium upmarket designs. Plug&Play The newly launched £1,250 Play time ORIGIN Ingenium Plug&Play is designed to UK embody all of the characteristics that TYPE AVID feels are important in vinyl A revised version of its entry-level Ingenium Belt-drive turntable replay while simultaneously WEIGHT deck, AVID’s packaged turntable is ready 5.9kg simplifying setup and day-to-day DIMENSIONS ownership and so comes supplied for action. Ed Selley takes it for a test spin (WxHxD) as a package with the tonearm and 370 x 130 x 305 mm cartridge À tted and aligned and ready onvenience can often seem on with playing records without the FEATURES to play – meaning that all you have O 33 & 45rpm like a dirty word in the fuss of a lengthy setup procedure. O Factory-fitted to do to be up and running is slide world of hi-À . The belief AVID is perhaps best known as a tonearm & cartridge the counterweight into position. C O Supplied clamp that if you don’t put in a manufacturer of hefty suspended The deck is entirely recognisable little effort – especially installing a turntable designs with its Á agship DISTRIBUTOR from the original Ingenium version, turntable by using cartridge scales, Acutus deck inspiring a range of AVID HiFi Ltd. but there are some revisions to both TELEPHONE alignment protractor and a spirit models that use the same principle 01480 869900 the aesthetics and the design. The level – then it’s not a truly high-end of directing energy away from the WEBSITE tonearm is referred to as the TA-1 by experience when it comes to the playing surface and dissipating it via avidhifi.com AVID, but its origins are fairly clear. It business of listening to records. the bearing. The Ingenium (HFC 379) is designed to work with the supplied More recently, though, this thinking is the À rst model in the AVID lineup cartridge (the CA-1), but will accept has started to change and AVID’s and follows similar principles, but in others that are content with its À xed Ingenium Plug&Play turntable order to achieve them at a terrestrial anti-skate system. VTA is factory set has become the latest to join an price point it turns to a cruciform and any potential upgrades will need increasingly familiar breed of chassis that’s positioned on three to use the same three-point tonearm packaged decks that allow you to get large Sorbothane feet instead of the mount and geometry.

46 JANUARY 2019 AVID INGENIUM PLUG&PLAY £1,250 REVIEWS

sheer heft of the metalwork and the particular have a balance and space precision involved in the construction to them that allows you to appreciate and I don’t know of many turntables the sense of a large number of at the price that feel anywhere near musicians working together. Kamasi as substantial. Of course, with this Washington’s Humility is opened out comes a question of budget allocation in such a way that you can sense as the tonearm and cartridge individuals at work in the various combination can be found on sections without losing the focus on lower-cost turntables and can make it Washington’s exceptional saxophone look a little unbalanced compared work. There is a wonderful presence with rivals (see boxout). and texture to the instrumentation and the AVID is able to generate a Sound quality sense of depth and three dimensionality Connecting the AVID to a Cyrus that isn’t always present on the record Phono Signature phono stage (HFC when it’s played elsewhere. 408) and Naim Uniti Star (HFC 433) Most notable, though, is the bass one-box system with Neat Momentum response. The Ingenium Plug&Play 4i Á oorstanding loudspeakers and effortlessly delivers the sort of low running it in for a few hours, I am frequencies that only truly well-sorted happy to conclude that whatever my turntables can muster. The kick drum preconceived perceptions of potential imbalances might have been, they are It delivers the virtues not readily apparent on hearing the Plug&Play in action. that AVID holds dear Starting with Jon Allen’s wonderful and is simple to get Deep River, the basics are all well handled from the outset. There is up and running nothing in the way of an audible noise Á oor and the pitch stability is in the live version of Fink’s Sort Of extremely good. The rendition of Revolution is a genuine thump to the Hummingbird Blues is rich, tonally chest that’s full of depth, control and believable and exceptionally even tonal richness. From the moment that across the frequency response. The lower midrange starts to become slight rasp to Allen’s vocals, especially bass, there is a heft to it that is as he hits higher notes is something perfectly judged – weighty without that the AVID delivers extremely well. tipping over into being dominating or Thanks to the low noise Á oor, it has overblown. It justiÀ es AVID’s belief in no trouble À nding the little snippets the primacy of the turntable itself, as of information that can sometimes be nothing else using a remotely similar lost in the mix. The lack of emphasis arm and cartridge is able to achieve on any part of the audible spectrum the same level of sheer low heft that Unlike the original Ingenium, the ensures that the presentation feels is available here. asking price now includes the effortlessly even handed. There is an interesting twist to the threaded spindle and clamp, which This unforced and even delivery performance, too. AVID has long play an essential role in AVID’s energy means that large-scale recordings in prioritised accuracy, detail and a sort dissipation process. The motor is IN SIGHTS IGHT separate from the rest of the chassis and is located on a metal sub-platter 1 underneath the cork-topped MDF 1 Motor with pulley main unit. AVID has changed the for speed selection switch to better suit balanced mains 2 Counterweight being introduced in various countries, 3 TA1 tonearm but the location of the power cable 4 CA1 moving- still feels a little awkward. magnet cartridge There are some nice aesthetic 2 changes, too. The large ‘A’ machined into the chassis is the new company logo and the underside of the arm mount has changed from a curved to a straight edge, which improves the aesthetic of the design by a surprising amount. The Ingenium Plug&Play 3 doesn’t set out to be pretty, but it’s superbly made and thanks to the absolute lack of frippery and adornment looks fantastic – although there’s no dustcover provided. Extracting it from its packaging 4 allows you to get a handle on the

JANUARY 2019 47 AVID REVIEWS INGENIUM PLUG&PLAY £1,250

of unvarnished truth to the way its There are limits to what it can noticeable boost to the way that it products make music. The balance achieve, of course, as supplied out of handles voices and instruments. here is slightly different. This is still a the box. Cymbals and high treble can HOW IT very accurate and revealing turntable, demonstrate a slightly splashy quality COMPARES Conclusion but it offsets this against a rhythmic at times and it displays some brief The impression I get from the energy and sense of fun that makes issues tracking careworn pressings Comparisons Plug&Play version is that this is for a truly enjoyable listening that are not generally a problem with between Rega’s a subtly different beast from the experience. Amadou and Miriam’s other turntables, but these prove few Planar 6 (HFC 426) original Ingenium and, in many ways, and the Ingenium Bofou Salou hammers along with a and far between. A quick test where Plug&Play are makes more sense. What it does very fantastic combination of rhythmic I substitute the supplied cartridge inevitable. The precision and sheer musical energy. for a £498 Rega Ania (HFC 426) Rega has crept up It has no trouble What is no less important is that this suggests that you can unlock more in price since we force doesn’t make itself felt in more performance without needing to reviewed it and now finding little snippets gentle pieces of music, although the change the tonearm as well. There costs £1,469 with the Ania cartridge, of information that same sense of keen timing remains. is more À ne detail on offer and a but can be ordered with the Exact can be lost in the mix moving-magnet cartridge for £1,259. successfully is deliver the virtues It offers electronic that AVID holds dear in its design speed control and ethos while being impressively easy to a dust lid – both of which the Plug&Play get up and running. The slightly eschews. It also has limited upgrade path might put some an outstanding off, but the level of performance on performance. The offer from the Ingenium Plug&Play AVID is less well design as it stands will be everything equipped, but goes O toe-to-toe with the many vinyl fans desire Rega in sound quality terms – that newfound dose of rhythmic energy helps considerably. OUR VERDICT The upgrade SOUND QUALITY LIKE: Spacious and potential for both detailed performance; designs is limited, build; simple setup but you get the VALUE FOR MONEY DISLIKE: Slightly hard feeling that the treble; limited upgrade path; lack of dust cover AVID has more BUILD QUALITY stretch in terms WE SAY: A different of what more take on the all-in-one turntable package FEATURES expensive arms that’s remarkably and carts will do effective and attractive for it than the Rega. Choosing between OVERALL the two will be an enjoyable task.

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DETAILS stakes compared with some of PRODUCT Audiolab’s other components, the Audiolab 6000A 6000A offers real-word compatibility ORIGIN for the majority of people. Three English UK/China user-selectable digital À lters – fast TYPE roll-off, slow roll-off and minimum Integrated amplifier phase – let you tune the sound to taste. WEIGHT At the heart of the ampliÀ er, there’s a 7.8kg discrete Class AB power amp stage heritage DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) delivering a claimed 50W per channel 445 x 66 x 300mm into 8ohm and 75W per side into 4. Audiolab’s new 6000A pays homage to its FEATURES The output stage uses complementary O Quoted Power feedback topology, which Audiolab output: 2x 50W classic integrated amplifier, but at a new low into 8ohm claims gives superior linearity and O Digital inputs: 2x good thermal stability, as the idle price. David Price puts it through its paces optical; 2x coaxial; current is kept independent of the Bluetooth with aptX O Analogue inputs: temperature of the output transistors. udiolab was started in the of sources that the original could 3x RCAs; 1x MM Meanwhile, the preampliÀ er section is bedroom of Philip Swift’s handle, adding DAC functionality and phono as simple as possible, giving -80dB to Cambridge house back Bluetooth wireless connectivity with DISTRIBUTOR +8dB in steps of 2dB and 1dB – the A IAG Group Ltd. in the autumn of 1982. aptX support, as well as having a step resolution increases the higher TELEPHONE “We wanted to make a very high- moving-magnet phono stage and 01480 447700 the volume position. The unit is neatly performance product at a very headphone output just as the original WEBSITE laid out under the case, keeping the affordable price, one which was did. Audiolab’s Jan Ertner – the man audiolab.co.uk preamp section away from noise also practical and reliable,” he once responsible for the electronic design generation as much as possible. told me. The À rst Audiolab 8000A – has taken a lot of trouble on the It’s funny how things come back integrated ampliÀ er made its debut digital side. It sports an ESS Sabre into fashion and so it is that the on hi-À dealers’ shelves in 1983, and ES9018 converter chip, as seen on the 6000A sports a JFET-based phono the brand never looked back. Now M-DAC launched back in 2011 and preampliÀ er section. Lest we forget, it selling as the 8300A (HFC 420), this reviewed in HFC 359. Although getting was only in the mid-nineties with the remains one of hi-À ’s evergreens, on now, it’s still highly regarded and advent of the 8200A, that Audiolab selling to the type of buyer that this amp beneÀ ts from work done to dumped phono stages, tone controls demands quality, Á exibility and the post-DAC active À lter. and headphone outputs. There are power – but nothing too Á ashy. Four S/PDIF digital inputs – two three operational modes – integrated, The new 6000A is very much about coaxial and two optical – support up pre-power and preampliÀ er. The mode “traditional values in a modern to 24-bit/192kHz PCM. Although no selector toggles between these, and setting” and it expands the number high-Á yer in the hi-res format support also gives the set-up menu where you

50 JANUARY 2019 AUDIOLAB 6000A £599 REVIEWS

what’s going on. Up top, treble is crisp to the full and I am beguiled by the and accurate with a well-etched feel. conÀ dent and expansive soundstage The result is that thin-sounding that it conjures up. Instruments in the HOW IT recordings like The Wind Blows mix are pushed far stage left and stage COMPARES Your Hair by Naz Nomad And The right, and Gabriel’s vocals hang in the The £699 Cyrus ONE Nightmares – The Damned’s alter ego middle with real conÀ dence. In (HFC 420) is an as pop-pickers will know – don’t get absolute terms the 6000A is a little interesting rival for any sweeter. Actually, the song proves two-dimensional when it comes to the Audiolab. While very enjoyable, in spite of the rather depth perspective, with a slight dip in the latter has a far matter-of-fact tonality that is delivered. stage depth, but it’s still surprisingly more refined design, Feed it a warmer track like White Bird capacious considering the price. it’s still a pretty conventional box and by It’s A Beautiful Day, and things do Switching between inputs, there doesn’t feel as special. defrost just a little, but you’re hardly is no obvious failing. Bluetooth is The ONE is a triumph cosseted by the ampliÀ er’s opulent perhaps the least sonically convincing, of ergonomics and tonality. For this reason, anyone of the bunch, but being decently has looks to kill. contemplating buying this integrated implemented aptX it handles the signal Sonically the Cyrus is sweeter and warmer should consider partnering it with well and sounds surprisingly engaging. sounding too, but its rich, full-sounding speakers, as The DAC input proves way better than Class D design still opposed to more analytical ones. many similarly priced rivals with a seems a little opaque Despite its dry tonality, it still proves wide and conÀ dent sound and lots up against the Class great fun to hear. Bassheads’ classic of detail. The analogue inputs do AB Audiolab – there’s electro stomper Is There Anybody Out well too, easily able to signpost the a sense that the music isn’t as natural or differences between CD players at a organic sounding. Try A dry and clean variety of prices while the phono stage to get to hear them gives a À ne sound when partnered both at your local rendition of the with a Rega Planar 2 (HFC 415) and dealership to see achieves super results. which you prefer. music, with no bass overhang Conclusion Audiolab’s 6000A is a cracking budget There? proves a joy – the Audiolab integrated with just the right amount serves up serious amounts of power of facilities, a snappy and engaging can select balance, digital À lter type with my reference Cambridge Audio sound, sufÀ cient power and À ne build. and standby time, etc. Overall, the Aeromax 6 Á oorstanders (HFC 391), A great buy for the modern music fan 6000A is a very tidily packaged moving air around the room with who wants plenty of Á exibility O integrated that’s easy to use. alacrity. Although not the world’s most emotional-sounding ampliÀ er, Sound quality it’s good at transients and duly If you’ve heard a classic Audiolab captures the natural starts and stops OUR VERDICT 8000A, it’s fair to say this new of the electronic percussion very well SOUND QUALITY LIKE: Snappy, fun offering won’t come as too much indeed. You get quite a technical style sound; decent power; of a surprise to your ears. This is a of presentation, yet it’s enjoyable all good design surprisingly sophisticated-sounding the same. I À nd myself focusing in VALUE FOR MONEY DISLIKE: Nothing at integrated that belies its low price on the interplay between the snare the price BUILD QUALITY WE SAY: Impressive and never offends sonically. It sound and the looped hi-hats, as the integrated for presents a dry and clean rendition bass synthesiser punches out vast audiophiles that are on a budget of the music, with no overhang in the tracts of low frequencies with FEATURES bass or any sense of richness or bloat. surprising ease. The midband is clean and spry, Feed the Audiolab with a high- OVERALL casting a light on the recording that quality rock recording such as Peter leaves little room for doubt about Gabriel’s Here Comes The Flood, and you’re able to enjoy its spacious nature CONNECTIONS

1 Digital inputs: 2x optical; 2x coaxial

2 Preamp stereo analogue output

3 Power amp stereo analogue input

4 3x RCA analogue inputs

5 MM phono stage input

1 2 3 4 5

JANUARY 2019 51 MELCO REVIEWS N100 £1,800

DETAILS (Highly Stable Storage) system that PRODUCT can be found in its Á agship model Melco N100 and is designed to ensure the drive is ORIGIN unaffected by external forces. Format Hero in a Japan support is pretty much universal, TYPE thanks to compatibility with À les up 2TB music server to 32-bit/384kHz PCM and DSD512. WEIGHT 3kg Other aspects of the N100 are also recognisable from previous Melco half shell DIMENSIONS (WxHxD) designs. The most signiÀ cant is the 215 x 61 x 269mm pair of Ethernet ports at the back The world of audiophile digital music library FEATURES rather than the usual single option. O Supports up to The N100 connects to your router 32-bit/384kHz PCM storage is hotting up, as Ed Selley checks and DSD512 as normal, but instead of passing O Connectivity: information back through it to your out this half-width starter server from Melco 2x Ethernet ports; 3x USB ports DISTRIBUTOR The Melco N100 is dding a music library of its full-size siblings. The entirely Kog Audio Ltd. server to your network to new server design uses a chassis that TELEPHONE quieter and gives A centralise all your digital is closely related to Melco’s recently 02477 220650 music the space it audio À les is becoming released range of accessories – WEBSITE increasingly popular. Melco has been enabling it to be placed alongside melco-audio.com needs to breathe one of the leaders in this category an E100 external 3TB USB HDD or with an extensive range of models D100 USB CD drive (£1,000 each), network player, it uses the second spanning the £2,100 N1A/2 4TB HDD and still only take up the same space Ethernet port to make a dedicated (HFC 424) and £4,300 N1ZH/2 6TB as a full-width N1A/2. connection with your player without HDD (HFC 438) through to the Internally, the N100 makes use of a any additional trafÀ c to keep the Á agship N1ZS/2A 2TB solid-state single 2TB HDD. Compared with the signal as clean as possible. music server with 2TB SSD storage more capacious models further up the This is partnered with three USB priced around £7,700. With prices for range this might seem a little limited, ports. Two are extensions – one on these components increasing, Melco but is still roughly equivalent to 4,000 the front and one on the back to has released the £1,800 N100 to CDs stored in a lossless format – support a backup drive like the E100 provide a new À rst rung on its ladder. although hi-res material will eat up or D100 CD drive. The third is a Despite its half-width dimensions capacity faster, of course. Melco has dedicated audio output for feeding a the N100 is not a ‘cut-down’ version mounted this drive using its HS-S² USB DAC, which allows the N100 to

52 JANUARY 2019 MELCO N100 £1,800 REVIEWS

capacity, address and status of the and seems to enable music the space N100 and sat next to the D100, the it needs to breathe, allowing the pairing looks and behaves like it engaging character of the Hugo 2 HOW IT belongs on a hi-À rack rather than to really excel. With some of the big COMPARES something you’ll want to hide away. integrated amps and preamps that In one chassis Naim’s The catch for the matching D100 USB are being À tted with a USB input, Uniti Core (HFC 438) CD drive is that while it makes for the N100 looks like a very sensible has the ripping an excellent stylistic partner, the way of adding full network music facilities that the N100 resulting combination of units is streaming capability as the music needs the D100 CD rather costly when judged against library is stored on the N100 itself. drive to achieve. For some key rivals (see How It The only slight disappointment is the £2,800 price of the two Melco units, Compares, left). the control software. It’s perfectly OK you could buy Naim’s Melco’s counter to this argument in use, but doesn’t feel like it really Uniti Core with a 4TB is that the N100 has enough of the moves the game on over third-party solid-state drive. The attributes of its bigger brothers that options and compared with Auralic’s Melco’s SongKong the value calculation is not as clear Aries G1 network transport (HFC metadata system is superior and the USB cut as it might À rst appear. It uses the 441) – which will act as its own DAC connection is same software platform as its full-size server with a drive attached – it more flexible than the models and, as I have mentioned in doesn’t feel nearly as slick. coaxial connection the past, devices like the N100 are The ripping performance with the fitted to the Naim, designed to streamline an audio D100 USB CD drive is impressive. The meaning that if you system that you are fundamentally drive is quiet and smooth, and makes intend to use it with a DAC, the Melco already happy with, allowing it to high-quality À le rips of several CDs N100 has the edge. more effectively demonstrate the I try, including a very tired copy of sonic values you already enjoy. Experience by The Prodigy which until now has proven rather difÀ cult Sound quality to extract a clean rip using any other Connected to a Naim Uniti Star hardware. It’s unquestionably one one-box system (HFC 433) and of the more expensive CD drives I’ve running some tests alongside both seen, but as a pairing it makes pretty an original N1A (HFC 397) and a short work of a stack of CDs, while standard Western Digital My Book SongKong’s music tagging software HDD are informative. The N100 and does an excellent job of applying N1A are extremely hard to separate accurate and durable metadata to act as a streaming front end as in performance terms, but both allow the ripped À les. well as a server. Until recently, for a 24/88.2 download of Dead Can this playback functionality was Dance’s Black Sun to sound a little Conclusion dependent on third-party apps, but cleaner and more reÀ ned than the The N100 isn’t a radical step forward the arrival of the N100 coincides Western Digital’s output. The over anything we have seen from with the release of Melco’s Music HD background noise Á oor that the music Melco already, but it does bring the control software and is backwards rises from feels quieter, adding to well-honed virtues of the brand to compatible with all other Melco the dynamics and sense of space, a more affordable price point. If you models using the latest À rmware. which helps the Naim to sound big, have a streaming setup that you are As with previous Melco models I’ve conÀ dent and three-dimensional. fundamentally happy with, the N100 seen, the N100 feels exceptionally Like other members of the Melco music library is a great way of well assembled. The silver casework family, the other key strength of the bringing audiophile sound quality is À nished to a very high standard N100 is the USB output. Connected to your digital À les. With excellent and thanks to the absence of a to a Chord Electronics Hugo 2 DAC stability and the elegant industrial cooling fan, it is completely silent (HFC 428), the combination works design, it’s a welcome arrival that at all times. A small display shows well as a network streamer in its own looks set to attract those wanting some useful information about the right. Compared with playing À les to make the most of high-quality from my laptop, the Melco is quieter digital music playback O CONNECTIONS

1 USB 2.0 port for back up OUR VERDICT 2 USB 2.0 port SOUND QUALITY LIKE: Stability; high- for DAC quality playback; facilities; build 3 Ethernet VALUE FOR MONEY network port DISLIKE: Control app doesn’t improve on 4 third-party alternatives Ethernet port for BUILD QUALITY connection to WE SAY: A usefully network player compact music server that offers a strong FEATURES overall performance 132 4 OVERALL

JANUARY 2019 53 DALI REVIEWS OBERON 7 £899

54 JANUARY 2019 DALI OBERON 7 £899 REVIEWS

DETAILS sounding design with a subtly warm tone, smooth integration of drive PRODUCT DALI Oberon 7 units, lots of detail and a deep, Big bang ORIGIN articulate bass. Indeed it is really Denmark/China quite capable without being bland TYPE and characterless. Cue up Steely 2-way floorstanding Dan’s Home At Last and the speaker loudspeaker gives a large and fulsome sound that WEIGHT theory 14.8kg projects the stereo image well out of DIMENSIONS the box, pushing beyond the physical (WxHxD) limitations of its cabinets with a 200 x 1,015 x decent amount of stage depth, too. The mid-price super-floorstander sector is 340mm Impressive stuff, but it’s the tonality FEATURES that’s really special for a product at highly competitive, but David Price says O 1x 29mm tweeter O 2x 178mm this price. It might not offer the natural DALI’s Oberon 7 is bursting with charm mid/bass drivers translucency of more expensive O Quoted sensitivity: 88.5dB/1W/1m designs, but it is really quite detailed (6ohm) in its way, and better still, couth. ecently introduced, the At the top of the front bafÁ e is DISTRIBUTOR Great as it is, Steely Dan’s Donald Oberon loudspeaker line is DALI’s 29mm ultra-lightweight DALI UK Fagen has a slightly nasal voice that’s a new range of affordable soft-dome tweeter. Engineered TELEPHONE a little thin, meaning it can sometimes R 0845 6443537 designs from Danish specially for this range, it makes use sound hard through budget speakers. speaker manufacturer DALI. It of an ultra lightweight woven fabric. WEBSITE Not so here. The Oberon 7 proves to dali-uk.co.uk comprises six models including the The company claims it is less than have a very even tonality and none small standmount 1, larger standmount half the average weight of most dome of the obvious ‘buy one drive unit 3, small Á oorstander 5, plus centre tweeters selling at this price point, at get another free’ issues. It is largely channel Vokal and On-Wall models 0.06mg per mm2. It’s a little larger in seamless from bottom to top, with for multi-channel use. The 7 is the diameter than you’d expect at the just the slightest hint of boxy Á agship and À nds itself pitched in a price, too. Ferro-Á uid cooling is used, coloration lower down. This is far highly competitive marketplace. and there’s a high-quality (220 gauss from intrusive and in some ways you The MDF cabinet gets a crisp matt type) magnet À tted. The top of the could say it is quite euphonic, adding black or white À nish, while the sides pole piece has soft felt damping to a little extra ‘À llip’ to the upper bass, have contrasting dark walnut and reduce acoustic reÁ ections. The which in turn reinforces the sense of speaker is a classic two-way design, Placement of this being a large-sounding speaker. It can shift vast handing over the baton at 2.3kHz to the Oberon 7 is Cueing up some classic nineties the mid/bass units. surprisingly easy techno, I am surprised by just how amounts of air, but As per company tradition, these unlike rivals has sport wood À bre cones, which are essentially À ne grain paper pulp, strength in depth reinforced with wood À bres. They’re 178mm in diameter – which the light oak wood-effect vinyl options. manufacturer is eager to point out The front bafÁ e is cleanly laid out, but is 15 percent larger than most other DALI has dropped the ball with its mid/bass cones at this price. The grille retention system – I expect voice coil is a four-layer design with magnets, but it has gone with old light copper-clad wire sporting an fashioned unsightly recesses to take aluminium core and a thin-walled the grille fasteners. It looks worse on outer copper tube to reduce weight. the white models because the locators The pole piece is said to be a unique are black and so stand out. combination of iron and SMC, Still, the speaker sure looks nice minimising mechanical distortion, with the grille (which is a minimalist and there’s an SMC disc atop the iron cloth) in place. Depending on your pole piece, claimed to lower third- age, the Mountain Grey version order harmonic distortion. The result supplied with the white and light oak is a quoted frequency response of À nish either looks ultra-modern or 36Hz to 26kHz with 88.5dB sensitivity, fashionably retro, while the Shadow 6ohm nominal impedance and power Black is much more traditional and is handling said to be 30W to 180W – what comes supplied with our black impressive for any speaker at the price. À nished version. The cabinet is said to be heavily reinforced internally, and Sound quality lined in acoustic damping material The DALI Oberon 7 sounds extremely along the sides, top and bottom – but well rounded for such a large but not on the rear of the front bafÁ e. The inexpensive Á oorstander. Positioning Oberon 7 has a rear-mounted bass it to give a good sound is easy, with port, and there’s a neat aluminium just a small bit of toe-in required frame-type base supplied, which and placement about 60cm out from elevates the cabinet from the ground the rear boundary wall. This done, it’s and makes it less imposing. immediately obvious this is an open

JANUARY 2019 55 DALI REVIEWS OBERON 7 £899

IN SIGHT

1 1 29mm soft- dome tweeter

2 Rear-firing bass reflex port

3 Single wire binding posts

4 2x 178mm wood fibre mid/ bass drivers

4

2

3

snappy the performance is. It’s a large plus all the respective physical fairly clear and well detailed, while cabinet with a lot to keep under positions of the different strands. treble smoothly integrates into the control, but this doesn’t seem to Yet it’s a little vague, so you don’t rest of the loudspeaker. intrude much in the time domain at get the pin-point ‘etched into space’ HOW IT all. New Atlantic’s I Know – with its sort of feel to the way it recreates COMPARES Conclusion big bass transients and thick swathes the recorded acoustic. Grant Green’s A great product at The only thing that sets the Oberon 7 of synthesisers in the midband – Idle Moments – a lively slice of sixties the price, the DALI apart from Á oorstanders at twice the proves a pleasure. Instead of getting post-bop on Blue Note – sounds shares a highly price is that it doesn’t have the focus bogged down in the bass as some expansive and imposing, but doesn’t contested market and detail of a more expensive big have an awful lot of focus to it. sector with a raft box. In so many other respects, this Instead the Oberon 7 creates a large of talented rivals. is way better than it has any right to The DALI sounds Cambridge Audio’s wall of sound and prefers to go for Aeromax 6 be at the price and will appeal to any well rounded for scale rather than ultimate accuracy. floorstander at cash-strapped audiophile in search of such a large and That really is its gift. It can shift £900 (HFC 391) some serious bang for their buck O serious amounts of air, more than you gives it some stiff inexpensive speaker would believe given its price and size. competition. Its Yet unlike others that are designed to secret is the balanced mode cheap Á oorstanders can, the DALI pull off this sort of trick – to give you radiator treble/ OUR VERDICT puts up a useful display of control and a lot of ‘sound per pound’ – it has midrange driver SOUND QUALITY LIKE: Highly enjoyable constrained power. It is pacey and full strength in depth. There are no rough that runs all the way sound; deep, extended of life, with real snap to hi-hats and edges and it’s pretty respectable in down to 250Hz for bass frequencies rim shots, and the overall sense is of many ways. I love the way it handles a seamless sound. VALUE FOR MONEY DISLIKE: Looks are It’s smoother and a bit plain; speaker the singer syncopating well with the Simple Minds’ Ghost Dancing, more open than the grille fixings BUILD QUALITY music. Again, there is a touch of showing real pace, power and Oberon 7, but can’t WE SAY: Talented time-smearing in the bass, but not propulsion, plus a lot of detail and quite match its budget floorstander with impressive enough to distract from a highly no small amount of reÀ nement. Even large lungs and EASE OF DRIVE big sound enjoyable performance. with my Arcam P49 power amp (HFC pulling power – the Imaging is good, but not great. Play 409) doing some really heavy lifting, latter goes louder and has real grace OVERALL some tense modern pop such as New the DALI keeps its powder dry, getting under pressure. Order’s Regret and it does a solid job louder in a calm and controlled way. of conveying the detail in the mix, Bass is À rm and supple, midband

56 JANUARY 2019

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level to the threshold of audibility, and there is no sign of channel imbalance – something an analogue control can sometimes struggle with. Beyond technical accomplishment, this is an enjoyable listen. It achieves a largely happy balance between a believable sense of accuracy and tonal realism without being a ‘warts and all’ style monitor. It handles the superbly mastered Chris by Christine And The Queens in a way that takes full advantage of the sumptuous vocals, but ensures that the experience is still fun. It has a spacious and three- dimensional sound that helps avoid the sense of fatigue that extended headphone listening can sometimes generate and with the comfortable Audio-Technica, it is possible to listen DETAILS for hours at a time without any sense of ennui creeping in. PRODUCT Lindemann Limetree The Lindemann is Zest Headphone ORIGIN also a fully functional Germany TYPE preamp with three Headphone amplifier inputs and pre-out for life WEIGHT 295g Switching to the ballistic, rather DIMENSIONS compressed and indifferently Lindemann adds to its anniversary range (WxHxD) 107 x 40 x 130mm mastered No Tourists by The Prodigy, with a headphone amp that has plenty of FEATURES the Lindemann does a À ne job of O Inputs: 3x RCAs ensuring the result sounds as get up and go, says Ed Selley O Outputs: 1x RCA; listenable as possible. It retains the 1x 3.5mm headphone jack energy and attack, but unless you ot on the heels of the or hiss at idle and although the actual O Adjustable wind the volume up uncomfortably excellent Limetree Phono mains connection is a wall-wart type, impedance settings high it never tips over into sounding (HFC 441), Lindemann’s it feels reasonably solid. DISTRIBUTOR harsh or overly aggressive, meaning H Elite Audio Ltd. Limetree Headphone As well as its headphone amp even sprawling music collections are follows a similar form factor and is duties, the Lindemann is also a fully TELEPHONE unlikely to have anything in them 01334 570666 part of a range of models built to functional preamp and has three that will be off limits. WEBSITE celebrate the Bavarian company’s 25 stereo RCA inputs with matching eliteaudiouk.com years in business. In the case of this pre-output as well as the 3.5mm Conclusion headphone amp, the most notable headphone socket at the front. As As an entirely analogue design, the aspect of its design is that although with the phono stage, the casework Lindemann Limetree Headphone is exclusively analogue, it makes use of feels solid and the wooden volume a talented and good value ampliÀ er a MUSES 72320 digital volume knob is a nice touch. Inputs are that delivers a consistently satisfying control – selected because of its switched via a toggle on the front performance with a wide variety of consistent performance at all listening that doubles as the power control. headphones across a broad range levels. In theory, any headphone you Lindemann suggests a matching of musical styles and material O plug in will receive the same power ampliÀ er will additionally be performance regardless of its joining the fold in the future. sensitivity, and the listening level selected is further aided by adjustable Sound quality OUR VERDICT impedance settings via dip switches Using a Chord Electronics Hugo 2 SOUND QUALITY LIKE: Even and refined on the underside. These can even be (HFC 428) as the decoding section sound; flexible inputs changed ‘on the Á y’ to allow you to from my laptop and connecting and setup; build quality closely match it to your choice of cans. Audio-Technica’s ATH-A2000Z VALUE FOR MONEY DISLIKE: Lacks a little fine detail; no 6.35mm The power supply has been headphone (HFC 412), the Limetree jack socket BUILD QUALITY constructed to achieve the lowest ampliÀ er delivers on the technical WE SAY: A great value noise levels possible while ensuring promise of its speciÀ cation. With the headphone amp with a satisfying musical ample current delivery – a ‘medical dip switches in the lowest setting – for FEATURES performance grade’ switch mode power supply is headphones between 30 and 50ohm combined with ultra-low noise voltage – there is no unwanted noise even regulators to make it resistant to with the volume level set high. Wind OVERALL mains harmonics. In use, it does seem it back down to zero and play some to be almost entirely free of any noise music while carefully increasing the

JANUARY 2019 59

FEATURE SCI-FI SOUNDTRACKS

The music of Doctor Who WhereWh wouldld thishi TTVVi institution i i bibe withouth its i out-of-thisf hi world ld soundtracks? Simon Berkovitch hitches a ride in the TARDIS back to the classic series to fill his ears with Radiophonic’s retro synths and the sound of raw invention

he moment that the 13th Doctor, creators Dick Mills, Peter Howell, Roger shoestring abounded, realised by pushing Jodie Whittaker, crashed onto Limb, Paddy Kingsland and Mark Ayers reel-to-reel tapes, oscillators and diodes, T our screens in October – making within its ranks – has also recently unveiled and bespoke Heath Robinsonesque gizmos the role of the heroic, eccentric its À rst-ever À lm soundtrack: Possum, a and gadgets to their limits – and beyond. wanderer in the fourth dimension her own terrifying horror from writer and director All the more astonishing is that these within a matter of seconds – it was clear Matthew ‘Garth Marenghi’ Holness. unearthly sounds leaking out of the door of that the long-running show, materialising SigniÀ cantly, it incorporates previously Room 13 of the BBC’s West London studios again for an eagerly awaited special on unheard recordings from the late Delia were realised without the help of now- New Year’s Day, had regenerated in suitably Derbyshire, the sculptress of sound ubiquitous laptops and synthesisers. spectacular fashion. responsible for the seminal arrangement of The Workshop realised its brief with a As has the Radiophonic Workshop, forever Ron Grainer’s iconic Doctor Who theme. healthy disregard for convention. In the associated with Doctor Who and its iconic Which almost brings us Full Circle (a joke creative process, anything was fair game signature tune, sound design and for the Whovians, there). So let’s go back to for sound effects, incidental atmospheres innovative scores throughout its classic run the very beginning – join us on a TARDIS- and signature tunes – everything from from the early sixties to the late eighties. trip to West London, 1958, and the birth backwards tapes and painstakingly Over the past few years, among other of the Radiophonic Workshop, to eavesdrop constructed loops stretching the length of projects, Workshop alumni have on the creation of television’s most the BBC’s labyrinthine corridors, to treated reconvened for a digital-only album for ground-breaking theme tune… household objects and harsh white noise. Bowers & Wilkins (available through its Inspired by Pierre Schaeffer’s Studio d’Essai

Society of Sound music subscription Inside Room 13 and Stockhausen’s NWDR studios, early Holliss to Richard ) with special thanks service) and released a brilliant double set Established in 1958 by composers Daphne Radiophonic projects included sound effects of improvised electronica, Burials In Several Oram and Desmond Briscoe, the for The Goons and sound for high-brow

Earths, the À rst ofÀ cial Workshop studio Radiophonic Workshop was created to radio plays and poetry readings. Doctor Who album since Doctor Who: The Music II. provide the BBC’s drama department with But, ironically, a project simultaneously This 21st-century incarnation of the ingenious sound effects and electronic down-to-earth and out-of-this-world was to Workshop – which numbers Doctor Who compositions. Based in its Maida Vale make the Radiophonic Workshop immortal. composers and ‘special sound’ and FX studios, avant-garde techniques on a Imagine, if you will, a parallel universe in Picture credit: BBC ( credit: Picture

62 JANUARY 2019 FEATURE SCI-FI SOUNDTRACKS

which the nation’s youth wasn’t The music in corrupted by a cute, mop-topped episodes from the Hartnell- era beat group from Liverpool, but by the blends library more revolutionary proposition of DIY, music with eerie instrument-free electronica. Spin The Radiophonics Beatles’ Please Please Me next to Workshop employee Delia Derbyshire’s jaw-dropping arrangement of Ron Grainer’s theme music for a short-run children’s sci-À programme and only one of those records sounds like it could have been recorded yesterday – or was it tomorrow? – not 55 years ago. An unearthly theme On Saturday 23 November 1963, 4.4 million TV viewers were exposed to the popular face of avant-garde music. The debut episode of Doctor Who, An Unearthly Child, starring William Hartnell, opened with Derbyshire’s ground-breaking arrangement and gave the Radiophonic Workshop instant immortality. This legendary assignment was one of her À rst for the Workshop, which she joined in Ned Netherwood’s An Electric 1962, and undeniably the most memorable Storm is essential reading for of the countless radio and television scholars of electronic music programmes that were lucky to have her radical creativity on tap. arrangement from scratch in 1980 and Raiding the library However, despite its track record for somehow he pulled it off. He made Throughout the black-and-white sixties creating unusual sound – including the something contemporary and new from – the eras of the À rst (Hartnell) and second eerie, otherworldly effects for gripping sci-À it and that too has endured. The only (Patrick Troughton) incarnations of the drama Quatermass And The Pit in 1958-59 arrangement to really fail the time test is Time Lord – the music and inventive noise – the BBC Radiophonic Workshop wasn’t the awkward orchestral version from Fox’s heard in the series largely came from three Doctor Who producer Verity Lambert’s initial 1997 version [The Movie, with Paul McGann sources. Serials used a combination of pick for the arrangement of Ron Grainer’s as the eighth Doctor].” And, perhaps, the ‘special sound’ from the Radiophonic theme. Acoustic French experimentalists less said about the 1972 Delaware Workshop for atmospheres and effects; Structures Sonores Lasry-Baschet were the synthesiser version, the better… commissioned composers, whose work À rst consideration, but the cost-effectiveness Some of Derbyshire’s other best-loved would often be sprinkled with Radiophonic of using the BBC’s in-house creatives seems Workshop commissions – such as the fairy dust; and library music – production or to have been the deÀ ning factor. Structures beautiful Blue Veils And Golden Sands and stock music licensed for use in TV, À lm and Sonores Lasry-Baschet’s loss is very much The Delian Mode – also appeared as radio. Second Doctor doppelgänger story Delia Derbyshire’s gain – and ours. incidental music in third Doctor story Enemy Of The World (1967-68), set in “She set to work with oscillators, then Inferno (1970). On hearing the former far-Á ung 2018 and thought mostly wiped cutting and splicing tapes, speeding them until miraculously recovered in 2013, takes up and slowing them down to achieve the Delia Derbyshire’s an even more serious approach to its music, right notes,” explains Ned Netherwood, drawing on the Béla Bartók canon. But author of the essential An Electric Storm: arrangement of the library music collectors, take note: work by Daphne, Delia And The BBC Radiophonic Doctor Who theme many of the genre’s key players – including Workshop. Released this year in an updated Roberto Gerhard, Pierre Array and Syd Dale second paperback edition and ebook, it also is ground breaking – is all used in the show throughout the includes the À rst-ever in-depth guide to the sixties and early seventies. discography of the Radiophonic Workshop composition again in the nineties, its A À ne example of this eclectic approach is and its members – no mean feat. composer commented: “Doesn’t it just melt the music for the classic second Doctor “Obviously, all true music fans know the you?” It’s hard to disagree. serial The Tomb Of The Cybermen (1967), best version of the Doctor Who theme is But the importance of Brian Hodgson, which draws on Radiophonics and library Delia Derbyshire’s original version,” he who joined the Workshop at the same sources to mesmeric effect. “The music adds. “It has a simplicity to it that makes it time as Delia Derbyshire, on the was an important factor in its success and hard to improve on, even before you take development of Doctor Who’s sonic an integral part that gave the story its into account the hard work and innovation landscape shouldn’t be underestimated, atmospheric feel,” director Morris Barry involved,” he continues.“Ignore the fact that either. For instance, in his deft hands, the recalled in 1996. Via Satellite’s 1997 it was ground breaking – on a musical level scrape of a set of house keys across the compilation CD Music From The Tomb Of it’s simply perfect. They kept tinkering with strings of a dilapidated piano became the The Cybermen contains two versions of the it, adding on effects, but it never made exhilarating wheezing and groaning Doctor Who theme music and a selection much of an improvement.” sound of a dematerialising alien time of stock music used in the À lm – including Ned makes an exception for one version, machine. And the insistent, throbbing Martin Slavin’s echoey, percussive Space however. “It has to be said that Peter Howell hum that he created to accompany massed Adventure: Part 2, which unforgettably [who joined the Workshop in 1974] took Daleks on home turf is also used to this soundtracks the relentless man-machines on the impossible mission of making a new day in the rebooted programme. as they emerge from their sub-zero slumber.

JANUARY 2019 63 FEATURE SCI-FI SOUNDTRACKS

SHOPPING LIST No Doctor Who music collection is complete without this selection of Radiophonic marvels, soundtracks, movie scores, vinyl rarities and dreadful novelty hits

Various Artists The Radiophonics ‘special Volume 1: The Early Years sound’ in Doctor Who is as Covering 1963-69 and the iconic as its monsters Hartnell and Troughton eras, this CD is the ideal capsule introduction to Brian Hodgson and Dick “The BBC gramophone library Mills’ inventive and eerie provided much of the stock orchestral music for the show. sounds, and I remember spending many hours sorting through and cataloguing Various Artists music I thought would be suitable,” Barry Music From The BBC Radiophonic Workshop adds. “The BBC Radiophonic Workshop but it has also released a selection of This limited-edition 10in, provided the weirder sounds and also took soundtracks from the show’s classic run (see released on Aphex Twin’s the library music and doctored it with page 66), bookended by electronic music Rephlex label, handily re-orders the Workshop’s various reverb delay and other electronic pioneer Tristram Carey’s compositions for albums from 1968 and treatments. I would ask for a type of sound À rst Doctor story The Daleks (1963) and 1975 by composer. in a speciÀ c scene and they would play me proliÀ c composer Dominic Glynn’s themes several ideas before a À nal choice was for seventh Doctor serial Survival (1989). Malcolm Lockyer made. This all added up to a marvellous Dr Who & The Daleks This Record Store Day mixture of sounds, which enhanced the The crystal palace release of Lockyer’s score story that was to become the legendary “The technology at our disposal was and snippets of dialogue The Tomb Of The Cybermen (above left).” extremely limited: no multi-track tape from the Peter Cushing spin-off movie can be A signiÀ cant selection of library cues from machines, computers, samplers or even picked up fairly cheaply, sixties and early seventies Doctor Who synthesisers,” recalled the Workshop’s but will only go up in price. episodes, without the Radiophonic Brian Hodgson in 2012 on the vinyl release of the Silva Screen’s excellent soundtrack of Delia Derbyshire second Doctor serial The Krotons (1968-69). Doctor Who The Workshop provided Whovians can expect “For this story, I mainly used the ‘Crystal to pay upwards of £60 the weirder sounds and Palace’, so called because its case was to hoover up a near- made of clear Perspex, which exposed mint promo copy of the took library music and 1972 reissue of Delia its workings,” he added. This machine, Derbyshire’s seminal doctored it with reverb created by engineer Dave Young, could 1963 arrangement. mechanically sample 16 inputs and treatments they were usually presented combine them into a single output in four Various Artists with for the show, are rounded up on prearranged patterns. The progression of Who Is Dr Who Compiled by Mark Ayres, hard-to-À nd compilation CD Space the patterns was deliberately slow to create this KPM CD includes The Adventures: Music From Doctor Who textures of sound. I was very interested in Go-Gos distressing sixties 1963-1971. It’ll come as little surprise exploring changing aural textures.” novelty 45 I’m Gonna Spend My Christmas With that Youtube is home to many of these Necessity is the mother of invention, and A Dalek – once heard, atmospheric delights, too, but for an the innovative soundtrack to this sixth it can’t be unheard. excellent overview of Radiophonic season serial is a case in point. “Generally, soundscapes and stock music used in the the music was provided by contracted Various Artists show, Silva Screen’s The 50th Anniversary freelance composers or – when funds were Volume 2: New Beginnings Includes Malcolm Clarke’s Collection CD and vinyl boxset is essential tight – from stock music libraries, while the brutal Delaware score for listening. Murray Gold’s music from ‘Nu ‘special sound’ – what we might now call The Sea Devils – one of Who’ is widely available through the label, sound design – was produced by Brian the most extreme pieces of music ever heard on Hodgson at the BBC Radiophonic British TV. It still has the Workshop,” current Radiophonic Workshop power to polarise opinion. member, eighties Doctor Who composer and archivist Mark Ayres adds. “Occasionally, Howlround

budgets were such that no original music The Ghosts Of Bush ) Come on, how could we could be afforded at all, and on those not draw your attention to occasions, Brian’s sound expanded its role an experimental musician named after the iconic to À ll both functions. The Krotons was one Doctor Who visual feedback effect that such story. So while some of the sounds are accompanies the classic purely atmospheric, others are deliberately series theme music? created to be more musically evocative.” By the seventies, corridor-long tape loops The Radiophonic and whooping oscillators had given way to Workshop Possum expensive – and often massive – analogue The soundtrack to synthesisers – such as the Delaware Synthi Matthew Holness’ chilling 100 produced by Electronic Music Studios, horror movie adds Delia Tristram Carey composed the Derbyshire compositions co-founded by Tristram Carey. It’s goodbye to the melting pot of innovative electronica that Delia and hello to Doctor Who in colour, modern-retro electronica. appears in the first Dalek story Picture credit: 45cat (record sleeves), BBC ( sleeves), 45cat (record credit: Picture

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Distributed by Henley Audio T: +44 (0) 1235 511 166 | E: [email protected] | W: www.henleyaudio.co.uk FEATURE SCI-FI SOUNDTRACKS

HOOKED ON THE SILVA SCREEN

Soundtrack label Silva Screen has performed a public service for fans of ‘Nu Who’, with composer Murray Gold’s work readily available to buy. But fans of the original series are well served by the label, too. Here are four classics to enhance your vinyl collection...

Tristram Carey The Daleks (1964) The electronic music pioneer was the perfect choice to provide the experimental music for the debut of the Doctor’s most enduring adversaries. The Daleks debuted in the The Doctor vs The Go-Gos’, left, creators second-ever William Hartnell story and his innovative of evil novelty 45 I’m Gonna Spend My electronica was composed for individual scenes Christmas With A Dalek – exterminate! and played live into the studio recording alongside special effects. This soundtrack includes music from all seven episodes, plus extended cues and ÁDPER\DQWQHZOHDG-RQ3HUWZHHDQGD DQQLYHUVDU\VSHFLDOThe Five DoctorsDQGThe unreleased material. Carey also provided music for QHZEUHHGRIFRPSRVHUVVXFKDVIXOORQ Caves Of Androzani²DUJXDEO\WKHEHVW the lost Marco Polo (1964), The Daleks Masterplan H[SHULPHQWDOLVW0DOFROP&ODUNHZKR PXVLFRI'DYLVRQ·VUXQ²DUHERWKLQFOXGHG (1965) and third Doctor story The Mutants (1972). DWWDFNHGWKHQHZNH\VDQGGLDOVZLWKJXVWR KHUHDQGDUHDOVRDYDLODEOHLQWKHLUHQWLUHW\ 7KHUHVXOWVRIWKH:RUNVKRS·VH[SHULPHQWV RQYLQ\OFRXUWHV\RI6LOYD6FUHHQ VHH Don Harper The Invasion (1968) ZLWKV\QWKHVLVHUVDUHDVXQFRPSURPLVLQJDV RSSRVLWH $VWKHGHFDGHXQIXUOHGQHZDJH Australian composer Don WKH\DUHGLYLVLYH´1RZLI\RXZDQWDvery NH\ERDUGVLQFUHDVLQJO\UXOHGWKHURRVW Harper’s essential jazz- 5DGLRSKRQLFVWRU\WKHQLWKDVWREHThe Sea ²ZLWKPL[HGUHVXOWVDOWKRXJK0DUN$\UHV· tinged score for second Devils  µ1HWKHUZRRGUHFRPPHQGV ZRUNIRUWKHVHYHQWK'RFWRU 6\OYHVWHU Doctor Cybermen-in- London story The Invasion is ´0DOFROP&ODUNH·VVFRUHLVVWLOOUDGLFDO 0F&R\ VWLOOVWDQGVWKHWHVWRIWLPH²XQWLO a sci-fi cousin of a sixties spy HYHQWRWKLVGD\µ7KLVZDV&ODUNH·VÀUVW WKHHQGRIWKHFODVVLFVHULHVD[HGLQ thriller, Classic Who music, FRQWULEXWLRQWRWKHVHULHVDQGZDVPXFK &XWVDWWKH%%&DOVROHGWRWKH:RUNVKRS his atmospheric Hammond organ and cimbalom (for that distinctive The Ipcress File sound) compositions PRUHRXWWKHUHWKDQWKHRIWHQZRUNDGD\ VKXWWLQJLWVGRRUVLQ\HDUVWRWKH are drenched in spooky electronics from the VFRUHVE\IUHHODQFHU'XGOH\6LPSVRQDQG GD\DIWHULWKDGRSHQHG\HWLWFRQWLQXHVWR Workshop’s Brian Hodgson. Harper’s 1973 LP Homo ZDVSHUFHQWHOHFWURQLFWRR´,W·VKDUVK FDVWDVLJQLÀFDQWVKDGRZLQWRWKHVW Electronicus gets a special mention, too: there’s a kitchen sink synth reworking of the Doctor Who GLVFRUGDQWDQGPDNHVWKHV\QWKVRXQG theme and eerie original Cold Worlds is a ringer for EUXWDOLQDZD\WKDWQRERG\NQHZZDVHYHQ Doctor Who’s iconic music from the Pertwee era. SRVVLEOHµ1HWKHUZRRGEHDPV´,WXSVHWWKH VKRZ·VSURGXFHUDQGLI\RXEODVWLWDWIXOO theme tune was given Peter Howell YROXPH\RXDUHVXUHWRJHWDYLVLWIURPDQ the all-synth treatment The Five Doctors (1983) DQJU\QHLJKERXU,W·VMXVWSHUIHFWIRUDVWRU\ After exploring inner space in late sixties psychedelic VHWLQUXVWLQJROGVHDEDVHVµ,QGHHG by Peter Howell in 1980 folk bands, Howell began SURGXFHU%DUU\/HWWVRUGHUHGFXWVWREH his journey to the stars in PDGHWRWKLVLQWHQVHVFRUHDQGSDUWRIWKH FHQWXU\²QRWOHDVWRQWKHUHODXQFKHG 1974 when he became a member of the Radiophonic IDOORXWIURPWKLVGHFLVLRQZDVWKDWWKH YHUVLRQRIWKHVKRZDUXQDZD\VXFFHVV Workshop. “Doctor Who was 5DGLRSKRQLF:RUNVKRSGLGQRWSURYLGH VLQFHWKHUHYLYDOZLWKWKHDFFODLPHG a programme that gave me many opportunities to DQRWKHUVRXQGWUDFNIRUWKHVKRZXQWLO &KULVWRSKHU(FFOHVWRQDVWKHQLQWK'RFWRU experiment,” he recalled. Howell created memorable music for the fourth and fifth Doctors, including the ´,FRXOGQHYHUTXLWHPDNHP\PLQGXS 20th anniversary special, broadcast in 1983 – a New beginnings DERXWWKHYDULRXVDUUDQJHPHQWV0XUUD\ golden year for tech heads. Plenty of covetable kit ´,QWKHHDUO\HLJKWLHVWKH5DGLRSKRQLF *ROGPDGHIRUWKHUHYLYHGVKRZµDGPLWV makes its presence heard here, as expensive early sampler the Fairlight CMI, exquisite Yamaha CS80 :RUNVKRSEHJDQGRLQJDOOWKHLQFLGHQWDO 1HWKHUZRRG´,WKRXJKWKHGLGDJUHDWMRE and Roland synths (think Vangelis’ near-perfect PXVLFIRUWKHÀUVWKDOIRIWKHGHFDGHµVD\V ZLWKWKHLQFLGHQWDOPXVLFEXWKLVWKHPHV Blade Runner) and Workshop tape machines and 1HWKHUZRRG´,W·VQRWZKDW\RX·GWKLQNRIDV MXVWZHUHQ·WHOHFWURQLFHQRXJKIRUPHµ trickery all combine to widescreen effect. WKHFODVVLF:RUNVKRSVRXQGDVE\WKHQLW :KLFKEULQJVXVWR6HJXQ$NLQRODWKHODWHVW ZDVWKHDJHRIV\QWKHVLVHUVUDWKHUWKDQ FRPSRVHU´,DGRUHZKDWKHKDVGRQHZLWK Roger Limb The Caves WDSHVDQGUD]RUEODGHVµ,QPDQ\UHVSHFWV WKHWKHPHµ1HWKHUZRRGVD\V,W·VD Of Androzani (1984) WKHVRXQGUHÁHFWVWKHUDSLGHYROXWLRQRI KHDUWTXLFNHQLQJVWFHQWXU\WDNHRQWKH A member of the Radiophonic Workshop until WHFKQRORJ\DVWKH',<DSSURDFKJDYHZD\ 'HUE\VKLUHFODVVLF´,WKDVWKRVHZHLUG 1995, Roger Limb was part of WRSUHEXLOWDQDORJXHV\QWKHVLVHUVZKLFKLQ HOHFWURQLFHOHPHQWVZKLOHUHWDLQLQJWKH the TARDIS team between WXUQJDYHZD\WRGLJLWDOGHOLJKWV²DQGD GUDPDRI*ROG·VYHUVLRQV,W·VDVJRRGDQ 198185 and has the accolade of being the URRPLQFUHDVLQJO\ÀOOHGZLWKNH\ERDUGV DUUDQJHPHQWDV\RX·UHJRLQJWRJHWLQWKLV composer behind one of the (YHQWKHLFRQLFWKHPHPXVLFZDVJLYHQD GD\DQGDJH$VIRUKLVLQFLGHQWDOPXVLF original series’ greatest serials: fan-favourite The DOOV\QWKHVLVHUWUHDWPHQWE\3HWHU+RZHOODW VRPHRILWPDGHWKHKDLUVRQWKHEDFNRIP\ Caves Of Androzani. Much darker in tone, Peter ) Davison’s final story has a big-budget feel – but as it’s WKHHQGRIIRXUWK'RFWRU7RP%DNHU·VWHQXUH QHFNVWDQGXS+H·VDQDPD]LQJFKRLFHµ the BBC, without the budget, obviously – and this is $URXQGXSRIWKHEHVWPXVLFIURPWKH )URPWKHIXUWKHUDGYHQWXUHVRI:RUNVKRS reflected in Limb’s music, which has all the tension of ÀIWK'RFWRU·V 3HWHU'DYLVRQ WHQXUHFDQEH DOXPQLWRWKHJURZLQJOHJDF\RI'HOLD a John Carpenter score. Synthetic choirs, clattering Doctor Who drums, hollow percussion and rattlesnake shakes – IRXQGRQWKH/3Doctor Who – The 'HUE\VKLUHWR$NLQROD·VQRGWRWKHVKRZ·V plus suitably dramatic music for the show’s most Music IIZKLFKLQFOXGHVFRPSRVLWLRQVIURP SDVWZKLOHWDNLQJWKHPXVLFIRUZDUGZH·UH show-stopping regeneration scene to date – are the +RZHOO&ODUNH-RQDWKDQ*LEEVDQG5RJHU SOHDVHGWRJLYH\RXWKH'RFWRU·VSURJQRVLV key ingredients of a seminal Doctor Who soundtrack. It also works as an impressive standalone piece when /LPE7KHVXLWHVRIWKHVRXQGWUDFNVIRUWK 5DGLRSKRQLFVLVDOLYHDQGZHOOO cut loose from the often chilling visuals. Picture credits: BBC ( credits: Picture

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ED SELLEY NEVILLE ROBERTS JASON KENNEDY DAVID PRICE CHRIS WARD EXPERTISE: REVIEWER EXPERTISE: ENGINEER EXPERTISE: REVIEWER EXPERTISE: REVIEWER EXPERTISE: REVIEWER Active in the industry since Neville has an eclectic taste Editor of HFC from 1998 to DP two-finger typed his first Like his first kiss, Chris will 1999, Ed’s first record was for classical baroque and jazz. 2001, Jason’s first turntable hi-fi review 25 years ago. Since never forget the sound of his Boss Drum by The Shamen. His wife was forced to marry was Rega’s Planar 3 and Elvis’ then he’s edited Hi-Fi World first amp – an Aura Evolution He splits his time between his transmission line speakers 40 Greatest Hits was his first and HFC. He describes himself VA-100. War Of The Worlds reviewing and protecting in the eighties and he collects vinyl, so don’t go stepping on as an “unreconstructed and Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours hi-fi kit from his son Will. BBC test card music. his blue suede shoes. analogue addict”. were his first records.

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Time for a new CD? of the fence will not be fully My Arcam DiVA CD192 is on its released by the Lector, or way to the hi-À cabinet in the sky perhaps something else in the I fear, due to some intermittent system would be the restrictor. glitching and pausing issues. I’m also aware of the old “spend Irregular faults are the hardest to as much on the transport as the diagnose, of course. Arcam can DAC” motto, but am unsure what À x it for me, but at just short of my best course of action is. £200 I thought perhaps it might Is my system going to be be time to think about treating capable of revealing the sublime myself to another CD transport. quality difference of, say, the I have a Lector Digicode 704, DP: If you have the money and are Pathos Logos and Focal Aria My CD player is on Cyrus’ CD Xt happy to spend it on the right transport, 926, and my query is how much Signature is a then the Cyrus CD Xt Signature (HFC great CD player I should be thinking about its way out, what do option for Lisa 386) is well worth it. It’s one of the spending? I’ve been looking into you recommend I À nest designs available and all the parts Cyrus CDt and CD Xt Signature that wear out are still available and models. The reviews make for replace it with? should be for a long time – something pleasant reading, but I fear you can’t say for ebay specials. Of something nearer to £2k side CD Xt Signature or a similar course, Esoteric does better right at the top-end transport or would I be top end, but the Cyrus is great value WE ASKED... better off sticking to something and partnered with a serious DAC will more in the region of £300? make wonderful music. My choice Which streaming service All help and advice appreciated. would be a Chord Hugo (HFC 386), do you subscribe to? I’m desperately trying to sort or derivative, which has far better this out before the Arcam gives number crunching ability than your Tidal Spotify • • up the ghost completely. Burr Brown-based Vector. Other Qobuz • • Lisa J, by email CW: Before splashing lots of cash it 7% JK: The source is king Lisa in both may be worth seeing if you can À nd a analogue and digital systems, so there friendly local techie type to see if they is no reason to skimp on the transport can simply clean the transport laser 19% just because the DAC may not reveal with a dry cotton bud as sometimes 38% everything it sends out. Your Lector the lens gets dirty and the focus is DAC is something of a rarity in these compromised. This fettle should be very parts, but it seems to be well regarded quick and inexpensive. If this doesn’t and probably capable of making the help, I wouldn’t advise spending too most of a decent transport like the much on a transport. The DAC is far 36% Cyrus CDt. The other side of this coin is more important to the sound quality to that CD transports are increasingly rare my mind. Many in your shoes look for beasts that may disappear in the next second-hand TEAC or Pioneer platter decade, so you want something well players to use as transports that can be Results from twitter.com/hifichoicemag made that is going to last – another picked up for less than the price of your Go online for more polling action reason to buy a quality piece of kit. full Arcam À x.

JANUARY 2019 69

LETTERS JITTERBUG USB Filter

Russ Andrews’ PowerBar S holds the answer for Bob’s move to France

wine, bread and cheese will help the system sound on song. Can a £39 insect make all NR: In France, they use types C and E your CD i les sound better than mains plugs – Type C is two-pin only and Hi-Res? Type E has two round pins and a hole for Yes and no: Using the same the socket’s male earthing pin – so avoid equipment and a quality DAC, a 24/96 Hi-fi en France the Type C as it does not offer an earth i le (for example) will always sound I have not read yours or any other connection and you have a 50-50 chance better than a CD 16/44.1 i le … but, hi-À magazine for at least 10 of mixing up the lives and neutrals, even a single JitterBug will often years, having achieved my perfect which may upset any mains conditioners allow a CD i le to be more musical and system some time ago. However, a you might have in your system. As I’m more emotionally stimulating than messy divorce lead to the sale of sure you know already, France operates a Hi-Res i le without the benei t of a my cherished setup and I started on a 230V supply voltage and 50Hz, like JitterBug. again on building a new one. I the UK. So my recommendation is to Noise is the problem. Real noise— tried to take in all the information leave your UK mains plugs on your the kind you can’t hear directly. Most often, the word “noise” is used to and advice from all the mags, but equipment and use a high-quality UK describe tape hiss or a scratch on a for down-to-earth clarity and mains extension block that is À tted with record, but these sounds aren’t noise; advice you guys get it right. a Type E-to-IEC cable (assuming the they are properly reproduced sounds My amazing new wife was fully extension block is À tted with an IEC that we wish weren’t there. aware of the angst I went through Problem noise is essentially random, selling my hi-À and last Christmas We’re moving to resonant or parasitic energy, which surprised me with a new Rega has no meaning. It can’t be turned system comprising of P6, Apollo, France. What should into discrete sounds, but it does Brio and RX3 speakers bought I do about the plugs compromise signal integrity and the from Audio T in Brighton. performance of everything it touches. My dilemma now is we are in for my hi-fi system? JitterBug’s dual-function line- the process of moving to France conditioning circuitry greatly reduces and I need some advice on how mains input socket). Then all you need is the noise and ringing that plague both best to tackle the three-pin-to-two- to make sure you have access to a single the data and power lines of USB ports, pin plug situation in order to get Type E socket near your hi-À in your whether on a computer, streamer, home stereo or car audio front-panel the best possible electrical house. You might consider looking at a USB input. current to my system. Do I rewire Russ Andrews PowerBar S of adequate each component’s plug and if so, size for all your equipment and an IEC A single JitterBug is used in between devices (i.e., in series) as shown which plugs offer the best quality mains lead terminated in a Type E plug, below. For an additional “wow” or can I simply use an adapter to which I’m sure Russ Andrews would be experience, try a second JitterBug overcome this? able to make up for you. All of your into another USB port on the same Bob Young, Sussex equipment will be properly earthed and device (such as a computer). Whether your system should sound as good as it the second port is vacant, or is JK: Hi Bob, nice system, very nice does in the UK. Bonne chance! feeding a printer or charging a phone, partner! I recommend getting a decent JitterBug’s noise-reduction ability is distribution block with 13A sockets and Walk the line likely to surprise you. No, the printer connecting it to the French mains with LETTER I have to agree with won’t be af ected—only the audio! an appropriate IEC lead. I’d be inclined OF THE David Price’s Opinion While a JitterBug helps MP3s sound a to consider either Russ Andrews or MONTH piece back in the lot more like music, high-sample-rate AudioQuest distribution blocks. These September issue (Line of i les have the most noise vulnerability. Try a JitterBug or two on all your are good for sound and both brands attack, HFC 440). After a lifelong equipment, but never more than two make IEC leads with the appropriate love affair with transmission line per USB bus. There is such a thing as Schuko plug for EU outlets. loudspeakers – I am now a young too much of a good thing. 83-year old – I’ve been building CW: Glad to hear that life and music are speaker enclosures since reading sounding sweeter. Please note that your features in your sister publication warranty may be invalidated on new Hi-Fi News in the early sixties by items by making this switch, so weigh John Crabbe – the famous Crabbe up what’s more important to you. horn, to mention one. I built a Plus, earthing can be very variable number of transmission line or non-existent in some older French enclosures with varying degrees properties, so ask for local advice here. of success, but gave up on the 230V will be À ne for your gear (and idea as being too difÀ cult. Then potentially better). Even if you get a year or two ago I came across yourself going with EU adapters, superior a piece by Martin J King on the

LETTERS

Naim’s Uniti Atom could be the ideal match for Trevor’s Einklangs

design of transmission line speaker can. That’s not to say they’re speakers. I was back in the game! easy to get working perfectly, and you’ve As I’ve long been an advocate of clearly spent a lot of time tweaking yours keeping crossovers out of the – and the rest of the system – to hone it cabinet and as close to the to perfection. Keep up the good work! ampliÀ er as possible, the problem of achieving deep bass from the NR: I’m certainly with you and David on What the enclosures didn’t arise as they the subject of transmission line speakers would only house the mid/bass – mine are the (now much upgraded) producer says... drivers. Using a mini DSP to PRO 9-TL designed by Chris Rogers that split the frequency at 40Hz, the he published in Practical Hi-Fi and Audio frequencies above this are fed magazine in 1976. A properly designed transmission line wins on so many fronts Can you suggest a – controlling the resonant frequency Chris Kimsey is the renowned of the bass drive unit, extending the suitable all-in-one frequency response below resonance and producer and engineer on to partner my Heco even helping to tame the Eigentones 14 Rolling Stones albums. of the listening room. Apart from a Einklang speakers? complete rebuild of the crossover unit, my biggest upgrade in recent times to a 100W-per-channel Class D has been to À t a pair of Townshend ampliÀ er, then through passive Maximum Supertweeters that now Linkwitz-Riley crossovers designed sit neatly on the top of my PRO 9s. and built by my son (who has a Curiously enough, the most noticeable PhD in electronics) to very high improvement that I enjoy with the spec Monacor 135mm mid/bass Supertweeters is a tightening up of Chris has been using the units and Fountek ribbon tweeters. the bass response, but don’t ask me Rupert Neve headphone amp Added grunt at the low end is to explain why this is. with our Supplier and YellO assisted by a pair of 13in SEAS bass units in 9 cubic foot stone One and only Power mains cable. and brick enclosures driven by I’m hoping that you can pass on a 120W-per-channel Class D some invaluable advice regarding ampliÀ er. At the heart of the the next steps I should take on my I really didn’t expect it to system is an Audiolab M-DAC+. system rebuilding adventure. My “ My music is mainly classical, jazz current setup is Marantz CD6003 be this good... adding the and blues, and is almost all saved and PM6003 ampliÀ er, Logitech as FLAC À les of CD quality up to Squeezebox Touch and Heco Supplier and YellO Power 24-bit/192kHz on a NAS and fed Direkt Einklang speakers. through a Pioneer N-50A. The most obvious recent cable has lifted the Although very modest, this addition are my Heco speakers, performance of the Neve current system sounds absolutely which are spurring me on to sublime. I say “current” as improve matters elsewhere. right across the board... hopefully the adventure will carry One of my initial reasons for on for a few more years yet. buying the Einklang was to I couldn’t be happier!” Will Jones, South Wales eventually partner it with a valve amp (Puresound or something DP: That’s a pretty serious setup you’ve else) and although l would still be Read what Chris has to say at got there, Will. The wonderful thing about open to suggestions in that area, hi-À is that it has so many ‘nooks and my sights have moved on to www.russandrews.com/chriskimsey crannies’, and transmission lines speakers an all-in-one system for the are one of them. Many audiophiles can bang-for-buck return that take or leave them, but there are some these tend to offer. who adore them and understand that My shortlist at the moment they do something that no other type of would be the Naim Uniti Atom or Our limited edition Herford Weightlifter is packing a punch in the art world. Personally signed by our founder and valued at £18,450, it is the perfect addition to any audiophile’s collection. To sweeten the deal, we will throw in our new M 40 HV 1000 watts mono amplifier. Don’t forget that you will need two of them for stereo. Be quick, as the offer is only available during our celebrations.

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the new Quad, once the streaming Hi-res hunt option is made available. I do love I read your review of the AKG N40 the wide soundstage projected in-ear (HFC 421), which spoke of by the Heco and would like to there being some bass heaviness retain much of the smoothness I that over clouded the mids. Also currently have, but gain a touch some À ner detail missing. more detail along the way. I recently bought the AKG N40 My quandary is whether I would and found this was precisely how be better investing in a separate it sounded when new from the valve or solid state amp circa box. I found there was too much £1,500 and a partnering bass. On some tracks the thump standalone DAC (Pro-Ject Pre Box of kick drums was too much. “The bottom line is S2) and retain the Squeezebox? There was a sense of placement, that Kimber’s Axios Total budget is around £2,000. but I was yearning for it to have Listening tastes are wide and better overall detail. headphone cables can varied, much like your reviewing However after maybe three to team. Many thanks for an four hours, it started to sound a lot and do help high-end excellent monthly read. better. After 10 hours I was in love. headphones be all Trevor Rea, by email After 20 I decided it was one of the best choices I have ever made. that they can be - JK: I think that you might be pleasantly It is sublimely balanced, clear often in quite surprised at how good the Naim Uniti as a bell and with beautifully Atom will sound with your big Heco, judged tonality. The emotion it dramatic ways. Trevor. It’s quite a warm and relaxed- can evoke is surprising. From Very highly sounding ampliÀ er that while not exactly happiness, to bounce and kick, tube-like is not aggressive either. Partner to ‘ooh-er sadness’. recommended. it with as good a server as funds will I am playing it on a Chord Hugo permit and you will have a compact but 2 and Chord Mojo, and its sounds Hi-Fi + July 2017 very capable front end. a perfect paring. Talking of the Chord DACs, I would like some DP: My choice would be the £1,825 advice. I recently came across the Exposure 3010S2-D integrated ampliÀ er Sony HAP-S1. If it had a digital (HFC 397). It has a great all-round sound output to use with a Chord DAC, with enough thump to really get your it would be a perfect desktop À le speakers singing and a tighter bass than any tube ampliÀ er of this price. It’s I’m looking for a way midband is very sweet and spacious for a solid-stater. The built-in digital converter to play my digital is done well and will make a À ne À st of files without having your musical ones and zeros. Although the Uniti Atom is a brilliant all-in-one, it to use my computer doesn’t have the outright ability of the Exposure in the sonic stakes. source. A À le source that means I don’t need to have a computer CW: The Einklangs are a joy and running in order to feed music sensitive enough to warrant investing À les to the Chord DAC. This lead in good ampliÀ cation and revealing me to thinking about acquiring sources. I’d say the Marantz amp is the such a device. A server would be weakest link, and I’d be tempted to go for no good since it needs a PC to an integrated valve amp from Puresound be turned on somewhere. So, I or Ming Da. The all-in-one solution may would need a dedicated hard be convenient, but you may not get the drive-equipped (or hard drive sweetness you hanker. I’m a fan of accessible) standalone digital Squeezeboxes, but make sure your output unit. One that would digital À les are decent quality. Rip at support the highest resolution CD quality or better and invest in larger À les. Any suggestions? storage if you currently just access MP3s. Edward F, by email A standalone DAC may help, but the analogue feeds from your current gear JK: It very much depends on budget could sound better right away with Edward, but one option would be an well-matched ampliÀ cation. Innuos Zen server (HFC 402), these start 60 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE

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“ofers signicant improvements Ed was seriously impressed by over the Marantz’s SA10 and PM10 duo standard mains leads supplied April 2017 with Hi-Fi at £799 for the Mini Mk2. This is a and matching Nu-Vista CD player ripping server with USB and network or Marantz’s PM-10 integrated equipment.” connections that can connect directly ampliÀ er and SA-10 CD player. I to any DAC that has a USB input. In my have no need for streaming. Can experience it sounds extremely good you help me with some advice? and has the added convenience that you Jonathan J Cryer, via Facebook can easily control it with an app on your smartphone or tablet. Innuos announced ES: This is really going to need an Mk3 versions of its Zen servers at the audition I’m afraid Jonathan. I’d be Munich High End show in May. These alarmed at anyone dropping £10,000 will be more expensive when they arrive, on my say-so alone, but having listened but promise higher sound quality. to the PM-10/SA-10 pairing for a recent Dealer Visit feature (HFC 441), it has NR: Regarding your music streamer, to count as one of the most complete “This budget power have you considered the Cambridge pieces of hi-À I’ve heard recently. It is cable performs with Audio CXN V2 (HFC 437)? Although it beautifully made, will handle a streamer doesn’t have a 500GB hard drive built being added in the future if you relent distinction... first class.” in, you can easily connect external USB and has the civility to work with the AE2 theaudiophileman.com April 2017 devices and one could be a HDD or without losing what makes it so special. a solid-state equivalent as the prices of these are falling all the time. It CW: You’ve shortlisted some rather additionally has digital outputs and lovely components there. I suspect the you’re not paying for any built-in Nu-Vista ones would edge it for me, but ampliÀ cation that you don’t need. both brands may be somewhat smoother and subjectively less incisive than the Starter for 10 (grand) Cyrus gear you’ve already enjoyed, so My current system setup includes make sure you hear the qualities you a pair of Musical Fidelity 550K love with your own speakers in any Supercharger monoblock power audition. Plus, whenever people have ampliÀ ers with Cyrus Audio Pre serious budget to spend, I always urge Xvs preamp and PSX-R power them to consider some judicious room supply and CD 8SE CD player treatment as part of the investment. along with Chord Company Introducing better carpet underlay, Odyssey 2 speaker cable and a carefully placed rug, bass trap or ONLY Chorus 2 interconnects. absorption panels from the likes of GIK I would like to keep my Acoustic acoustics (gikacoustics.co.uk) to catch £60 Energy AE2 standmount speakers troublesome or reÁ ected sound can have FOR 1M and am looking to update my a transformative effect on the sound of CD player and ampliÀ er. I have your system. This can potentially save around £10k to spend and have you a fortune, instead of hoping ever been looking at Musical Fidelity’s more reÀ ned sources and ampliÀ cation Nu-Vista 800 integrated ampliÀ er will address any underlying issues.

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OPINION

The greatest show

Forget the stuf y, jam-packed hotel rooms of old, Lee Dunkley reckons today’s hi-fi shows are a much more comfortable experience – demonstrating the kit at its very best

s any audiophile knows, autumn is the time of year that the hi-À industry gets into full swing A as enthusiasts Á ock to the warmth and comfort of hotel exhibition spaces to indulge their passion among like-minded individuals and share in a collective desire to hear the very best quality systems that money can buy. With three European shows dedicated to catering to our audio fervour held within just a few weeks of one another, there’s plenty to keep hi-À fans busy. Kicking off our indulgence was the newly named Festival Of Sound in Hammersmith, followed by The Hi-Fi Show Live and then the three-day Warsaw Audio Video Show in Poland the weekend after. Just like the growth in popularity of vinyl, shows appear to be following a similar trajectory as many exhibitors and visitors attended the Windsor-based Live greater audience numbers as well as providing a more Glorious Ascot is show before heading out to Poland – which has grown to relaxed and friendly atmosphere to deliver informative the home of the newly rebranded become one of Europe’s most popular consumer electronics workshops and meet the makers. The Hi-Fi Show Live The UK Hi-Fi events in recent years. All three are established showpieces hosted by our sister title Hi-Fi News and AVTech Media is Show Live that have created a ‘feel’ all of their own, but it’s The Hi-Fi the tour de force behind much of the new buzz and has Show Live that seems to be generating the biggest buzz in subtly been reimagining and reshaping the way that we the UK among visitors and exhibitors alike, while the think about such audio showcases. While it still manages Warsaw show (set around its National Stadium) appears to attract all the big names in the high-end audio industry to be hinting at a new kind of super-venue for others to to show off their wares, it does so in such a relaxed and aspire to. informative environment that it would prove unrecognisable With lots to see, Up until very to those familiar with hi-À shows of old. The result is that recently, events rather than too many people being crammed into a room it’s no surprise that typically showcased that’s not suited in the slightest to showing high-end visitor numbers the latest audio components anywhere near their best, visitors are able to innovations in small experience some of the most iconic deigns in great increased again rooms with barely surroundings and in some of the best-sounding demo rooms enough space for I’ve heard. The show has always been a truly thrilling event more than a handful of visitors to see what was going on and those of you that didn’t make it along to this year’s inside. Navigating your way around such a gathering felt extravaganza can read about what you missed out on in like trying to escape a maze with unfathomable Á oorplans, our Show Report on p10. endless corridors with identical doors and out-of-action elevators seemingly at every turn. Visitors walk in and out On the up of exhibitor rooms as they please, sometimes making a hasty With lots to see and hear, it’s no surprise that visitor retreat if it is too crowded to comfortably see what’s inside, numbers have once again increased as many took the or perhaps taking an immediate dislike to the exhibitor’s whole weekend to soak up everything the event had to musical taste. I’ve seen this happen on numerous occasions offer. Whether your pockets go deep enough is neither over the years with people voting with their feet at the risk here nor there. For me, the show was bursting with of missing out on hearing the potential star of the show energy as usual, offering the best opportunity in the because the space can’t accommodate more than half a UK to experience the world’s À nest audio brands À rst dozen people at once. In this kind of environment, there’s hand in one of the calendar’s most pleasant locations. little opportunity to sit down and hear a product give its best Things look set to get even bigger and better still, as the in a relaxed and controlled environment like you would in a show moves to a new home at Ascot Racecourse in 2019. proper demo room. Rebranded The UK Hi-Fi Show Live, the larger scale event Things are changing for the better, though, as a new breed will see exhibitors À ll the Grandstand super-venue over of show has emerged held in attractive surroundings with the weekend of 26-27 October. It’s already shaping up to LEE DUNKLEY better demo spaces that can comfortably accommodate be one of the greatest hi-À events on Earth, and I can’t wait O Show and tell

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We really are the only place to contact first www.pjhifi.co.uk Missed it? Call now to arrange your own private audition.. System available for demo for a limited period. Audiovector – just listen Tel: 01483 504801 Picture credit: Adobe Stock Hear no evil no Hear closer to thetruth empiricism gets improvetechniques As measurement assessing hi-fi and comesto the realisation that today the balance is just about right David Price you just knew it would be right, right? you justknewitwouldberight,right? – thenwhatwasthepointofevenlisteningtoit,because response –oranampli needed tobesaid.Ifaloudspeakerhadlinearfrequency what theymeasured,andmeasuredwasallthat magazine toseehowtheyheldsway. Whattheysaidwas occasional A5bookletsbeforeitbecameamonthly tortoiseshell NHS spectacles that they never wiped clean. tortoiseshell NHSspectaclesthattheyneverwipedclean. and tieunderthelabcoat,pensintoppocket someone workinginapowerstationcontrolroom–shirt middle-aged andhadthesortofattirethatyou’dexpect measuring instruments.Theywereinvariablylate When myfellow13-year-oldsweretryingtohalf-inch a those childrenwhosemothersworriedweren’tnormal. did abouttransientintermodulationdistortion. who knewmoreaboutPinkFloyd’sdrughabitsthanthey bunch oftousle-haired, earnest pointyheadedbof Aquarius’, wherecontrolofthenarrativewaswrestedfrom demonstrable bysomeorotherprocessofscienti science whereeverythingthatexistedwasapparently dirty wordbackthen.We livedinan empiricistworldof my hard-earnedpocketmoney. Subjectivitywasalmosta measured, thatdidn’tmeanitexist. professions –thatjustbecausesomethingcouldn’t be that. Therewaslittlesense–atleastamongmainstream wanted todowasspendthedayinbed–and thatwas were obviouslyasoap-dodgingmalingerer, andallyou À enquiry and/orlogicaldeduction.Ifyourdoctorcouldn’t number ofhi- subjective thattheywere almostmetaphysical.We hada empiricism behind,someothersofthaterawere gettingso that certainturntables,ampli later hadthepleasureof meeting–whoseemedtothink nd what was wrong with you by a blood test then you nd whatwaswrongwithyoubyabloodtestthen The earlyeightieswasthedawningofhi- You onlyneedtoreadclassicissuesof I remember the transition well, because I was one of I rememberthetransitionwell,becausewasoneof While somehi- U p untiltheeighties,hi- laboratories twiddling the knobs of their laboratories twiddlingtheknobsoftheir unnaturally longperiodsoftimein by seriousmeninglasses,whospent À journalists of that period – some of whom I journalists ofthatperiod–somewhomI À magazines were yet to leave studied magazineswereyettoleavestudied considers the tension between empiricism and subjectivism, when À er low distortion at high power er lowdistortionathighpower Á ared-trouser wearing subjectivists ared-trouser wearingsubjectivists À ns and put in the hands of a ns andputinthehandsofa À ers and speakers had almost ers andspeakershadalmost À Hi-Fi Answers Popular Hi-Fi purchase acopyof would walkinand local WHSmith,I the topshelfof copy of world was policed worldwaspoliced Hi-Fi Choice À ’s ‘age of ’s ‘ageof Razzle À c or or 's 's with with from from bringing togetherbothworlds we havethebalanceright andaudiofansareinformedby to howproductsmeasure inlaboratoryconditions.Today, own sonicpreferences,while alsoadvisedtopayattention audio fansareinvitedtochooseequipmentbased ontheir recognised ashugelyimportant. empiricism cangettothis–althoughsubjectivism isstill truth. Asmeasurementtechniquesimprove,the closer that whiletheytellthetruth,maynot whole evaluating equipment.Yet atthesametime,it’srecognised today’s audioscribesaccepttheseplayarealpart in testing carriedoutbyoursistertitle measurements arebeingdoneaswiththeexhaustivelab equilibrium hasbeenachieved.High-qualitytechnical Nowadays we’reinthehappypositionwhereanatural The truth,thewholetruthand... of aturntable’swowand majority. People wouldscoffatyoutheslightestmention just alittlebitmad. empiricists –tothemitseemedthattheworldhadgone than others.Thiswasallabithippy-dippyforthe where somecomponentssimplyworkedtogetherbetter magical properties.Theyhadaradicalconceptof‘synergy’, riposte ofmanyhi- know thatprovesnothing,don’twe?”,wouldbethe mains-referenced ACmotorandarubberband. merit overaBritish-builtbeltdrivemovedbylow-cost an expensiveJapanesequartz-lockeddirectdrivehadno I’m happy with this state of affairs, of course, because I’m happywiththisstateofaffairs,course,because By the end of the eighties, the subjectivists were in the By theendofeighties,subjectivistswerein

À hacks, as they tried to explain why hacks,astheytriedtoexplain why Á utter O

À gures. “Oh well, we all gures. “Ohwell,weall Hi-Fi News , and , and JANUARY 2019 JANUARY to testinghi-fi when itcomes sit sideby side empirical data subjectivity and Happily, today Testing times DAVID PRICE OPINION 81 For 100% Pure Valve Amplification

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Say hello wave goodbye

With millions sold and almost 40 years in production, Audio-Technica’s AT95E cartridge has been replaced. Ed Selley raises a glass to one of the most popular pick-ups ever

guess different people will remember 1980 for different reasons. For some, the highlight I might be ice skater Robin Cousins winning Team GB’s only gold medal in the Winter Olympics at Lake Placid in the US, for others it could be the arrival of the Rubik’s Cube phenomenon or the then second Star Wars episode with the movie The Empire Strikes Back. But for me it was the introduction of Audio-Technica’s AT-95E, a pick-up that made high-quality performance possible for vinyl lovers everywhere without having to break the bank. Sadly, after almost 40 years in production, the AT-95E is about to be replaced by the AT-VM95E – reviewed on p115. Without giving too much away for fear of spoiling the review, I think this is a great new addition to the selection of affordable pick-ups currently available and includes some clever and worthwhile details. The hugely popular AT-95E was so much more than just an affordable cartridge, though, and somehow manages to supporting equipment weren’t exactly plentiful. But the Gone but not encapsulate the fortunes of the vinyl format itself and so AT-95E was widely recognised as a respectable option that forgotten, the AT95E was a deserves a moment or two of misty-eyed reminiscence. could be purchased without having to visit a specialist. It reliable option It seems almost impossible to believe that compact disc might not have been the last word in vinyl replay, but it during vinyl’s – a format itself now entering its twilight years – was still certainly had plenty of loyal devotees. wilderness years two years from launch when the AT-95E À rst went on sale This meant that the nucleus of vinyl users and affordable alongside the likes equipment was intact when the re-birth of the format The AT-95E played of David Bowie’s came along, ready to be supplanted by the huge wave of a big part in the Scary Monsters new hardware that we have seen in recent years. Many (And Super Creeps), vinyl fans that I’ve spoken to recently regard its current fortunes of vinyl’s Talking Heads’ popularity as no surprise – claiming that the appeal of the recent resurgence Remain In Light format was inevitable as we’d all return to our senses and and Motörhead’s see the light sooner or later. Ace Of Spades. Designed to be a no-nonsense, affordable As someone who was engaged in retail at the turn of the high-performance cartridge that provided an elliptical century, I can assure you that the resurgence of the black stylus in a body that was small and light enough to be stuff really wasn’t quite so clear cut. It’s foolish to play used with almost any tonearm, it proved to be a highly ‘what if?’ but the fortunes of vinyl would have been very popular choice from day one. Audio-Technica says it has different if the supply of entry-level components like the sold more than À ve million units over its 38-year lifespan AT-95E had dried up any more than it did. and that this À gure doesn’t include its close relatives such as the Linn K9, which was effectively an all-metal example Time for change that shared the same stylus. Of course, the very fact that 2018 marks the end of the What makes the AT-95E so important is that it was a road for the AT-95E is no less signiÀ cant. Audio-Technica relatively new design released just at the point where clearly feels that the market is healthy enough to justify vinyl’s fortunes began to decline. It stayed in production, the investment in R&D and tooling to replace it and give providing a solid and dependable option for those fans us a new model – and it is important to stress that besides of the format that kept the faith, and Audio-Technica that vivid pea-green À nish, there are almost no parts in continued to keep making it throughout the format’s common with the original. You’ll still be able to buy turbulent years. While vinyl never really went away for replacement styli for the AT-95E from Audio-Technica, but many HFC readers, the amount of affordable hardware perhaps more importantly, there is now a new affordable plummeted throughout CD’s heyday. If you needed to option in place to ensure we keep those records spinning ED SELLEY Pick-up artist keep a sensibly priced turntable going, your choices of for another 40 years, just like its predecessor O

JANUARY 2019 83

OPINION

Recording in style

Making a modern music recording is a bit more complex than simply plonking the mic down and turning on a recorder. Neville Roberts looks into some of the techniques

t doesn’t seem so long ago that a recording was from one to made by sticking a microphone in front of the the other. The I performers and hitting record. It quickly technique was became evident, however, that far better results invented by Jürg could be obtained by using several microphones positioned Jecklin, the former strategically and mixing the signals together. Then along chief sound came stereo, and suddenly positioning and set up started to engineer of Swiss play a more important role in imaging and spaciousness. Radio, to produce The polar pattern of a microphone – its ability to pick up what he called an sound from different directions – is very important. The Optimal Stereo simplest pattern is the omnidirectional mic, which picks up Signal (OSS). The sound equally from all directions. A À gure-of-eight polar 30-35cm disk pattern picks up audio from in front of and behind the mic, is made from a but not from the sides. A cardioid pattern is, as the name sound-absorbing implies, a heart-shaped polar pattern (actually an inverted material, which heart-shape) where the microphone is most sensitive to acts as a bafÁ e to sounds in front of it, less sensitive to sounds at the side recreate some of the and insensitive to sounds from the rear. frequency response, time and amplitude variations we Sonorus Eventually, it was realised that by combining the signals of experience when a recording is reproduced through Holographic Imaging is omnidirectional and À gure-of-eight microphones you could loudspeakers. Similarly, a binaural ‘dummy head’ uses two claimed to create achieve a cardioid polar pattern. The sensitivity of a cardioid omnidirectional condenser capsules built into artiÀ cial an immersive soundfield using is doubled at the front where the positive signals from an ears mounted on an enclosure resembling a human head. just two channels omnidirectional and À gure-of-eight combine. The sensitivity Although modern dummy heads, such as the Neumann remains the same on the sides as there is only the signal KU-100, are designed to produce recordings that are from the omnidirectional mic; at the rear, the negative particularly good for playing back recordings through signal from the À gure-of-eight cancels out the positive headphones, these recordings nevertheless reproduce very signal from the well through loudspeakers. Along came stereo omnidirectional. and suddenly mic Developments Surround sound in microphone A company called Sonorus Audio has developed a process placement played technology allowed called Sonorus Holographic Imaging, which is designed to an important role for a single mic to create a three-dimensional soundÀ eld with a unique feel have a switchable of realism. It can use up to eight channels of source polar pattern between all three options, such as the U47 material to recover the most detail from the original – which can operate as either cardioid or omnidirectional recording. These are then recombined into two channels. microphone – and the U48, which can switch between This process is real time and fully analogue, and the cardioid and À gure-of-eight patterns. Some models, such as resultant stereo signal is recorded on 15IPS analogue tape. the AKG C12, can even offer a blend of all three. If the original recording contains true ambient or surround Apart from the choice of microphones, their position is information, the listener can be immersed in a soundÀ eld very important. A crossed pair uses two directional mics that extends to almost 360°, even though it is only that are crossed and this arrangement is often used reproduced from two channels. to record solo instruments in stereo. The spaced pair I’ve experienced this À rst hand with superb master tape conÀ guration employs two omnidirectional mics spaced recordings of choral music by Yarlung Records entitled about 60cm apart. This is very good not only for recording Nostos by the Cal State Fullerton University Singers and instruments, but also for capturing the ambience of the Yarlung’s latest – a breath-taking private organ recital in the environment. The mono signals from each microphone are Walt Disney Concert Hall played by Jung-A Lee. Sonorus assigned to the left and right channels of a track to create Holographic Imaging produces an uncanny realism with the stereo image. This image can be enhanced by the use both recordings and, with the latter, I really am transported of a Jecklin disk, which is a sound-absorbing disk placed into the concert hall. Things have certainly come a long way NEVILLE ROBERTS between the two microphones to create an acoustic shadow from singing into a horn on a phonograph recorder O Sound man

JANUARY 2019 85 Distributors of exquisite audio equipment Tel +44 (0)1900 601954 Picture credit: Universal Rise of the boxset the of Rise flailing CD format CD flailing many tears for the should shedtoo I don’t thinkwe Nigel Williamson Nigel Williamson everything the artist every recorded –goodand invariably bad–remains popular Blues, Tom Petty, The Police, FleetwoodMacandMottThe works. I’msureyou’llforgivemefornotreviewingit. Dawn Judy Tzuke,bestknownforher1979hit sung andretailingat£80apop.Theevenmoreobscure reviewed aneight-CDboxcompilingeverynotesheever different versionsofDylansinging burp andfartrecordedbymyfavouriteartists.Eight collector andacompletistwhotendstowanteverylast wonder with1967’s Gentry wasafantasticsinger, butshewasalsoaone-hit Davies whoaregettingtheboxsettreatment.Bobbie LP intoa14-discepicofWagnerian proportions. Society 1968 landmark further andarecelebratingthe50thanniversaryoftheir rejects andalternativeversions.TheKinkshavegoneeven with theadditionofdifferentmixes,out-takes,demos, music wasstretchedouttoalmost10timesthatlength Lennon’s painstakingly assembledsix-discdeluxeeditionofJohn boxsets actuallymakeanypro an accompanyingbookandotherassortedmemorabilia. include numerousCDsbutcomelavishlypackagedwith economics, giventhatthesevastenterprisesnotonly must benicheandI’veoftenwonderedaboutthe Bring iton,Isay. Yet themarketfortheseextravaganzas sharing arrived on the scene. But as streaming has gained sharing arrivedonthescene. Butasstreaminghasgained it hasbeenindeclineever sinceNapsterandillegal music industryreportthat theformatisdying.Ofcourse, CD formataliveasthelatest statisticsfromtheAmerican streaming platform. 4,000, generatesmorerevenuethan100million hitsona archival boxsetretailingat,say, £80inalimitedrunof merely laboursoflovetosatisfyfans.Believeitor not,an Recent weeks havealsoseenboxsetsfromTheMoody And it’s not only icons like Lennon, Dylan and Ray And it’snotonlyiconslikeLennon,DylanandRay So I asked a few acquaintances in the industry whether So Iaskedafewacquaintancesintheindustrywhether In fact, boxsets are one of the few things keeping the In fact,boxsetsareoneofthefewthingskeeping the A , has just released a 24-CD set of her entire collected , hasjustreleaseda24-CDsetofherentirecollected by turning the 39 minutes of music on the original byturningthe39minutesofmusiconoriginal Imagine The Tracks of BobDylan’s1975classicalbum have reviewedtheexpandedsix-CDversion ll ofasuddenit’srainingboxsets.Onp94,I The KinksAreVillage GreenPreservation . In both cases the original 40 minutes of . Inbothcasestheoriginal40minutesof Ode To BillieJoe . LastmonthitwasYoko Ono’s À wonders why despite the slow demise of CD, the boxset capturing t or whether they are t orwhethertheyare Tangled UpInBlue . Yet in want it on vinyl. want itonvinyl. double thatifyou Eagles for£125– 15-disc setfromthe others. Oh,anda Hoople among Now I’m an avid Now I’manavid Stay With MeTill HFC Blood On Blood On 441 I 441I À le le ? tears fortheCD.“Ide something tactile,perhapsweshouldn’tshedtoo many manifestation forthoseofuswithapreference digital formatsandensurethatmusicretainsaphysical a computerdoesnot.Yet ifvinylisabletocoexistwith books, musicfurnishesandcivilisesaroomin way that vaporise completelyintoadigitalcloud.To mymind,like should wemournitsdemise?I’dhatetoseemusic If theCDisabouttofollowtapeintoobsolescence, Best ofbothworlds revival. Soundsgoodto me. Howaboutyou? and theden,”saysJack White, championofthevinyl streaming inthecarand kitchen,vinylinthelivingroom going tobeacombination ofstreamingplusvinyl– 18.6 millioninthe – 12.8percentupyear-on-year. WhileCDintheUSfellto on thesameperiodpreviousyear. CD salesweredownastaggering46.9percentinvolume end ofyear crashing towardsobsolescenceisdramatic.We await ascendance, thespeedatwhichcompactdiscis but overthe all revenues from recorded music derived from streaming. all revenuesfromrecordedmusicderivedstreaming. big jumpinpaidsubscriptionswithroughly75percentof streaming platformssuchasSpotify. Buttherehasbeena for ‘free’withartistspaidviatheadvertsthatareplayedon explode withgiddyingspeed.Muchofitisstillconsumed match andovertaketheformatwithintwoorthreeyears. falling threetimesasfastvinylisgrowing,will entire marketformusicasaphysicalartefact.With sales 8.1 millionandrepresentsmorethan30percentofthe Meanwhile the increase in vinyl sales continues apace Meanwhile theincreaseinvinylsalescontinuesapace Meanwhile, the dominance of streaming continues to Meanwhile, thedominanceofstreamingcontinuesto À gures fromtheBritishrecordingindustry, À rst six months of 2018 in the US market, rst sixmonthsof2018intheUSmarket, À rst six months of 2018, vinyl rose to rst sixmonthsof2018,vinylroseto À nitely believe the next decade is nitely believethenextdecadeis O

JANUARY 2019 JANUARY one persontake? Imagine How much The collector WILLIAMSON NIGEL OPINION can 87 BEAUTIFUL SYSTEM ASTELL&KERN/AUDEZE

Supersonic How can a portable setup be considered a Beautiful System? Ed Selley makes the case for this compact combination

t’s no secret that I have of high-end hi-À , until now that is... a lot of love for in-ear The Audeze and Astell&Kern pairing headphone designs. My that’s on show here forms an entirely I years of commuting to portable audio system and is one of and from various workplaces got me the most practical we’ve ever seen. hooked and left me addicted to the Its size and weight mean it can be kind of immediacy that a really good stowed in a large pocket or work bag. pair of in-ears is able to deliver. From It can also demonstrate abilities that humble beginnings the category has are beyond what many conventional grown following serious design components that usually grace our innovation and a good set of in-ears Beautiful System pages have to offer, is now seen as a solid proposition by and combines it with astonishing many quality-audio fans, thanks to technology and attention to detail their efÀ cient design and workman to challenge many luxury home ability to handle every day travel. But hi-À setups. the in-ear headphone hasn’t really Audeze is arguably best known meshed with the more reÀ ned world for its full-size planar magnetic

88 JANUARY 2019 BEAUTIFUL SYSTEM ASTELL&KERN/AUDEZE

COMPONENTS ASTELL&KERN A&ULTIMA SP1000 £3,300 The flagship of A&K’s range, the SP1000 combines twin DACs, a powerful processor and 256GB of internal memory – that can be augmented by 256GB via microSD – with superb all-metal casework and a gorgeous colour display to create the ultimate portable audio player.

AUDEZE LCDi4 £2,400 Audeze’s most sophisticated in-ear headphone borrows technology from its LCD-4 over-ear reference headphone sibling and shrinks it all down into an astonishing planar magnetic-based in-ear headphone that is painstakingly pair matched and hand assembled. Picture credit: stock.adobe.com/peshkova credit: Picture

JANUARY 2019 89 BEAUTIFUL SYSTEM ASTELL&KERN/AUDEZE

headphones, but over the last few portable player that Astell&Kern Above left: goes a long way towards explaining years it has worked on creating in-ear knows how to make. The A&ultima High-end combo where the money goes. Astell&Kern that plays it all equivalents that beneÀ t from the SP1000 is nothing less than a truly and fits neatly has even managed to make the same technology. On the face of it, state-of-the-art digital front end in in a pocket protective leather jacket a thing this is perhaps the classic example handheld form. In terms of what it Above: of beauty that softens the player’s of trying to À t a quart into a pint pot can do, the compromises required The flagship stainless-steel aesthetic in the process. – planar transducers are light and are impressively small. Its dual AKM SP1000 is the The LCDi4 in-ear looks like something exceptionally responsive, but they DACs can decode pretty much any ultimate hi-res designed by the aerospace industry. player and DAC require a large radiating area – format in common use (or otherwise) The exquisite and extremely light Above right: something that in-ear headphones and handle DSD natively. An The luxury finish housings feel immensely strong and typically don’t possess. Audeze has octa-core processor ensures that the and feel in both the À ttings work extremely well. The placed the transducer in a housing components paint À nish on the housings has a that sits on the outside of the ear with Music that can often is outstanding reÁ ective sheen that manages to the sound directed down a tapered subtly convey that this is not an housing into the ear canal. With the fail to deliver its true ordinary pair of in-ears. You are never addition of a clip that sits around the emotional core going to convince anyone that this top of the ear, the whole arrangement pairing is cheap, but neither is it an is surprisingly comfortable despite suddenly comes alive example of style over substance. looks that might suggest otherwise. interface glides around the screen Scale model Match of the day with the smoothness of a Pixar movie The moment you start listening, the The handcrafted LCDi4 in-ear takes while the colours on the display are substance makes itself even more these principles to outstanding effect every bit as vibrant. apparent. Any lingering doubts about in its Á agship design. The planar À lm The in-ear headphone and player the virtues of in-ear headphones end is created using a vacuum deposition combined share more attributes with here. Operating as they do in the process and each pair of earpieces is À ne jewellery than more conventional reduced spatial environment of exactly matched to each other before audio equipment. The characteristic your ear canal, there is no trouble being assembled by hand. The cabling indented volume control on the delivering the sort of scale that you’d is Kevlar reinforced silver while the SP1000 brings to mind the bezel ordinarily require a very large speaker rear of the housing is made of of a watch while the casework is to replicate in a room. magnesium, which helps to keep beautifully À nished and the 387g Orbital’s Monsters Exist, for example, the weight down to 12g a side. weight ensures that it sits in the hand hits with an improbable level of scale Partnering the LCDi4 is the best with a level of heft and presence that and sheer impact that is tricky to get

90 JANUARY 2019 BEAUTIFUL SYSTEM ASTELL&KERN/AUDEZE

anywhere close to with conventional this. The SP1000 is a À ne example line bass. There is nothing I’ve ever loudspeakers. As there is only one of a device that has huge levels of encountered that is quite like it and planar-magnetic transducer per side, decoding power at its disposal, but even the speakers that hint at it cost a CONTACT it balances this with an integration DETAILS none of this makes itself felt in a vast amount more than £2,400. Yes, across the entire frequency response discernible way. It delivers vocals and it’s a staggering amount for a pair that makes multiple driver designs WEBSITES instruments in a manner that borders of in-ear headphones, but as an audeze.com sound confused in comparison. astellnkern.com on the holographic and can manage experience it’s actually something of Driven by the beautifully engineered unlimited.com the improbable feat of putting a bargain. The LCDi4 is a Concorde output of the Astell&Kern, the Audeze material in front of you. The Audeze moment in my time as an audiophile combines pretty much unlimited simply takes this and runs with it, and puts everything that I have heard headroom with an effortlessness that but what the LCDi4 does to further before it in context – be it another means even complex material Á ows in-ear headphone or a more in an outstandingly natural fashion. It The in-ears and traditional full-size speaker. means that music that can often fail to deliver its true emotional core player share more Music and movement suddenly comes alive. Miles Davis’ attributes with fine And don’t forget, unlike the home- Masqualero suddenly gains a focus based temples of chrome and wood and cohesion that puts you in the jewellery than hi-fi that often form this feature, you can studio, standing in among the easily take this incredible-sounding musicians, effortlessly following their enhance this three dimensionality, is system out and about with you. The interplay. There is no time signature add a level of speed and immediacy experience of listening to these tiny that appears to hold any challenge for that is quite simply breath taking. components delivering high-end this exceptional duo, which simply Approach this system with an open audio while going about my daily takes what it’s given and delivers mind and it doesn’t take too long routine is a wonderful feeling. This is exactly what you desire. before it can change your perspective a system that’s not only considered on precisely what is possible in the beautiful as a combination for its use Power play reproduction of recorded music. The of stunning materials and superb It also manages to create a soundstage shameless Led Zep tribute of Greta engineering, but also because it that is utterly unbelievable for Van Fleet’s Age Of Man highlights liberates truly high-end sound to be something where the drivers are no this perfectly. A box loudspeaker that enjoyed wherever you want. If that more than a centimetre from your ear can mimic the Audeze would be an doesn’t make this portable combo and it is the Astell&Kern that can improbable combination of huge something a little bit special, I don’t claim much of the responsibility for electrostatic panel and transmission know what does

JANUARY 2019 91

Picture credit: Pennie Smith his Chineseepic world music, mostnotablywithAfricaExpress and hip-hop andR&B withGorillaz;ventured boldlyinto glory days ofBlur, he’s explored electronica, working incontemporary Britishpop. Sincethe surely standsunrivalled asthemostcreative voice and itsarrival couldnotbemore timely. Produced by island ofmixed-up people". what Albarnaf song cycle about21st-century London andlife on Tong toform TheGood, Bad&TheQueen. drummer Tony Allenandex-Verve guitarist Simon Clash bassistPaul Simonon,veteranAfrobeat time toputtogetheranotherband, solo andcollaborative albums. for the ENO; andreleased aprolific swathe ofother musical for the NationalTheatre; writtenanopera scored NOW DAVID BOWIE A decadeandmore on,we finallygetthefollow up The group’s self-titled debutalbumin2007 was a In themiddleofallthiscreativity healsofound Alice's Adventures InWonderland ectionately called "this stroppy ectionately called"this little Monkey: Journey To TheWest 94 Jim James has gone, Damon Albarn has gone, DamonAlbarn Uniform Clarity recruiting former Merrie Land The The Good, &The Bad Queen as a stage asastage ; electronic popstorms kilter music hall beats to scope isvast from of Musically, the record’s fly tips” canstillbesalvaged from thewreckage. tolerance andour“famous goodwill dumpedinyour traditional Britishvirtuesofdecency, respect, bruised andbattered thoughwe may be, the psyche. Yet thesongsalsobrimwithoptimismthat, metaphysical scaracross ournationaldiscourseand Brexit hasdividedGreat Britain andleftadeep, to have grown uglierandmore narrow mindedas ready toleave Europe. state ofmodernBritainaswe contentiouslyget Land albums, includinghis2016farewell Tony Visconti –whoalsohelmednumerous Bowie In many ways it’s a lamentfor acountrythatseems takes a critical but compassionate look at the takes acriticalbutcompassionatelookatthe 96 Fleetwood Mac 50 Years –Don't Stop Blackstar - – Merrie Merrie flag ofhopeandtellsuswe can still“fly tothemoon”. Butthen,typically,track. inthenext lineherunsupa grows,” hesingsathismost despondent onthetitle of those, we are ashakingwreck where nothing a Southendcaravan park. a tornlandscapefrom aWorld War Onememorialto lions, unicornsandmaypoles ashejourneysthrough rather thancrudesloganising,withreferences to Albarn favours whimsical,ellipticalobservation Man To Leave haunting balladry( music hallbeats( ( nostalgic echoofBritpop( update. Itreally isthatgood. consider Village Green Society, Preservation about ournationalidentityfor TheKinks titled Ribbons Musically, therecord’s scope isvast from of “Are we green? Are we pleasant?We are noteither While thelyricsare highlypoliticallycharged, Fifty years agoRay Davies wrote aseminalalbum ), sweet soul( Merrie Land ) toelectronic popstorms( Gun To TheHead 98 Lady Boston José James asthe2018 Brexit Britain The Poison Tree Lean OnMe JANUARY 2019 JANUARY Drifters AndTrawlers NW ), bucolicfolk

and we should andwe should and CD ) and even a ) andeven a The Last The Last Parlophone 1917 ), via ), via -kilter -kilter The The ). ). 93 MUSICREVIEWS

Confidence Jim James Julien Behr Uniform Clarity Orchestre De L'Opéra De Lyon Pierre Bleuse

CD Alpha Classics CD ATO

TENOR JULIEN BEHR sings a thoroughly MY MORNING JACKET frontman Jim James is a enjoyable selection of rarer French opera arias that prolific maker of music and this, his seventh solo will appeal to lovers of the bel canto world of Bellini album and second of 2018, showcases all of his and Donizetti. Behr sings with a firmly projected talents. Inspired by his other 2018 album – Uniform tone and an impressively clean and powerful high Distortion – Uniform Clarity pares back and strips register. His diction is clear and his expressive away until it's just James and his sonorous voice. range wide. While the orchestra may not quite However, it's on songs like You Get To Rome and be world class, under Bleuse’s taut direction, its Throwback that he really begins to hold his notes accompaniment is always committed and stylish. for an unsettlingly long time, increasing his volume The string sound has power, but lacks depth and until his voice becomes raw and distorted. In the principal oboist is the pick of the wind soloists. among all the Americana-flavoured alt-folk, this The recorded sound, particularly in the voice, is simple and clever trick gives the album an edge immediate and powerful. JG and honesty that many others lack. PH Bob Dylan More Blood, More Tracks Mendelssohn The Bootleg Series Vol.14 In Time, Anima Eterna Brugge, Jakob (Deluxe Edition) Lehmann, Chouchane Siranossian

6x CD Coulmbia Records CD Alpha Classics

THE 14TH RELEASE in Dylan’s on-going MENDELSSOHN’S VIOLIN CONCERTO is a ‘of icial bootleg’ archival series jewel, with many fine recordings available. With liberal use of 19th-century performance practices, represents something of a holy grail. gutsy period instrument string sound and the 1975’s Blood On The Tracks stands as original 1844 version of the score, this recording Dylan’s most personal and honest is something quite dif erent. The orchestra plays album as he picked at the scabs of delightfully throughout and Siranossian is a his disintegrating marriage. Yet, after committed and imaginative soloist; strong in the re-recording the album at the last first movement, a little less secure in the virtuosic finale. The Octet also receives a fine performance. minute, it was long rumoured that many Do you agree with our reviewers? Decide for The concerto is particularly well recorded. The of his earlier, rejected takes of songs yourself and listen to some soloist is clear without being over prominent and such as Idiot Wind and Simple Twist Of of this month’s tracks at the orchestral colour is rich, enhanced by a Fate were superior to the released www.hifichoice.co.uk pleasingly reverberant acoustic. JG versions – starker, more intimate and AUDIOFILE VINYL With judicious selection it's possible to create Dr. John, The Night Tripper Gris-gris a version that's better 180g vinyl Speakers Corner/Atco than the original album BACK IN 1968 this burbling rhythm. The highlights are its opening with a raw power that packed a album put gumbo rock and finishing tracks, but everything in between venomous emotional punch. Now on the map and made ambles along in an appealing if unclear fashion. a name for John Croker Courtbullion for instance only features we get the evidence in a six-CD set Rebennack who tapped those words from the backing singers while flute, in which the 10 released songs are into the 'anything goes' keyboards, drum and bass fill out the picture. I augmented by 77 (!) outtakes in zeitgeist with flair. Walk On Guilded Splinters was arguably better chronological order. At times the The album opens with done by Humble Pie, but the original is also repetition is tedious, but with judicious Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya wherein the good Dr talks fabulous and worth the asking price alone. pick and mixing it is possible to create a over a bubbling stew of languid, sparsely Speakers Corner has done a great job of arranged instruments and occasional backing extracting colour and dynamics out of what version of the album that, miraculously, vocals and a thick, rumbling bass line. Like the could easily sound flat in the wrong hands, most is even better than the masterpiece rest of the album it’s all about the atmosphere, a instruments are on one or other channel with we’ve loved for so many years. NW voodoo groove full of shadows and feints that only lead vocal in stereo, but the Dr has such ebb and flow as they’re carried along on the charisma that it’s all you really need. JK

94 JANUARY 2019 MUSICREVIEWS

HIGH RESOLUTION DOWNLOADS DEMO DISCS Alan Ainslie, General Tom Odell Goldie Hill Smith Manager Melco, reveals the Jubilee Road Goldie Sings Again music that he uses to demo and develop products

FLAC 24/44.1 onkyomusic.com FLAC 24/192 onkyomusic.com

BRITISH CROONER ODELL often flies under ALONG WITH KITTY Wells and Patsy Cline, the the radar of his more illustrious contemporaries late Goldie Hill was one of the first women of like Ed Sheeran and co. But this powerhouse of country music. She has slipped of the radar in middle-of-the-roadness still sells bucketloads recent years and this album (originally released of records, and this 11-track album perfectly in 1967) is the perfect way to reintroduce Israel Varela Andrzej demonstrates why. There's chiming piano, yourself to her honeyed voice. This is country Trio Panufnik soulful vocals and some grandstanding music at its slickest and most unabashed, with As Above Percussion choruses on show – all beautifully produced plenty of twangy slide guitar, pedal steel guitar So Below Concerto and mixed. It'll just depend on your opinion of and charmingly toy-set-like drums. But really, Perfect for a DSD vs Nonesuch released a MOR music on whether this is your bag. PH it's all about Goldie and her stunning voice. PH PCM comparison, this vinyl version of this is not only an excellent, wonderful piece by the natural recording, but LSO. It's truly stunning, Alfred Brendel also a very interesting especially on the later Live in Vienna performance as well. digital recording. Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Sir Simon Rattle

CD Decca

AS YOU’D EXPECT, this is a serious probing account of the piano concerto; one that places architecture above extreme subjectivity. Yet for all its rigour, it’s a very passionate performance, and Gabrieli M i c h e l G o d a r d sensitively played. Rattle and the VPO provide a Consort Soyeusement refined and imaginative orchestral backdrop. A Venetian Great music recorded Brahms’ Handel Variations (recorded 1979) is very Coronation 1595 in a wonderful abbey well played, with sovereign command of structure Early digital recording acoustic with fantastic and carefully scaled dynamics. The concerto that used ground- sound and resolution Released for the first time, this is a very special live (2001) is live with good sound, despite some breaking techniques to die for. A Trace Of performance recording audience noise at times. The Variations sound well and had fantastic Grace exposes too – there’s a little pre-echo and a few slight tape acoustics, thanks to everything in the dropouts, but nothing to spoil the performance. JH the BBC engineers. playback chain.

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MUSIC LEGENDS MARVIN GAYE

Let’s get it on Marvin Gaye might have had a tragic end to his life, but along the way he created some beautiful music. Nigel Williamson hears it through the grapevine...

arvin Gaye launched a musical the world was changing and with the onset of In what was another Motown breakthrough, revolution the night in 1971 when the seventies Motown’s claim to be “the sound the lyrics were printed within the gatefold M he called Motown boss Berry of young America” was not only sounding cover like a ‘serious’ rock album. Instead of Gordy at his vacation home in increasingly outdated, but was in danger of singing that he was “too busy thinking about the Bahamas and told him he was planning becoming redundant in an era of black power, my baby that I ain’t got time for nothin’ else”, to make a protest album. “With the world drug abuse, ghetto poverty and cofÀ ns arriving the nine songs dealt with war, peace, politics, exploding around me, how am I supposed to home daily from South-East Asia. The result racial identity and personal salvation, keep singing love songs?” he told Motown’s was What’s Going On, perhaps the greatest and reÁ ecting Gaye’s rapidly changing world view. owner, who also happened to be his brother-in- most important soul album ever released. InÁ uenced variously by black power and the law. At the time, Gaye was Motown’s number You only had to look at the cover to realise civil rights movement – which Motown had one sweet soul man, with a string of that this was not your routine Motown cash-in spent the sixties trying to ignore – the death unforgettable dance hits to his name, including album of hit-single-plus-À ller. Instead of the from a malignant brain tumour of his duetting I’ll Be Doggone, Ain’t That Peculiar, Too Busy cheap and disposable sleeves that most soul partner Tammi Terrell (who had collapsed in Thinking About My Baby and I Heard It albums were given, the record bore a striking, his arms on stage) and the absence of his Through The Grapevine. high-calibre image of Gaye, black leather brother Frankie À ghting in Vietnam, this Gordy told him he was being “ridiculous” trench coat turned up against the sleet, his eyes was a new kind of conscious soul music. and suggested he should stick to making hit full of a steely determination that evoked the “I began to re-evaluate what I wanted my singles with a backbeat. But Gaye knew that spirit of Martin Luther King. music to say,” Gaye explained at the time. “I

100 JANUARY 2019 MUSIC LEGENDS MARVIN GAYE

was very much affected by letters my brother Gaye’s origins as a crooner whose desire wasas was sending me from Vietnam, as well as the to be the black Sinatra. social situation at home. I wanted to write Marvin Pentz Gay was born in April 1939 in songs that would reach the souls of people. Washington, DC. The son of a Pentecostal I wanted them to take a look at what was church minister, he began singing in churchh happening in the world.” at an early age but described a series of In turn, the world sat up and listened to what “brutal whippings” by his father, who beat Gaye had to say. What’s Going On even found him for any minor infraction. It was a a resonance more than 8,000 miles away on fraught relationship that would eventually Robben Island where prisoner 466/64 – have fatal consequences. known to the world beyond his cell walls By the late À fties he was singing with locall as Nelson Mandela – heard the record. doo-wop quartet The Marquees, before he By the time Mandela was released two relocated to Detroit in 1960 and introducedd decades later, Gaye had been dead for six himself to Gordy at a Motown Christmas years. But when he visited America in 1990, party by singing Mr. Sandman. four months after he had been freed, the ANC After signing to the label and becoming freedom À ghter and soon-to-be president of engaged to Gordy’s sister Anna, his debut A new direction for Motown, the rainbow nation addressed a rally in Detroit, album, The Soulful Moods Of Marvin Gaye What’s Going On changed the spiritual home of Motown and where Gaye (1961), was À lled with standards by Cole black music forever had lived and recorded. Porter, Irving Berlin and Rodgers & Hart. “When we were in prison we appreciated Crooning in a smooth but characterful tenor the Motown hit machine and How Sweet It Is and avidly listened to the sound of Detroit, voice, his ‘adult’ approach and jazzy ambience To Be Loved By You (1965) saw him sing songs Motortown,” Mandela told the crowd. “And on by Holland-Dozier-Holland, Smokey Robinson reaching Detroit, I recalled some of the words After a showdown with and Barrett Strong and Norman WhitÀ eld. sung by Marvin Gaye.” He did so with a rare passion and insight and To wild cheering, he went on to recite Gaye’s Gordy, he became the Moods Of Marvin Gaye (1966) cemented his immortal opening line to the album’s title first Motown artist to be reputation as Motown’s emerging ‘Prince of track: “Brother, brother, there’s far too many of Soul’. Yet albums were still secondary to the you dying. Mother, mother there’s far too many granted creative control three-minute single and Moods contained six of you crying.” of them, including I’ll Be Doggone, One More set him apart from the teen-oriented, Heartache and Ain’t That Peculiar. Ain’t no mountain high enough four-to-the-Á oor R&B dance beat that was Next, the label pushed him into a series Ranked sixth in Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 the label’s trademark on early Motown of duets with Mary Wells, Diana Ross, Kim greatest albums of all time, behind only The hits such as The Miracles’ Shop Around and Weston and, above all, Tammi Terrell – with Beatles (Sgt. Pepper, Rubber Soul and Revolver) The Marvelettes’ Please Mr Postman. whom he recorded such enduring hits as It The Beach Boys (Pet Sounds) and Bob Dylan It also set him at odds with Berry Gordy, who Takes Two, Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, (Highway 61 Revisited) What’s Going On is pushed him reluctantly into a more R&B and Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing and You’re All Gaye’s acknowledged masterpiece, a landmark soul-inÁ ected style on That Stubborn Kinda I Need To Get By. Yet he was being treated like a recording in pop music history. Fellow (1962), which included his rst great piece of disposable product and it hurt. “I felt

picture credit: Motown credit: picture À Its signiÀ cance was neatly summed up by self-compositions in Pride And Joy, Hitch Hike like a puppet – Berry’s puppet,” he complained. late American writer Ben Edmonds. When and the title track. By the time In The Groove appeared in late Gaye sang “What’s going on?” it was to black Yet although it brought him his À rst taste of 1968, Gaye hadn’t released a solo album of music what Dylan’s “How does it feel?” was to commercial success, Gaye’s musical heart new studio material in two and a half years. What’s Going On What’s rock half-a-decade earlier on Like A Rolling continued to lie elsewhere and his third and The set was subsequently retitled I Heard It and Stone: “Not so much a question as a fourth albums When I’m Alone I Cry and Hello Through The Grapevine! in recognition of the declaration that nothing would ever be the Broadway (both 1964), were further album’s standout song, representing the peak same again.” Certainly it was a long way from collections of jazz standards and show tunes of his middle period as imperious sweet soul

Diana & Marvin from the Great American Songbook. man – although astonishingly Gordy thought When neither sold, he was in no position to the track “sucked” and had initially refused to ALBUM BY ALBUM resist Gordy’s pressure to incorporate him into release it as a single. 1961 1963 1964 1964 1964

THE SOULFUL MOODS OF THAT STUBBORN WHEN I’M ALONE I CRY TOGETHER HELLO BROADWAY MARVIN GAYE KINDA FELLOW Back to the supper-club The first of many duet albums, Continuing to resist Motown’s A debut introducing Gaye as A more R&B and soul-inflected ballads, the best of which are but his only outing with Wells, efforts to turn him into a a smooth and jazzy crooner set which included his first the two Billie Holiday covers who had just hit big with My pop-soul hit-maker, Gaye and dominated by standards great self-compositions in You’ve Changed and I’ll Be Guy. Standouts include Once croons his way through 11 by Cole Porter, Irving Berlin Pride And Joy, Hitch Hike Around, but a long way from Upon A Time and What’s The more standards from Hello and Rodgers & Hart. and the title track. “the sound of young America”. Matter With You Baby. Dolly to My Kind Of Town.

JANUARY 2019 101 MUSIC LEGENDS MARVIN GAYE

1965 1965 1966 1966 1967

HOW SWEET IT IS TO BE A TRIBUTE TO THE GREAT MOODS OF MARVIN GAYE TAKE TWO UNITED LOVED BY YOU NAT KING COLE Gaye finally emerges as The joyously upbeat It Takes Terrell was just 21 when she A full-on R&B album, led by Still reluctant to give up his Motown’s Prince of Soul on Two and What Good Am I teamed up with Gaye and the the hit title track, You’re A jazz crooning, Gaye regarded an album that included six Without You are classics, but chemistry between them is Wonderful One and Baby Nat Cole as ‘the black Sinatra’ hit singles including I’ll Be Weston left Motown soon evident on Your Precious Love, Don’t You Do It, penned by the and paid tribute by recording Doggone, One More Heartache after, bringing the promising and If I Could Build My Whole Holland-Dozier-Holland team. a dozen of his best songs. and Ain’t That Peculiar. partnership to an abrupt end. World Around You.

Despite the monumental title track, the Mostly instrumental and heavily dominated According to Motown’s chief engineer Russ album was still a typical Motown production- by sax and Gaye’s own Moog noodlings, its Terrana, when Gordy intervened and told Gaye line affair, as was follow-up M.P.G. (1969) cool and sensual jazz soundscapes are unlike that Ross couldn’t be in the studio with him if which contained not a single song written by anything else in his canon, but represent some he was smoking because she was pregnant, he Gaye. That’s The Way Love Is (1970) followed of his most brilliant and surprising music responded by refusing to sing. “We were like the Motown formula, built around the hit making and was an unlikely inÁ uence on the two spoiled kids going after the same cookie,” single that gave the album its name plus jazz excursions on which Joni Mitchell was he later confessed. covers of songs such as Yesterday and Groovin’. about to embark. But it was the last time he ceded control. In retrospect Trouble Man sits as a bridge Distant lover For the À rst 10 years of his career Gaye’s spanning the social conscience of What’s Going The only solution was for them to record artistry had been all about the voice. It was a On and the brazen carnality of 1973’s Let’s Get separately. “There was not a single moment sublime instrument, for sure, whether as cool when they actually sang together”, according jazz balladeer or upbeat soul sensation. But he Gaye introduced himself to Terrana, who was tasked with splicing knew that he was capable of so much more. “I their voices together. Gaye’s best moment had a mind of my own and I wasn’t using it,” to Berry Gordy at a on the record come in a storming version of he said. His ambition fuelled by disaffection Motown Christmas party Wilson Pickett’s Don’t Knock My Love, which not only with his career but his failing Ross apparently hated. But the inclusion of marriage, concern for the brothers and sisters by singing Mr. Sandman covers of two soul hits by the Philadelphia- in the ghetto and the state of the world in based Stylistics illustrated how Motown was general, he was no longer in a mood to It On, on which he turned sexuality into a no longer leading but was now following. compromise. After a showdown with Gordy, he spiritual quest and invented boudoir soul. Inspired by lust for 16-year-old Janis Hunter, became the À rst Motown artist to be granted However, 1973’s Diana & Marvin – actually the new nubile teenage love in his life, I Want autonomous creative control – and the record recorded before Let’s Get It On – was a You (1976) reprised the eroticism of Let’s Get It he produced changed black music. throwback to his sixties duets. Despite having On. Although the songs were mostly written by As a newly liberated auteur, Gaye was just vowed never to take another singing partner producer Leon Ware, Gaye took ownership to getting into his stride. What’s Going On was after Terrell’s death, he was Á attered and turn them into a gorgeous, simmering followed by the soundtrack to the 1972 cajoled into the collaboration, but its recording symphony of hormonal desire. blaxploitation movie Trouble Man, a statement was a joyless experience. Gaye believed that he Here, My Dear (1978) was the other side of intent designed to put Gaye alongside Isaac sang better when he relaxed by smoking a joint of the bed, picking at the scabs of his failed Hayes (Shaft) and Curtis MayÀ eld (SuperÁ y) in the studio, and the sessions hit the wall marriage to Anna Gordy, who had sued for one as a serious composer and arranger. when Ross threw a tantrum in protest. million dollars in alimony. Divorce proceedings 1968 1969 1969 1969 1970

YOU’RE ALL I NEED I HEARD IT THROUGH EASY M.P.G. THAT’S THE WAY LOVE IS The best of the three albums THE GRAPEVINE With Terrell suffering from a Lead track Too Busy Thinking Forget the covers, it’s the recorded with Terrell, driven Gaye hit the heights with the brain tumour, some of her About My Baby is a classic, poignant Abraham, Martin & by the lovely title track and title track – although oddly, parts are believed to have but also summed up Gaye’s John – name checking three Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Motown didn’t see the song’s been subbed by Valerie artistic frustration as he assassinated political icons – Thing, both written by Nick potential and it was only the Simpson, who also co-wrote strained at the leash to sing that hinted at the direction Ashford and Valerie Simpson. third single from the album. standout The Onion Song. about weightier matters. Gaye was about to take.

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T: 01334 570 666 Retailing the world's most sought E: [email protected] -[;ubŊ b1olrom;m|vĺ W: WWW.ELITEAUDIOUK.COM MUSIC LEGENDS MARVIN GAYE

1971 1972 1973 1973 1976

WHAT’S GOING ON TROUBLE MAN LET’S GET IT ON DIANA & MARVIN I WANT YOU The conceptual masterpiece, The soundtrack to the movie. Gaye elevates boudoir soul to Take Motown’s premiere male A sequel to Let’s Get It On which also spawned three of Mostly instrumental, the cool a high art form. Side one is a vocalist and biggest female with its mellow dynamics the biggest singles of Gaye’s and sensual jazz soundscapes self-contained suite of carnal star, put them in the studio… and rhythmic complexity. career in the title track, Inner are unlike anything else in rapture while side two gets and disappointment follows Producer Leon Ware wrote City Blues (Make Me Wanna Gaye’s canon, but brilliant positively pornographic on with weak material and no most of the songs, but Gaye Holler) and Mercy Mercy Me. in their own way. You Sure Love To Ball. chemistry between them. makes them his own.

worthless record: “I’ll give her my next album, On/I Want You and for which Motown had but it’ll be something she won’t want to play already printed some 450,000 copies of and it’ll be something she won’t want to hear the sleeve – and Á ed to London, where he because I’m gonna tell the truth.” refashioned the material while getting out Filled with self-pity, anger and bitter of his gourd on freebase. recrimination, the album cut to the emotional quick – and Á opped as Gaye had planned. On Got to give it up his death Anna was still owed the royalties, The result was In Our Lifetime (1981) and which had never accrued. as a portrait of an artist in mental turmoil Yet despite its self-serving tone, Here, My À ghting his demons and laying bare his Dear stands as one of the great break-up deeply divided soul, it has a grim fascination. In Our Lifetime marked a sad end to a 20-year Gaye was tragically shot career with Motown, but a move to Columbia dead by his father a day What’s Going On found before his 45th birthday brought an upturn with Midnight Love (1983), a resonance more than which, on the back of the brilliant, Grammy- 8,000 miles away where winning single Sexual Healing ultimately dragged on for two years, during which time became the most commercially successful Gaye systematically set about draining his Nelson Mandela heard it album of his career. bank account so that he could plead poverty It was a deÀ ant comeback against the odds. before the court. albums – a compelling, brutally naked For at the same time his soul was descending The judge ruled instead that Anna should be chronicle of a mutilated relationship imbued deeper into the darkness and a chemically paid from the proceeds of his next album – so not only with a cathartic intensity, but with induced psychosis that led even his mother to he set about recording a deliberately wretched a musical sophistication that went under conclude he had turned into “a monster.” album that was certain to bomb. appreciated at the time. Following a family À ght, his father shot and “I À gured I’d just do a quickie – nothing By 1981, Gaye’s life had descended into killed him the day before his 45th birthday in Motown credit: picture heavy, nothing even good,” he admitted. “Why chaos. He was heavily mired in cocaine 1984. Whether he would have put his life back should I break my neck when Anna was going addiction, in debt to the IRS and his second together and continued to make great music, to wind up with the money?” marriage had hit the rocks. After attempting we have no way of knowing. But he had All is fair in love and war and as he brooded suicide by ingesting an entire ounce of cocaine, already achieved more than enough in his on his plight, he hit upon a way to wound and he junked an album titled Love Man – a tired all-too-brief lifetime to change the trajectory

extract his revenge far deeper than turning in a attempt to repeat the formula of Let’s Get It of black music forever O Duets Songs, Greatest Love 1978 1981 1982 1985

HERE, MY DEAR IN OUR LIFETIME MIDNIGHT LOVE DREAM OF A LIFETIME Dismissed and even derided by critics Gaye was too strung out on Having left Motown, Gaye felt The inevitable posthumous album of at the time, with hindsight the drugs for In Our Lifetime to liberated. The album and especially unfinished tracks left over from both emotional rawness, cathartic intensity be a genuinely great album, lead single Sexual Healing Columbia and Motown sessions, buffed and Gaye’s self-evident pain make but as a portrait of an artist in suggested he had plenty more to and polished by producers Harvey this one of the most compelling mental turmoil it has an almost give, but it was to be the last album Fuqua and Gordon Banks. Predictably break-up albums ever recorded. voyeuristic fascination. released in his lifetime. patchy but Sanctified Lady is a standout.

104 JANUARY 2019 The Classic

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Pro-Ject Audio Systems, we decided to combine traditional design with modern technology in a brand new turntable model. This resulted in ‘The Classic’, which uses a frame design inspired by turntables from the 1950’s and 60’s, but implemented with our innovative technologies inside.

The award-winning turntable has astounded audiophiles worldwide, and is the perfect addition to any modern home. The Classic’s wooden chassis is available in three matte i nishes; walnut, rosenut and eucalyptus.

Distributed by Henley Audio T: +44 (0) 1235 511 166 | E: [email protected] | W: www.henleyaudio.co.uk DESTINATION: RICHMOND Welcome to Blues Night, a bespoke, genre-defining record store like no other. Simon Berkovitch heads to an exquisite converted-barn shop in North Yorkshire

eil Young’s On The Beach is off want sections or dividers,” Tim explains. Blues Night’s kit list makes for covetable the wall and on the turntable “I wanted people to grab a whole crate, sit reading. “I’ve always been more into hi-À than N and HFC is on the sofa with a down with it, and peruse its contents slowly DJ kit, but for the shop I never thought about piping-hot mug of Yorkshire tea, and enjoyably. Seats and tables are there anything other than a pair of Technics 1210s,” leaÀ ng through a vintage NME, sitting across because I want people to take their time, Tim explains. “These came via ebay, along from friendly and engaging host Tim Barnes. have a drink, maybe even talk to me! ” with the Allen & Heath mixer. There’s also an Tim’s a longstanding record collector, ancient Goldring Lenco GL75 to play 78s on.” blogger, craft brewer, motorhome veteran Mo’ better blues The Nakamichi 600 tape deck is the most and entrepreneur, and we’re catching up One reason for the lack of categorisation is recent arrival: “I enjoy making a mixtape even inside Blues Night, just before its opening in it’s all the blues – or at least Tim’s inventive more in my forties than I did in my teens,” he mid-November. Not only a project years in the interpretation of it as a broad church. “I came adds. “Sometimes it’s useful to record onto making, it’s a strong contender for the most to the blues, as many others did, via the CD – the closest I get to digitising – on a Sony pleasant shop HFC has visited in this series so Stones, Led Zeppelin, Hendrix and the rest. RCD-W100. A series of British ampliÀ ers far. Approximately 25 square-metres of cool, I’d say they were all blues bands. I’d say Bob came to an end when the Marantz PM6003 the converted barn is compact, but its lines Marley was a blues singer and Underground was all I could afford and it seems it will last are clean and it has the aesthetics of an Resistance records are bluesy. And a lot of forever.” The speakers are bi-wired Musical independent US or Scandi record store. people would assume that I am bonkers. Fidelity Reference 4s. “I’ve had them since I Refreshingly, all of the LPs, 12ins, 45s, 78s, Look at the blues section in your average was a teenager and I love them like brothers.” CDs and cassettes are for sale at realistic record shop and you’ll see that this inclusive For now, all the stock on sale is from Tim’s prices, and none of that uncluttered space is philosophy of the blues is not a popular own collection: “This is music I’ve been taken up by racks – the record sleeves are in one.” Tim’s belief is that it’s the cornerstone playing out in pubs, sharing it since I was a lovely old seventies Suffolk County Library of all good music, yet it’s misrepresented for kid. Which is why the shop is called Blues crates, on a chunky shelving unit. “I didn’t the people who prefer to stay outside of it. Night. It’s not just a shop, it’s a musical

106 JANUARY 2019 RICHMOND, YORKSHIRE

dropping anchor in gorgeous SHOPPING LIST Richmond, North Yorkshire. (Their Tim picks eight greats from his substantial adventures are documented in a personal archive, all part of Blues Night’s thoroughly entertaining blog, stock – from fingerpicked guitar wizardry to hip-hop and back, via folk, blues and gospel bluesnightontour.blogspot.com) “I fell for the town and the premises Bert Jansch instantly,” Tim adds. “It’s beautiful, Bert Jansch “A young man and an in a glorious part of the country, and acoustic guitar. It’s a it seems to be a little bit of a secret. collection of pieces of Blues Night will be a secret within music recorded in a kitchen that could very well be a secret; a shop that’s not a shop, the best album ever.” A comfy sofa and vinyl crate is the tucked away out the back of a perfect combination for browsing Georgian terrace, the entrance hidden under a jungle of clematis.” Prince project. It’s an attempt to share some Tim’s commute certainly sounds enviable. Dirty Mind “Can I choose the tape? excellent music, a lot of which doesn’t get “I decided it was going to have to be a Succinct pop perfection. heard very often.” Setting up the shop has premises inside my own home for a few Bang, bang, bang, bang. led to great moments of musical rediscovery, different reasons,” he explains. “First, even Four great songs. Flip it over, and bang, bang, too: “It’s been exciting seeing the front covers if it was in a prime city-centre retail location, bang, bang. Four more.” of records that have been hidden away, apart there would have been times when I’d be from maybe a few square centimetres of sitting there on my own drinking coffee in the spine, for decades,” he adds. “Records I’d morning thinking: ‘I might open up a couple Rolling Stones forgotten I had. Records I’ve thought were of hours later tomorrow’. I got talking to a Beggars Banquet “The Stones are my incredible, but only played once or twice. guy who’d started a shop stocked with his favourite band. My favourite If I sell them all quickly, then I suppose I’ll own collection several years back, who said Stones album cycles be reinvesting as much of that as possible in he had essentially swapped thousands of through Exile, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and this. more records that I can enjoy while they’re brilliant records for a few years of rent At the moment, it’s this.” on sale. Or if I hardly sell any at all, I’ve still payments to somebody he hated. The Á ip side got lots of great records! It all sounds like a of this is that I hope I might be getting phone win-win situation to me.” calls from people saying they’ve come 200 Various Artists miles for a browse, so is there any chance that I Have To Paint My Face “I honestly consider Chris Blurred lines I can get out of bed and let them in?” Strachwitz’s recordings for Blues Night aims to blur the lines between It’s taken a few months to get Blues Night his Arhoolie label to be the business and public service. “If I can get it to ready, not least because of the need for single most important body of work in the history of make enough money to justify me spending accommodation as well as a comfy sofa. One human civilisation.” most of my waking hours on it, it will be important aim is to be a community hub in worth doing,” says Tim. “I really don’t know his adopted home town. “Wherever we went, what to expect from it, long-term. I hope we were always looking for a place we could Moodymann there will be live music and opportunities to sit down, have a drink, have a chat with Silentintroduction “An album of house music sell the beer I’ve been making to occasional somebody who knew the place a bit, all of that stands up to close decent-sized crowds, and it’ll be a venture that stuff. Now I want to provide that place. scrutiny. Every track has that my boys can enjoy enough not to want The shop and the town should have a a soulful musicality, an urban toughness, and to hide its existence and their connection to mutually beneÀ cial relationship – the shop a rhythmic intensity.” it from their friends. I hope that people will should be a good place for locals or visitors to listen to and enjoy music that they would go, but also be a reason for a few people to never have picked out for themselves.” want to visit the town, and then while they’re Various Artists Tim has previous, having worked in a here, they’ll discover what a nice place it is.” Sorrow Come Pass Me Around second-hand London record shop 20 years Looking around the beautiful space that he’s “Remarkable blues and ago. “It was the only job I’ve ever had that created, Tim reÁ ects on what Blues Night spirituals recorded in the I enjoyed. But I was getting paid £60 a day, means to him. “This is all about getting these sixties. It took me years to track down a copy. Then, and I thought maybe I’d try teaching for a great records I’ve been collecting off the shelf, predictably, it was reissued.” while. I have been planning my escape back and into people’s hands. Out of the sleeves into my own record shop ever since.” and onto the platter. Taste is subjective, of The eventual push for the escape plan was course, but this is certainly stock of a higher The Champs bitter-sweet, however. “Living in the capital, quality than you would usually À nd in a Tequila “I suppose I feel the I never had any money – and rarely actually second-hand shop. Obviously, I need to make same about 78s as some had any time to just sit and listen to music a certain amount of money so I can pay the younger people feel either. And an old friend died two-and-a-half bills, but the need to make money has never about vinyl. A good party tune, on shellac, is just years ago. I realised that while he’d never had been the driving force behind this project. I’ve automatically cooler.” much money to spend either, he had always always said I will have failed the moment I done what he wanted to do – seeing the À nd myself looking at a visitor and thinking: world, playing records in clubs, managing ‘Are you going to buy anything, or not?’” O The Ganja Kru DJs and having a good time. That was my Super Sharp Shooter “My kids really couldn’t eureka moment: I knew I had to do it now Blues Night give a monkey’s about or accept that I never would.” In the barn out the back of my records in general, 85 Frenchgate, Richmond, Tim and family sold their South London but this is one track I have CONTACT North Yorkshire, DL10 7AE often blasted out and house and hit the road in a motorhome, DETAILS 07575 045405 made them dance.” driving round the UK in search of the ideal bluesnight.org [email protected] place to create the perfect record shop,

JANUARY 2019 107 GIFT GUIDE

DENON CEOL N10 £449 WEBSITE: denon.com Perfect as a second-room system, the CEOL N10 has a CD player and wi-fi, Bluetooth, AirPlay 2 and HEOS connectivity for wireless multi-room action. Optional speakers are available for £100. Christmas gifts for music fans Looking for present ideas for the audio lover in your life? Here’s the pick of the best tech and hi-fi goodies to make sure this yuletide sounds better than ever

SONY WH-H900N £230 WEBSITE: sony.co.uk Block out the world with this noise-cancelling Bluetooth headphone available in a choice of green, red, grey, gold or blue finishes with 28-hour battery life.

RELOOP HI-FI TURN 5 £650 WEBSITE: henleyaudio.co.uk The perfect starter package, this deck is equipped with an S-shaped tonearm fitted with Ortofon’s 2M Red cartridge and comes with a dust cover and noise-isolation feet.

108 JANUARY 2019 GIFT GUIDE

JEFF GOLDBLUM: THE CAPITOL STUDIO SESSIONS FROM £9.99 The Jurassic Park star tickles the ivories on this fantastic live jazz recording of classics, with guests including Imelda May, Haley Reinhart and Sarah Silverman. ASTELL&KERN A&NORMA SR15 £600 WEBSITE: astellnkern.com With 64GB memory (400GB expandable) and supporting sample rates up to 24-bit/192kHz and DSD128, this is one of the most talented DAPs around at the price. Tested HFC 443.

TIVOLI AUDIO ANDIAMO £189 WEBSITE: sounddesigndistribution.co.uk The Bluetooth speaker you can hang from your wrist, Andiamo claims up to 20-hours of playback per charge and is equipped with a 64mm speaker and passive radiator driven by a 20W amp.

1MORE TRIPLE DRIVER BT £120 WEBSITE: 1more.com Capable of handling hi-res music files up to 990kbps, this unique Bluetooth headphone delivers stunning sound and has excellent noise cancellation. Tested HFC 443.

KATE BUSH: REMASTERED £90 Featuring a selection of rare tracks and previously unreleased material, these four stunning boxsets include remastered versions of all of Kate Bush’s studio albums on 180g vinyl pressings.

AUDIOLAB M-DAC NANO £149 WEBSITE: audiolab.co.uk This tiny headphone amp/ DAC measuring 44 x 44 x 14mm and weighing just 28g boosts wired or wireless music on the go.

33 13 BOOKS £9.99 WEBSITE: 333sound.com These short guides to classic albums make perfect stocking fillers for music lovers and with over 130 to choose from, there should be something for everyone.

JANUARY 2019 109 GIFT GUIDE YAZOO: FOUR PIECES £75 Before the duo went on to success as a solo artist and one half of Erasure, Alison Moyet and Vince Clarke created some of the best music of the eighties and this four-disc boxset of albums, rarities and sessions captures it all.

NOVAFIDELITY X14 £689 WEBSITE: scvdistribution.co.uk Featuring 8TB of storage, this 2x 30W music system with CD-ripping (via add-on drive), Bluetooth and wi-fi streaming is a compact all-in-one. Just add speakers!

PIONEER SE-MS9BN £200 WEBSITE: pioneer-audiovisual.eu Packing a superior aptX HD codec for Bluetooth wireless hookup, this stylish noise-cancelling headphone is fitted with 40mm dynamic drivers and offers up to 27-hours of playback on the go.

THE VINYL REVIVAL AND THE SHOPS THAT MADE IT HAPPEN £8 WEBSITE: Facebook. com/vinylrevival1 The fascinating story of how the black stuff went from being a niche concern to supermarket staple.

RUARK AUDIO MRX £400 WEBSITE: ruarkaudio.com This versatile multi-room speaker boasts a pleasingly refined sound, thanks to its pair of 75mm full-range drivers and brace of bass radiators. Tested HFC 441.

PRO-JECT SWEEP-IT E £55 WEBSITE: henleyaudio.co.uk ABBEY ROAD Keep your records fluff free as you play STUDIOS VINYL them by placing the soft brush in the CLEANING KIT £30 groove ahead of the stylus and letting the WEBSITE: shop. aluminium unipivot arm do all the work. abbeyroad.com Stylus cleaning fluid, brush, cloths and vinyl cleaner from the world’s most famous recording studio.

110 JANUARY 2019

EXTRAS

Samsung VL5 wireless speaker

WIRELESS SPEAKERS COME in all shapes and sizes and Samsung’s VL5 has a striking, minimalistic design that mixes seamless white aluminium with a wood À nish on either end of our review sample – it’s also available in black. It’s a robust and solid speaker that measures 522 x 212 x 70mm (WxHxD) and weighs 4.6kg. Controls for volume and play/pause can be found on the top of the chassis in the form of a touch- capacitive ring, with controls to switch between Bluetooth, wi-À and Aux modes located on the right side. Physical buttons are absent here, however they do feel natural to use and have consistent responsiveness. Pairing the speaker via Bluetooth is simple (although it doesn’t specify aptX support) and streaming over wi-À is also available with multi- room support to other compatible Samsung speakers via the Samsung calls UHQ 32-bit upscaling, ride of a song with a wide and at company’s SmartThings app. as well as its distortion-cancelling times testing range of frequencies, technologies, helping to improve puts the speaker’s dynamic range to Take control performance and clarity no matter the test delivering an engrossing What separates the VL5 from its what type of music À le you listen to. soundstage and no indication of rivals is the wireless control dial Bass and vocals in Foster The distortion of any kind. (pictured here on top of the People’s Pumped Up Kicks sound Although there’s no mention of speaker). This provides basic authentic, with plenty of detail and output power, this speaker goes navigational functions like play/ all the elements of the track coming more than loud enough for my pause and has a satisfyingly stepped together extremely well. Moving onto needs with only a slight sense of volume that has the kind of tactile something more electronic, Rue the sound hardening up at higher feel that you’d expect to get when volumes – no doubt thanks to turning the volume control on a This is a brilliant Samsung’s distortion-cancelling decent-quality hi-À ampliÀ er, but technology keeping things in check. the best part is that it’s magnetic – option for those It doesn’t lose punch at lower allowing you to place it almost who want detailed, volumes either, making it ideal for anywhere on the speaker or on casual listening. metallic surfaces around the home. room-filling sound Siri and Amazon Alexa voice Ticking all the boxes assistants are also supported via a Montorgueil by Tomas Skyldeberg The VL5 is a brilliant option microphone in the controller, and provides a great showcase of the for those who want detailed, these perform well during testing. Samung’s strong bass and tight room-À lling sound and appreciate Inside it packs three 127mm mid/ control all the way through to the the versatility of a good old- bass drivers and two 25mm DETAILS higher frequencies. fashioned tactile remote control as tweeters and easily does the job of PRICE Streaming Frank Sinatra’s timeless well as support for voice recognition £599 À lling my room with sound. Tuned New York, New York is perfect, with software. The design is neat, with WEBSITE by AKG, a subsidiary of the Harman samsung.com detailed vocals and sounds from exceptional build quality and it Group recently acquired by the instruments, giving a realistic sounds impressive across a broad Samsung, it delivers on its promise OUR VERDICT impression of the track. The VL5 range of music styles, but the price of detailed sound and deep bass, handles rock well too – Queen’s is ultimately rather high given the which is undoubtedly aided by what Bohemian Rhapsody, a rollercoaster plentiful competition. LT

JANUARY 2019 113 DEMAND MORE

DEMAND SERIES™

LEARN MORE AT DEFINITIVETECHNOLOGY.COM

Definitive Technology, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sound United Inc. Definitive Technology is a registered trademark of Definitive Technology, LLC EXTRAS

Audio-Technica ATVM95E moving-magnet cartridge

HAVING UPDATED ITS mid-price and high-end MM cartridges in recent years, Audio-Technica has turned its attention to the entry- level line. The AT-VM95E replaces the moving-magnet AT-95E cartridge (HFC 387), which has been in production for almost 40 years. The AT-VM95E is also part of an ambitious and clever attempt by the Japanese cartridge marker to keep you in the family. You can purchase it (or indeed the VM-95C entry to the range priced at £29), À t it to your tonearm, set the tracking weight and alignment, and away you go. Further down the line you can then upgrade to a nude elliptical, micro linear or Shibata proÀ le stylus without having to adjust any of those settings – simply slide the old stylus off and À t the new one. We have seen cartridge bodies that accept more than one stylus proÀ le before, but the potential in how far you can take a AT-VM95E is impressive – there is even an option for playing 78s.

The perfect body With the AT-VM95E mounted on expensive) Ortofon 2M Red (HFC The VM-95 body is an example of an SME M2-9 tonearm on a Michell 345) can muster, the struck drum in Audio-Technica’s dual-magnet GyroDec, the changes between the the live performance of Fink’s Sort design and in the 95E is partnered new model and the old are revealed Of Revolution doesn’t have the with a bonded elliptical stylus that to be more than cosmetic. The AT-95E impact it has shown elsewhere, but is mounted on an aluminium was never the last word in subtlety feels wonderfully agile. The 3-D mix pipe-style cantilever. This borrows and reÀ nement and while the of Krafwerk’s Electro Cardiogram from the special EX version of the AT-VM95E is still on the brighter side positively pounds along and there is AT-95 that comes À tted as standard of neutral, it brings a level of nothing you are likely to give it that to the company’s LP5 turntable reÀ nement to its presentation that the will end up sounding sluggish or (HFC 405). The body has been older model couldn’t achieve and is confused. Like many cartridges at designed to reduce resonance and extremely impressive judged by the this sort of price, it can be slightly feels a whole lot more substantial standards of its sub-£50 price point. sibilant towards the inside groove than the original AT-95E. The well mastered but ‘hot’ pressing of some pressings, but rarely does As well as feeling more solid, it has of Wild Beasts’ Last Night All My it become overly distracting. threaded inserts so you can simply Dreams Came True is handled without screw two bolts into the AT-VM95E coming across as congested or losing Civil service to attach it to the headshell, making DETAILS the sense of the live performance. Judged purely as a replacement for it easier to À t than any Audio- PRICE Even the boisterous He The Colossus is one of the best-selling cartridges Technica cartridge I’ve used before. £44 presented without tipping over into of all time, the AT-VM95E is a You can also buy all the VM-95 TELEPHONE being hard and confused – something signiÀ cant step forward. It brings models pre-mounted in the new 0113 2771441 that frequently trips up more expensive an extra helping of reÀ nement and AT-HS6 headshell if you want to WEBSITE cartridges than this one. Vocals are civility that doesn’t affect its ability eu.audio-technica. make the process easier still. com the main focus and the level of tonal to get stuck in and enjoy itself. When Changing the stylus is also realism is entirely convincing. you then consider that it forms the extremely simple to do and OUR VERDICT The low-end trades a little weight basis for an extensive selection of removing the guard is far more for speed and compared with the upgrade possibilities, this is a very logical than on the older version. sort of heft that an (admittedly more impressive proposition indeed. ES

JANUARY 2019 115 HIGH-PERFORMANCE SOUND & VISION

Helping you make the most of your home cinema OUT NOW!

IN EVERY ISSUE Kit reviews, movies & TV, accessories, systems, insight, opinion, competitions & more

Q www.homecinemachoice.com Q facebook.com/homecinemachoice Q @hccmag EXTRAS

Pro-Ject Primary E Phono turntable

FOLLOWING PRO-JECT’S PRIMARY E packaged turntable (HFC 424) with cartridge comes the Primary E Phono, adding a built-in moving-magnet phono stage. As a complete starter option for under £200 this will make a lot of sense to many as it can be connected to any ampliÀ er or active speaker system with a stereo RCA line-level input without anything additional needed. The standard Primary E takes a mains feed directly to the motor assembly, but the Phono version uses a different motor and is supplied by a low-voltage wall-wart PSU to both the motor and the built-in circuitry. The phono stage is on the underside of the chassis and provides gain for the supplied pre-mounted Ortofon OM cartridge. A switch on the side enables you to bypass the built-in preamp to allow you to connect the turntable to an external preamp stage should you wish and there’s an external grounding post too. The phono Tower is well captured and the good make themselves felt is fairly benign, section outputs to stereo RCAs and a pitch stability ensures that the with the sense that something like good-quality interconnect is supplied. Pro-Ject consistently engages on Kamasi Washington’s Harmony Of a rhythmic level. This is helped by Difference happens between the Spot the dif erence respectable bass depth and detail. speakers rather than simply The rest of the design is identical to Compared with some more expensive extending beyond them. Most the Primary E package, so you get designs, there isn’t quite the same hit importantly, this rarely translates an 8.6in tonearm À tted as standard. to the chest from the percussion, but into actual congestion. With smaller This means the anti-skate and VTA the articulation and integration is scale material this beneÀ ts the are À xed and the counterweight good enough to ensure that you presentation by lending it a feeling comes pre-mounted at the correct don’t feel short changed. of focus and drive that gels with tracking weight so that getting the The way the Pro-Ject handles high the decent timing to make for a Pro-Ject running is as simple as it frequencies is also extremely good. genuinely exciting listen. can be, with the only minor Morcheeba’s The Sea has a level of challenge being to À t the belt. reÀ nement that isn’t always found Primary schooling Connecting the Pro-Ject to a Naim with affordable hardware. The phono In many regards, the Primary E Uniti Star one-box system (HFC stage ensures that Skye Edwards’ Phono seems like the stronger-value 433) and Neat Momentum 4i vocal turn is rich and has a lovely, package overall. It boosts the Á oorstanding speakers – how I almost liquid quality that makes for plug-and-play aspect that Pro-Ject reviewed the Primary E – reveals DETAILS an engaging listening experience. is gunning for and, unless you that as a value option, the phono PRICE Even slightly edgy pressings like Bloc already have a phono stage in your version makes a lot of sense. The £199 Party’s A Weekend In The City are ampliÀ cation, the quality of the performance is largely deÀ ned by TELEPHONE presented in a way that keeps it À tted circuit is higher than almost 01235 511166 the arm and cartridge pairing and sounding exciting without becoming any similarly priced standalone WEBSITE the internal phono stage is good henleyaudio.co.uk hard or overly forward. equivalent. This is a conÀ dent and enough to ensure the Primary’s Very large-scale material can start assured-sounding turntable at an entertaining character is retained. OUR VERDICT to highlight some of the limits of extremely competitive price and The urgent and slightly dark tone Pro-Ject’s soundstage, but the so will make a perfect starter deck of the Slow Readers Club’s Build A manner in which these restrictions for many vinyl newcomers. ES

JANUARY 2019 117 EXTRAS

True Colours Industries Tiger II RCA interconnect

NORTHERN IRELAND-BASED TRUE Colours Industries’ entry- level interconnect features a twisted pair of silver-plated OFC conductors insulated with a Superthane dielectric that’s terminated with the company’s cast gold-plated split-pin RCA plugs and À nished with a dark-blue PVC insulation. The plugs are attached using the well-extended bass, excellent Beethoven performance, the bass is lead-free high-purity silver solder. midrange and a wide soundstage. sonorous and all of the emotion of My À rst impression is that it’s a The authoritative opening section the piece is beautifully presented. stiff but good-quality interconnect leads nicely into the joyful allegro and Moving back to classical music, I with the RCA plugs making a this demonstrates how nicely all of spin a superb CD recording of Fauré’s reassuringly secure connection in the complexities of the music are Requiem performed by the Academy DETAILS the socket, thanks to the split-pin conveyed with the Tiger II in place. of Saint Martin-in-the-Fields and PRICE centre connector. Fitting the Tiger II the Choir of Saint John’s College, £50 for 1m between my preampliÀ er and Easy tiger! Cambridge. The cable conveys the TELEPHONE monoblocks, I am treated to a very The opening acoustic guitar solo in emotion of the piece with the male 07710 196949 WEBSITE natural sound with great detail and Eva Cassidy’s performance of Ain’t solos well positioned in front of the tcicables.com clarity. A full orchestral recording of No Sunshine is clear and sounds orchestra, which is very clear and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 in D very real in my listening room as has a great presence in my listening OUR VERDICT major performed by the Munich the vocals show great presence and room. The Tiger II is an impressive Philharmonic Orchestra, shows off a rich, expressive quality. As with the interconnect at an attractive price. N R

Soundeck PM platter mat

SOUND DAMPED STEEL (SDS) – developed by British Steel in the nineties – is based on the principles of constrained layer damping, and Soundeck MD Les Thompson has realised the considerable sonic beneÀ ts it can bring to hi-À . It can be applied to steel or aluminium and the PM aluminium laminate turntable mat sits directly on the platter to dissipate unwanted vibrations transmitted through the platter or generated by the playing of a record DETAILS by converting unwanted vibrational Vocals have an improved presence evidence of any loose bass response PRICE energy into tiny amounts of heat. and clarity, as exempliÀ ed by Simon on show here. Finally, in Vivaldi’s £95 & Garfunkel’s Why Don’t You Write Concerto for Oboe in A minor played TELEPHONE Mat’s entertainment Me. The inherent edginess of this by Concerto Amsterdam, the oboe 0191 2590700 Just 2mm thick, the PM replaces rather bright CBS recording is very in the À rst movement has excellent WEBSITE existing mats with little or no well controlled. Rhythm and timing focus and is precisely positioned soundeck.bigcartel. com adjustment to the cartridge VTA are spot on as I’m pleasantly in front of the orchestra. The string required. It has a smooth vinyl À nish propelled through the track. continuo is clearly positioned behind OUR VERDICT and comes in three sizes (295mm, Meanwhile, the driving bass line of the oboe and has great presence and 292mm and 285mm diameters). It Back To My Roots by Laurent Garnier clarity, making this money well certainly delivers on sound quality. is very tight and punchy – there’s no spent for vinyl aÀ cionados. NR

118 JANUARY 2019 Hi-er your Fi

Phonostages Step-up Transformers

Attenuators Interconnects

HeadAmps Sounds good to me 01204 366 133 To see the full product range, prices and list of dealers, please visit www.rothwellaudioproducts.co.uk SUBSCRIPTION ORDER FORM HURRY DIRECT DEBIT SUBSCRIPTIONS UK ONLY Yes, I wouldld liklike to subscribe b ib to Hi-Fiiihi Choice OFFER Print + Digital: £13.05 quarterly CLOSES Print subscription: £10.99 quarterly 27TH DECEMBER 2018 YOUR DETAILS MUST BE COMPLETED

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IN EVERY ISSUE: Reviews of all the latest turntables, amplifiers, loudspeakers, DACs, TERMS & CONDITIONS: Offer ends 27th December 2018. * This digital discount is CD players, streamers and hi-fi accessories. Plus: group tests, only available when you subscribe to the ‘Print + Digital’ package. You can still get a great discount on the digital package, please visit the URL stated below for more music reviews, opinions, news and all your hi-fi woes answered information. Please see www.hifichoice.co.uk/terms for full terms & conditions.

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For saleFor / Wanted Reader QUAD Artera Play and Stereo plus leads, £1,900, excellent condition: 01895 625636 or email: [email protected] (West London).

£20. Missing Link Alaqeia condition, just serviced by AE, RCA interconnect 0.5m, £25. on Partington Dreadnought Classiied Chord Cobra 3 i/c 0.5m gold stands (black): 07971 955545 plugs £10. All plus pp. Email: (Cheltenham). Welcome to Hi-Fi Choice Reader Classified, stevecousins136@gmail. CAMBRIDGE AUDIO com (Dorset). DAB300 digital tuner £115: a free private ads service for buying and PROAC Response reference 01302 391030 (Doncaster). selling second-hand hi-fi components. D2 speakers in black ash, very ROTEL RA-05 silver amplifier good condition with original £150 ono. Rotel RA-06 CD These pages are a must-read if you’re number and county. Simply email your ad boxes, fab sound, happy to player £150 ono. KEF IQ5 thinking about buying used kit, or if you to: [email protected]. This service demo £900: 07725 818438 speakers, apple finish £175 ono. have hi-fi you want to sell. It’s free – simply is open to private advertisers only. Just (London). Marantz NA7004 streamer submit your ad with no more than 50 one ad per household and please note TECHNICS SL-150 mk1, £150 ono. Buffalo NAS drive words (we reserve the right to edit it if not), that images are for illustration only and fitted with SME S2 £450. Quad £50 ono. All in excellent remembering to include your email, phone do not represent what is for sale. 44 preamplifier phono/DIN MC condition: 01404 891983 phono board £250. Marantz (Devon). PM7001 amplifier, remote, ORIGIN LIVE Silver Mk3A usage, boxed with CR515 RUSSELL K Red 100 light boxed £150: 01708 457691 FOR SALE tonearm. Just five months remote and manual, £150: oak in mint condition and (Essex) . boxed, only about 6 months AUDIOQUEST DragonFly old, excellent condition, 01934 827746 (Banwell). TECHNICS ORS 1700 reel- old. Superb sound (£1,550) Black DAC. Fantastic audiophile £475 ono: 01484 427426 TRICHORD Dino phono to-reel, needs new brake levers £800. Email: moss.collie@ sound from PC or phone. (Huddersfield). amp mk1 with power unit, and service. Very rare model gmail.com (Suffolk). Comes with connector TRANSPARENT AUDIO £250: 01825 722936 or £2,500 ono: O1330 824729 suitable for iPod/iPhone with Reference MM2 8-foot speaker email: Stewartand joy@ HEED Obelisk Si Mk2 in or email: jhewson@ lightning socket. Boxed and cables with spades. Mint, gmail.com (Sussex). immaculate condition, remote technology-ventures.org control and manufacturer's under warranty. Duplicate boxed, RRP £7,200, would like Arcam FMJ WANTED REGA Brio-R amplifier, packaging £550: present. £50 was £90. £2,650: 07939 596474. T32 DAB+/FM tuner in full 07981 025698 or email: good clean condition, boxed, 07462466962 or email: MERIDIAN rare black working order preferably Chrisandelizabeth2001@ manual and remote. Will [email protected] vintage 101 preamp, 104 tuner, in stainless steel. Email: yahoo.co.uk (Bristol). demo, prefer buyer to collect. PROAC D18 speakers, in 105 (2x mono amps each with devindersehmbi@hotmail. Photos available . £100: 0758 CHORD COMPANY pair original packaging, little used power supply, so stacked com. 2937114 (Surrey). Signature interconnects, RCA, as I live in an apartment £850: three-high in pairs), VGC for the NAIM Powerline Lite Mains 1m, £240. Signature digital ECLIPSE speakers. Three 01704 628968 (Southport). age £695: 01704 628968 cable, as new, boxed, six interconnect, RCA, 1m, £240. TD510s with matching stands GARRARD 401 chassis (Southport). months old, £45. ProAc Excellent condition, original in silver, two TD508s in silver £749, Rega RB300 tonearm ARCAM DV137 universal disc Black Signature speaker boxes and packaging: 01376 VGC, original boxes, buyer (rewired) £279, Goldring 1042 player, cost £1,250, condition is cable, 3m pair, as new, £85. 332186 (Essex). to collect £500: 0777 cartridge (used, boxed) £249, as new, terrific sound, minimal Silvermann mains cable, 1m, 6401711 (Notts). HARMAN KARDON Plinth for 401 £199, power AVR4550 7-ch AV receiver. COPLAND CDA 266 HD CD supply for Class A amps £300: Little used since new. Unable player, only owner, original box, 0207 4998729. to fit into new cabinet hence remote, user manual £395: KEF LS50 speakers with sale. Complete with manual 01825 722936 or email: Atacama Nexus 6 stands. and remote. Collection only. stewartandjoyp@gmail. Black/copper, immaculate £250: 07554 977626 or com (Lewes). condition, bought new Sept email: [email protected] LINN Ekos (S/N 7007), 2016 £890. Sell £500 Cash (Northants). good condition, minor mark on collection: 01323 638572 SPENDOR BC1 speakers, on the arm tube, plus usual or email: steveclarke98@ seventies vintage. In good CLASSÉ CP-800 preamp in mint condition and in full headshell marks. £1,000: outlook.com (East Sussex). condition and perfect working working order. Complete with remote control and all 0207 2534469 or email: SOTM sPS-500 power order. Complete with original original packaging. Realistic cash offers considered [email protected] supply, sMS-200 Ultra network trolley stands. £475. Buyer and buyer collects: 01622 208476 or email: (London). player and tX-USB ultra USB to collect: 07564 688217 [email protected] (Maidstone, Kent). ACOUSTIC ENERGY hub, 6 months old, £2,100 ono: (Essex). AE1 in rosewood, as new 07706 169968.

BUYING TIPS BUYING SECONDHAND can be a great way to pick up a bargain. A formerly expensive second-hand component might well prove a better long-term bet than a brand-new product if the price is right. DO SOME RESEARCH on which brands have a good service back up, so if something does go wrong, you can get it fixed. Unless you purchase from a dealer, you’re unlikely to get any warranty, so it’s up to you to ensure the fitness of any gear that you buy. USUALLY speakers should be less prone to breakdown than amps, and amps should be more reliable than CD players. But any abused component could be trouble – have a proper demo and judge the seller as well as the goods!

122 JANUARY 2019 Reader Classiied ads

TOWNSHEND Seismic speaker platforms, size 2, immaculate condition, £795: 07967122765 or email: captainray123@yahoo. co.uk the performance connection SYSTEMDEK 2xe 900in black, vinyl platter, metal armboard, no fitted arm, boxed £325 ono. (Have Linn Eos basic arm if suitable): 07785 747366 (evenings) or email: [email protected] (South Yorkshire). 4dd MONITOR AUDIO Bronze 2, bought Aug 2017, only used WANTED Audeze LCD-2 four months, perfect condition. Award winning bookshelf POWER CABLE headphones, preferably the speaker. £140 ono, current new £280. Prefer deliver/ pre-Fazor model. Must be in collection, may despatch: 01422 647189. very good condition and full (Halifax, West Yorkshire). working order: Eos 07708 431963. top shelf and brass/carbon [email protected] IDEON AUDIO 3R USB fibre supports on other (Cumbria). Renaissance (receive, re-clock, shelves, Stands Unique wall FULL SYSTEM includes: Modular 4.0 regenerate), as new condition, shelf capable of supporting Icon Audio Stereo 40 Mkll, in original box. £160: 07549 SME 20/3 turntable. Make POWER BLOCK 603398 or email: dave. me an offer, buyer collects: Michell Syncro turntable with [email protected] (East 07979 242820 or email: Rega 300 arm, Roksan KC-1 Mk Yorkshire). mikekay20@googlemail. lll, M1clic universal controller, BEL CANTO Ref600M com (Essex). M1 DAC, M1 ViNL mm/mc mono blocks, just five months MONITOR AUDIO Gold phono stage, Sonics Allegra old. Owned from new. GX100 speakers in piano speakers, Russ Andrews Immaculate. Silver fascia. Have black, very good condition, Infinity Monocle speaker all original packaging. Photos fabulous build quality £400: cables. Contact for details: available by request. Hugely 01353 665059 (East 07484 796405 powerful ,yet very sweet and Anglia). (South Yorkshire). detailed £3,200: 01296 CHORD COMPANY 437314 or email: jez35@ DENON DP-2000 turntable Clearway loudspeaker with Fidelity Research tonearm btinternet.com cables. 2x 9m lengths, and FR 7 cartridge £1,495 PRO-JECT VC-S vinyl factory terminated both ends ono. Fidelity Research MC702 record cleaner, new still in 4mm banana plugs, in good box with new cover £250: condition (12 months old) cartridge, boxed £595. Linn 07426 936087 or email: with just a few discolouration Linto phono preamp 25th [email protected] marks on outside of cables Anniversary Edition £495: (Lincolnshire). from colours in carpet. £175 02392 453382 (Hants). MONITOR AUDIO A100 ono (was £280 new), £11 p&p: REGA Jupiter CD upgraded amplifier, unused, black, £150. 07546 524679 or email: with digital in to access [email protected] Ariand FV34B valve integrated Wolfson 16-bit/44.1kHz- amplifier with pre-in, mint, (Torquay, Devon). capable DAC, boxed, £475. Polk Signature S15 ATLAS Equator Mk3 1m excellent condition £499. Mira speakers, black, unused, £150. interconnect £60, Missing integrated amplifier, boxed, All boxed: 07743 380657 or Link Alaqeia interconnects upgraded with new caps, email: mail@rodtheobald. 2x 50cm £50 each and 1x force9.co.uk 75cm £75. Yulong A100 Class excellent condition £450: STANDS UNIQUE A headphone amp £150: 01296 482549 five-shelf rack with isolated 07508 035671 or email: (Aylesbury, Bucks). AUDIO AERO Capitole Mk II 24/192 CD player. Brand new, unopened box, silver finish. UK dealer supplied and still in manufacturer's sealed box. £5,000: 07887 885272 or email: jayeemmm@gmail. com (London). HIFI CHOICE The Collection series from 2004 STAX SRM-T1S headphone driver unit and Lambda-Nova to 2011 inclusive. In-depth Earspeakers, boxed, good condition, £350. Naim Flatcap reviews of some of the world's power supply. Serial no: 123416, boxed, good condition, finest hi-fi. £35 for the set. £50. Power Block, good condition, £10: 07785 724849 (Oxfordshire). Collection only: 07708 431963 (Cheshire area). atlascables.com Missed an issue? Have you missed a copy of your favourite hi-fi magazine? You can now order Hi-Fi Choice back issues online.

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Published by AVTech Media Ltd. All rights reserved, 2015. ISSN 0955-1115. The Publisher’s written consent must be obtained before any part of this publication may be If you can’t always find a copy of this reproduced in any form whatsoever, including photocopiers, and information retrieval systems. All reasonable care is taken in the preparation of the magazine contents, but the publishers cannot be held legally responsible for errors in the contents of this magazine or for any loss however arising from such errors, including loss resulting magazine, help is at hand! Complete this form from negligence of our staff. Reliance placed upon the contents of this magazine is at reader’s own risk. and hand in at your local store, they’ll arrange Hi-Fi Choice, ISSN 0955-1115, is published monthly with an additional issue in July by AVTech Media Ltd, a division of MYTIMEMEDIA Ltd, Suite 25 Eden House, Enterprise Way, Edenbridge, Kent, TN8 6HF, UK. The US annual subscription price is 67GBP (equivalent to approximately 95USD). Airfreight and mailing in the USA for a copy of each issue to be reserved for by agent named Air Business Ltd, c/o Worldnet Shipping Inc., 156-15, 146th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11434, USA. Periodicals postage paid at Jamaica NY 11431. US Postmaster: Send address changes to Hi-Fi Choice, Worldnet Shipping Inc., 156-15, 146th Avenue, 2nd Floor, Jamaica, NY 11434, USA. Subscription records are you. Some stores may even be able to arrange maintained at dsb.net Ltd, 3 Queensbridge The Lakes Northampton NN4 7BF. Air Business Ltd is acting as our mailing agent. for it to be delivered to your home. Just ask! ‘If you want the best Wi-Fi speaker...this is it... you have a near-perfect 21st century speaker.’ T3.com naimaudio.com

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