Rekkord M600 vinyl pedigree
Rekkord Audio M600 turntable Let me start with a confession. I was totally unfamiliar with the Rekkord Audio brand until I received an email from our Editor a few weeks ago asking if I would be interested in reviewing their top turntable. I was sufficiently intrigued to agree to doing the review and only then […]
Cyrus TTP turntable turns 40 at 33.3rpm
Cyrus TTP turntable and arm Turntables have been around for, seemingly, forever. And thanks to the resurgence of vinyl almost everyone has one in their portfolio of products today. At least, that’s the common perception. After all, can anything new be done with a turntable. Cyrus is celebrating some 40 years of existence. 40 years […]
Best hi-fi of 2023
The Ear picks the best hi-fi of 2023 2023 has been a tough year for the hi-fi industry but that has done nothing to stem the flow of first class products coming to market. In fact there are even more extraordinary audio components to choose from than there were last year, with advances made in […]
Rega Naia: a vinyl revelation
Rega Naia turntable and arm Rumours about this turntable were circulating a couple of years or more before it was finally revealed at the Bristol show in February, it even had a phantom name, Planar 12, but it took Rega quite a while to nail the Naia (pronounced niya/nigher) down and put it into production […]
Origin Live Aurora & Onyx: entry level premium
Origin Live Aurora Mk5 turntable & Onyx Mk4 tonearm The Aurora turntable with Onyx arm was my introduction to Origin Live’s products, so I came to it with no preconceptions, but knowing that over the years they have garnered praise from respected fellow reviewers. I am not by any stretch of the imagination an engineer, […]
Vertere MG1 MkII to the power of Imperium
Vertere MG1 MkII, Imperium, Mystic and Phono 1 MkII L record player Hello again dear readers. Those of you who have been with us for a while may pick up on the fact that this is my third review of the Vertere MG1 MkII Magic Groove record player and the second of the MkII version. […]
Supatrac Blackbird lets the vinyl soar
Supatrac Blackbird tonearm Having experienced the Supatrac Blackbird my record playing world will never be the same again. My earliest memories of vinyl records are from my father’s system, which consisted of a Leak Dynamic moving-coil mono pick-up, Collaro 4T200 transcription turntable, Quad 22/II combination and a sand-filled corner cabinet housing a Wharfedale CS/AL Super […]
Origin Live Agile arm does what it says on the box
Origin Live Agile tonearm The Origin Live Agile tone arm is distinctive enough for anyone familiar with this British brand to spot it as one of Mark Baker’s creations, what may not be immediately obvious is that it’s the £10,500 penultimate model in Origin Live’s High-End range. Rather than employing more conventional gimballed bearings for […]
Vertere DG-1S: magic vinyl sound
Vertere DG-1S, Sabre & Phono-1 record player Where would we be without turntables like the Vertere DG-1S? Think of all those tons of historical vinyl pressings that would be useless if we were unable to access what’s stored in those tiny grooves. As a result, many people have taken very innovative and different approaches to […]
Origin Live Calypso & Illustrious Mk4 hit the highs
Origin Live Calypso Mk4 & Illustrious Mk4 turntable & tonearm Turntable makers come and go. Some endure for a variety of reasons, others bite the dust very quickly. But Origin Live is one of a special breed, an enduring, steadily improving must-have breed that gets under the skin of its owners and provides musical satisfaction […]
Best Hi-Fi of 2022
The best of the best that we have reviewed on the Ear over the last 12 months
The Wand 14-4 & The Wand Plus 10.3
Turntables come and turntables go, and so do arms, cartridges and the other paraphernalia surrounding vinyl replay. However, unlike the majority of ‘me too’ CD or digital replay systems, many vinyl replay products still manage to have an enduring place in people’s memories, almost regardless of when they were encountered. For my sins I hold […]