Hi-Fi Choice is the essential guide to audio excellence in the home. It is a no-nonsense guide to the finest products available, from vinyl and valves, to multi-channel digital audio and high-fidelity video. Hi-Fi Choice sorts the best from the rest with rigorous test processes and a highly experienced team of reviewers.
BADGES EXPLAINED
Welcome • www.hifichoice.com Issue No. 480 October 2021
California dreaming • A brace of exciting new launches from the golden state
The cartridge family • Affordable new release for vinyl aficionados
Pro-active • Brand new addition to turntable range
Hi frequency • Not one but two new ‘phones just in from Vienna
Streamlover • New streamer from Auralic
In the Clear
Seventh Heaven • New upgraded speaker range from Monitor Audio
Hearing aid • Yamaha launches new in-ear with aural care in mind
Into the woods
Demo boutique • Customer visits back on the schedule as a new experience arrives in Kent
Hidden gems • New addition to architectural speaker range
Deluxe and delightful • Arriving from California via London comes the Zesto Audio Andros phono preamp – all tubes and transformers and, courtesy of an uprated PSU, now in Deluxe II guise
STYLE AND SUBSTANCE
Unique group tests • Our Group Tests are supported by rigorous and exhaustive listening carried out by experts
Floored genius • David Price gets to grips with six of the best mid-price floorstanding speakers
ON TEST
ATC SCM40 £4,000 • With a pro pedigree ATC’s speakers have a distinct monitor sound, but how will they fare in this company?
B&W 702 Signature £5,000 • With tweeter-on-top tech and a Continuum Cone midrange driver, could this be B&W’s signature dish?
DALI Rubicon 6 £3,500 • Despite being the cheapest here, it’s got absolutely everything – but that isn’t to say it’s a pig with lipstick on
Kerr Acoustic K320 mk.3 £7,500 • Since our review in HFC 446, the K320 has had two major revisions and a price hike. What’s the difference?
Monitor Audio Gold 300 £4,400 • Now in its fifth generation, will this three-way design have what it takes to clinch the gold medal spot?
Spendor D7.2 £4,730 • This British company has been in the speaker game since the Seventies. Can it make its experience count?
Group test verdict • After many enjoyable hours of comparisons, David Price thrashes out the ranking order and finds a worthy winner
TRY WITH THESE
Different strokes • Before he gets bombarded with letters about his choices, David Price explains his decision and reflects on the joys of comparing six very different loudspeakers
Mighty fine Meitner • Ed Meitner is famous for the ‘custom DAC’ and crafting his own tech for 30 years. His latest model is a chip off the old digital block
PEACE & Quiet • Whisper it softly, thanks to ASMR, quiet is the new loud. Nigel Williamson gets to the silent heart of the matter
Zen master • iFi’s recently updated DAC and headphone amp promises a big spec at a bargain price. Ed Selley sees how it stacks up
Ace in the pole • Switzerland’s Piega does high style in its sleep, but David Vivian wonders if its latest entry-level tower can also hit the heights
Oh, Vienna! • Not content with cracking the professional market, the Austrian newcomer impresses Cliff Joseph with its first open-back cans
Start your engines! • The latest integrated amp from Technics is both a flagship and a technological statement. Ed Selley swots up on his jargon
Effortless all-rounder • Rotel has updated its A14 to MkII spec, creating an amp that Ed Selley thinks brings...