LATEST ADDITIONS

Review: Jamie Biesemans, | Jan 14, 2025 | First Published: Dec 01, 2024

Replacing the PM7000N and styled to partner the CD 60 disc player, Marantz’s new Model 60n streaming integrated turns out to be a very lightly-trimmed Model 40n...

With the launch of the £1300 Model 60n, Marantz finally has an entry-level alternative to the £2200 Model 40n [HFN Apr ’22]. This is par for the course, as Marantz has similar ‘good’ and ‘better’ offerings in the shape of the Model 30 [HFN Jan ’21] and Model 50 amplifiers. But where those two are ‘old-school’ analogue-only separates requiring external sources, this new Marantz amplifier is an all-in-one with DAC and streaming capabilities – all of which explains the ‘n’ for ‘network’ at the end of the name.

Turntables, Arms & Cartridges

MoFi MasterDeck turntable package

Review: Adam Smith, | Jan 14, 2025 | First Published: Dec 01, 2024

With two tried-and-tested belt-driven turntables already in its repertoire, vinyl maven MoFi dallies with a novel drive strategy for its heavyweight MasterDeck flagship

Since the company’s inception in 2014, MoFi Electronics has developed a reputation for high-quality products. And in a range now encompassing turntables, cartridges, phono stages, loudspeakers, a DAC and a growing number of accessories, there is also a convenient pathway of progression along an upgrade ladder. For MoFi’s vinyl-related items, this takes you from ‘Studio’, through ‘Ultra’, and onto ‘Master’ models.

Loudspeakers

Vivid Audio Kaya S12 standmount speaker

Review: Andrew Everard, | Jan 11, 2025 | First Published: Dec 01, 2024

The baby of Vivid’s five-strong Kaya range weighs just 6kg but employs the same custom tweeter and core technologies that define the flagship, floorstanding Giya G1

Were it not for the enclosure design, it might be tempting to think of the Kaya S12, the smallest speaker from South Africa’s Vivid Audio, as just another standmount. But as those eye-catching looks suggest, there’s something special going on here, and the price – £6000 a pair in a choice of striking finishes, with more available to order – certainly sets expectations high.

Loudspeakers Network Audio Players/Servers

Focal Diva Utopia network-attached active loudspeaker

Review: Andrew Everard, | Jan 11, 2025 | First Published: Dec 01, 2024

Focal’s inaugural DSP-guided active loudspeaker is a true flagship, both in style, sound and under-the-skin engineering. But is this a one-off or just the start of a new range?

The latest member of Focal’s Utopia loudspeaker family is clearly cut from a different cloth – and that’s before you lay eyes on its felt cabinet wrap. Sure, at £29,995 the Diva Utopia boasts a similarly ‘high-end’ asking price to the likes of the £34,999 Scala Utopia Evo [HFN Aug ’17] and its overall styling isn’t far off its siblings either. But this is Focal’s first active loudspeaker, the result of a collaboration with Naim Audio, its stablemate brand since 2012. In fact, to call it a speaker doesn’t really do the Diva Utopia justice. It’s more like a full system inside a loudspeaker enclosure.

Loudspeakers

Canton Reference 9 Standmount

Review: Andrew Everard, | Dec 10, 2024 | First Published: Jan 01, 2025

The only standmount in Canton’s eight-strong Reference series includes the same driver and crossover tech found in its flagship Reference 1 floorstander. A chip off the block?

Although it’s relatively easy to build a large ‘cost no object’ loudspeaker worthy of a brand’s flagship, things get a little trickier when the requirement is for a compact model. Quite apart from the budget constraints – customers believe there should be a direct relationship between size and price – there’s the small matter of ‘you can’t argue with physics’ when it comes to delivering a big, room-filling sound from a smallscale enclosure.

Loudspeakers

PS Audio Aspen FR5 loudspeaker

Review: Mark Craven, | Dec 02, 2024 | First Published: Oct 01, 2024

The final piece in PS Audio's quartet of innovative planar magnetic loudspeakers has arrived and it's quite the cutest of the range, but is it a wolf in sheep's clothing?

Even if the title isn't familiar, you'll know The March Of Progress by Rudolph Zallinger. Published in a 1965 volume of Life Nature Library and depicting 25 million years of human evolution as a series of side-on illustrations, from the ape-like Pliopithecus to modern man, it popped into my mind when I unboxed PS Audio's Aspen FR5.

Audiophile Vinyl

Fresh Faces

Johnny Sharp | Nov 29, 2024

Nothing beats the buzz of discovering new bands, especially when they could shape the very future of music. Johnny Sharp on the hot new groups hitting all the right notes

It has been suggested that bands are a dying breed in the modern age. As technology enables individuals to create fuller tapestries of music than ever before without the need to recruit a drummer on the basis of whether or not they own a van, or stick with an annoying keyboard player because his dad lets you use his warehouse for rehearsals, the incentive to go it alone is strong. The costs of touring with five or six people in tow is also pretty prohibitive, and it's a more complicated proposition in the studio. Meanwhile, the relative marginalisation of hard rock and indie pop - genres that traditionally rely on the guitar-bass-drums-vocals formula - hasn't helped.

Opinion

All That Jazz

Steve Harris | Nov 28, 2024

Steve Harris talks to the founders of a new global jazz Internet radio platform promising to focus on music recorded in the last year or so while 'veering away from the straight and narrow'

Whenever the BBC makes changes to the sacred rituals of Radio 3, howls of protest follow. New scheduling introduced in February did bring the usual cries of 'dumbing down'. Personally, the changes didn't bother me very much because I'd got so much into the habit of time-shifting my radio listening.

Opinion

Romanian Visions

Peter Quantrill | Nov 28, 2024

Opinion

Time Is Of The Essence

Jim Lesurf | Nov 28, 2024

Having been stopped in his tracks by the sheer enjoyment of listening to music, Jim Lesurf wonders how long his favourite recordings can continue to resonate with distant generations

Afew days ago I decided to listen to a CD that I'd not played in ages. The impact was almost immediate. I'd intended to have it as pleasing background music while I did some work in the kitchen, but after a few bars of music - time stopped! Totally captured by the sheer beauty of the sound, I just stood and listened, unable to do anything else. And this was in a room where there was no stereo imaging as such, and the acoustics of which would never be accepted as a good listening environment for hi-fi sound.

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LATEST ADDITIONS

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