As one of the world’s most prolific cartridge designers, A.J. van den Hul never stops inventing and re-inventing. And, since he is also one of the most renowned, a new edition of van den Hul’s top-of-range model is a noteworthy event. Enter the new Colibri XGW Signature Stradivarius.
Continue reading van den Hul’s new top phono cartridge: the Colibri XGW Signature Stradivarius
Each autumn, the editors of US-based hi-fi magazine The Absolute Sound pick out their audio peaks and pinnacles and crown them worthy winners of the annual Golden Ear Awards.
In 2018, Associate Editor Neil Gader singles out Clearaudio’s Charisma V2 phono cartridge. “Like its name implies, you’ve either got it or you don’t. This cartridge has got it,” he writes.
Continue reading Clearaudio’s Charisma V2 cartridge earns a Golden Ear Award from The Absolute Sound
“We may be in the streaming age, but this hasn’t stopped vinyl sales booming. Audiophiles and analogue devotees, as well as digital converts, are rediscovering the joys of records,” writes Wired magazine, which has just singled out (no pun intended) its best record players for any budget in 2018.
Continue reading Clearaudio Concept among Wired magazine’s ‘best record players’
“Sharing the same chassis design as its 3010 series, but boasting double the clout,” Exposure’s new duo of amps replaces the former MCX series at the top end of the brand’s range. Hi-Fi News reviewer Andrew Everard is mightily impressed, finding them as convincing on detail and finesse as they are on power and grip.
“Cable risers are not exactly news, nor are they universally used, accepted or even recommended. In fact, even those who advocate them have trouble agreeing on what they do or how they do it,” writes reviewer Roy Gregory in The Audio Beat. “None of this is, of course, any reason to ignore them,” he adds, having recently been provided with a set of Furutech’s NCF Boosters and Booster-Signals to review. “They have become utterly indispensable,” he concludes.
Earlier this year Chris Martens published a favourable preview of Magnepan’s new top-of-range loudspeaker in Hi-Fi Plus (issue 157). Now, as the 30.7 nears full production, he revisits the flagship ‘Maggie’ in view of an important change to this “remarkable design achievement”.
Earlier this year, Devon-based Timestep launched a new high-mass tonearm specifically designed to excel with high quality, low compliance moving coil phono cartridges. While its design draws on key elements of various legendary vintage Japanese models, the Timestep is in fact a very modern tonearm sporting a raft of smart technology. Roy Gregory gets the measure of its multiple abilities and reports at TheAudioBeat.com.
Riva Audio’s new Voice Series was just launched at IFS in Berlin and will come to market soon. Pairing Alexa’s brains and voice control with RIVA’s premium award-winning audio, its aim is “to bring you the next generation of smart speakers”. Following an exclusive preview of the ‘Concert’ model in late beta form, Hi-Fi Plus is excited by the series’ potential.
“You’re not talking wimpy thin wood here,” says Hi-Fi World of Devon-based Timestep’s T-01HS ebony headshell. Which “gives you confidence,” since “a typical cartridge reacts to the tiniest movements and any micro-flexing in a headshell will react negatively with it.”
Continue reading “Frankly, immense”: Hi-Fi World checks out Timestep’s T-01HS Ebony headshell
Kudos Audio is delighted to unveil a brand new member of its flagship Titan series of loudspeakers. Previewed at the 2018 Bristol Sound & Vision Show, the Titan 505 is a standmount model designed to deliver stunning, top-of-range performance to a wider reach of spaces and budgets.
Continue reading New 505 standmount loudspeaker completes Kudos Audio’s flagship Titan series
David Denyer PR | The hi-fi specialist 