What Hi-Fi? Awards 2015

Time flies. Where has the past year gone? Can it really have been 12 months? Etc and so on… Yup, it’s Awards time again – time for us to come down off the fence and give the definitive word on the very best hi-fi and home entertainment equipment you can buy. There are more categories than ever before, and more trophies up for grabs, but as usual the judging process has been a combination of the straightforward (our favourite television (p62), for instance, was a debate that ended almost as soon as it started) and the vigorously contested (I’m thinking particularly of the best DAC (p56), a discussion that threatened to become rather more physical than is generally acceptable in the workplace). Thankfully we’re all friends again now, of course. Until…

Experience & heritage We’ve been hard at work helping the world discover the best in hi-fi and home cinema for more than 37 years, and have getting on for 100 years of reviewing experience under our collective belts – so you can count on our expert opinions. Dedicated test facilities We test every product in the magazine or at whathifi.com against its peers in our bespoke £1m reviewing facilities. And we test every product as a team, so our opinions and conclusions are always the result of collaboration. We spot big trends first MP3 player tests before the iPod even existed? High-def video before it even had a name? That was us. We keep you in touch with big stories and future trends. Worldwide readership With seven international editions in Africa, Asia and Europe, we reach more…

Cambridge CXN “Sleek design, engaging sound and excellent features – a fantastic streamer for the money” Kashfia Kabir First tests editor Geneva AeroSphère Large “Finally, a wireless speaker whose offbeat aesthetic is paired with sonic brilliance” Andrew Murphy Staff writer Tidal “With CD-quality streams and an ever-expanding catalogue, it’s one of the most compelling streaming services around” Becky Roberts Staff writer Tannoy Revolution XT 6F “It is impossible to be unmoved by these stunning floorstanders” Ced Yuen News editor LG 55EG960V “Combining 4K and OLED to simply stunning results, this is the most desirable TV of the year” Verity Burns Multimedia editor VPI Prime “You could easily spend twice as much and get an inferior sound” Ketan Bharadia International Technical editor…

The £1000 Vault 2 is Bluesound’s new all-in-one music streamer and CD ripper, offering a 2TB hard drive for ripping and storing your CD collection in bit-perfect lossless FLAC – no computer required. It will combine this with any other music on your network for seamless streaming of your library via the Bluesound app, or you can hook it up to an existing system via its stereo outs. You can even download new high-res music from the HighResAudio online store direct on to the Vault’s hard drive.…

When a new company bursts into a competitive marketplace and immediately produces impressive results, we have to believe those in charge when they still say “we can do better”. And that’s exactly what high-res multi-room brand Bluesound has done, after a hugely successful first year in which it picked up our Product of the Year Award for 2014. Over the past year, the company listened to feedback and has decided to redesign the range from the ground up, offering a more streamlined look with new features and a few new additions to the range to boot. Many changes This means Bluesound’s offering now comprises the Node 2 streamer (£430), the Powernode 2 streamer/amplifier (£700), the Vault 2 music server and CD ripper (£1000), and the Pulse Mini (£420), Pulse Flex (£270) and the…

1 Sub out If you want more from the low end, both the Powernode 2 and Node 2 models offer the option of adding a subwoofer 2 USB input You can connect a hard drive full of music to any one of your Bluesound components and access it on every Bluesound device around the home 3 Speaker terminals The Powernode 2 is an amp and streamer in one, so you need only to hook it up to a pair of speakers and you’re ready to go 4 Touch controls This year’s Bluesound features touch-sensitive controls for the first time. We find them responsive enough to replace physical controls…