Star turn WIN! Arcam irDAC-II EXCLUSIVE: Elipson’s KEF speakers SuperS converterrter debut vinyl spinner & headphones addsa Bluetoothth worth £1,600 PASSION FOR SOUND Issue No. 412 July 2016 Mini marvels Six multi-room speakers for wireless music streaming around the home BEAUTIFUL SYSTEM Top turntables Spendor and Fivei best-buy decks and Devialet delight how to make your LPs sing 30PRODUCTS ON TEST: Audio-Technica, Chord, Rega, Sonos & Yamaha MUSIC LEGENDS AAce celebrationllebbratiion off PPrinceriince and his purple reign PRINTED IN THE UK US$15.00 US$15.00 PRINTED IN THE UK £4.75 2016 JULY Viva Reva Sweet music Wharfedale’s latest gem Belles Aria integrated amp builds on Diamond series hits all the right notes Criterion Audio is a premium hi-fi dealer in Cambridge. Whether you are an established turntable enthusiast or a new convert to the vinyl revival, there has never been a better time to listen to records. We have complete turntables to suit every budget as well as a wide range of tonearms, cartridges and phono preamps. We also offer leading turntable service expertise to help you get the most out of your existing system. Come visit us, relax and enjoy some vinyl magic. www.criterionaudio.com [email protected] 01223 233730 clearaudio AND MANY, MANY MORE INTRODUCTION PASSION FOR SOUND Welcome www.hifichoice.co.uk Issue No. 412 July 2016 It’s always good to know that 58 people are paying attention to Audio-Opus Opus 1 what goes into the magazine, so we’ve been pleased to receive several letters in our postbag concerning the rise of vinyl and what some readers have described as our favouritism for the format over any other media. It’s true, Hi-Fi Choice has long supported vinyl even in the slump years, and the last six months have been an interesting time for the format as record sales continue to grow beyond all expectations and the number of turntable models coming to market is also steadily on the rise. As editor, I am proud of our ‘passion for sound’ tag line and strive to reflect real-world hi-fi market 55 trends and the most interesting new audio products to Audio-Technica share with fellow hi-fi fans. Vinyl is no longer a revival ATH-A2000Z format, it’s back, and as demonstrated by the variety of different turntables on show at the Munich High End Show – see our Show Report on page 10 – is appealing to audio fans on all kinds of budgets looking to reconnect with music in a tangible way that can seemingly only fully be achieved with the vinyl format. Of course it really isn’t all about vinyl, and reviews of digital sources are on their way as soon as the products arrive. Like you, we simply enjoy listening to music in the best quality available. With this in mind, it would 100 be interesting to know the music sources you favour. Kris Kristofferson The Complete Monument & Write to us at: [email protected] or look out for Columbia Album Collection our online poll and tell us what formats you enjoy. BADGES EXPLAINED Lee Dunkley Editor OUR AWARDS Follow us: EDITOR’S RECOMMENDED: GROUP TEST twitter.com@HiFiChoiceMag facebook.com/hifichoice.co.uk CHOICE: Products that WINNER: 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! ENTERPRISE HOUSE, ENTERPRISE WAY, performance EDENBRIDGE, KENT TN8 6HF JULY 2016 3 Contentshifichoice.co.uk Issue No. 412 July 2016 WIN! NEWS & OPINION GROUP TEST KEF speakers 6 Audiofile & headphones The latest news on the hottest products worth £1,600 from the world of hi-fi coming your way 14 Webwatch see p120 Essential websites to direct your browser towards for all your hi-fi requirements 69 Letters Put your points of view and queries on audio matters to our team of experts 79 Opinion The Hi-Fi Choice team say it as they see it as they discuss the issues of the day 99 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 124 Back Issues Get your hands on old copies you missed 130 Next Issue The sonic treats to look out for next month FEATURES 10 High End Show The highlights of Munich’s fantastic show with the cream of the hi-fi world attending 60 Six multi-room 24 loudspeakers are given a work out to see which has the finesse to impress 60 Cassette Revival The humble audio tape appears to be growing in popularity, find out why 90 Beautiful System Devialet and Spendor combine like beauty and the beast to make sweet music 94 Labelled With Love From Art Of Noise to Frankie Goes To Hollywood, ZTT had plenty going for it 102 Music Legends A celebration of the astonishing body of work of the legend that is Prince 118 Martyn Ware 6 99 The human League and Heaven 17 co-founder talks about his love of vinyl Audiofile: PMC launches twenty5 series Music Reviews: Anohni’s Hopelessness 4 JULY 2016 CONTENTS JULY 2016 “Cassettes represented both a great way of 56 buying music, and of Zemi Aria wireless stereo storing your own” loudspeaker Cassette revival p60 TESTED THIS MONTH 42 Belles Aria integrated amplifier (Exotica) REVIEWS THE KNOWLEDGE 16 Kit testing Essential turntables 16 Wharfedale Wharfedale Reva-2 loudspeaker Reva-2 standmount loudspeaker 106 AnalogueWorks Zero+ 42 Belles Aria integrated amplifier (Exotica) 106 Audio-Technica 46 Elipson AT-LP5 Omega 100 belt-drive turntable 107 Inspire Hi-fi Elevation 51 Tangent Audio Ampster X4 micro music system 107 Pro-Ject RPM 9 Carbon 52 Arcam 107 Rega Planar 3 irDAC-II DAC/preamplifier/headphone amp 108 Turntable accessories 55 Audio-Technica ATH-A2000Z closed-back headphone 110 Setting up your 46 56 Zemi turntable Elipson Omega 100 belt-drive turntable Aria wireless stereo loudspeaker 58 Audio-Opus Opus 1 hi-res Digital Audio Player CHOICE EXTRAS 88 Hitachi 113 The Chord DA-1000 CD player (Retro) Company Shawline analogue interconnects GROUP TEST 113 iFi Audio Multi-room speakers £350-£500 iPurifier2 USB purifier 27 Bluesound Pulse Mini 115 Black Rhodium 29 Cabasse Stream 1 Foxtrot speaker cables 31 Musaic MP10 116 Atlas 33 Sonos Play:5 Element Integra interconnects 52 35 Sony SRS-X88 116 MCRU Arcam irDAC-II DAC/preamplifier 37 Yamaha Restio ISX-80 Mains Filtration Plug Never miss an issue – turn to p64 for our latest subs offer JULY 2016 5 THE LATEST INDUSTRY NEWS… Air supply Celebrating 25 years of domestic and studio loudspeaker design, British brand PMC introduces twenty5 series at Munich's High End Show PRICE: £1,870-£6,995 AVAILABLE: NOW CONTACT: 01767 686300 WEB: PMC-SPEAKERS.CO.UK FORMULA ONE MOTOR racing aerodynamic Advanced Transmission says PMC. As with previous speakers and loudspeaker design might seem Line (ATL) bass loading Laminair vent from the company, the new series has worlds apart, but a clear understanding that's employed in the fi ve-strong slopping front and rear baffl es. of aerodynamics and the effects of air loudspeaker series to reduce turbulence and drag is one of the key resistance and increase effi ciency. Room service considerations in the design of PMC's Additional innovations incorporated Launched at the High End Show in Advanced Transmission Line bass throughout the new series include a Munich last month (see our full Show loading, found in its new twenty5 new long-throw mid/bass driver with Report on page 10) to mark the series of loudspeakers. PMC's head woven glass fi bre cones, as well as company's 25th anniversary, the of design, Oliver Thomas, has some refi nements to its established Sonolex series includes models designed for experience in the motor sport, and fabric dome tweeter to improve different-sized listening rooms and has used his knowledge to develop an dispersion for a wider soundstage, comprises two standmount and three 6 JULY 2016 COMMENT IS HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF? Cast your mind back to the early days of CD and you'll no doubt be able to remember that the key stumbling block for the format wasn't related to the high price of the players, the fact that early adopters were slow in coming forward or that people were determined to stick with vinyl, but it was down to the scarcity of software. The take-up of CD was surprisingly swift and people across the UK were keen to try out the new indestructible (ahem) music technology that they'd seen being demonstrated on Tomorrow's World. But the diff iculty came in finding anything decent to play on it. Many labels regarded CD as an audiophile format and so wrongly assumed that it was only suitable for classical recordings. Incredibly, even after Dire Straits became the first album on CD to outsell vinyl, the music industry was surprisingly sluggish in jumping onto the bandwagon. Skip forward some 30-odd years and the landscape has changed significantly (ironically vinyl is back on the rise), but the story remains the same, only this time you can substitute CD for MQA. For those that haven't been paying attention, Meridian's MQA performs the magic trick of squeezing a quart into a pint pot, using Meridian Lossless Packaging (MLP) to produce hi-res-quality files that don't take up as much space as rivals. The technology is deeply impressive, but as compact disc proved (almost to its detriment), if the software isn't available it doesn't matter how good the technology is.