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Steve Sutherland  |  Oct 03, 2024
It's renowned for its drum sound, custom Neve console and the room in which Rumours and Nevermind were recorded... Steve Sutherland on an old Vox amp factory in the US

The jury was hung on the question of his talent. Neil Young said, 'This guy is unbelievable - he makes up the songs as he goes along, and they're all good'. So good, Young tried to get Warner Brothers to sign him. To no avail. Beach Boy Brian Wilson wasn't so sure and said something like, 'He hasn't got a musical bone in his body'. And Terry Melcher, Doris Day's son and hotshot producer of The Byrds, told him, 'I really do appreciate your talent but there's nothing I can do for you'.

Andrew Everard  |  Oct 02, 2024
This month we review and test releases from: Rotem Sivan, Matthieu Bordenave, The Lovecraft Sextet, Edy Forey, and Devin Gray
Mike Barnes  |  Oct 02, 2024
The guitarist's first album for Warner Bros saw him put together a twin-keyboard band and dig even deeper into his fusion-jazz style. The result? A set that topped the Billboard charts and brought him a Grammy award for its only vocal performance...

Overall, I think the jazz police never forgave me for taking George Benson from the jazz area to where he became a pop artist', record producer Tommy LiPuma told jerryjazzmusician.com in 2022. 'I was always a pop music freak, but I was also a big jazz fan.'

Peter Quantrill  |  Oct 02, 2024
A jealous husband, a young nun, a cunning father... late-style lightness of touch is the key when it comes to this still-underrated masterpiece of verismo, says Peter Quantrill

By rights, every major opera company should be mounting Il trittico in this Puccini anniversary year, marking the centenary of his death. Yet they will likely revive the reliable house-fillers of Butterfly, Tosca and Turandot, and the reasons are not hard to find. Trittico lacks a true diva role. It demands instead a tightly knit company cast of diverse talents, and a conductor and director who both believe in the unity of the whole as its composer did.

Review: Andrew Everard,  |  Oct 02, 2024
hfnoutstandingBlow away the fog of acronyms and iFi Audio's 'mk2' NEO iDSD DAC/headphone amp boasts the latest 'hi-res' BT 5.4, aptX Lossless, an analogue input and a lot more power

Did Ifi Audio actually need to upgrade its Neo Idsd Dac/Headphone Amp? Well, change is seemingly inevitable in the fast-moving range of this Merseyside-based company, given the pace with which products - new and revised - seem to flow from its own factory in China. Indeed, there's an element of 'blink and you'll miss it' about iFi Audio's releases, which now encompass a wide range of hi-fi devices from pocket headphone amplifiers to products aimed at the pro audio market.

Review: Jamie Biesemans,  |  Oct 02, 2024
hfnoutstandingDesigned to take advantage of Pro-Ject's 'balanced' phono preamps, this flag-waving moving-coil marks a departure from the brand's Ortofon-derived moving-magnets

As a major turntable manufacturer, Pro-Ject has a longstanding relationship with cartridge builders. This makes sense, as the brand likes to deliver decks ready to play, which requires an MM or MC. Previously, the Austrian company has bundled cartridges from Ortofon with its turntables in Europe, while Sumiko models are favoured in the US, but has lately been launching its own designs, including tweaked Ortofon models such as the Pick it 2M Silver and Pick it S2 C. The Pick it MC9 on test here is something else, though.

Review: Jamie Biesemans,  |  Oct 02, 2024
hfnoutstandingThe Largest Of Q Acoustics' 5000 Series Speakers Combines Inspiration From The Concept 50 With Ideas Of Its Own

Armour Home's Q Acoustics has been busy in recent years, refreshing nearly its entire portfolio of passive and active loudspeakers, and expanding existing lines. The Concept 50 and 30 models were launched in 2022 to fill out its top-flight range, which includes the Karl-Heinz Fink-designed Concept 500 flagship , and a more affordable 5000 series appeared just before High End Munich in 2023. This didn't arrive fully complete either - the largest 5050 floorstander we're looking at here only finally debuted in the Spring of 2024.

Review: Andrew Everard,  |  Oct 01, 2024
hfnoutstandingAs the Norwegian brand's heavyweight AW 800 M flagship is split in two to reveal the AW 300 M, we ask... are these 'manageable monoblocks' truly a chip off the block?

While sawing Electrocompaniet's AW 800 M power amplifier is probably not advisable, doing so would admittedly bring some advantages. Not only would you get even better channel separation from dividing the amp right back to the mains socket - not that the stereo amp is exactly lacking in this respect - the resulting monoblock amps would hopefully be more manageable than the stereo model. It may not be huge, but the 800's 55kg mass puts unpacking and placing it firmly in 'phone a friend' territory.

Review: Jamie Biesemans,  |  Oct 01, 2024
hfnoutstandingStyled and with features to match the Masters M23 power amp, NAD's M66 streaming DAC/preamp takes on all-comers as both a digital and vinyl hub with Dirac onboard

First announced in the spring of 2023, unexpected delays to the arrival of NAD's M66 have only heightened anticipation of this flagship 'streaming DAC/preamplifier' - especially among owners of the company's Eigentakt-based M23 power amplifier who have been waiting for its companion product. And, yes, while the £4499 M66 could add its wide-ranging feature set (including app control and room correction) to any power amp, the M23 makes for an aesthetically pleasing fit.

Hi-Fi News  |  Oct 01, 2024

Solo Sensations

Not all artists strike gold after leaving the limelight of a successful group, but those that do can enjoy glittering new careers. Johnny Sharp unveils his Top 20 solo album smashes

Bands are a dying breed, it seems. As the cost of supporting four or five hedonistic and emotionally unstable young people while they record music that will attract revenue of approximately 76p per million streams becomes prohibitive, agents and record labels would rather invest in solo artists - lower overheads, you know how it is.

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