Alistair Gardner owner of Signals described his first show as a vanity project celebrating Signals’ twenty years of business, joining other brands celebrating birthdays like Naim, Rega and Linn from the north of border. NaimWorking clockwise from the bar that was plying visitors with coffee and celebratory cake we came to Salisbury’s finest crafters […]
Thöress 300B Thöress Preamp, surely some relation to the TW-Acustic Phono Werther's Original as found in the Brodmann Acoustics room Velodyne vTrue The Varios tweeters come flappers The mighty Tannoy Canterbury GR Soulution power amp power supply upgrade Schuchtronic parallel tracking pivoted tonearm Gamut founder Ole Lund […]
Brinkmann Balance two armGerman turntable maestro Helmut Brinkmann has added the option of a second armboard to his range topping Balance turntable. You can add different length arms as was the case in Munich or fit cartridges with alternative qualities. The Balance being used at the show had Brinkmann's 12.1 and 10.5 arms, one with […]
Living Voice Vox Olympian & ElysiumLiving Voice has not taken the Vox Olympian to a show before so it was good to see and hear these fabulous speakers being appreciated by the audiophiles that flock to the High End. LV's founder Kevin Scott had brought the whole shooting match to ensure a decent result, including […]
Devialet 110, 170, 240 & 500The Devialet range of software driven digital amplifiers has exploded from one model to four. The original D-Premier has become the Devialet 240 (240 watts, €12,900) and has been joined by a 500 watt dual mono range topper, Devialet 500, as well as two entry level models in slimmer casework. […]
Audio Research Reference Phono 10Audio Research revealed its first two-box phono stage the Reference Phono 10 ($30,000). Inspired by the success of the Anniversary preamplifier the company has taken its phono preamp to the ultimate by placing the power supply in a separate chassis and reaping what David ?? calls an "enormous performance improvement". It […]
Over a cold weekend in March Rotterdam was the place to be if you like your music on vinyl. There was not a CD in sight let alone a streaming device. The organisation added a little live music but every other tune was played direct from the record players at the show. Audio […]
Astell&Kern AK100 Astell&Kern has produced an audiophile ‘MP3 player’, that’s the wrong name because the AK100 plays FLAC and WAV files at up to 24/192 but what else do you call a pocket size music player that’s not an iPod? At £569 it’s not cheap but with a Wolfson WM8740 DAC, optical in and […]
Rega Elicit-R & Aria Rega's new product releases continue apace even amidst its 40th birthday celebrations. At Bristol there were two new fully formed components and a prototype. The Aria phono stage (£798) is an MM/MC ready model with two transformers onboard and dip switches for varying gain and loading. Elicit-R is complete redesign […]
The Sound & Vision Bristol show has become the best show in the UK. Every february the great and the good make a pilgrimage to the west and congregate in the challenge to boutique hotels that is the Marriott City Centre, for there they are in for a lively long weekend. It constantly surprises […]
Back in the city that never sleeps it's hard to sleep! That means more time to check out the incredible array of high end deluxe being demonstrated. 2013 appears to be the year of streaming, I've lost count of how many new examples were being demonstrated by brands big and small. As ever there is […]
The National Audio show proved to be a more popular event than expected thanks to a good turn out from visitors and exhibitors alike. As well as the usual suspects there were rooms taken by European brands including Backes & Muller, T&A and Polish representative G-Point Audio sitting alongside dealer dems and individual companies. The […]