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Probably best known as a manufacturer of full-size headphones that utilise planar magnetic driver technology to create thin and lightweight units with the voice coil printed into them, Audeze recently became the first company to repeat the trick by including the driver technology on its range of in-ear headphones – most notably in the shape of the iSINE 10. Reviewed on these very pages back in issue 423, we were very impressed and consequently issued a Recommended badge. So expectations are suitably high for the newly released LCDi4. Described by the maker as: “The end game in-ear headphone for music lovers”, the £2,400 LCD-i4 uses the same 0.

Since 1981, Wharfedale has been making an attractive entrypoint into hi-fi sound quality withits Diamond series of loudspeakers, enticing audio fans with their fine design and performance. The latest range, unveiled at the High End Show in Munich, comprises eight new models: three two-way standmounts – Diamond 11. 0 (£160), 11. 1 (£270) and 11.

Taking key design elements of the technology and materials developed for its D7 (HFC 370) and A6R (HFC 381) floorstanders, Spendor has unveiled its new A-Line series of loudspeakers. The new models have been designed with more compact living spaces in mindand so have been made to be easy to drive and ableto give their best even when placed close to walls. Priced at £1,095, the Spendor A1 is a compact two-way standmount with a 22mm wide-surround tweeter and 150mm mid/bass driver. The £1,595 Spendor A2 isthe smaller of the company’s two-way floorstanders,which includes the same tweeter and bass driver as its standmount sibling, while the £2,195 A4 (pictured, right) is the biggest offering in the range.

Loudspeakers are easily the most popular sector of the hi-fi market right now, with more models vying for our attention than we can shake a stick at. A quick flick through the pages of this month’s issue is testament to this flourishing sector, with models of all different shapes and sizes designed to help you find the one that best fits your environment and meets your particular music needs. From the new Q Acoustics Concept 500 flagship floorstander using the latest cabinet construction and resonance control techniques, to seventies retro cool with the first model from Tannoy’s new Legacy line and the rebirth of the Eaton standmount, there’s plenty of different designs to tantalise the audio taste buds. But it’s the speaker that first got us started along the hi-fi path that so often holds a special place in our hearts.

It is now 50 years since The Doors released their startling debut LP, which unleashed the audacious and unsettling poetic visions of Jim Morrison on an unsuspecting world – and a flurry of Doors-related activity is underway to mark this rather auspicious anniversary. The group’s self-titled debut album is being reissued this month in a new three-disc deluxe edition, featuring remastered mono and stereo mixes and previously unheard live versions of eight of the original album’s 11 songs, recorded just as the band was on the verge of superstardom (see p100). It follows closely on the heels of the release of London Fog 1966, an historic album of recently unearthed live recordings from a gig in a club on Sunset Strip shortly before the group signed its first recording contract. That the music of the Doors continues to exert such a profound and far-reaching influence on our collective psyche so long after the event is in stark contrast to the group’s active lifespan, which – even by the ephemeral standards of rock and roll – was extraordinarily brief and fleeting.

Thanks to the large number of you that shared pictures with us of your vinyl setups in response to last month’s Twitter poll asking whether or not you own a record player. The result of the poll shows that 65 percent of respondents do indeed have a turntable, with a further 10 percent looking to discover or return to the format soon. Receiving the pics of your systems on our Facebook and Twitter feeds was very enlightening and provided a clear demonstration of the level of equipment owned along with the care and attention lavished upon turntables. With this in mind, we felt it was a perfect time to look more closely at moving-coil cartridges, and this month’s Group Test compares six upmarket MC pick-ups (£650-£1,000), designed to make a significant upgrade to your vinyl replay.

Considerably smaller than its first digital audio player, the new DP-S1 follow-up model from Onkyo is milled from a solid block of black aluminium and boasts 16GB of built-in memory, which can be expanded to 416GB thanks to its twin MicroSD card slots. Underthe hood there are dual ES9018C2M ESS SABRE DAC chipsets, ensuring that the player can support DSD 2. 8MHz and 5. 6MHz, FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF (up to a maximum of 32-bit/192kHz), AAC and MP3.