LATEST ADDITIONS

Classical Companion
Michael Tilson Thomas, Conductor
Christopher Breunig  |  Mar 12, 2019
Winning a conducting prize at Tanglewood kick-started his career, and at Boston he dived into recording at the deep end. Christopher Breunig gives a resume

In some recitals with other kids all playing nice-sounding pieces, I'd come crashing in with Bartók, or some American composers I was already playing – Henry Cowell, for instance.' That was Michael Tilson Thomas, looking back to his pre-teens in an interview given in the June '87 issue of HFN when he was working and recording with the London Symphony Orchestra as its principal conductor (he's now the LSO's Conductor Laureate).

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Cables
Accusound XD Loudspeaker Cable
Review and Lab: Paul Miller  |  Mar 12, 2019
Designed, manufactured, assembled and tested in Massachusetts USA, Accusound brings no-nonsense pro-cable thinking to the high-end scene.

With one foot firmly planted in the pro audio sector, US brand Accusound is also reaching out to the audiophile community with a limited range of interconnect and speaker cables. All its cables are assembled in America, the company boasting a cohort of industry pros vouching for its various instrument, microphone, tube microphone and patch cables.

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Disc PlayersIntegrated Amplifiers
Marantz SA-KI/PM-KI Ruby SACD Player/Amplifier
Review: Andrew Everard,  |  Mar 08, 2019
hfncommendedMarking brand ambassador Ken Ishiwata's 40 years with Marantz, this 'Ruby edition' SACD player and integrated amplifier aim high. How precious are they?

We've been here before: ten years ago Marantz celebrated Brand Ambassador Ken Ishiwata's 30-year tenure at the company with a KI-Pearl pairing of player and amplifier [HFN Aug '09]. So its only fitting that, now he's clocked up another decade, we should have these latest KI Ruby models, limited to 1000 units apiece (500 of each in gold, 500 in black), and selling at £3500 for each unit.

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Headphones
Denon AH-D5200 Headphones
Review: Dean Hartley,  |  Mar 06, 2019
hfncommendedYou won't find any 'on-the-hoof' fripperies here as the Japanese company unveils a new iteration of its tried-and-trusted AH-D5000 headphone, with 'free-edge' tech

At £549, the AH-D5200 represents the entry level offering in a new three-model range from Denon, with the AH-D7200 (£699) and range-topping AH-D9200 (£1399) completing the lineup. They are all closed-back designs and aimed squarely at the home audio user looking for a premium set of cans. The large over-ear, non-folding arrangement ensures they're not the type of thing you could or would want to take on the road, but more likely to take pride of place in a study or living room, ready for those relaxing musical pastimes.

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Audiophile Vinyl
Audiophile: Vinyl (January 2019)
Ken Kessler  |  Mar 06, 2019
This month we review: King Solomon, Mel Henke, Sarah Mclachlan, & Matthew Sweet
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Audiophile Digital
Audiophile: Digital (January 2019)
Ken Kessler  |  Mar 06, 2019
This month, we review: Nazareth, Rick Derringer, The Louvin Brothers, & The Percy Phillips Studio Collection
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Rock
Rock (January 2019)
Johnny Black  |  Mar 06, 2019
This month we review: Foxtrott, Me And My Friends, Amos Lee, & Ed Motta
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Jazz
Jazz (January 2019)
Steve Harris  |  Mar 06, 2019
This month we review: Christian Sands, Lionel Loueke, Shai Maestro, & Massimiliano Coclite 4tet
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Classical
Classical (January 2019)
Christopher Breunig  |  Mar 06, 2019
This month we review: Elgar, Bartók/Enescu, Haydn/Schoenberg & Rachmaninov
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Turntables, Arms & Cartridges
DS Audio DS-W2 Cartridge
Review: Ken Kessler,  |  Mar 05, 2019
hfnoutstandingReplacing the inaugural DS-W1 while benefiting from a host of trickle-down tech from the brand's flagship Master 1, the new DS-W2 'optical' pick-up is firmly in the limelight

When I first heard about DS Audio's optical cartridges, I wrote them off as 'dreamware' unlikely to end up chez Kessler. As it turns out, the audio gods smiled on me and I have, to my surprise and delight, managed to review just about all of them, watching the series evolve while using the Master 1 as my reference. Now, with the DS-W2 selling for £9995 with the equaliser/phono stage, the brand is delivering nearly all the performance of its flagship at half the price.

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