Vivid Audio Moya M1 loudspeakers The Moya is by far and away the largest loudspeaker that Vivid have ever made, in fact it’s one of the biggest speakers that anyone has ever made outside of the wild world of horns. Each one is made up of six parts; a plinth, four bass cabinets weighing 60kg […]
Moonriver 505 Hybrid phono stage Regular readers may recognise the Moonriver brand name from two earlier reviews which I submitted for the company’s 404 integrated amplifier, in January 2021 and its more powerful sibling the 404 Reference integrated amplifier, in June of last year. To save you scrolling back through the archives let me summarise […]
Origin Live Strata turntable mat It was a fascinating conversation with Origin Live owner and designer Mark Baker at this year’s North-West Audio show that convinced me that I had to get hold of a new Strata turntable mat for review. I discovered the difference a mat can make many years ago when Linn brought […]
Skyanalog P-1M & P-1G MC cartridges Cartridges are right at the sharp end of groove information retrieval, in every sense of that phrase. Whether it’s a wax cylinder, 78rpm shellac disc or a vinyl record, the cartridge is where the music starts. Stylus tip shape is an often-debated subject too, and many engineers have spent […]
Life-Changer Audio Icon 5 Balanced passive preamplifier It would gratuitously underplay Pál Nagy’s formidable intellectual and engineering skills to characterise his newly-launched Icon 5 line control unit as the result of global collaboration. Nonetheless, while the Icon 5 is designed and made by Nagy in Manchester, it has threads linking it to the wider world […]
Tangerine Audio Revolver LP12 platter Those of you who have been kind enough to read any of my pieces for The Ear over the past few years will know that vinyl is my favourite music replay medium and that, unless there is a guest turntable in the house, I use a Linn Sondek LP12. You […]
Diapason Ares Excel speakers Having revelled in what several bookshelf Diapason loudspeakers from Italy can achieve, I was intrigued to note an inexpensive floorstander in the catalogue, the only other one being a £55,000 design and (way) over my pay grade. The Ares Excel is probably the narrowest floorstanding loudspeaker I have ever used (5 […]
Silent Angel Munich MU streamer The Munich MU is the latest streamer from Silent Angel and aims for higher performance than the entry level Munich M1. To this end it has a double-layer aluminium chassis inspired by their Bonn NX audiophile network switch, for superior structural integrity, enhanced resonance damping and better electromagnetic interference isolation. […]
Rega Nd7 moving magnet cartridge The Nd7 is the most ambitious of Rega’s radical new moving magnet cartridge range. We enjoyed the entry level Nd3 a couple of months back, got some excellent results with the Nd5 not long ago and have arrived at the Nd7 to top of the trio. All three cartridges share […]
Musical Fidelity A1 integrated amplifier “Have you fried an egg on it yet?” asked an industry friend upon spying the new Musical Fidelity A1 amplifier. Well you could. Mine reached just short of 73°C, more than the 70°C needed to cook an egg properly. Even for Class A that’s hot. The original A1 was based […]
Luxman L-509Z integrated amplifier My first introduction to the venerable Japanese audio brand Luxman was way back in 1981, when I could finally afford my first ‘proper’ hi-fi system. A very good salesman at a shop in Tottenham Court Road, London, the name of which has long since disappeared from my over-crowded memory bank, recommended […]
Fischer and Fischer SN70 loudspeakers I was very excited to hear that renowned German loudspeaker brand Fischer & Fischer has new UK distribution. The move was mooted when I met MD Thomas Fischer at the Dutch Audio Event last autumn and admired his small monitors with their external crossovers, which were managing to create a […]