Quad Platina CDT & Integrated transport & amplifier There are very few manufacturers of audio equipment who can claim to have been around for 90 years, but Quad most certainly can. Legend is a lazy epithet these days (a bit like iconic), but I think that we can safely and accurately apply it to Peter […]
AVID Ingenium SE turntable & arm The AVID Ingenium SE is a belt driven, unsuspended turntable and the most affordable member of the AVID range. It represents the latest evolution of a design that has been on a longer and more varied journey than you might expect of a device designed to perform a single […]
Henry Audio DA 256 DAC Eleven years ago we were contacted by Norwegian programmer Borge Strand-Bergesen who had created the Henry USB DAC MkII, a compact single input converter that ran off the 5V provided by a USB connection. That DAC was surprisingly good for its €260 price at a time when there were few […]
Solen CV20-N integrated amplifier Solen is a typically French company, you can see as much in the quirkiness of the CV20-N valve amplifier’s casework and a quick peak at their website reveals even more distinctive designs such as the Tigre B50 from an age before they had accepted that rectilinear forms were the key to […]
Accuvoice Stream S3 wireless speakers Wires are out of fashion big time, the days when regular folk could ignore a cable are past and now the things are avoided like the pandemic in the modern home. Likewise in sound systems, I suspect that the rise of one box systems and Bluetooth speakers is as much […]
Arendal 1610 Bookshelf 8 speakers A relative newcomer to the audio scene, Norway’s Arendal has a burgeoning array of loudspeakers which are worthy of investigation. Newest to the line-up is the 1610 series which includes the compact three-way Bookshelf 8. From Norway with love Arendal is a historic port city located in Agder county, in […]
Tom Evans Audio Design Mastergroove SR Mk4 phono stage In the rarefied atmosphere inhaled by hard-core vinyl enthusiasts such as the Ear Editor Jason Kennedy, the phono stages made by maverick Welsh Valleys designer Tom Evans are seen as the stuff of aspiration, of legend even. The company’s flagship Mastergroove phono stage, the SR Mk4, […]
Moor Amps Angel-4 MkII power amplifier Picture it. It had been a long, exhausting day traipsing around the Deluxe show in Whittlebury earlier this year, when I was drawn into one of the smaller rooms by the sweet sounds emanating from within. It was not the biggest room and what was on dem was not […]
Trilogy 914 preamplifier & 994 power amplifiers Trilogy head honcho Nic Poulson is a workaholic, every time we meet he is envious of those with a healthier work/life balance, but you don’t get to run an audio electronics company for over 35 years by taking it easy – Nic has chosen a path that requires […]
Opera Classica Prima V2 speakers Preconceptions are never stronger than when reviewing Italian loudspeakers. There’s an expectation about how they will look, the breed nearly always taking its cues from expensive, hand-crafted Italian furniture, heavy on the wood and leather. How they will sound is just as much of a lazy cliche: smooth, warm, organic, […]
Ortofon MC X40 moving coil cartridge It may surprise readers to know that the moving coil cartridge was invented by British inventor Paul Voigt in the 1930s, however it was Ortofon that launched the first commercially successful mass-produced moving coil with the Mono-A in 1948. At that time the firm didn’t just manufacture cartridges, but […]
Arke Audio Mikros speakers If a new product excites a reviewer, it does the more so when it’s from a totally new brand, and so we welcome Arke Audio into the audiophile arena with its growing range of passive loudspeakers. Joining the company’s two-way Solos launch model comes the more compact Mikros (from the Greek, […]