I’ve always had an affinity for music, and have spent years playing piano, electric guitar, singing, and producing my own recordings. I found listening to records on high end audio systems can create the same emotional response as live sound, and that’s my favourite way to unwind.
Over the years my system has evolved, but currently I have a vintage Ariston RD110SL turntable equipped with a Linn tonearm, a Naim NDX streamer, an original Naim Nait amplifier, and Linn Kan loudspeakers which is a beautifully compact, but high performing system. I also use the brilliant Wharfedale DS-2 active speakers for streaming music on Spotify Lossless and Tidal from my MacBook Pro and iPhone. As someone who studied Music Production and is a Filmmaking student at Birmingham City University, those little Wharfedales have delivered the soundtrack to more student parties than I care to admit!
I’m format agnostic and embrace analogue and digital sources equally, and my music taste is similarly eclectic. I believe great music transcends the generations and I love Fleetwood Mac every bit as much as I love Fontaines D.C. After all, how could a girl named Rhiannon not love Fleetwood Mac.
Every generation loves music, but my hope is to make quality music reproduction more accessible regardless of demographic. Many people of my generation are unaware of the capabilities of an exceptional hi-fi system and do not know how vast the difference is between a capable Bluetooth speaker and the ATC SCM40’s we have at home (the equivalent of driving a Ford Focus versus a McLaren – you don’t need to be a racing driver to tell the difference).
Rhiannon Gorse’s reference system
Turntable: Ariston RD110SL
Tonearm: Linn LVV
Cartridge: Pro-ject Pick it S2 MM
Amplifier: Naim Nait
Loudspeakers: Linn Kan
Streamer: Naim NDX
Backup Streamer: MacBook Pro, iPhone 13
Headphones: Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro
Cables: Linn speaker cables and Chord interconnects
Rhiannon Gorse’s music
Sade, Jeff Buckley, The Waterboys, Frank Ocean, Lorde, Charli XCX, Daisy Jones and The Six, Mazzy Starr, Mac Miller, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Lana Del Rey, Kid Cudi, Dusty Springfield, Stevie Nicks, Labrinth, Post Malone, Desire, The Cure, Yung Lean, Grimes, Ocean Alley, Massive Attack, The 1975, Claude Debussy, Logic, A$AP Rocky, LCD Soundsystem, Sampha, Chris Stapleton, Greentea Peng, Teyana Taylor, The Beatles, Stan Getz, Chet Baker, Ethel Cain, Leon Thomas, The Roots, The Cars, Electric Light Orchestra, Frank Sinatra.