Tom takes a listen to the AMI Musik DDH-1 DAC and headphone amplifier for his review for Hifi Pig. “The DDH-1 sells at $549 – about £340 before shipping and taxes (currently only direct from the manufacturer but local distribution deals is in the offing). This sub £500 area is a highly competitive sector in […]
QED has announced the introduction of their ‘uPlay Stream’ wireless streaming station which is available now for £149. Talking about the new product, Jack Fox, QED’s Brand Manager stated: “We believe the new uPlay Stream ‘moves the goalposts’. For the first time, users can experience genuine Hi-Fi sound quality from a product that is extremely […]
QNKTC was founded by Børge Strand-Bergesen, who is an expert on electronics filter design, circuit board layout and design for manufacturing. He believes the circuit board design contributes greatly to the sound quality of the DAC. Critical analogue signals are kept on short tracks and away from the digital section. The board design has an […]
Building on the success of their first-generation range of home cinema separates, Anthem (from Canada) has unveiled its next generation of their AVR range: the MRX 710 (Pictured), MRX 510 and MRX 310. Remote control apps for Android and iOS (Apple) devices, improved ease of integration, a new version of the company’s proprietary Anthem Room […]
Enter the new X1 from Alpha Design Labs (ADL), a division of Tokyo-based brand Furutech. The X1 is a small, discrete and high-spec’ portable headphone amplifier and digital to analogue convertor (DAC). It supports digital input from Apple iOS devices up to 16-bit/48kHz as well as 24-bit/192kHz high-resolution files from PC via USB. In addition, […]
Photographs taken at The Hifi SHow 2013 in Windsor. Photography by Mike Blackmore
Auden Distribution has announced the availability of the LUMIN audiophile network music player to UK retailers. LUMIN, from Pixel Magic Systems, is billed as a high-end network music player that supports the widest range of audio formats available, including native DSD and lossless recordings up to 384kHz/32bit studio masters. In lossless playback the player supports […]
The Tuning Stick from Akiko comes in a variety of different models including the RCA, the AC and the Universal. They have now introduced the XLR Tuning Stick which plugs into a free XLR input, with the wiring in the plugcoming solely into contact with the grounding of the device. The contents of a Tuning […]
Custom Cable, UK based reseller of headphones, cables and accessories, is launching the Resonessence Herus personal headphone DAC. Small on form factor, at just 63mm long, 32mm wide and 19mm high, the Herus has Asynchronous USB Audio 2.0, DXD and DSD capabilities. Designed and manufactured by Resonessence in Canada, Herus is crafted from a solid […]
Kaito (Hiroshi Watanabe) hasn’t released a full length album since his “That Was the Way” and that was three years ago and so it was with a good deal of anticipation that I received his latest effort “ Until the End of Time” on the Kompakt label. It kicks off with the massively uplifting “Sky […]
The Longdog Audio VDt1 DAC is a £3650 Digital to Analogue Converter that has been designed by well known valve guru Nick Goreham and so expectations were high when Hifi Pig reviewer Jerry plugged it into his system for a proper evaluation. “Three regulated power supplies are provided;- for the digital board main supply, the […]
The Concept 20 loudspeaker from Q Acoustics is a smallish standmount speaker which comes with its own very attractive support stand. It’s been getting rave reviews from all over the place and so we thought it about time that we had a listen to see if the praise they were receiving was justified. “One of […]
Everyone loves a freebie and we were really please to hear that Computer Audio Design (CAD), manufacturer of the CAD 1543 USB DAC, has created a number of free system set-up and optimisation guides, which are now available to download from their website. With computer audio destined to be the dominant source of high-quality music […]
McIntosh Laboratory has introduced the latest version of its free AP1 Audio Player app and very cool looking it is too for a freebie. Version 1.5 can be downloaded from the Apple Store, allowing iTunes® to be run with the classic look and feel of a full sized McIntosh component. Featuring the ‘McIntosh Blue’ watt […]
Commencing on the 1st November, Hi-fi and Custom Installation specialists Music Matters will be hosting a month long series of events based in their Midlands branches and London store showcasing a series of events for customers old and new – The Hi-Fi Festival! “We’re delighted to be hosting this four week Hi-Fi Festival as its […]
Aries Cerat got in touch with Hifi Pig to tell us all about the concept behind their latest preamplifier, the Incito. The Incito preamp comes about from the desire for Aries Cerat to find a high performance preamplifier that matched their latest tube amplifiers whilst keeping costs and size to manageable levels. The Incito has […]
“Hey there sugar with your eyes so blue, ridin’ around in your red HQ!”. Haha, those lyrics… they warm the cockles of my rural Aussie heart! After releasing a couple of well received EPs, the four Findlay siblings and best known band from the tiny rural town of Darraweit Guim if you can believe it, […]
Grace Slick’s “Dreams” was originally released on the RCA label in 1980 and here it rears its head again on Morello Records. Now, cards laid on the table I like Grace Slick a lot – who couldn’t fail to love someone who when invited, mistakenly, to the Whitehouse planned to spike then President Nixon with […]
AKG have announced its new K812 reference headphones – a completely new open-back design. The K812 offers an oversized 53mm drivers and copper-covered aluminium voice coils partnered with adjustable headband and extremely soft ear pads which AKG say will ensure comfort in any application, for extended periods of time. “The AKG K812’s are not only […]
Bath Audiofest was launched just four years ago and in that time has grown to become one of the highlights of the high-end audio industry’s calendar. The show is staged annually in October and is organized by high-end audio specialist Cool Gales, as an opportunity for customers to meet the select group of manufacturers they […]
Seasoned readers of the Album review section of Hifi Pig will already be aware that you have a bit of a space-case fanboy of the undisputed kings of the spacerock genre in the form of yours truly and so it was with a good deal of excitement that I went and collected the latest release […]
Squeezed neatly on the fashionably cool Great Portland Street between food emporium Villandry and Regents Park’s Frieze Art Festival is “Ideaworks”, the venue for the preview of Anthems new AVR range, built on their two and a half year old MRX range and 30 years of research. Ideaworks is a stunning showpiece of conceptual sound […]
There’s a huge problem with HD music today say Benchmark and recent advances in high-resolution digital formats have well outpaced most existing amplifier technologies they say. Whilst recordings are possible that have dynamic ranges that exceed 120 to 125 dB Benchmark claim it’s hard to find a power amplifier that can deliver more than 100 […]
Oppo, those of the famous DVD and BluRay players, have announced they will be launching a new Planar Magnetic Headphone (PM-1) and a headphone amplifier (HA-1). The PM-1 headphones use an FEM optimised magnet system with very high energy Neodymium magnets. The headphones magnetic system and conductor patterns are said to be optimized for maximum […]
