LATEST ADDITIONS

Welcome to the June 2016 issue of Hi-Fi Choice – the essential guide to getting the best possible sound from your hi-fi, whether you're buying, tuning or tweaking. . . 

 At the risk of sounding like a broken record in mentioning yet again just how back on track vinyl playback really is, confirmation of its popularity arrived in mid-April – if ever it were needed – when news broke that pre-orders for Technics’ highly anticipated limited edition Grand Class SL-1200GAE turntable had sold out in Japan in just 30 minutes.

Described by Musical Fidelity as a complete solution allowing you to keep all of your music in one place, the M6 Encore 225 is essentiallya streaming audio player withan impressive selection of connectivity options. At its heart is a dual-core 64-bit Intel CPU with 2GB of RAM to ensure that operation is fast and to allow for upgrades as time goes by in an effort to ensure that it remains futureproof. The internal 1TB storage is claimed to be able to hold as many as 2,500 CDs (using the built-in CD drive’s bit-perfect ripping), but is also upgradeable should you need to add more as time goes by. Power output, meanwhile is quoted at 225W per channel into 8ohm and the M6 Encore 225 has the same power amplifiers under the hood as the Recommended badge-winning M6si (HFC 400), while a 32-bit/384kHz chipset is onhand for digital-to-analogue conversion.

And so it comes to pass that after nearly five years, the Audiolab M-DAC finally gets itself a bigger brother! Rather like that famous difficult second album that recording artists battle with, it was never going to be easy for Audiolab to improve on one of the strongest products it has ever released. When it came out, the original M-DAC (HFC 359) had no real rivals at its £600 price point. Indeed, it got off to a good start because it was essentially the digital converter section of the 8200A CD player – itself one of the best silver disc spinners under £1,500, thanks to designer John Westlake’s prodigious talent. Also, interestingly, it was one of the first DACs to use the (then) new and highly regarded ESS Sabre 9018 DAC chips.

There can be few things more frustrating than sitting down to listen to a favourite record only to find that it’s filthy. Giving your vinyl a proper wet clean can be a time consuming and at times messy job. Enter Clearaudio with what it’s describing as its best solution for cleaning records yet – the Double Matrix Professional Sonic. Integrating both sonic and vacuum cleaning elements, the Double Matrix Professional Sonic record cleaner is claimed to deliver a deep, but importantly, gentle cleaning of pressing residues and persistent dirt that’s deep within the grooves of your vinyl – enabling you to listen your music as it really should be heard.