Review: Jamie Biesemans

Onkyo has carved a name for itself as a leading maker of AV receivers, but the Japanese company has never lost sight of its two-channel roots, and neither have its fans. Onkyo’s M series power amps, including the M-504 from 1987, still trade for hefty prices on the secondhand market. Aside from its sonic capabilities, that model is valued for its large VU meters, a trend not lost on Onkyo when it came to setting the aesthetic for its new M-80 power amplifier. Paired with the P-80 streaming preamplifier, the system delivers the convenience demanded in 2026.

While not a household name in the UK, the Warsaw-based Unitra brand caused quite a stir in its native Poland when revived in 2021. Its storied past played a role in this, but so did the reimagined products themselves, thanks to their nostalgia-inducing 1970s aesthetic. Moreover, while the new Unitra designs are predictably more up-to-date under the hood, they sport some idiosyncratic features. The monochrome E ink display of the CSH-801 CD player is an illustration of this, as are the remote-actuated lever switches on the £4499 WSH-805 auditioned here.

There’s a back story to the Virtus A3, Canor’s curious integrated dual-mono hybrid amplifier. I first encountered the design at the brand’s impressive factory in Prešov, eastern Slovakia, but this was in the summer of 2023, long before production versions rolled off the line. At the time the amplifier looked close to completion and was demonstrated playing into FinkTeam’s Borg loudspeakers. However, changes to the specifications along the way, including a decision to increase its power output to 2x100W/8ohm, ensured its development took rather longer than anticipated.

Sentimental audiophiles might think Musical Fidelity’s M8 range is rather left out in the cold, stuck between the brand’s high-end Nu-Vista models [HFN Mar ’23 & Aug ’25] and thought-provoking remakes like the A1 [HFN Jan ’24] and B1xi amplifiers. Since Pro-Ject’s Heinz Lichtenegger took over the wheel of the brand, the series has received only piecemeal updates, starting with the M8xi ‘super’ integrated [HFN Jul ’20], then the M8xTT turntable [HFN Dec ’23] and M8x Vinyl phono stage [HFN Mar ’25], and now the ‘dual-mono’ M8x DAC.