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Do you know what Roon is? Do you think you need to know? Should you even care? When hi-fi manufacturers launch a new amplifier or loudspeaker, the question immediately turns to its styling, specification and indeed performance. Rarely – if ever – does one ever end up asking: “Why do I need it?”, or “How will owning such a thing make my life better?” The problem for Roon founder Enno Vandermeer is that his product needs a whole lot of explanation before people can take a view about whether they actually want it. “We created an experience that people were missing. The only trouble is, they didn’t know it!”, he says.

Recent years have seen British hi-fi company Exposure downsize the dimensions of its electronics with the introduction of its half-width XM series in 2016. Following its considerable success in squeezing its extensive hi-fi know-how into smaller dimensions, the audio component specialist has turned its attention to the top of its lineup and replaced its highly regarded but bulky MCX series pre and power amplifiers with slimline units. The new 5010 series features two products: a preamplifier priced at £2,000 and a mono power amplifier priced at £4,550 per pair and rated at 200W into 8ohm and 370W into 4. At first glance they don't look all that different to the brand’s existing 3010 and 2010 series of audio components, but the new 5010 models are significantly trimmer measuring just 90mm and 115mm tall respectively, and each is a mere 440mm wide and 300mm deep.

Another headphone first comes from Audiolab – best known for its DACs and amplifiers – which pulls back the curtain on two sets of in-ear designs with the M-EAR 2D (£430) and M-EAR 4D (£700). Both available now, the former is a two-driver design, with one driver handling mid/high frequencies and the other dedicated to bass. The M-EAR 4D is a three-way design sporting four drivers – one for high frequencies, another for midrange and two for bass. Both come with a tangle-resistant detachable 1.

Expectations are high for Quad’s debut headphone – this is the company behind the legendary ESL loudspeaker and whose philosophy is “the closest approach to the original sound”, after all. According to Quad, the ERA-1 combines high sensitivity with low impedance to enable excellent performance with a range of partnering devices – from portable players to top-of-the-range amps. To create this flagship design, it developed a planar magnetic driver, which aims to deliver a more natural and accurate sound – allowing the listener to immerse themselves in every musical nuance. The headphone incorporates a strong, ultra-thin, electrically active diaphragm fused with a magnet system designed to maximise sensitivity and consistency over the driver area.

Spendor introduced its new two-way A7 floorstanding loudspeaker at The Bristol Show back in February. It’s described by the British speaker brand as a major revision of the acclaimed A6R, which impressed us when we reviewed it back in HFC 381. The A7 has a slim and contemporary-looking cabinet, available in black ash, dark walnut, natural oak and satin white finishes. The base of the plinth has four machined steel stabiliser inserts, secured directly into the main cabinet structure.

The latest network components from Primare – the I35 Prisma integrated amplifier and CD35 Prisma CD player – are the first outing for the Swedish manufacturer’s whole-home, high-fidelity control and connectivity platform. According to marketing director Terry Medalen, Prisma “provides a complete spectrum of system management from a single point of control”. The platform not only allows network playback from both stored and streamed media, wi-fi and Bluetooth connection, but also multi-zone control – all managed from any mobile device through a dedicated system control app. Rated at 2x 150W (8ohm), the I35 Prisma is the first integrated to use a reworking of Primare’s Class D amplification tech, and includes a DAC stage with support for up to PCM 768kHz and DSD256 formats.