Issue August 2015 - Hi Fi News (2024)

Home//Hi Fi News/August 2015

Since its launch in June 1956 - two years before the commercial realisation of stereo - Hi-Fi News & Record Review has been delivering insightful reviews of the key products and technologies that lie behind our shared hobby... the passion of listening to music on the very best equipment available to the enthusiast. Every issue, Hi-Fi News delivers uniquely in-depth reviews of high-end audio equipment, including the best in vinyl replay and iconic vintage gear from the early days of audio. It is essential reading for all music enthusiasts.

in this issue

NEWS AND OPINIONAUG/15Our six senses are not mutually exclusive. Any music lover who’s experienced that sense of expectation from cautiously cueing-up a treasured LP will understand this perfectly well. There’s a tactile involvement at work, a ritual that enhances our engagement with the music we hear in a way that’s impossible to achieve by accessing a playlist via a mobile phone app, for example. So when, listening to a recent Radio 4 Today broadcast en route to the office, most of my senses suitably numbed by the interminable dullness of a commute around the M25, I was not terribly surprised by the announcement of an ebullientsounding Charles Spence, Professor of Experimental Psychology at Somerville College. Dining under blue lights or eating from red crockery diminishes appetite just as, it seems, wielding heavyweight…3 min

NEWS AND OPINIONLuxman 700 seriesWe reveal the latest products and upcoming events One of hi-fi’s most enduring brands is celebrating its 90-year history with the launch of a combined CD/SACD player/USB DAC, a fully analogue stereo preamp and matching power amp rated at 2x120W/8ohm, or bridged to give 420W/8ohm in mono. The brand is Luxman and the models are, respectively, the D-06u, the C-700u and M-700u, all priced at £6995. The D-06u combines the 384kHz upsampling, digital filter and DSD filter options provided by TI’s TA3152 DSP chip with Burr-Brown’s PCM1792A DAC, itself compatible with LPCM inputs up to 384kHz and DSD up to 5.6MHz. ‘Luxman Audio Player’ software for PC/Mac supports FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF, MP3 and DSF file formats over USB. Luxman’s partnering C-700u preamp – its design borrowing from the flagship…5 min

NEWS AND OPINIONTHE hi-fi SHOW Live 2015Latest from the UK’s only high-end hi-fi show Seen but not yet heard, the silence surrounding Mark Levinson’s flagship ML536 monoblock power amps will be broken at the Hi-Fi Show Live in October. Hear these awesome 400W amps before their exclusive review in Hi-Fi News Featured on the July’15 cover of Hi-Fi News, the KEF Blade Two floorstanders will be on-song and demonstrating why they won our coveted ‘Outstanding Product’ award. Make your way upstairs to the spacious Wessex 8 suite and discover why KEF’s pointsource loudspeaker technology is making waves to remember TICKETS ON SALE NOW The Hi-Fi Show Live will be your chance to experience the new KT150-equipped Reference 75, 150, and 250 SE amplifiers from Audio Research. ‘Dramatic sonic improvements’ are promised from ARC’s latest and most…2 min

NEWS AND OPINIONMunich High End 2015Sights and sounds from around the globe Guys, c’mon! We’re talking about Munich! Naturally, there’d be a humungous horn somewhere at the show! This wooden beast from Realhorns (www.realhorns.de) greeted visitors in one of the atriums, and it is genuine. This was the best Munich High End Show ever, and possibly the best event I’ve attended in 20 years, since the heyday. If numbers speak louder than my enthusiasm, 506 exhibitors from 42 countries, over 6500 trade visitors and 14,000 members of the public attended. It was a feast of new turntables, loudspeakers, headphones, cartridges, headphone amps and even – yes – pre-recorded open-reel tapes. So rejoice: hi-fi ain’t dead yet. Robert Watts (left) and John Franks flank Chord’s new DAVE DAC/pre, probably not named after the repeats TV channel…8 min

NEWS AND OPINIONClassic rock on disc: Pt IIIn part one of this round-up of music videos, [HFN Jun ’15], we covered the ‘real,’ factual films. It’s the category that contains rockumentaries about bands or genres, the ‘making of’ specials that tell how classic albums were recorded and – most common of all – concert films, including festivals. What remains are biogs and fictional rock movies that were made either commercial vehicles for the performers, such as all of Elvis’s 30+ films, or those that use rock music as part of the plot. They range from the perfect spoof, This Is Spinal Tap, to that toxic development: period dramas using utterly inappropriate rock soundtracks. This is not the place for me to explain why I despised Moulin Rouge and A Knight’s Tale, to a level nearing the psychotic.…10 min

Issue August 2015 - Hi Fi News (2024)

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