News

2017 got off to an exciting start following our annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas’ Consumer Electronics Show last month to witness the latest technology developments and product launches for the year ahead. The massive event attracts trade visitors from across the globe, and you can read all about the hottest new trends and audio highlights coming your way in our CES Show Report.

One of the most significant stories at this year’s show was MQA’s announcement that its Masters hi-res content has been added to Tidal’s HiFi music platform. Tidal is the first to offer hi-res audio streaming content, and regular readers will know that its top-tier HiFi subscription offering is our preferred music service of choice after winning our blind listening streaming services Group Test for two years running, thanks to its consistent CD-quality streams. Developed by Meridian, MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) is a high-resolution technology able to pack music into smaller file sizes without harming sound quality. Masters content will typically stream at hi-res 24/96 according to Tidal and for HiFi subscribers there’s no additional charge. Content is growing daily, and at the time of press there are over 400 Masters album versions ready to stream. What a great way to start the year!

This month’s reviews
PMC’s twenty5.21 standmount speaker, Simaudio’s Moon Neo Ace one-box system, KEF Blade Two floorstander, Pro-Ject’s Essential III A turntable, Arcam’s rHead headphone amp and Sonus faber’s Pryma 01 headphone

Group Test
Six £700-£1,030 home-grown integrated amplifiers that put the music first with models from: Arcam, Audiolab, Cambridge, Cyrus, Naim and Rega