Is Primare’s Allt-i-Ett the ultimate one box system?
Primare Allt-i-Ett one box system Allt-i-Ett. No, not a secret keyboard shortcut to hack Elon Musk’s PIN number but, if you speak Swedish or Norwegian, simply ‘all-in-one’. After a 41 year run building some of the world’s sleekest Scandi-fi separates for both music and home cinema lovers, Allt-i-Ett is Primare’s long-awaited lifestyle concept album, the […]
Audio Origami PU8; the pursuit of the ‘just so’ tonearm
Audio Origami PU8 tonearm In recent years, turntables have become more homogenous. The majority of designs I test now combine at least the deck and arm from the same manufacturer and many companies are adding cartridges and phono stages to their repertoire as well. The arguments for compatibility and convenience are solid ones and someone […]
Rega Nd9; the accidental vinyl playing masterpiece
Rega Nd9 moving magnet cartridge Sometimes, even when a product launch goes very well indeed, manufacturers can still be slightly taken aback by the results. Rega’s Nd line of moving magnet cartridges is a case in point. For clarity, it would be churlish to argue that it has gone anything other than swimmingly. Since the […]
Best hi-fi of 2025
The Ear’s reviewers pick the best hi-fi of 2025 If you want to discover the best hi-fi of 2025, the audio products that really wowed our reviewers over the last 12 months, look no further. These components made a lasting impression, they are the ones reviewers would have held onto if they could and in […]
Vertere DG X record player prompts reviewer purchase
Vertere DG X turntable & arm I cannot speak for you of course, but I have the sense that we are living through some dark days. As a natural optimist it pains me to even say so, but there we are. Then suddenly, a product comes along for review which absolutely lifts me and brightens […]
Clipaudio Dolomite reveals what it takes to get more from your vinyl
Clipaudio Dolomite turntable and Ninewave tonearm One of the most amazing things about hi-fi is the ongoing quest to wring the most out of what many would term outdated media. Within living memory we have been informed that the LP is dead, long live the CD, and then that streaming will never catch on; it’s […]
Hana Umami Red a cartridge feast for the senses
Hana Umami Red moving coil cartridge Hana was founded in 2021 by the Excel Sound Corporation which launched the brand in order to market the firm’s own moving coil cartridges to the public. Excel has a long history of cartridge manufacturing on behalf of third parties since 1964, so knows more than a thing or […]
Dynavector DV 10XA: updating a legend
Dynavector DV 10XA-L moving coil cartridge It’s amazing to reflect that the very first DV 10X cartridge from Dynavector was introduced almost 50 years ago, in 1978. It was their first cartridge and it caused a sensation at the time as it was the world’s first ever high-output moving coil cartridge. Dynavector’s use of ultra-thin […]
Soundsmith Zephyr MIMC a cartridge for all seasons
Soundsmith Zephyr MIMC cartridge One of the key aspects of vinyl replay is mating the cartridge to the most complementary arm (and turntable) in order to get the best out of the grooves which that poor stylus is asked to follow faithfully. It’s also interesting to note that in the various on-line forums there are […]
Skyanalog Ref: a high end cartridge for less
Skyanalog Ref moving coil cartridge You wouldn’t expect a hi-fi artisan to emerge from the farmlands of rural China, but that’s exactly where Skyanalog founder Jack Leung’s story begins. Growing up in the 1980s, in a place where electronic components were hard to come by, Jack’s fascination with sound and circuitry took root. Jack’s academic […]
Connected-Fidelity TT Hub turntable: rhythmically fast and agile
Connected-Fidelity TT Hub turntable There was a painstaking wait before I could get my hands on a TT Hub turntable to play with, having had my appetite well and truly whetted by the various prototypes shown to me by Connected-Fidelity’s Michael Osborn. I was very impressed by the excellent build quality and finish of those early […]
Michell Orbe SE turntable needs no upgrades
Michell Orbe SE turntable Here’s a question, in which year did England win the World Cup? That’s right, it was 1966. I suspect that the majority of you reading this will have known the answer even though you were as yet not even a gleam in your parents’ eyes when it happened. Similarly, in what […]