Hi-Fi Choice August 2021
Hi-Fi Choice is the essential guide to audio excellence in the home. It is a no-nonsense guide to the finest products available, from vinyl and valves, to multi-channel digital audio and high-fidelity video. Hi-Fi Choice sorts the best from the rest with rigorous test processes and a highly experienced team of reviewers.
in this issue
welcome
www.hifichoice.com Issue No. 478 August 2021 Here's what I don't understand. If, like many of you, I'm still working from home, avoiding the dreaded commute etc., how come I don't have any more time on my hands? I can't honestly remember when I last did just one thing. We used to call it multitasking and held it up as something clever to aspire to. Now it's just normaility. With that in mind, it's nicely appropriate that our Group Test this month features six high-end in-ear headphones which allow you to listen to your favourite podcast while simultaneously watching the football, keeping an eye on the puppy and doing the washing up. In fact, time, and how precious it is, is a theme that runs throughout this issue. In the Letters pages a couple of…
join the q
PRICE: £2,299 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: QACOUSTICS.CO.UK FOLLOWING THE RECENT launch of its Q Active 200 bookshelf speaker, British company Q Acoustics is releasing its Q Active 400 floorstanders which boast the same BMR drive unit arrangement as the Active 200, but feature eight discrete amplifiers with 440W of total power output. The company says the key difference with the Q Active 400, besides its taller cabinet size, is that it features two rear-firing 4.5in subwoofers: one subwoofer at the top of the cabinet, one at the bottom. This arrangement is designed to neutralise the cabinet’s internal standing waves, which, the company claims, “in turn reduces unwanted resonance and delivers a cleaner, tighter bass sound.” Like the Q Active 200, the 400 is available in two finishes: matte white and matte black. Q Acoustics says…
x-cellent!
PRICE: £109.95 - £329.95 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: GRADO.CO.UK GRADO IS INTRODUCING its next generation of Prestige Series headphones with five new models – the SR60x, SR80x, SR125x, SR225x and SR325x. The New York company says the Prestige X Series features new enhanced speakers, an advanced cable design and a more comfortable headband, all handcrafted at the Brooklyn-based headquarters. The new speaker design encompasses an improved magnetic circuit with a newly designed voice coil and diaphragm to reduce distortion and enhance harmonic integrity. As a result, the company says, the new Prestige series, “is easier to drive across a variety of portable devices and deliver the best audio performance possible.” The new cable has been designed to offer more durability and flexibility. The 8-conductor (SR125x, SR225x, SR325x) and 4-conductor (SR60x, SR80x) cables feature a super…
block’n’ roll
PRICE: £99.95 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: AUDIOLAB.CO.UK AUDIOLAB IS RELEASING the dual-action DC Block, which it says is, “designed to improve the quality of AC electricity we feed our audio and AV systems.” The company’s argument goes that, “mains electricity has a fundamental influence on the audio signal as it passes through a system, from source to amp to speakers. The mains supply in a typical dwelling is subject to interference induced by a range of issues, causing the AC waveform to distort before it reaches each component. This creates noise in the audio signal, which degrades sound quality – a situation that continues to worsen as the electrical devices we use in our homes proliferate. “One common issue is ‘DC on the mains’ – a problem well known to affect the performance…
austrian sounds
PRICE: £319 AVAILABLE: NOW WEB: SOUNDTECH.CO.UK/MUSIC-RETAIL/AUSTRIAN-AUDIO. Austrian Audio and UK distributor Sound Technology Ltd have announced the launch of the open over-ear studio quality Hi-X65 headphones boasting a 44mm driver and ring magnet system which the companies say, “allows for improved airflow and includes the strongest magnetic field in its class.” How they work is the ring magnet, combined with a copper-clad aluminium voice coil, reduces the weight of the membrane and the voice coil connected to it, allowing the membrane to move or change direction faster, providing a more responsive impulse reaction. The result, they claim, “is great bass imaging and superior low THD at low frequencies, a linear frequency response, and open, precise, highresolution sound.” The Hi-X65’s ear pads are made of soft memory foam and have been redesigned with the…
join the high-end club
Emit is your way into true high-end Danish hi-fi. Enjoy your music and films in a way you never thought possible at the price, thanks to trickledown technology from Dynaudio’s incredible Confidence, Contour i and Evoke ranges. Whatever your tastes, you’ll hear the result of 45 years of painstaking research, development and listening experience. From the proprietary MSP cone material and fabric soft-dome tweeter technology Dynaudio has been using since 1977, to the up-to-the-minute Hexis inner dome and magnet systems, Emit lets you join the ‘high-end club’ in style. Use them in stereo. Use them in a homecinema system. Connect your streamer. Play your old vinyl records. Take your next step into authentic audiophile performance.…
