LATEST ADDITIONS

Product of the Year- Runners up Audiolab 8200A The Audiolab is a classic example of a product that delivers so much at the price point, it can be hard to make a convincing case to spend more money. For £730 the 8200A offers plentiful inputs and excellent build. More importantly, it offers a truly sparkling performance. The 8200A never fails to make listening enjoyable, with a fabulous, well-lit midband that gives superb insight into recordings.

Best Amplifier up to £1,000 Audiolab 8200A The origins of the 8200A lie in the classic 8000A from the ’80s and ‘90s. We loved the original and its successor proves equally enthralling. The 8200A combines neutrality and accuracy, with enough of a unique character to entertain. The midrange lucidity impressed us, while detail retrieval is simply superb.

Clearaudio Performance SE This turntable’s simplicity belies some refined engineering technology and a performance to match The latest incarnation of the Clearaudio Performance is a more substantial turntable than it looks, thanks to a plinth that’s made from a sandwich of aluminium and HDF. You can’t see the highdensity fi breboard because it is framed by the natural coloured aluminium in the sandwich, but it performs the critical task of damping any resonance that manages to get through the three adjustable feet beneath it. The platter is a 40mm slab of acrylic that sits on a ceramic magnetic bearing, the shaft of which has been polished to an even higher degree than on the original Performance. The magnetic suspension means that the ceramic shaft doesn’t need a ball bearing or thrust pad to take the weight of the platter, which should reduce noise from this critical component quite considerably.

Michell Orbe SE The Orbe SE incorporates the latest Gen 2 power supply, resulting in fine dynamics and a full-scale soundstage The SE is the ‘sport’ version of Michell’s Orbe rangetopper. It cuts down on costs by removing the acrylic casework of its namesake and, in many respects, looks the better for it. Like the well-regarded Gyro, it is a fully suspended design that floats the armboard and platter on three springs, which sit under three posts that stick up from the cast aluminium subchassis that surrounds the platter. Underneath are two acrylic layers in a tristar shape that reach out to support the suspension posts and fix-to-turned aluminium feet.