Hi Fi News May 2017

Record Store Day – a celebration of the specialist LP store – marks its own ten-year milestone this year with no fewer than 500 new and remastered LP titles being announced for the occasion. Hi-Fi News has long been a champion of the black stuff with our monthly Vinyl Icon [p78] and Vinyl Release [p76] feature reviews also powering the vanguard of the great ‘Vinyl Revival’ for the past eight years. Moreover, your favourite hi-fimagazine dipped deep into its own pockets too – co-sponsoring the critically-received Last Shop Standing documentary in 2012 [you can view the official trailer here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBTMe8p_Pxw]. Fortunately, rather than serve as an epitaph for the vinyl emporium, Last Shop Standing presaged a revitalisation of new and existing LP outlets. Record Store Day first spun-up to speed in the…

Luxman’s luxuries LIMITED EDITION ALL-TUBE PRE/POWER FROM ONE OF JAPAN’S MOST REVERED AUDIOPHILE BRANDS Launched in time to celebrate the corporation’s 90th anniversary, Luxman has announced the very limited release of its ‘Special Edition’ CL-38u preamp and MQ-88u power amplifier. The £4000 CL-38uSE is based on Luxman’s iconic CL-35 preamp from the 1970s and employs ECC803 and ECC802 (Slovakia JJ) triodes in a shunt-regulated push-pull configuration. The MC phono input is equipped with a pair of custom step-up transformers per channel (offering 100ohm and 30ohm loading for high and low output MCs, respectively) plus a two-stage RIAA eq circuit. The bass/ treble tone controls circuits are no less sophisticated and are defeatable along with its mono mode and low-cut (subsonic) filter options. The partnering MQ-88uSE power amp will retail for £4500 and takes its…

It is, as a colleague reminded me, like visiting another planet: Japanese audiophiles comport themselves with such seriousness, politeness and dignity that every element of Tokyo’s high-end show encourages thoughtful listening – and that’s not something I do at shows. I know it’s so, because I lectured three groups of 100 attendees, and they sat rapt as each LP track played to its end. This show, though compact, is one of the calendar’s more important events because it’s a rare occasion when heavy-hitter imports share Japanese exhibition space with local majors (Luxman, Accuphase, etc) and native esoterica, such as Air Tight. There were launches a’plenty, the usual oddities, but overall an atmosphere unlike any other hi-fievent I can name. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. This unit is Aavik Acoustics’ U-300…

A decidedly optimistic buzz pervaded the Salon Home Hi-Fi show, held at the Novotel Paris Tour Eiffel. It may have to do with the French passion for movies, so home cinema nestles comfortably with high-end audio. Nobody grumbles about it. More to the point, the French are utterly obsessed with fashion to the point of absurdity, so headphones – the chic genre du jour – had greater prominence here than one would expect. One particular strength of the Paris show is that while bijou, it’s organised with the sort of professionalism and panache that wouldn’t embarrass an automobile or jewellery salon. Which sets a high bar for those high-end manufacturers who approach other events with something of a relaxed approach. But then they’ve never been the stars for French consumers. And…

It was in conversation with Josh Bizar, Vice President of Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs’ parent company, Music Direct, while he was first telling me of MFSL’s UltraDisc One-Step project, when I suddenly realised I just had to ask him about something so blindingly obvious that I felt utterly stupid. ‘Josh, whatever happened to halfspeed mastering?’. The question was prompted, too, by Universal issuing a half-dozen titles last year using that technology. Josh explained that, ‘With help from Tim de Paravicini, the cutting system in Mobile Fidelity’s mastering studio has undergone continuous modifications. After testing and listening, we came to the realisation that real-time mastering was delivering a better representation of what is on the master tape.’ LESS IS MORE And that was before the first UltraDisc One-Step LP, called ‘UD1S’ for short, reached…

AUDIO FILE Integrated amplifier & auxiliary PSU. Rated at 300W/8ohm Made by: T+A elektroakustik GmbH & Co. KG, Germany Supplied by: Kog Audio, UK Telephone: 01353 721089 Web: www.taelektroakustik.de; www.kogaudio.co.uk Prices: £14,775/£8150 amp/PSU) Opinions tend to fly around at HFN as products progress from delivery to test bench to photography to listening: it seems everyone has some input into the looks and feel of whatever’s under scrutiny. But at least on one aspect of the £14,775 T+A PA 3100 HV integrated amplifier and its optional £8150 PS 3000 HV power supply we were unanimous: ‘them puppies is heavy!’ The integrated tips the scales at 38kg, and the PSU the same, making each unit a two-man lift. Part of the flagship ‘High Voltage’ range from the company based in Herford, northern Germany, the PA…