Hi Fi News

Since its launch in June 1956 - two years before the commercial realisation of stereo - Hi-Fi News & Record Review has been delivering insightful reviews of the key products and technologies that lie behind our shared hobby... the passion of listening to music on the very best equipment available to the enthusiast. Every issue, Hi-Fi News delivers uniquely in-depth reviews of high-end audio equipment, including the best in vinyl replay and iconic vintage gear from the early days of audio. It is essential reading for all music enthusiasts.

OCT/24

20th-22nd September THE UK hi-fi SHOW Live The Ultimate high-end hi-fi experience • First hosted at the prestigious Ascot Grandstand in 2019, the UK’s dedicated high-end audio show returns in 2024 with the ‘who’s who’ of world-class hi-fi

Fresh faces • Nothing beats the buzz of discovering new bands, especially when they could shape the very future of music. Johnny Sharp on the hot new groups hitting all the right notes

PS Audio Aspen FR5 • The final piece in PS Audio’s quartet of innovative planar magnetic loudspeakers has arrived and it’s quite the cutest of the range, but is it a wolf in sheep’s clothing?

Hegel H400 • With the H600’s streaming/DAC platform at its heart the new H400 – dubbed the ‘Streamliner’ by Hegel – looks set to take over as the sweet spot of the range

Weiss DAC204/PSU102 • Compact yet highly capable, the DAC204 may look like a simple USB device, but within is a host of its Swiss manufacturer’s focused engineering and precision construction

Monitor Audio Gold 300 6G • Described as ‘contemporary classics’, the six-strong, sixth generation Gold series spans, you guessed it, six models!

Manley Oasis • With the tube-based Chinook phono stage as its inspiration, the Oasis brings greater flexibility in gain and loading. Moreover, it debuts Manleys custom switchmode PSU

T+A R 2500 R • Conceived as the ‘command centre’ of a modern high-end system, T+A’s powerful all-in-one system embraces CD and streamed audio, in all its flavours, and radio too…

DS Audio DS-E3 • Those wizards of trickledown tech are at it again: DS Audio’s new entry-level model, the DS-E3, gives you a taste of the Masters series at less than a tenth of the price!

ELAC Vela BS 403.2 • Relaunched in mk2 guise, ELAC’s most compact two-way gets a boost from the latest generation of its iconic ‘JET’ tweeter. We fuel up the afterburners and listen at Mach 2

EISA 2024-25 • HI-FI PRODUCTS OF THE YEAR

Luigi Nono Venetian radical • Classical heroes, Communist ideology, the lapping waves of a lagoon… Peter Quantrill explores the disparate origins of Nono’s sound-world though a rich recorded legacy

ESSENTIAL RECORDINGS

Television Marquee Moon • Although ostensibly a band album, Television’s 1977 debut owes much to the vision of frontman Tom Verlaine. Steve Sutherland tunes in as the 180g reissue drops

Wire Pink Flag • Formed at Watford Art College, Wire shook up the UK punk scene in 1977 with a debut album that crammed 21 tracks into 35 minutes, featured lyrics inspired by train journeys and lion tamers, and was described as ‘not like anything you’ve heard’

PRODUCTION NOTES

Alternate Format Discography

Avast! Recording Co. • Behind the walls of this Seattle studio with its well-worn couches and peeling posters would be born a gritty form of rock known as grunge.

ALBUM REVIEWS

Giant steps backwards • Internet radio promises unrivalled listening choice, but what happens when your favourite station goes missing? Barry Fox gets to grips with tweaking TuneIn and adding third-party hardware

Can you hear the real thing? • There are countless different audio products claiming to pursue sonic accuracy, but Barry Willis believes...