Hi-Fi Choice

Hi-Fi Choice | Oct 12, 2018 | 0 comments

Loudspeaker maker KEF has unveiled its redesigned R Series that employs trickle-down design and tech developments usually found on the Kent-based company’s flagship Reference Series. With 1,043 individual changes to the revamped series, highlights include the latest generation of the company’s Uni-Q driver array – now in its 12th iteration – featuring Shadow Flare trimring design for more transparent sound, smaller bass drivers with greater excursion and a sophisticated internal bracing system, all aimed at bringing higher levels of performance to the series. Focusing on the stereo models, all are three-way ported designs and the £1,300 R3 standmount has a 165mm bass driver partnered to a Uni-Q array with 125mm midrange and 25mm aluminium dome tweeter with sensitivity of 87dB at 8ohm. All three floorstanders use the same Uni-Q array, but the £2,000 R5 has 2x 130mm bass drivers to the same electrical specification, while the £2,600 R7 has2x 165mm and the £4,000 R11 employs 4x 165mm bass drivers and claim 88dB and 90dB into 8ohm respectively.

News

Webwatch November

Hi-Fi Choice | Oct 11, 2018 | 0 comments

Top of the class Class D remains a controversial choice for manufacturers – some can get it to sound fabulous and for others it is a huge challenge. In this fascinating video, PS Audio’s co-founder Paul McGowan explains what can be done to get the best from it here. Pressing matters Based in Copenhagen, English photographer Alastair Philip Wiper goes behind the scenes in factories, observatories and places of industrial endeavour. In this fascinating series he shoots the world’s largest vinyl pressing plant in the Netherlands.

Headphones

Audio-Technica ATH-LS70iS

Hi-Fi Choice | Oct 10, 2018 | 0 comments

Perhaps better known for its full-size headphone models than its in-ear designs, Audio-Technica has been increasing its offerings of late. The ATH-LS70iS is the more expensive of two ‘Live Sound’ models and uses two serially mounted carbon-coated dynamic drivers to reduce its housing size and increase the radiating area.

Cables & Accessories

DS Audio ST-50

Hi-Fi Choice | Oct 10, 2018 | 0 comments

Designed as a means of keeping your stylus clean, be it on a DS Audio cartridge or something a little more prosaic, the ST-50 comprises a thin sheet of Urethane protected by a smart metal tin. It may look like an unusual way of removing dirt from a stylus, but the principle is simple enough: place the ST-50 on your platter and lower your cartridge on and off the sheet of polymer a few times so that its sticky nature will pull away any unwanted debris from the tip of the stylus. If the polymer starts to look dirty, you can simply rinse it off under a tap, leave it to dry on a clean surface and it will be good to go again. As well as looking smart, the housing tin does a good job of keeping the polymer free from collecting debris when it’s not in use.

Streaming Services

On-demand music

Hi-Fi Choice | Oct 09, 2018 | 0 comments

Group Test:Music streaming services October 2018 marks just 10 years since Spotify launched its first streaming service in the UK. In this short time it has revolutionised the way in which we buy and listen to music. At first, the idea of music streaming was attractive for the convenience it offered. Mesmerised by the number of songs and albums readily available at the tap of a touchscreen or click of keyboard – and the musical discovery our searches take us on – trawling through multi-million-track libraries became a nostalgic and addictive journey that has changed how many of us consume music forever.

News

An Evening With Ultimate Stream

Hi-Fi Choice | Oct 09, 2018 | 0 comments

Ultimate Stream based in Farnham in Surrey is running a series of listening events called ‘An Evening With’ to allow visitors to experience the latest products from their brand portfolio including: Auralic, Kii Audio, Innuos, Dutch&Dutch, CAAS Audio, Amphion, Hegel and T+A. There’s also the opportunity to join a weekend workshop focussing on ‘Streaming For Beginners’. For more information and tickets call 01252 759285 or visit the website:www. ultimate-stream.

News

Yamaha's new MusicCast Vinyl 500 turntable

Hi-Fi Choice | Oct 09, 2018 | 0 comments

Turntable sales may have stabilised in 2018, but Japanese tech giant Yamaha hopes it can break new ground with the launch of its first MusicCast record player. On display for the first time at Berlin's IFA Show at the beginning of September, the Vinyl 500 is no regular LP spinner. The wireless belt-driven deck is designed to take the classic vinyl replay experience for a new spin by combining classic design with multi-room streaming. Priced at £549, the Vinyl 500 looks traditional enough and offers both 33 and 45rpm playback speeds with a 300mm aluminium die-cast platter, a straight tonearm that's fitted with an unspecified moving-magnet cartridge and is supplied with a dust cover.

News

On sale now!

Hi-Fi Choice | Oct 09, 2018 | 0 comments

Network music streaming continues to be a convenient way for many of us to listen to music at home, and its appeal is clear to see. With access to millions of digital files at the tap of a touchscreen and CD-quality sound or better on offer from hi-res subscription services like Qobuz Sublime or Tidal Master, streaming is a remarkably slick way of playing music and this month’s Group Testlooks at six low-cost network audio navigators to get you started. Despite streaming being a thoroughly modern way to listen to music, physical formats continue to play on in many systems, with vinyl being by far the most popular for readers to get their music listening kicks, judging by the number of votes that it received in our recent twitter poll asking: “What is your favourite music format?”. It seems that we’re a diverse bunch when it comes to ways to listen, but for those looking for something that combines both worlds, check out Yamaha’s MusicCast Vinyl 500.

Network Media Players

Cambridge Audio CXN V2

Hi-Fi Choice | Oct 08, 2018 | 0 comments

Looking at the latest CXN network streamer/digital preamp/DAC, nothing has changed cosmetically from the original and between us and the barcode label on the carton, no one else will have a clue that this is the updated version. In matters of hiding your brighter light under the same bushel, the CXN V2, with its enhanced usability and slicker streaming properties, looks very Cambridge Audio and pretty much foolproof.

Headphones

Audeze LCD2 Classic

Hi-Fi Choice | Oct 08, 2018 | 0 comments

To mark the fact it has been trading for 10 years, Audeze has revised one of its longest-running products. The original LCD2 has been around for some time and continues as before but is now joined by the Classic, which adds some refinements to the design alongside a more affordable price tag.

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