LATEST ADDITIONS

Review: Andrew Everard,  |  Jun 30, 2025  |  First Published: Jun 01, 2025
hfnoutstandingNo off-the-shelf chips for Holland’s Grimm Audio as the networking and custom code of the MU1 music server are joined by a Roon-equipped DAC/preamp in the same chassis

Network players have the potential to be a great leveller for ‘family listening’ outside of the exclusive audiophile world. It’s even possible that younger music fans will discover the joys of sitting and listening via a proper hi-fi system. Of course, that means everyone getting to grips with streaming music from internal storage or Tidal and Qobuz, putting together the odd personal playlist, and even routing the TV sound through the system.

Review: Ken Kessler,  |  Jun 30, 2025  |  First Published: Jun 01, 2025
hfnoutstandingJoining Nagra’s monoblock power amps, preamp and DAC X separates in its HD (High Definition) line, the two-box HD Phono channels the brand’s 70+ year audio heritage

With the HD Phono, Nagra has joined a rather select group. By my estimation, there are but a half-dozen manufacturers of phono stages costing above £50,000. At a heady £68,500, the all-valve Nagra HD Phono is about as expensive and exclusive as it gets, and for that amount of money you expect to get everything. And you do.

Review: Mark Craven,  |  Jun 28, 2025  |  First Published: Jun 01, 2025
hfnoutstandingNovel thinking is in generous supply inside this line-only preamp with its high capacity PSU, transformer-coupled four-tube audio circuit and 140-step, remote volume control

Balanced Audio Technology, otherwise known as BAT, doesn’t beat about the bush when it comes to its audio philosophy. The main page on the US manufacturer’s website lists core principles, all of which have an engineering bent: ‘balanced is best’, ‘dual-mono construction maximises performance’, and ‘zero global feedback achieves natural sound’. All three of these are at play in the company’s VK-90 preamp.

Peter Quantrill  |  Jun 26, 2025  |  First Published: Jun 01, 2025

A life story that would make a movie and a catalogue of over 300 works... this forgotten musical heroine of Belle Epoque Paris is explored on record by Peter Quantrill

Review: Tim Jarman,  |  Jun 26, 2025  |  First Published: Jun 01, 2025
hfnvintageWith its floating suspension, decent tonearm and hassle-free two-speed operation, Pioneer’s PL-12D was the deck of choice for budding audiophiles in the early/mid-’70s

Many Hi-Fi News readers will have fond memories of Pioneer’s PL-12D turntable. A best seller when new and one of the models that has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity with the vinyl revival, generations of audiophiles have, at one time or another, had one of these decks in their systems. Introduced in 1973, it came at just the right time to benefit from the rapidly increasing growth in affordable hi-fi, setting music lovers on a path to better and (usually) more expensive things.

Review: Ken Kessler  |  Jun 25, 2025  |  First Published: Jun 01, 2025
hfnvintage

Ken Kessler admires the luxurious design of a top-loading CD player with upgrade potential. But will its performance also leave him spellbound?

Steve Sutherland  |  Jun 22, 2025  |  First Published: Jun 01, 2025
A double LP, with one epic song per side, recorded in a studio decorated as a farmyard... Steve Sutherland tells the tale of this 1973 Yes release, reissued on 180g vinyl
Review: Mark Craven,  |  Jun 22, 2025  |  First Published: Jun 01, 2025
hfnoutstandingMarantz returns to the premium hi-fi sector with a trio of heavyweight flagship models including an SACD player/DAC, integrated amplifier and network-attached preamplifier

At the tail end of 2020, when Marantz released its Model 30 amplifier [HFN Jan ’21], the name paid homage to the brand’s Model 1 preamp of 1954 while the chassis styling nodded at past Marantz designs from hi-fi’s ‘golden age’. However, this was not a case of the New York-born (but now Japan/California-based) company jumping headfirst into the so-called ‘nostalgia economy’ with a retro/vintage-inspired product, more the first step in a complete overhaul of its brand image. Since then, there have been various additions to the new-look Model catalogue, but all have sat below the Model 30. Until now...

Andrew Everard,  |  Jun 19, 2025  |  First Published: Jun 01, 2025
This month we review and test releases from: Colin Vallon, Patrice Moret, and Julian Sartorius; Lucian Ban & Mat Maneri; Lux Quartet; Rondi Charleston/Fred Hersch; and John Hollenbeck
Steve Harris  |  Jun 19, 2025  |  First Published: Jun 01, 2025
Steve Harris on SACD’s journey from proposed CD replacement to niche, audiophile favourite, plus where to go for DSD and PCM downloads that’ll give your DAC a challenge

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