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New headphone from Japan

It wasn’t so long ago that the entire family would gather together to enjoy music in one room, and while sitting and listening to a crackly rendition of the Glen Miller Orchestra as father smokes a pipe and mother frets about what the neighbours think are very outdated concepts, individual members of the family still enjoy listening to music, but in their own space. Up until fairly recently this would’ve necessitated a separate system for every room, but now with the advent of multi-room one system can stream music anywhere in the house that you care to stick a set of speakers. All of which brings us rather neatly to Yamaha’s answer to multi-room, MusicCast. Rather than design a range of speakers to form a line of products, MusicCast is a feature set that has been added to a selection of Yamaha’s audio components allowing youto assemble a multi-room setup that includes the elements you desire in the places you want them.

Yamaha’s MusicCast wireless multi-room speakers have undergone a refresh, with a series of streaming speakers, soundbars and a wireless subwoofer all set for release in September. First up is the MusicCast 20, which can be used as a standalone speaker, paired or as part of a surround setup. Equipped with wi-fi, AirPlay and Bluetooth (version 4. 2), it features a 30mm soft dome tweeter, 90mm mid/bass driver and pair of passive bass radiators.

Want to find a way of getting your music distributed around the home without going down the Sonos (or the like) route, yet desire the same kind of multi-room integration using more traditional audio components? Yamaha's MusicCast range of products has arrived with the aim of doing just this. With its own multi-room standard integratedinto its new series of hi-fi components, soundbars and AV receivers, it allows audio to be shared over wired and wireless networks as well as using Bluetooth and AirPlay through connected devices. If the MusicCast name sounds familiar, it's because it is the monicker (but not the tech) that was also given to the brand's hard-disk-based system launched in 2003. With 23 MusicCast products announced – including the MCR-N670D micro system (£700) pictured – there looks to be plenty of component options to enable customers to quickly establish a multi-room setup and share any input on any MusicCast device with any other around the home.

Turntable sales may have stabilised in 2018, but Japanese tech giant Yamaha hopes it can break new ground with the launch of its first MusicCast record player. On display for the first time at Berlin's IFA Show at the beginning of September, the Vinyl 500 is no regular LP spinner. The wireless belt-driven deck is designed to take the classic vinyl replay experience for a new spin by combining classic design with multi-room streaming. Priced at £549, the Vinyl 500 looks traditional enough and offers both 33 and 45rpm playback speeds with a 300mm aluminium die-cast platter, a straight tonearm that's fitted with an unspecified moving-magnet cartridge and is supplied with a dust cover.

Welcome to our Yearbook 2014 – a 164-page ultimate collection with over 70 reviews of the greatest-sounding audio components and accessories from 19differentcategories. Plus, eight pages ofMusic Reviewsand the top tunes to own on CD, download, vinyl and Blu-ray. Click here to purchase the Yearbook 2014. .

Welcome to the Hi-Fi Choice Yearbook 2016. In putting together this special edition of your favourite hi-fi magazine, it’s clear to see what a landmark year it has been for audio, with a staggering number of high-performance components emerging to feed our passion for quality sound in increasingly innovative ways. But this has also been the year we said goodbye to too many cherished musicians, and you’ll find our tributes to David Bowie and Prince inside this bumper issue. Elsewhere inside this 164-page bumper issue you’ll find our pick of the greatest-sounding audio products to undergo our respected reviewing process in 2016.