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News
January 2013 issue on sale now
David Price  |  Nov 23, 2012  |  1 comments
January'sHi-Fi Choicemagazine has the usual wide range of features and equipment reviews, including our unique blind listening group test. The magazine is packed with products and ideas for getting the best possible sound from your hi-fi through tuning and tweaking. We're featuring our regular Choice Extras accessories reviews, and the Apps section, for users of smartphones and tablets who want more music-related functionality. Here's a taste of what's inside the new issue, out Friday 7th December.
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Cables & Accessories
Musical Fidelity M1 HPA - £400
Ed Selley  |  Jun 20, 2012  |  0 comments
Concert for one Jimmy Hughes looks at the latest solution for audiophile-quality sound from headphones – Musical Fidelity’s new M1 HPA amplifier. . . There was a time – admittedly forty or so years back – when every self-respecting amplifier came with a socket for headphones.
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Integrated Amplifiers
Peachtree Audio iDecco - £1,000
Ed Selley  |  Jun 20, 2012  |  0 comments
Tomorrow's world Peachtree Audio’s next-gen iDecco offers an amp, multi-input DAC, head amp and iPod dock all for £1,000 and Ed Selley just loves a good deal. . . Peachtree Audio has already graced the pages of Hi-Fi Choice, when we reviewed the Nova integrated amplifier and DAC.
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Turntables, Arms & Cartridges
Michell Engineering GyroDec SE - £1,808
Ed Selley  |  Jun 20, 2012  |  0 comments
Michell Engineering GyroDec SE Full spring suspension and a competitive performance makes the Michell a strong contender. . . This deck is relatively unusual these days in that it includes a full spring suspension, which in turn is rare in using springs in tension rather than compression.
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News
Naim's new flagship NDS streamer
David Price  |  Jun 19, 2012  |  0 comments
New player 'delivers more music with CD rips that most players do with hi-res sources. ' Naim has announced the new range topping NDS network streamer. The brief for the NDS is to comfortably exceed the performance of the highly regarded NDX. To this end, the NDS borrows design and construction techniques from the more expensive Naim components including a brass sub chassis to which the main boards are then attached on spring type connectors.
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Integrated Amplifiers
Jolida JD1501BRC - £1,050
Ed Selley  |  Mar 13, 2012  |  0 comments
Two's company Question: when's a tube amplifier not a tube amplifier? Answer: when it’s also solid-state. David Price meets Jolida’s hybrid JD1501BRC. . .
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Loudspeakers
Audiosmile Kensai - £1,503
Ed Selley  |  Mar 13, 2012  |  0 comments
Little wonder Channa Vithana enjoys the musical delights of AudioSmile’s diminutive Kensai standmount loudspeaker. . . Most loudspeakers remain a disappointment to me, as so many manage to strangle the life out of music – there are only a precious few I’ve heard that truly satisfy in the music-making stakes.
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Disc Players
Audiolab 8200CDQ - £950
Ed Selley  |  Mar 13, 2012  |  0 comments
Pre- possession Richard Black tests the preamp-equipped 8200CDQ player/DAC from Audiolab, and finds himself falling in love all over again. . . Audiolab’s ‘basic’ CD player, the 8200CD, already does a lot more than just play CDs, equipped as it is with a set of digital inputs including electrical, optical and USB.
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Loudspeakers
Castle Richmond Anniversary - £580
Ed Selley  |  Mar 13, 2012  |  0 comments
Stand and deliver Castle's special Anniversary version of the Richmond promises more than previous incarnations, says Ed Selley Castle has been making the Richmond speaker for almost as long as it has existed as a brand. Indeed, the design has survived the takeover of the company by International Audio Group, and weathered the arrival of the newer and highly regarded Knight 2 (HFC 338). Now Castle has launched an Anniversary version of the Richmond seen here. It’s still recognisably a Richmond –the layout is a rear-ported two-way, with the main driver inverted over the tweeter.
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Headphones
Grado PS500 - £700
Ed Selley  |  Mar 13, 2012  |  0 comments
Heading west Straight from Brooklyn, New York, comes the brand new Grado PS500 headphone. Richard Black lives the American dream… By most standards, £700 is a lot of money to spend on a pair of headphones, yet the PS500 isn’t actually Grado’s top model – the PS1000 will make a £1,600-shaped hole in your wallet, whereas the GS1000 is a mere bagatelle at just £1,000. And it’s not like Grado has a monopoly on the high-end headphone market, as there are numerous rivals from the likes of Sennheiser, Stax and so on… Still, compared to the world’s finest loudspeakers, some of which cost in excess of £50,000, this is still small change. Given that the very best headphones can, in some respects at least, equal the sonics of cost-no- object speakers, £700 spent on this Grado begins to look like better value.
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