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Star qualities This new compact DAC/preamp from 'prosumer' digital clocking expert Antelope is better equipped than anything else says Jason Kennedy Antelope Audio is putting Bulgaria on the hi-fi audio map with a new cutting-edge DAC/preamp built for the Pro World. The Zodiac Plus is an innovative compact cube that has digital, analogue and USB inputs, a volume control on the outside and a 24-bit/192kHz convertor inside. But what separates it from the pack is the company’s expertise in digital clocking. Antelope’s Pro heritage also shows in the dual headphone sockets on the front panel and the full range of XLR sockets on the back.

Portable perfection Richard Black discovers an exciting and unique proposition – a high-resolution portable player/recorder with upsampling and a built-in DAC Including, but by no means limited to, the various iPod models, there are currently dozens of portable music players out there – hundreds if you include mobile phones, most of which have some kind of music-playing capability. Many of them give very decent results, but they’re not really Hi-Fi with capital letters: commodity consumer electronics, more like. True audiophile The Colorfly is something a bit different. It’s a portable music player all right, but it’s aimed fair and square at the true audiophile, the individual who owns a carefully selected system of high-quality components and a decent library of recordings.

Naimstream champion Exclusive! Can Naim’s new high-performance streamer improve on the standard of its own CD players? Malcolm Stewart gives the answer. . . The number of digital streaming devices available to the hi-fi enthusiast continues to grow on an almost daily basis.

The final frontier Primare's beautifully built, full-width phono stage is the perfect partner for serious vinyl systems says analogue addict Jason Kennedy Primare’s new R32 has got to be the biggest phono stage on the market for under a grand, In fact, you could fit a dozen Dynavector P75 MkII stages inside it! Size is not usually considered a bonus in such devices but it has two benefits: you get a component that matches the rest on your rack and it’s extremely well built. You also get plenty of space between the power supply and the internal circuitry. When you are amplifying the pitiful output of a moving coil cartridge you need the quietest environment you can get and this is one way of achieving it. Back in black In 2009, we reviewed Primare’s R20 phono stage (HFC 320), which was half the width of the R32 and nearly half the price, but had the unusual feature of variable gain for the MM input only.