LATEST ADDITIONS

Steve Sutherland | Jul 12, 2023

Opened in 1978, this studio is where Kate Bush, The Cranberries and U2 created songs that sold worldwide. Steve Sutherland goes to the heart of the Irish recording industry

It may seem counter-intuitive, perverse even, to begin this account of Windmill Lane Studios by dwelling on one of its early shortcomings, but hey, what the heck? When U2 rocked up in the late summer of 1980 to record their debut LP, Boy, producer Steve Lillywhite was far from impressed with the facilities on offer. The band's recent single, 'A Day Without Me', which Lillywhite had produced, had failed to chart and he'd been beating himself up over the way it sounded, particularly the drums.

Network Audio Players/Servers

Auralic Aries G1.1 Music Library/Server

Review: Andrew Everard, | Jul 10, 2023

Based on the Tesla G2 platform used in Auralic's premier G2.1 range, but lacking the box-in-box build and some circuit detailing, the Aries G1.1 remains a top-flight streamer

Yes, the £2699 Aries G1.1 is another one of those similar-looking Auralic components that will blend seamlessly with its brand partners, even if we're never immediately sure what box does what... In this case, we have a network player without onboard digital-to-analogue conversion, designed to be used straight into an external DAC. In this guise, it brings the niceties of Auralic's Lightning Streaming Platform, and its Lightning DS control app, to owners of third-party DACs. This also includes amps or preamps with digital inputs, which can be fed via USB or optical, coax or AES.

From the Vault Pre/Power Amplifiers Vintage

Naim NAC 82/NAP 180 Pre/Power Amps

Martin Colloms | Jul 07, 2023 | First Published: Apr 01, 1993

Its components may work in all-Naim systems, but in this review of the company's latest pre/power Martin Colloms looks at the alternatives too

Neither I nor the Editor could remember when HFN last reviewed a Naim amplifier so, to redress the balance, we are covering the company's latest pre and power duo here. Priced at £1880, the NAC 82 carries the full remote control first seen on the top-of-the range NAC 52 preamp. An optional extra board (around £120) provides analogue disc input (MC or MM).

Outboard DACs

PS Audio DirectStream DAC 2 USB DAC

Review: Mark Craven, | Jul 06, 2023

It's arguable that the best high-end DACs all feature custom upsampling and conversion architectures – nothing 'off the shelf'! PS Audio has been part of the club for a decade...

All good things come to an end, although in the world of digital hi-fi sometimes that end comes around pretty quickly. Obsolescence isn't as 'built-in' here as it is in the smartphone market, for example, but technological evolutions, be they around chipsets, connection standards or format types, mean 'MK2' iterations of DACs and streaming hardware are a common sight. PS Audio's DirectStream DAC MK2, however, is rather more than a mere second-generation product.

Disc Players Vintage

Toshiba XR-J9 CD Player

Review: Tim Jarman, | Jul 05, 2023

Compact, clever and priced to entice, this quirky little late-'80s machine caught the imagination of those buying into digital for the first time. How does it shape up today?

When Toshiba unveiled its lineup of new CD players in 1986 it was clear the format had come of age. Just three years after the first machines were launched onto the European market they'd gone from being exotic and expensive to something so accessible there was little point in any keen listener not owning one.

Pre/Power Amplifiers

Hegel P30A/H30A Pre/Power Amplifier

Review: Jamie Biesemans, | Jul 03, 2023

Dubbed 'The Conductor' and 'The Orchestra', respectively, Hegel's replacements for the decade-old P30/H30 pre/power amplifiers are flagships worthy of their names

By all accounts Hegel has been very busy over the last few years, which is a notion that might raise some eyebrows because – understandably – the Norwegian company went a little quiet during and after 2020. In fact, the V10 phono preamplifier [HFN Mar '21] has been about the only piece of hardware to escape the drawing board of Hegel's owner and master engineer Bent Holter since Covid. However, as industry insiders and the company's user base well knew, Hegel was battling the angry gods of software development to make its major integrated amplifiers Roon Ready.

Audiophile Vinyl

Audiophile: Vinyl, June 2023

Ken Kessler | Jun 30, 2023