LATEST ADDITIONS

Turntables, Arms & Cartridges
Ortofon MC Verismo Cartridge
Review: Ken Kessler, Lab: Paul Miller  |  Apr 07, 2022
hfnoutstandingPrecision manufacturing, state-of-the-art materials and magnet technologies combine in this new addition to the 'Exclusives' MC range – the ultimate blend of art and science?

Talk about alpha to omega: we've looked at two Ortofon cartridges this month, the £295 2M Bronze supplied with Thorens' TD 1500 and now the MC Verismo moving-coil, at £5349. It's the latest MC in Ortofon's 'Exclusives' series, which already includes the £6999 MC Anna Diamond [HFN Oct '19] and £3799 MC Windfeld Ti [HFN Jan '18], but with an open body shape first pioneered in this Danish brand's MC A90 [HFN Sep '09].

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Investigation
Under the covers... Isaac Hayes Black Moses
Johnny Sharp  |  Apr 05, 2022
Johnny Sharp on the creation of the artwork for Isaac Hayes' 1971 album Black Moses

The resurgence in vinyl sales over recent years is not just about the sound emitted from those shiny black grooves. Many buyers, particularly younger ones, are just as attracted to album sleeves. And of those, a good proportion will tell you they like to have the full-fat LP package experience sat on their shelves unspoilt by actual plays, or even framed on their walls as artworks.

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Pre/Power Amplifiers
D'Agostino Relentless Preamp Preamplifier
Review: Ken Kessler, Review and Lab: Paul Miller  |  Apr 04, 2022
hfnoutstandingIt's taken three years, but it was worth the wait: D'Agostino's Relentless Preamplifier has arrived, and it's as much of a revelation as the matching power amplifiers

You gotta love items with absolutely perfect names: 'Land Rover Defender', 'Rolex Explorer', 'Fender Jazzmaster'. When founder and chief engineer, Dan D'Agostino, dubbed his assault on the high-end 'Relentless', with cost-no-object flagship monoblock power amps [HFN Mar '20], he might have been referring to himself, as that is how he approached the task. With this matching three-chassis Relentless Preamplifier (£159,500), he's raised the bar once more.

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Hi-Res Downloads
Hi-Res Downloads, March 2022
Andrew Everard  |  Mar 31, 2022
This month we review and test releases from: Bonnie & Taylor Sims, The Gesualdo Six, Thomas Oliemans/Amsterdam Sinfonietta/Candida Thompson, Gábor Csordás, Sándor Tóth, Tamás Hidász & Vince Bartók and Octave Records.
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Audiophile Vinyl
Audiophile: Vinyl, March 2022
Ken Kessler  |  Mar 30, 2022
This month we review: Nilsson, School Of Rock, Annette Peacock and Lou Rawls.
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Audiophile Digital
Audiophile: Digital, March 2022
Ken Kessler  |  Mar 30, 2022
This month, we review: Pink Floyd, Muddy Waters, The Sex Pistols and Good As Gold.
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Rock
Rock, March 2022
Mike Barnes  |  Mar 30, 2022
This month we review: Cat Power, Boris, Eels and Spidergawd.
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Jazz
Jazz, March 2022
Steve Harris  |  Mar 30, 2022
This month we review: Christian Mcbride & Inside Straight, Nicolas Meier World Group, Secret Sessions and Craig Taborn.
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Classical
Classical, March 2022
Peter Quantrill  |  Mar 30, 2022
This month we review: Cleveland Orch/Franz Welser-Möst, Shani Diluka, Ensemble Pro Victoria/Toby Ward and Cecilia Bartoli; basel CO/TANG.
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Loudspeakers
AVID Reference Four Loudspeaker
Review: Andrew Everard, Lab: Paul Miller  |  Mar 29, 2022
hfnoutstandingAVID's 'sledgehammer-to-crack-a-nut' two-way features a massive all-alloy cabinet with tuned mass dampers to kill unwanted resonances – and this is the smallest in its range!

The friend who helped me unload these three AVID Hi-Fi boxes – one for each Reference Four speaker, at £20,000 a pair, plus one for the included (and very hefty) stands – thought he'd nailed it. 'What are these for, then?' he asked, 'heavy metal music?'. He wasn't far off the truth for while most speakers do very nicely indeed with variations on the wooden box theme, the Reference Fours use all-alloy cabinets, with panels up to 15mm-thick, sitting on six 'risers' attached to a thick alloy baseplate. Hence why each of these relatively compact speakers, at just under 37cm tall, weighs 25kg.

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