Awards 2010

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Awards 2010
Pioneer PD-D9 Mk2 - £750
Ed Selley  |  Dec 12, 2010  |  0 comments
Pioneer PD-D9 Mk2 £750 Pioneer's keenly priced CD/SACD player has a lot to offer in terms of electronic wizardry and audio performance his model was one of a handful that marked Pioneer’s return to serious hi-fi separates a few years ago. Now in Mk2 guise, it remains largely as it was then, a simple stereo-only CD/SACD player with little in the way of fancy features. Indeed, so devoid is it of frills that it doesn’t even offer track skip from the front panel; the only controls are tray open/close and play/pause. Beneath the lid it’s filled with components, including a screened switch-mode power supply, with considerably more smoothing capacitance than is usually found.
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Awards 2010
SRM Arezzo Kinetic £1,248
Ed Selley  |  Nov 13, 2010  |  0 comments
SRM Arezzo Kinetic £1,248 At home with most types of music from classical to rock, here is a turntable with a wide appeal SRM first came to our attention in 2009 (HFC 325). In fact, its basic Arezzo model won our coveted award for Best sub-£1,000 turntable (HFC 326). The full range includes the aforementioned Arezzo; the Arezzo Reference; Ultra and the Kinetic. All are supplied with similar features, but the Kinetic adds just one more, albeit a significant one: a flywheel which is interposed between the motor and the platter.
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Awards 2010
Naim CD5 XS - £1,790
Ed Selley  |  Jul 02, 2010  |  0 comments
Entry-level excellence Naim regards the CD5 XS as an entry-level player. But as Malcolm Steward discovered, its performance tells a completely different story The Naim XS series, which includes the CD5 XS, is more than just a simple evolution of the previous X series models. Each component is said to have been engineered to work harmoniously with the rest of the range and providing significantly enhanced overall system performance. Naim also regards the XS range as a superb introduction to its Reference series models by offering what it says is genuine high-end performance at an affordable price level.
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Awards 2010
Sony Walkman NWZ-A845 - £149
Ed Selley  |  Jul 02, 2010  |  0 comments
Audiophile adventures Sony’s latest Walkman is an impressive personal audio and video player. Adam Hartley thinks it will make a dent in Apple’s digital hegemony You can put Apple’s ownership of the portable music market down to two things: Steve Jobs’ marketing nous and (iPod designer) Jonny Ive’s understanding that most people value convenience and gadgetry above audio quality. So it’s easy to believe that Apple doesn’t give much thought to fidelity. Thankfully, judging by our test of the new Walkman NWZ-A845, Sony thinks differently.
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Awards 2010
Thorens TD 309 £1,250 (inc. arm and cartridge)
Ed Selley  |  Mar 13, 2010  |  0 comments
Thorens TD 309 £1,250 (inc. arm and cartridge) Calling on a century of expertise, this new Thorens turntable has an enviable tonal quality Few names in hi-fi can match Thorens’s track record. 107 years is a pretty good innings and the company continues to build on the reputation it built in the 1960s for audiophile LP decks. This model is a new addition to the range, its shape and general design bang up-to-date, even more so in the optional red finish.
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