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The Hifi Show 2013 – Windsor
Photographs taken at The Hifi SHow 2013 in Windsor. Photography by Mike Blackmore
Oppo Headphones and Headphone Amplifier Announced
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 […]
Introducing Simply Audio
A new Dutch hifi brand arrived on the market, called Simply Audio whose core business of is producing high quality Audio Cables. Simply Audio’s Cadenza series of cables is made of silver and includes loudspeaker cables, two RCA interconnects and a digital cable. Termination is with Audio Note RCA’s or bananas but if clients prefer […]
QED Marks Its 40th Anniversary with New Interconnect Cables
QED is marking its 40th Anniversary with the introduction of two entirely new cables. Designated ‘Reference Audio 40’ and ‘Signature Audio 40’ the new cables are designed specifically for the transmission of stereo, line level analogue audio signals and are a radical move away from previous QED designs. Jack Fox, QED’s Brand Manager, stated: “Everyone […]
Hifi Review – Chord’s New Entry Level Interconnects
When we heard that Chord had introduced a new range of affordable interconnects we just had to get a set and see if they passed muster. The new range consists of the Crimson Vee 3 (£55 per stereo metre), the Cobra Vee 3 (£95 per stereo metre) and the Chameleon Vee 3 (£135 per stereo […]
Hifi Review – Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro Headphones
Continuing Dan’s foray into the world of headfi he’s been taking a look at the Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro Headphones which fall at the more budget end of the company’s portfolio. “They are a closed back and are an all plastic cased headphone, nicely sculpted and attractive none the less. They are tough and extremely […]
DigiBit Aria Music Server
“Designed by and for music lovers and audiophiles, Aria from DigiBit is a music server system that has been designed to please both the most demanding audiophiles and music lovers with large collections of CDs and digital files for whom a powerful and easy-to-use music library management tool is key. ” DigiBit’s Aria is the […]
High End Munich 2013 – A Bird’s Eye View. Part 2.
You can read the second installment of Linette’s views on the Munich High End show, “A Bird’s Eye View”, where she’ll be talking about what stood out at the show for her. Brands she discusses include Thoress who make some interesting looking valve amplifiers, German Physiks and their omnidirectional loudspeakers, Vexo amplifiers, Lehmann Audio and […]
Burson Timekeeper Amplifier
Burson have announced a June launch for their Timekeeper amplifier. It is an 80W per channel Class-AB stereo power amp which can be bridged into a 240W mono block and is the same size as the company’s Conductor preamplifier. There is a growing community of desktop audiophiles and the Timekeeper is very much aimed […]
David Bowie -The Next day
Right! What have you got for us after ten years then Dave…? Critiquing a new album from someone of Bowie’s legendary status (the first in ten years no less) might well fill many a reviewer with a sense of trepidation, however this little reviewer has made critical hamburgers out of some musical sacred cows recently […]
McIntosh Announce C2500 Preamplifier
McIntosh Laboratory has launched the new C2500 – a valve preamp with 15 inputs. Designed to offer flexibility with both digital and analogue source components, the new C2500’s input complement includes two dedicated phono inputs (MM and MC) and five digital inputs, with D/A decoding at up to 32-bit/192kHz resolution. The five-strong digital input suite […]
SVS Appoints Jack Travis Director of Global Sales
SVS who design, manufacture and sell subwoofers and loudspeakers through its internet direct business have announced the appointment of Jack Travis as director of global sales. Travis is a 30+ year audio and consumer electronics industry veteran who will play an important role with SVS as the company expands global market share and U.S. retail […]
Chord Standard Series Mk II Amplifiers
Chord Electronics has upgraded its Standard Series power amplifiers to MkII status. The upgrade introduces improvements taken from the Reference Series to a more affordable line up. Four models have been updated: three stereo power amps and one monobloc. The revisions have been implemented to the following stereo models: SPM 1200MkII (350 watts); SPM 4000MkII […]
Tomahawk – Oddfellows
Any new release featuring Mike Patton is sure to pique the interest of many a musical pundit, and interests were more than piqued when the band described this album as being like “like a heavy version of the Beach Boys” prior to its release. I for one was intrigued about the concept, despite Tomahawk being […]
Meridian Explorer USB DAC
Meridian has announced the introduction of its Explorer USB DAC. The Explorer is a pocket-sized high-resolution USB DAC from “that delivers best-in-class sound from any computer”. Featuring a range of connectivity, the Explorer can be used in a variety of applications from private headphone listening to full system playback. The Explorer is compatible with Mac, […]
NuForce IA-18 Integrated Amplifier
NuForce, Inc have announced a single-chassis integrated stereo amplifier, the IA-18. The unit incorporates components used in NuForce’s c Reference Series products including much of the same circuitry as the P-20, the company’s most recent flagship preamplifier, a Cross Matrix Array (CMA) capacitor module, and two V3 output amplifier modules. The IA-18 features five analogue […]
Cheap Schiit
Schiit Audio have announced its newest products, the $99 Magni headphone amplifier and the $99 Modi USB DAC. Magni offers a fully discrete design and Modi has an AKM4396 D/A converter and active filter output stage for driving long cable runs. Both products are made in the USA. “We’re excited to debut Magni and Modi,” […]
Avid Hifi to Launch New Entry Level Turntable
Avid Hifi, the UK based high-end hifi manufacturer have announced plans to launch an entry level turntable which will be known as the Ingenium. Full details are scant at the moment but the Ingenium turntable is expected to be available for around half the cost of their Diva II -so around £800. A solid alluminium […]
New Mains Cables from Black Rhodium
Black Rhodium the UK based cable manufacturer has announced the launch of the LIBRA and CRATOS mains power cables. Both cables have been designed for low ‘Transient Phase Distortion’ by increasing the thickness of the inner insulation to 1.2mm. “The benefit of thicker insulation is that when two electrical conductors carry an electrical current, the […]
Bryston BP17 Preamplifier
Hot on the heals of the announcement of the BDP-2 Digital music player Bryston announced the introduction of the BP17, analog/digital stereo preamplifier derived from the preamp portion of the B-135 integrated amplifier. The BP17 will be available in December, 2012 with an MSRP of $3550. The BP17 utilizes a software controlled motorized analog volume […]
Bryston Announce BDP-2 Digital Music Player
Bryston LTD, celebrating 50 years in 2012, has announced the introduction of the BDP-2 digital music player, an enhanced version of the BDP-1 that accommodates larger music libraries with faster load times. Both the BDP-1 and BDP-2 were designed to give listeners the ability to enjoy their library of high-resolution digital music files (resolutions of […]
Latest Member of the Review Team
Hifi Pig is over the moon to announce the latest member of the review team Tom Knight. Tom is an ex journalist now working in the IT world. He’s an advocate of mono and enjoys Lieder as well as baroque and classical chamber, vocal and keyboard music. He studied music at Glasgow University in Scotland. […]
THIEL Audio Acquired by Nashville-based Private Equity Firm
THIEL Audio has announced that the company has been acquired by a private equity firm based in Nashville, TN. New THIEL CEO Bill Thomas has indicated that the brand focus will continue to be on premium quality phase and time coherent loudspeakers, with long time THIEL employees Brad Paulsen, Gary Dayton, Lana Ruth and Rob […]
