News

Welcome to the March 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. . . 

 What excites me about editing Hi-Fi Choice is not just getting my hands on all the latest audio components and new technology and sharing the experience with you, but also connecting with artists and bands in our Music Reviews and Labelled With Love features.

Cyrus Audio's i7-XR integrated, Neat Acoustics' Orkestra floorstander, Mark Levinson's No5105 turntable, JBL's L82 Classic loudspeaker and a six-way budget floorstander Group Test

Inside our March Issue: The way we listen to music and the audio equipment we aspire to is continuously evolving. A quick glance through the pages of this month’s issue demonstrates that there are plenty of new products emerging to grab the attention of serious music fans, but many break with what hi-fi aficionados would consider to be traditional components. Take this month’s exclusive review of Acoustic Energy’s AE1 Active standmount loudspeaker, which takes the iconic AE1 design – celebrating 30 years since its introduction – and has evolved it into a truly active loudspeaker for next-gen audio fans. Active speakers have traditionally been the staple of the pro audio sector, with few models making the crossover to the domestic market as home hi-fi fans prefer the potential upgrade flexibility that’s offered by a separate amplifier, rather than opting for a speaker design with dedicated amplification built in.

5000 series introduces two highly flexible and surprisingly affordable integrated amplifiers to the UK

If you’re in the market for aluxury all-in-one music player, MarkLevinson’s N°519 digital audio player may just be the ideal media hub for you. It’s a wired and wireless network-ready DAC capable of handling 32/192 PCM music files with DSD support as well as CD playback via the front disc-loading slot. The black with silver trim aluminium housing is designed and built in the USA and the company claims it uses a pure path discrete, direct coupled, fully balanced, dual-monaural signal path for best performance. Around the back there’s a hostof digital connection options, including balanced, coaxial, optical and USB asynchronous inputs.

MartinLogan’s next-generation speaker series arrives in the UK