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.

FEB/22

HI-FI NEWS’ EXPERT LINE UP: THE FINEST MINDS IN AUDIO JOURNALISM BRING THEIR EXPERIENCE TO BEAR ON ALL AREAS OF HI-FI & MUSIC

Planar PS

Head-fi hero

HI-FI NEWS’S NUGGETS

More Momentum

Digital dream

Omnia all-in-one

Perceptual listening

HI-FI NEWS? JUST ASK…

Many happy returns… • Not all is lost when an artist releases a series of stinkers. Some reinvent themselves, returning refreshed with far finer fare. Johnny Sharp on the top ‘comeback’ albums

Under the covers… • Johnny Sharp on the creation of the artwork for Elton John’s 1975 album Captain Fantastic

ALDRIDGE’S ART

BECOMING FANTASTIC

The hi-fi news & Record Review & 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 reviewed (auditioned, photographed and lab tested) at our facility

MBL Noble Line N11/N15 • Handbuilt in Berlin, this preamp and monoblock power amp defies the industrial look, favouring instead an exquisite finish. And the sound more than lives up to the style

JÜRGEN REIS

B&W 805 D4 • The ‘baby’ of B&W’s latest 800 series may be a compact standmount but it packs a good deal of the D4 DNA into its ‘reverse wrap’ enclosure. There’s a walnut finish too….

Vertere Sabre • This Brit-brand’s range of audiophile pick-ups grows yet again with a sub-£1000 model slotting between its entry-level MM and flagship MC. Will the Sabre cut through?

Matrix Audio mini-i Pro 3 • Pitched at the very affordable end of MA’s comprehensive DAC/headphone series, the network-attached mini-i Pro 3 supports a huge range of formats with a powerful punch

Copland CSA70 • Hot on the heels of its tube hybrid integrateds comes this altogether cooler solid-state amplifier from Danish brand Copland. It packs on the style while also packing a punch

ModWright PH 9.0 • Stateside tube specialist, ModWright, trickles down tech from its Reference PH 150 into a more affordable all-valve MM/MC phono preamp, featuring an outboard PSU

NAD C 700 • NAD remains a key partner in the BluOS wireless ecosphere and the C 700 is its most streamlined – read affordable and flexible – all-in-one network player/amplifier yet

AVID Reference Four • AVID’s ‘sledgehammer-to-crack-a-nut’ two-way features a massive all-alloy cabinet with tuned mass dampers to kill unwanted resonances – and this is the smallest in its range!

Chord Anni • Just 16cm wide, the latest integrated amplifier from Chord Electronics is truly tiny, but the levels of performance it offers elevate it way beyond its apparent novelty status

Vaughan Williams Tallis Fantasia • A sense of both physical space and conceptual time is essential in order to realise fully the beauties of this essence of Englishness in music, says Peter Quantrill

Cat Stevens Teaser & The Firecat • Boasting three of his most cherished songs, this LP would put Stevens in the vanguard of the ’70s singer-songwriter movement. Steve Sutherland hears the 180g reissue

Billy Cobham Spectrum • Miles Davis, The Mahavishnu Orchestra…...