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Originally devised as a project by Kevin Lewandowskiin 2000, Discogs has grown to become an incredible resource for fans of both vinyl and CD. In essence, the site is adatabase of music that has been created by Discogs' dedicated community of users. To date, more than 275,000 people have contributed to help build the site's catalogue of more than 6,900,000 recordings from some 4,300,000 artists. It also provides the ability to catalogue your music collection, wantlist and then share your ratings and reviews.

Building on the success of its Recommended badge-winning Mu-so wireless music system (HFC 391), Naim has unveiled the Mu-so Qb. Described by the manufacturer as combining Naim’s priorities of high-quality, engaging sound and understated design, Mu-so Qb appears in a more compact chassis and boasts a speaker arrangement of five offset and angled drivers (two tweeters, two mids and a woofer), although the bass port of its sibling has been ditched to keep size down. Instead, two tuned pistonic bass radiators work alongside a custom-made woofer driven by the 100W amplifier. The Mu-so Qb can connect to your home wi-fi and can wirelessly stream hi-res music stored on your network or browse and play tracks using Spotify Connect, Tidal, internet radio or Airplay.

Adored by hi-fi fans and DJs alike around the world, it was a sad day in 2010 when Technics finally announced that it would cease production of its iconic SL-1200 direct-drive turntable due to dwindling vinyl sales and the riseof more practical music formats. The SL-1200 was originally built for hi-fi fans when it launched in 1972, but its consistent performance, robust build and unique pitch-shifting ability made it the go-to deck for many DJs, who managed to prolong the deck's life long after many hi-fi fans had sold their record collections to car boot sales. Even so, its departure from the market was a surprise and perhaps even a little premature given the growing interest we've seen in the vinyl market in the last few years. Thankfully though, the legendary vinyl spinner looks set to make a comeback later this year.

The BBC has today unveiled a new music app that pulls together music clips from across the network's TV shows and radio stations into one central searchable location. The new app, which is available on Android and iOS-enabled smartphones and tablets consists of live performances, DJ and presenter curated playlists and interviews with musicians. Users will also be able to search for and play all tracks broadcast on BBC Radio over the past week and add favourites to their own playlist. It's also claimed that the app will learn the personal preferences of users and then deliver a choice of tunes that have been individually tailored to the user's taste.

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.

Alpha Design Labs has something of a reputation for producing ‘Swiss army knife’ components capable of performing multiple tasks (see the GT40a in the February issue’s Group Test), and it looks like its latest release – the Stratos – is set to continue this trend. Compact in design it boasts a USB DAC with A/D convertor, a preamp, MM/MC phono stage and headphone amp. Built, says ADL, with the audiophile in mind, the Stratos supports PCM up to 32/384 and DSD to 11. 2MHz.