LATEST ADDITIONS

Following the launch of the DS-W1 optical cartridge from DS Audio, the Japanese company has announced the introduction ofits most affordable optical pick-upto date in the form of the DS 002. Drawing on its experience with developing the original DS-W1 optical cartridge that arrived in the UK in 2015 and quickly followed by the Master 1 design released here in 2016, the DS 002 sportsan aluminium chassis, aluminium cantilever and classic Shibata stylus with the same enhanced optical-mechanical system and wire-suspended cantilever, and claims to deliver a similar output to the Master 1 with 500mV and 25dB of separation. The DS 002 optical cartridge also comes packaged with a more compact and lightweight phono stage/equaliser unit, in which a newly updated power supply features 10 33,000uF capacitors delivering what the maker claims is effortless power and superlative sound quality. It usesa special shielding that is 1.

Showcasing its six-strong LX lineup at the Bristol Sound & Vision show held in February, visitorsto the fourth floor of the Marriott Hotel City Centre got the chanceto experience Mission's complete entry-level range of loudspeakersfor the first time. Touted as offering exceptional performance and value, the £160 LX-2 standmount and £400 LX-3 floorstanding speakers were launched almost a year ago. Theyare joined by four new models that augment the range with a further standmount speaker, two additional floorstanders as well as a centre channel model if your audio aspirations extend to multi-channel loudspeaker installations. As with the first models unveiled, Mission tells us that its LX series has been designed to deliver compelling musicality.

Welcome to the April 2017 issue of Hi-Fi Choice magazine. Spotify is the world’s most popular music streaming service and has recently surpassed 50 million subscribers, according to its own stats. The streaming service giant’s popularity is also confirmed by the results of our own Twitter poll that ran online in early March asking: “What’s the best music streaming service for you?” – see full survey results on p69. Somewhat surprisingly, the results show that even among quality audio fans Spotify’s ad-free Premium subscription service with sound quality only up to 320kbps for its music streams comes top of our poll.

Following the launch of the flagship SL-1200G direct-drive turntable reviewed in HFC 418, the Japanese tech giant introduces two additional models, but with more wallet-friendly price tags. The SL-1200GR and the SL-1210GR decks have an identical specification, but come with silver and black plinth top plates respectively. The new turntables claim to utilise the same design principles as the flagship SL-1200G, but with slightly different materials and applications. Parts from the SL-1200G are newly developed, and the twin-rotor coreless direct-drive motor designed for the flagship deck is replaced here with a single-rotor design.