Hi Fi News Yearbook 2022

Welcome, audiophiles, enthusiasts, music fans and lovers of all things luxury to our annual Yearbook. However troubling the local and world news headlines, it’s reassuring to know there’s absolutely no shortage of global goodwill when it comes to audio goodies, as Hi-Fi News & Record Review celebrates the hardware that sparked our senses and the music that stirred our souls throughout 2022. Pour yourself a glass of what you fancy, sit back and savour our annual festival of the most vivacious vinyl-playing hardware, massive monoblocks, tube integrateds and network-connected Class D divas. We’ve some delicious digital players, DACs, and loudspeakers of every size and stripe. While leafing through the jewels of high-end audio featured in this bumper 188-page collection, I hope you’ll also be tempted to seek out some new…

BARRY FOX Investigative journalist supreme, Barry is the first with news of the latest developments in hi-fi and music technologies PETER QUANTRILL Peter Quantrill has been writing about music for magazines and record labels for 30 years. He is HFN’s master of the classics KEN KESSLER is a long-serving contributor, luxury goods writer and champion for the renaissance in valves and reel-to-reel tape MARK CRAVEN Editor of our sister title Home Cinema Choice, Mark’s passion for music extends from stereo to multichannel and Dolby Atmos TIM JARMAN Co-author of a major hardback on historic B&O equipment, Tim continues to research, repair and write about vintage hi-fi for HFN ANDREW EVERARD has reviewed hi-fi for over 30 years and is still effortlessly enthusiastic about new technology, kit and discovering new music STEVE SUTHERLAND worked on…

Following a highly successful annual show in 2019, the Florida Audio Expo – or FLAX as it is known – was forced to suspend its events in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. But over the weekend of February the 18th this year the doors were thrown open once again as the event returned to the Hilton’s Embassy Suites in Tampa, Florida. So, would the current supply-chain issues most manufacturers are experiencing mean a shortage of fresh products at the show? With a first peek at a new product from Pro-Ject, a revamped amp from across the Mexican border, streamers packing the latest chips, speakers yet to appear in company brochures… the answer was a definite ‘No!’. So enjoy a much-missed trip around a hi-fi show floor… Dual-mono throughout,…

OK, so it wasn’t quite as if the Covid pandemic had never happened, but it felt great to see a crowd of audiophiles eager to find some bargains. The first Tonbridge Audiojumble since February 2020 was held in May at the Angel Centre in Tonbridge, and it only took a few seconds for it to sink in that normalcy might return. In the interim, vinyl continued its vertical trajectory, while there was a palpable increase in interest in open-reel tape – apparently, it’s not just our imagination. We scored a boxed Revox A77 Mk IV Dolby and one of our best, and least expected, moments was meeting a recent convert to reel-to-reel and keen Instagram poster. To paraphrase Dean Martin talking about Sinatra and Mia Farrow, we have bottles of…

Taking place on the weekend of April the 22nd at The Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center in Chicago, the Audio Expo of North America (AXPONA) played host to no fewer than 7498 unique visitors across the 140 exhibition rooms spread out over its multiple floors – not to mention The Record Fair, ‘Ear Gear Experience’ and marketplace exhibits. Packed with high-end components from many of the world’s most prestigious audio brands, there were product premieres, new faces unveiling precious creations for the first time, and a surprise or two from pedigree brands such as McIntosh as it put its new two-chassis C12000 solid-state/tube preamplifier through its paces. Chicago? It’s our kind of town, as Sinatra might say… The new two-piece C12000 preamp was the star of the show in the McIntosh…

After a three-year break, the annual Munich High End show finally returned to the MOC Events Center in the heart of the city. One of the most important events in the audio calendar, the four-day fair threw open its doors on the 19th of May with the first two days reserved for distributors and journalists before the general public joined the throng over the weekend. With 800 brands from more than 40 countries to be found in the numerous halls and atriums of the show’s giant exhibition space, not only was the event a welcome opportunity for enthusiasts to renew old friendships but it also brought the prospect of seeing and hearing a large number of components whose premieres were postponed due to the Covid pandemic. Young polish company HEM…