Hi Fi News Yearbook 2018

Christmas has come a little early this year as Hi-Fi News & Record Review celebrates the hardware that turned our heads and the music that stirred our souls throughout 2018. So I bid you welcome, audiophiles, enthusiasts and music lovers all to our annual Yearbook. Prepare to feast yourself on the very best that hi-fi has to offer as our bumper 180-page issue delivers a menu of the most delectable source components, amplifiers and loudspeakers from across the globe. We’ve also selected from our Budget Esoterica series, proving there’s some very affordable hardware ready and eager to tempt your musical tastebuds. And for port and cigars – some vintage audio heroes to remind us of hi-fi’s pedigree. While the range of audiophile products seemingly evolves and grows year after year, with more…

HI-FI NEWS SHOWBLOG One of the advantages of being the oldest hi-fi magazine in the world is that over the years Hi-Fi News has had time to station its journalists in audiophile hot-spots across the globe from where they’re able to bring you coverage of the biggest shows. Every issue we offer our Showblog from a major international event somewhere in the world, from Germany’s vast High End Show in Munich through to the annual exhibitions in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Portugal and Stockholm – not to mention our very own Hi-Fi Show Live event in Windsor. Here’s our pick of the world-class demonstrations that impressed us in 2018! Whirlwind guitarist Joncan Kavlakoglu performs a duet with one of his own recordings through an awesome system including an Aurender W20 music server, a…

Esoteric’s president, Hiroshi Oshima, shows off the E-02 Balanced Phonostage Preamplifier, reminding us that the company cares deeply about analogue. The three inputs include one balanced pair for MC and two single-ended for MM/MC. It also offers a variable impedance function and cartridge demagnetising. www.esoteric.jp Accuphase always launches a host of treats, this year’s including the AC-6 MC cartridge (inset) and the E-650 integrated amplifier with space for two optional boards, the AD-50 MM/MC phono and the DAC-50 with USB, Toslink and coaxial inputs. The neatest thing about the E-650? It’s said to be 30W/ch in Class A mode. www.accuphase.co.jp Luxman is one of the major Japanese high-end brands to take an entire room, and always has a number of new models to launch. This is the L-509X integrated amp [see p64],…

T+A’s 40th Anniversary is being celebrated with the M 40 HV mono power amplifier, a glorious tower standing 360x560x470mm (whd) and weighing 54kg. Said by the company to deliver up to a kilowatt, the M 40 HV is a hybrid design employing 6SN7 triodes and a FET/bipolar output stage configurable for ‘High Current’ (Class A) or ‘High Power’ operating modes. www.ta-hifi.com EAT is going green: owner and designer Jozefina Lichtenegger decided it was time the Forte turntable and the new ‘Jo No 5’ MC cartridge matched the mint green of her favourite Pucci outfit. The Jo No 5 sports a nude fine line stylus while the body and stylus guard are made of polyamide. Also shown were a Forte with leather trim and a new turntable with plinth made of concrete.…

Dennis Bonotto from Nordost demonstrated how the company’s virtual earth technology could be put into practice through the use of its QKORE grounding devices. The system used included the Sonus faber Amati Tradition loudspeakers [HFN Oct ’17], Audio Research GSPre/GS150 pre/power amp [HFN Jan ’15] and the Audio Research REF CD9 CD player [HFN May ’13]. www.nordost.com MBL’s omnidirectional 101 E MkII loudspeakers impressed everyone with their musicality and dynamic scale as they radiated sound around the room. Electronics were from the company’s Noble Line and comprised the M51 integrated amp, N21 power amp and the N31 CD/SACD player. The Innuos ZENmini Mk.II Std was used as the music server. www.mbl.de Another scoop for the show was iFi Audio unveiling its xDSD DAC/headphone amplifier [see p57]. Despite its diminutive size it handles…

Oido Audio last made an appearance at the show some years ago but returned to launch an open-baffle loudspeaker called Deep Space 1. Designed and developed by Gunnar Hildén and Minja Smajic, each enclosure is made of steel, stands 950mm tall and houses a conical tweeter, dipole-action coaxial midrange and four 10in bass drivers. Source was a Thorens TD124 turntable with EMT arm. www.oidoaudio.com Reloop is a company with its roots firmly in the DJ community, offering a range of rugged hi-spec decks and accessories. But it also has a number of turntables aimed at the hi-fi purist, including the TURN2 in white with Ortofon OM10 cartridge and black TURN3, which comes with an Ortofon 2M Red. www.reloop-hifi.com Visitors to the stand manned by Sweden’s Hifi& Musik magazine were invited to test…