“Exposure is to be congratulated”: Hi-Fi Choice includes a trio of Exposure amplifiers in its best of 2017

Each year, the Hi-Fi Choice Yearbook singles out the greatest-sounding audio products reviewed by the magazine’s expert team during the previous 12 months. On news-stands now, the 2017 edition’s chosen few includes no less than three of British brand Exposure’s amplifiers. All three are from the company’s small but brilliantly conceived XM series.

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“A masterpiece of design”: Hi-Fi Choice picks the Larsen 8 as one of the best loudspeakers reviewed in 2017

On news-stands now, the Hi-Fi Choice Yearbook 2017 singles out the greatest-sounding audio products reviewed by the magazine’s expert team throughout the year. Every product listed is a coveted Hi-Fi Choice badge winner – hardly an easy accomplishment given the “staggering number of high-performance components emerging to feed our passions in increasingly innovative ways,” writes editor Lee Dunkley. Among the chosen few is the multi award-winning Larsen 8 floorstanding loudspeaker by Swedish brand Larsen.

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“The perfect superhero”: Hi-Fi Plus is star-struck by Gamut’s flagship Zodiac loudspeaker

“For good or ill, when it comes to audio, we live in a time of flagships and statements,” writes Hi-Fi Plus editor Alan Sircom in the magazine’s December issue. For the most part Sircom remains relatively unimpressed, having found that many such bigger-is-better products, while certainly big on size and price, don’t necessarily deliver a commensurate peak in terms of performance. Gamut’s flagship Zodiac loudspeaker, however, “is one of the rare exceptions. A true statement piece….”
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High-end hat-trick: Timestep wins its third Hi-Fi World ‘Best Turntable’ Award

Devon-based Timestep has garnered quite a reputation for its intelligent modifications of various iconic Technics turntables, and the resulting Timestep/Technics decks have earned themselves a canny mantelpiece of awards. The latest of these is the coveted ‘Best Turntable’ Award from Hi-Fi World – just presented to Timestep for an impressive third time.
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“Almost irresistible”: Magnepan .7 loudspeaker is a Hi-Fi Plus 2017 Award winner

What do you do if you hanker after Magnepan’s soaring (and multi award-winning) flat-panel loudspeakers but you don’t have the largest of listening rooms or budgets? “We’re on it”, said Magnepan, and promptly created the .7 (‘point seven’), a scaled down version of the brand’s acclaimed 1.7 model, and now a Hi-Fi Plus 2017 Award winner.
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Transfiguration Proteus wins Hi-Fi Plus’ 2017 Award for best phono cartridge

The range of Transfiguration phono cartridges from Japanese Immutable Music is a deliberately limited one, focusing on just three exquisitely innovative models. But there seems to be no limit to the number of awards they’re notching up…

Positive Feedback’s Writers’ Choice Award 2015, Hi-Fi World Product of the Year 2016, The Absolute Sound Editors Choice Award 2017… Transfiguration’s flagship Proteus just keeps on impressing reviewers around the globe. And now it’s the proud winner of the 2017 Hi-Fi Plus Award for the top phono cartridge.
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“I want it”: Ken Kessler reviews the Metaxas Marquis ‘Memento Mori’ headphone amp for Hi-Fi News

“Headphones now rule – period,” affirms Ken Kessler in the latest issue of Hi-Fi News. And when it comes to headphone amps, few can claim to stand head and shoulders above the rest quite like the Metaxas Marquis ‘Memento Mori’. 

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“Phenomenal”: Hi-Fi News’ Ken Kessler is positively shocked by the DS Audio Master 1 optical phono cartridge

DS Audio’s Master 1 optical phono cartridge is among the more expensive models that Hi-Fi News has tested. But it wasn’t the price that shocked reviewer Ken Kessler, who found himself “staying up until 3am for six nights in a row, playing in excess of 50 LPs, rediscovering old favourites as well as undergoing revelations with discs I had taken for granted.”
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Where vintage style meets sharp-end technology: Glanz precision tonearms arrive in the UK

PRESS RELEASE

Could this be the finest tonearm you’ve never heard of? Timestep’s Dave Cawley firmly believes so, which is why he has just signed an exclusive distribution agreement to import Glanz tonearms from their native Japan to the UK. What can we anticipate from these ‘masters of precision’?

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Hi-Fi News Yearbook: the mighty fine kit that moved us in 2017

The festive season is upon us, which can only mean one thing. No, not Slade and Greg Lake playing on repeat day after day in Sainsbury’s (not just that anyway). ‘Tis time, audiophiles and music lovers, for the annual Hi-Fi News Yearbook with its round-up of “the hardware that inspired our senses and the music that stirred our souls throughout 2017”. So grab a mince pie, pull up a chair by the fire and join me in celebrating some of the 65+ goodies reviewed in this special issue.
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