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.

Welcome

NEWS • We reveal the latest products and upcoming events

Audiojumble 2024

Surround sensations • From Mingus to Mancini, The O’Jays to The Doors, Ken Kessler brings you an audiophile’s A-list of 20 brand-new surround sound albums ready to wrap you in all their 360 o glory

The hi-finews & Record Review Reader Pledge • Hi-Fi News’ readers can take full confidence in the fact that every product featured on our front cover, throughout the magazine and on our website has been comprehensively examined and lab tested (including photography) at our facility

EAT Fortissimo/F-Note • High style meets high mass in EAT’s flagship turntable, coupled here with one of the most flexible tonearm solutions ever seen – the F-Note even includes an alignment laser!

Naim Uniti Nova Power Ed. • Naim Audio’s latest single-box solution takes the Uniti Nova, with its NP800 streaming platform, and swaps out the Class A/B amplifier for a higher power Class D engine

Epos Model ES-7N • Innovative as ever, the go-to-speaker designer Karl-Heinz Fink solves the solution of where to best site a small speaker. For the diminutive ES-7N the answer is… anywhere!

Yamaha HA-L7A • A fusion of Yamaha’s hi-fi audio technologies with the proprietary Sound Field modes debuted on its AV hardware decades ago, the HA-L7A is a headphone amp with a twist

Mola Mola Perca • Once again there’s nothing fishy about this innovative Dutch brand’s latest catch – a reference-quality stereo Class D amplifier netted into the Kaluga’s mono chassis

Monitor Audio Studio 89 • Inspired by its long-running Studio series, born in the 1980s, this modern-day D’Appolito standmount also illustrates Monitor Audio’s long-term use of metal-coned drivers

Auralic Altair G2.2 • The latest iteration of Auralic’s streamer/DAC boasts a new generation of the Tesla platform at its core, and an updated version of its ‘Lightning’ operating system

WiiM Amp • Industry ‘disrupter’ WiiM continues its campaign to shake up the audio scene with another comprehensively-equipped streamer, this time with a Class D amp on board

Blok Stax 2G • Produced under the watchful eye of Monitor Audio, Blok’s modular ‘hi-fi furniture’ combines acoustic engineering with contemporary design.

Smetana Má vlast • There’s more to this hymn to Czech nationhood than the familiar strains of Vltava, says Peter Quantrill, as he explores the history of the complete orchestral cycle on record

Grateful Dead Terrapin Station • The Dead’s first album for Arista saw them teamed with a producer and backed – without their knowledge – by an orchestra. Steve Sutherland preludes the 180g reissue

John Lee Hooker …’n Heat • In 1970 the ‘Boogie Chillen’ legend teamed up with young apprentices Canned Heat for a double LP. The result was 17 tracks of blues brilliance and the reinvigoration of Hooker’s career. But who’s that standing by the window on the cover photo?

PRODUCTION NOTES

Alternate Format Discography

Mountain Studios • A refuge for rock royalty on the run from HMRC, this facility in Montreux was used by Bowie, The Stones and would become Queen’s crown jewel. Steve Sutherland explains

ALBUM REVIEWS

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