Trafomatic is a relatively recent addition to the high-end hifi fraternity and perhaps best known for the £100,000 Elysium monoblocs. This is a Serbian company that exudes quality, detail and perfection. The Belus power amplifier up for review here might not be as expensive as the Elysium, but at a more attainable £3250 this is no less a product says Janine Elliot. More »
Class D is gaining a good deal of momentum in the audio world. Lionel Payne listens to the the Nord One UP NC500 DMST stereo power amplifier costing £1409. More »
Pure Sound, in their recent press release, say they are pleased to announce the UK arrival of HECO Elementa, a new range of loudspeakers offering “good sensitivity and excellent reproduction of tone and dynamics and that they do partner very well with both valve and transistor based electronics”. More »
Spotify Premium subscribers can now listen to any song in the Spotify catalogue on Sonica. Sonica is a WiFi speaker in a compact package. With the addition of the Spotify Connect support, customers can transfer and control their listening experience from the Spotify app to Sonica — just select Sonica from the list of available devices within the Spotify app. If you don’t have Spotify Premium, new users can try Spotify Premium free for 30 days by visiting Spotify’s website. More »
Cary Audio has introduced the first product of the new Lifestyle Series, the AiOS (All-in-One-System). Cary say that ‘AiOS is a new kind of music system for a new generation.‘ More »
Modern music visionary Vangelis has announced the release on 3rdFebruary of a new 13-disc box set entitled “Delectus,” featuring a chosen selection of his early discographic work. The mammoth collection will include all of his albums on Vertigo and Polydor, recently signed by Universal and remastered for the first time ever under the legendary composer’s own supervision. More »
SCV have announced a new DAC from Benchmark Media Systems, the DAC3. More »
Russ Andrews has entered into a distribution agreement with world famous pro-audio designer, Rupert Neve, to bring the company’s RHNP Precision Headphone Amplifier to UK audiophiles. More »
McIntosh has announced the release of a free firmware update that brings full support for both DTS:X and Auro-3D* object-based 3D audio to the MX122 A/V Processor. Since its release earlier this year, the MX122 has had full support for Dolby® Atmos and now with this update, the MX122 supports all the leading object-based 3D audio technologies. The free update also adds DTS Neural-X as well as other minor improvements. More »
Twenty Eight year old, Californian singer songwriter Natalie Mering throws back to a psychy-folk feel of the sixties, with a Gallic touch thrown in there for good measure…but then she doesn’t at the same time. More »
I’ve sat on this for a while and it’s now out there for you to get your hands on but it’s very difficult to write a balanced review of what represents four of your favourite albums of all time by your favourite band of all time. Yes it’s a boxset re-release from the late 70’s but hey, I don’t care! So, let’s throw balance out the window and say from the off that this re-release package of four albums represents some of the finest music ever made and I know each track like the back of my hand; they have been played so often over the years. This is Bob Calvert, who was by this time the band’s vocalist in residence, era Hawkwind and his way with words is, to my mind second to none. More »
Noble Audio has launched Sage, a new universal-fit IEM which represents the most affordable proprietary-driver IEM in Noble’s range (£549)
The new Sage from Noble Audio is a US-made multi-driver IEM (In Ear Monitor) which features the company’s new proprietary driver technology. Sage offers the performance benefits of Noble’s bespoke drive units, as seen in its flagship nine- and ten-driver models, Katana and Kaiser Encore, but with an entry-level price tag. More »
Balanced Mains Units are used extensively in professional studios and are starting to make their mark in domestic audio situations. Janine Elliot gets her life in balance and plugs in the Russ Andrews BMU 3000 costing £3599. More »
Karma-AV has added two new JBL studio monitors to its high-end JBL Synthesis range. Created to bring professional-grade JBL performance to home audio, the JBL 4367 and 4429 studio monitors rekindle a classic lineage by combining new acoustic systems with the company’s iconic pro-audio design, featuring blue front baffles and exposed mid/high-frequency horns. More »
SYSTEM-1 from Code Acoustics is a high quality 3-way active speaker, with off-board electronics module including crossovers and amplifiers. It is UK made and costs £6350 direct from the manufacturer. Ian Ringstead turns up the volume and puts the SYSTEM-1 though its paces. More »
The now famous Hifi Pig Loves You Award can be quite a tricky thing to actually choose. We thought it was difficult at Munich this year, but the Warsaw show was even harder to decide. The standard of the show was just incredible, the three venues each had a different feel and all the exhibitors had put a lot of effort into making it a spectacular success. One thing we definitely noticed was that all the non Polish brands that we know said that their Polish distributors worked very hard and were incredibly dedicated to promoting them in Poland. More »
Whyte Horses are from Manchester and this album came out earlier this year, but only just landed on my desk a few days ago. The band is the brainchild of one Dom Thomas who runs the Finders Keepers record label that re-releases obscure records from around the world – check it out, there’s some crazy assed stuff on there! More »
John Paul White was one half of The Civil Wars, the other half being Joy Williams, but that all went horribly wrong and the breakup of the alt-country duo, despite the mega-stardom, not to mention the soon to be released second album that lay before them, was a magnificent demonstration of how to spectacularly implode in public. Cancelled tours and studious paying no attention to each other followed and continues to this day as far as I’m aware. More »
Let’s get one thing straight from the off about Honeyblood, and this, their second album on Fat Cat Records… I am clearly not the target audience for this record, but that didn’t stop me from absolutely adoring this terrifically entertaining slab of indie-punky-poppy wonderfulness!!! More »
Trafomatic is a relatively recent addition to the high-end hifi fraternity and perhaps best known for the £100,000 Elysium monoblocs. This is a Serbian company that exudes quality, detail and perfection. The Belus power amplifier up for review here might not be as expensive as the Elysium, but at a more attainable £3250 this is no less a product says Janine Elliot. More »
Atlas Cables has introduced a limited edition of its reference Mavros analogue interconnect – the Mavros Ultra SE. Only 50 sets of this Special Edition interconnect have been produced. Featuring unique gold- plated Ultra RCA plugs, each Mavros Ultra SE pair features a unique sequential serial number, a hand-signed limited edition authenticity certificate and comes packaged in a specially-created Atlas presentation box. More »
This is the first Warsaw that we at Hifi Pig have attended but we’re so happy we made the effort because it has been undoubtedly one of the best, if not THE best we’ve been to. The people of Warsaw have been wonderfully welcoming, the food and drink has been spectacularly good and the company we’ve enjoyed has been marvellous.
The show itself is over three venues, two hotels (The Radisson, The Golden Tulip) and also at the national stadium. The organisers have ensured that access to each is simple with a free coach service between the hotels and the stadium and turnout was colossal and very enthusiastic.
One of the things that really hit home was how diverse the make up of the crowds has been. This is not just middle aged men turning up and you have couples, families and lots of younger people which is really refreshing and great to see.
Thanks to everyone who stopped to say hello and a really big well done to the organisers of the show, particularly Adam Mokrzycki whose communication and advice has been absolutely spot on!
So without further ado here are our a few hundred photographs that we took at the Warsaw show. We hope you enjoy them! You’ll need to go right through to the end to find out who won our Hifi Pig Loves You award!
Onkyo today unveiled an LS7200 3D Soundbar System that combines Dolby Atmos and DTS:X audio playback with next-generation network casting via DTS Play-Fi technology*, AirPlay, and FireConnect* multi-room distribution. More »
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Soul Searching
New Hifi Pig contributor James Fleming does a bit of Soul Searching and is likely to ruffle a few feathers along the way. More »