The third iteration of B&W's 703 floorstander is the first to feature the brand's iconic 'tweeter-on-top' module
Although a major player in the domestic hi-fi market, B&W's loudspeaker catalogue appears relatively streamlined – beginning with the entry-level 600 series and crowned by the flagship 800 series, and with these latest 700s sandwiched in-between. This lineup, which we're told is aimed both at 'performance-orientated' audiophiles and 'non-specialist' buyers, surely marks B&W's sweet spot. And that's certainly an apt description for the 703 S3s auditioned here.
Peter Quantrill listens back to five centuries of Mass settings and 50 years of recordings and asks how did one French folk song become the seed for an entire musical genre?
It was the 19th century and the Romantic age that elevated originality above all to an artistic goal and an aesthetic standard. Back in an age when composers were treated as musical craftsmen, and wrote accordingly, turning over the tables in the temple of art would have been a baffling ideal.
Inspired by the longstanding Xtension 9 turntable, the new X8 features a 9cc EVO arm with balanced connections to better serve the 'bundled' Ortofon Quintet Blue MC
Launched in 2022, the X8 is the new LP spinner that Austria's Pro-Ject is betting on to entice vinyl lovers onto that next step beyond the entry-level and midrange products that are the brand's bread and butter. To justify its higher price point, this sleek-looking deck borrows features from the company's top-tier Xtension turntables, making it Pro-Ject's most affordable 'mass-loaded' model to date. It's also fitted with a rigid 9cc Evolution carbon tonearm, which is an upgrade on the carbon-aluminium arms found on its lower-range offerings, including the X2 B [HFN Sep '22].
This month we review and test releases from: Angela Hewitt, Ernst Simon Glaser, Ketil Bjørnstad, Gard Nilssen/Acoustic Unity and Thomas Truax With Budgie And Mother Superior.
Korea's Citech group continues apace with yet another 'full colour widescreen' offering from its HiFi Rose brand – this time with an updated network-attached media hub
ARose by any other name? As has happened in the past, Korean manufacturer HiFi Rose has launched a new version of an existing model – in this case its RS250 network player – with worthy specification changes and a suffix to set the two apart. But there's a mild inconsistency here, for when the company upgraded the RS150 [HFN Jun '21] to the current version, due to a DAC chip change forced upon the company by the 2020 fire at AKM's semiconductor plant in Japan, it became the RS150(B), selling for £3899, but the revised RS250 is now the £2349 RS250A, available in either silver or black finishes.
The third iteration of B&W's 703 floorstander is the first to feature the brand's iconic 'tweeter-on-top' module
Korea's Citech group continues apace with yet another 'full colour widescreen' offering from its HiFi Rose brand – this time with an updated network-attached media hub
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