Hi Fi News January 2020

Depending on when you pick up this latest copy of your favourite hi-fi magazine you’ll either be diving headlong into the festive season (however you choose to celebrate) or ringing in the New Year with a glass of whatever takes your fancy… From us all at Hi-Fi News, we wish every reader a healthy, happy and music-filled 2020! So, as the hours of daylight continue to recede and the nights get longer, audiophiles across the land will be settling down for an evening’s musicmaking with their cherished LP collection or NAS drive full of hi-res downloads. And while you are surrounded by stereo what better than a copy of Hi-Fi News at your side? Last month I promised you all more exclusive, in-depth reviews of flagship equipment seen and heard at our…

BARRY FOX Investigative journalist supreme, Barry is the first with news of the latest developments in hi-fi and music technologies DAVID PRICE An avid collector of audio treasures, and life-long hi-fi addict, DP lends his ears and experience from analogue to digital KEN KESSLER is a long-serving contributor, luxury goods writer and champion for the renaissance in valves and ‘vintage hi-fi’ KEITH HOWARD has written about hi-fi for 40 years, and edited Hi-Fi Answers for nine. KH performs our speaker and headphone lab tests STEVE HARRIS Former Editor of this very title from 1986 through to 2005. A lifetime in audio and a love of jazz makes Steve a goldmine 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 Melody Maker and then edited NME from…

Second only to Dave Wilson’s valedictory WAMM Master Chronosonic, the Wilson Audio Chronosonic XVX – designed by his son Daryl – spins off much of what was learnt in creating that statement product into something more affordable, although that still means £330,000 in the UK. Looking like an Alexandria XLF on steroids, the XVX follows Wilson’s established pattern of arraying adjustable midrange and tweeter modules above a bass enclosure. Here the MTM (midrange-tweeter-midrange) array of the Alexandria is expanded into a MTMM array to make the XVX a four-way, seven-driver design, including a rear-firing HF unit. The additional midrange driver, positioned immediately below the tweeter, is a smaller 4in unit, the other two – positioned at opposite ends of the array – being 7in. Supporting the MTMM modules on either…

Rotel’s upmarket Michi brand is returning to the UK with the introduction of a preamplifier and two power amps. The P5 control amplifier (£3299) provides balanced and unbalanced analogue inputs/outputs, including an MM/MC phono stage. Digital inputs support up to 384kHz/32-bit and MQA, and a Bluetooth interface (equipped with with aptX and AAC codecs) provides for wireless streaming. Rated outputs for the stereo S5 and mono M8 power amps (both £5399) are 500W and 1080W/8ohm respectively, rising to 800W and 1.8kW/4ohm. The Rotel Co. Ltd, Japan (Rotel Europe/B&W Group), 01903 221500; www.rotel.com…

DS AUDIO IONISER Fans of the old Zerostat antistatic pistol (still available) will appreciate Japan’s DS Audio going one better with the £1500 ION-001 ioniser, intended to obviate the static charge build-up that causes vinyl records to attract dust. Dual outlets emit positive and negative ions silently – there’s no fan – and care has been taken to minimise the production of ozone. The ION-001 can also neutralise electric charges on optical discs such as CD and DVD. www.ds-audio-w.biz FURUTECH OFF-REEL Furutech’s top-of-the-range DSS-4.1 off-the-reel speaker cable is now available priced at £350 per metre (mono). Shielded with both copper foil and an oxygen-free copper braid, this 19mm diameter cable combines conductors of Ohno Cast Copper and Mitsubishi’s ‘Ultra Crystallised High Purity Copper’, both of which are subjected to Furutech’s proprietary Alpha deep cryogenic…

Newcomers to vinyl replay, or old-timers who have no relish for the hassles of old, will welcome Clearaudio having taken another step towards making its Concept turntable as easy-to-use and clutter-free as possible with the introduction of the Concept Active. As its name suggests, the Active includes electronic modules – a phono preamplifier stage and headphone amp – that make it even more of a plug and play solution. For headphone listening you need nothing else, while inclusion of a volume control means the Active can drive a power amp for listening over loudspeakers instead. Prices range from £2000 for black or black and silver plinth finishes and the MM cartridge option, to £2910 for the baltic birch finishes (light or dark) and an MC cartridge. Clearaudio Electronic GmbH, 0118 981…