Tag Archives: Audio

The CAT6 sat on the mat…

As an inveterate fiddler, and a long-term believer that almost anything you do to a hi-fi system – any hi-fi system – makes some difference, I’ve just damped my network switch. Yes, I know that sounds like I may have got over-excited, and had an accident of the kind that be a bit dangerous with […]

Speaker design? Think Fink!

Behind the scenes at Fink Audio Consulting – the most famous speaker company you’ve never heard of!

Naim: not just a new Uniti, but a complete New Uniti range

Complete ground-up redesign sees four network audio models launched, all based on the company’s new ‘platform for the future’

Neat’s Iota speakers grow into the WTF sensation of the Bristol show

Compact – actually, make that tiny – floorstanders pick up the plaudits at Sound and Vision event   This could so easily be one of those clickbait stories: ‘They wanted to design a new loudspeaker – and you won’t believe what happened next!’ You see, the latest model from  British speaker company Neat Acoustics – […]

REVIEW: Astell & Kern AK500 system

Nothing looks quite like the extraordinary Astell & Kern AK500 system ‘stack’ – but if you’re expecting it to be style over substance, think again… The Astell & Kern AK500N is unusual enough: a high-end CD ripping/storage/network player, all housed in a near-cube with styling apparently inspired by the Matterhorn, powered by internal batteries and […]

Bowers & Wilkins 803 D3: the Daleks have landed!

When you’re dealing with speakers this big and heavy, a simple courier drop-off isn’t quite possible! So the delivery of the Bowers & Wilkins 800 Series Diamond speakers began with a false start: space had been cleared both for the 803 D3s and their massive boxes, and then – slightly anti-climactically – the hapless courier […]

So, two years on…

It’s two years since I set up this site, and it’s been non-stop fun I’ve just been reminded by WordPress that it’s two years since I originally set up this site, with the first story being a review of Just Audio’s AHA-120 headphone amplifier. Over the past couple of years I’ve had great fun here […]

Frankenspiel FS-X: in Single or Dual mode, it’s so much more than just a Bluetooth speaker system

The market is awash with Bluetooth speakers of varying plastickiness, and it’s rare that a day goes by without me receiving at least one press release extolling the virtues of some new miracle said to be just the thing to get the party started/entertain the whole beach/play music while cycling/amaze your friends and win true love – […]

The end of Linn preamps means – well, the end of Linn preamps. That’s all.

Having claimed to sound the death-knell for the CD player six years ago, Linn’s now calling time on the hi-fi preamplifier. It’ll take more than that…

REVIEW: Arcam A49 – a transatlantic triumph

  Designed in the UK, made in the USA, Arcam’s A49 amplifier is a thrilling-sounding exercise in effortless power OK, I admit it: I haven’t been the greatest fan of some recent Arcam amplifiers. Rather as I find some Cyrus designs overbright and forward-sounding, so the amps from the near neighbour in Cambridgeshire have been […]