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Australian HiFi Issue 538 - 2024 (Digital)

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28 Articles

Editor's lead in

When digital audio came along in the early 80s, it was only a matter of time before its snowballing popularity would cause all manner of hi-fi components to integrate digital-to-analogue converters and offer digital connections. Before then, connecting up kit was relatively straightforward as far as choosing the connection path went: amplifiers would simply have an array of analogue line-level (and phono) inputs to accommodate a turntable, CD player or cassette machine; perhaps there would be a pair of analogue balanced XLR inputs too in higher-end models. Today, however, most offer such analogue inputs alongside digital ones — optical, coaxial and USB, for example. That goes for active speakers too. Likewise, DAC-integrating sources such as CD players and network streamers tend to offer both analogue and digital outputs, giving owners…

Digital utopianism

Utopia is Focal's highest-end series of passive loudspeakers, with price tags typically high in the six-figure territory. It's luxurious and esoteric, and now even more versatile thanks to the recent arrival of the Diva Utopia. The Diva Utopia mark the French brand's first foray into the world of active wireless speakers, joining a category dominated by conceptually similar speaker systems from the likes of KEF, JBL, Technics, Linn and Goldmund, to name just a handful. The Diva are certainly among the burgeoning market's more ambitious entries, costing $60,000 per pair. The other headline here is that their electronics are all sensibly powered by sister brand Naim Audio. According to the press release, “Naim Audio has designed the electronics especially to guarantee the faithful reproduction of every musical nuance.” A Focal…

Digital utopianism

Beyer goes big for 100th birthday

Soundbites Beyerdynamic went big with launches at the IFA trade show in September, which was rather fitting considering both the German brand and German show celebrated their 100th anniversaries this year. The headphone specialist announced not only premium wireless earbuds with a hefty 38-hour battery life but also flagship noise-cancelling over-ears that offer Dolby Atmos-powered spatial audio. Starting with the latter, the Aventho 300 tick all the boxes necessary in order to pose a threat to the premium-priced class leaders such as the AirPods Max and Bose QuietComfort Ultra. Their headline feature is Atmos support with head-tracking technology, which, like their aforementioned rivals, offers a more immersive, three-dimensional listening experience than traditional stereo that can adapt as the listener's head moves. More ‘standard’ albeit arguably more desirable is the Aventho…

Beyer goes big for 100th birthday

Audeze is probably best known for its use of planar magnetic driver technology, but it is also one of the few manufacturers to still use electrostatic transducers as well. Enter its all-new CRBN2 over-ears, which the American brand says represent a “step forward” for its electrostatic headphone lineup. Audeze has designed the CRBN2 around its new, catchily named and patent-pending SLAM (Symmetric Linear Acoustic Modulator) technology, which is behind most of that forward step. SLAM promises a “powerful, life-like bass response,” and that is the key part here, as for all the natural-sounding transparency and distortion-free detail that electrostatics are famous for delivering, they traditionally don't do so well with really punchy bass. SLAM supposedly remedies this by optimising air-pressure distribution across Audeze's second-generation carbon-nano-tube electrostatic driver. As well as…

Ambitious debuts

Soundbites Chinese audio brand Shanling has welcomed its first pair of over-ear headphones to its extensive catalogue of earbuds and portable electronics. The HW600 are nothing if not ambitious efforts, with Shanling claiming that they set a “new benchmark in the audio industry” — a bold statement considering the established competition at their level. Indeed, with a price well into four-figure territory, they will certainly have to pull out all the stops to stand out. Central to their open-back design is a high-performance dynamic driver made from ultra-thin polymer materials and with a rather large 86 x 110 mm diaphragm. By optimising airflow through dual acoustic, open-back chambers, Shanling has pursued a sound that blends spaciousness with intimacy across a wide range of musical genres. Further design aspects aim to…

Ambitious debuts

Masters of mixing and music listening

Sony has expanded its studio headphones lineup with the affordable MDR-M1 closed-back model, which muscles in between the MDR-7506 (also closed-back) and open-back MDR-MV1. While naturally designed first and foremost for studio use, in my experience with such studio models (including those from Sony), there is little reason to believe they won't be just as suitable for music listening at home. Like their closed-back siblings, the MDR-M1 can, Sony says, cover a wide (5Hz to 80kHz) frequency range through a “uniquely developed driver” that features both a soft edge shape and a hard dome shape for reproducing accurate and low-distortion bass and treble respectively. Bass response is aided by a tuned port that Sony calls a ‘Beat Response Control’. Essentially it is a ventilation hole in the otherwise closed acoustic…

Masters of mixing and music listening

Marantz covers more bases

Soundbites “It combines traditional Marantz amplification technology with a full raft of digital inputs and the streaming and multiroom facilities of HEOS to create a versatile ‘just-add-speakers’ solution for those who are now streamers rather than (or in addition to) disc spinners. And more to the point it does so with a panache and a rich powerful sound that feels true to traditional Marantz values.” That's how our sister magazine Sound+Image concluded its review of Marantz's 40n streaming amplifier upon its debut two years ago. High praise, indeed — but perhaps you would expect the iconic audio brand to have delivered something so appealing from a machine costing $4,500. So what can it do with one costing roughly half that? The all-new Model 60n is a much more affordable follow-up…

Marantz covers more bases

Three in one: CD player, transport & DAC

It's always exciting news when Rotel launches something under its high-end Michi brand. The newly announced $9,499 Michi Q5 is what the company calls a “Transport DAC”, but it's essentially a CD spinner that sports digital inputs and outputs and can play high-resolution audio, including DSD and MQA formats. It joins the X3 and X5 Series 2 integrated amplifiers launched last year, plus a preamp (P5 Series 2), stereo power amp (S5) and monobloc power amp (M8). At the Q5's heart is the eight-channel ESS ES9028PRO DAC (also present in its amplifiers), which is configured so that its channels are split equally between the left and right audio signal paths, promising “extraordinary detail retrieval” from your music as well as a wide soundstage. Inside, the Q5 has fully balanced circuitry…

Three in one: CD player, transport & DAC

Ruark returns to its roots

Soundbites While these days you may know Ruark Audio best for its excellent range of smart, compact radios and music systems, the Essex-based brand originally started on a more traditional path with passive loudspeakers, launching its very first speaker — Sabre – in 1985, a year after the company was founded. But after subsequent and highly regarded Talisman, Equinox and Solstice models, it wound down the speaker-making side of its business in 2004 to concentrate on its new niche in DAB radios — or ‘small audio’, as co-founder and managing director Alan O'Rourke referred to them in an interview we had last year. Two decades later, when nostalgia-driven retro releases are rampant, Ruark has now returned to its roots with the launch of the Sabre-R bookshelf speakers. Reviving the name…

Ruark returns to its roots

Qobuz backs DSD

Everybody's favourite French hi-res music service is continuing its quest to attract audio enthusiasts everywhere by introducing Direct Stream Digital (DSD) and Digital eXtreme Definition (DXD) file formats to its hi-res download store. Qobuz is making a big push in the digital audio and streaming market this year, having recently turned its gaze to younger listeners by launching a heavily discounted student subscription ($7.99/month). That push continues with its new DSD and DXD download offering. Listeners can now access more than 22,500 tracks available in either format. Some big names have already been added, with records including John Coltrane's ‘Blue Train’, Michael Jackson's ‘Thriller’, The Rolling Stones’ ‘Let It Bleed’ and The Beach Boys’ ‘Surfin’ U.S.A.’ ready to enjoy in DSD and DXD. For the uninitiated, DSD is essentially a…

Qobuz backs DSD

Soundbites Bowers & Wilkins has put a fresh spin on what is arguably its biggest modern icon. Unsurprisingly considering its distinct blimp shape and sophisticated sonic presentation that stretches beyond its stereo-suitable parameters, the Zeppelin soon became one of the most recognisable wireless speakers around when it debuted eight years ago (with an iPod dock!) Air and Mini variants followed shortly after, and then in 2021 the Zeppelin was reborn. Before it could reach school age, however, that mini-airship has been revamped yet again. For the Zeppelin Pro Edition, that iconic ovular shape naturally returns, although Bowers has blessed it with a few aesthetic tweaks as well as two brand-new finishes — Solar Gold (pictured) and Space Grey. There are changes abound internally too as the mature wireless speaker borrows…

Direct-drive and semi-automatic

Here's something you don't see every day: a premium direct-drive turntable with semi-automatic operation — but I, for one, am here for it. The AT-LP8X sits at the very top of Audio-Technica's turntable line and does indeed marry its direct-drive system, which is based on a “sensor-monitored motor” that ensures the platter is turning at an accurate rotational speed at all times, with semi-automatic practicality. This means that the motor will stop and the tonearm will lift at the end of a record, ensuring there's no undue damage to the stylus or your records over time if you forget to manually lift the arm each time. The tonearm won't return back to its armrest like a fully automatic deck does, but still, this user-friendly functionality is certainly one way to…

Direct-drive and semi-automatic

Richter Merlin S6plus

On Test Richter Merlin S6plus Loudspeakers Loudspeakers + • Smooth mids • Sweet highs • Impressive bass − • Below-average sensitivity RRP $1,299 Someone once said that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness (and no, it wasn't Oscar Wilde, despite Google's top search results indicating that to be the case). But I don't know what they (whoever it really was) would have said about blatant copying. This little preamble came about because when Richter's Merlin S6plus loudspeakers arrived at my door for review, I remembered that the company's flagship model, the Wizard, is the only Australian loudspeaker design that has ever been copied. The ‘knock-off’ imitation speakers were marketed under the name ‘Lizard’, and the only things they had in common with the…

Richter Merlin S6plus

Laboratory Test Report

Richter Merlin S6plus Loudspeakers Lab Report The in-room frequency response measured by Newport Test Labs for the Richter Merlin S6plus is shown in Graph 1. The response was measured using pink noise as the test stimulus, and the representative trace shown is the average of nine measurements taken in a grid fashion, with the grid's central part being on the tweeter axis and its upper limit being 30kHz. You can see that the frequency response is very flat, particularly across the midrange region, where from 170Hz up to 4kHz it is contained within a 2.5dB envelope, meaning it is essentially 170Hz– kHz ±1.25dB. From a musical perspective, that range is from a little below ‘middle C’ to a bit beyond the highest ‘C’ on a piano keyboard. But even if…

Laboratory Test Report

Silent Angel Munich MU

On Test Silent Angel Munich MU Music Streamer Music Streamer + • Versatile connectivity and streaming • Excellent clarity and detail • Speedy performance − • No physical remote or on-unit buttons • No headphone output RRP $ 4,390 If you are currently the proud owner of an amplifier whose sound you simply adore, but you naturally want ‘in’ on this nifty new thing called ‘streaming’, Silent Angel is one audio brand that encourages you to hold onto your cherished possessions and simply complement them with a range of network streaming components. Servers, power supplies and network switches make up some of Silent Angel's current catalogue, but arguably the most important aspect of any music streaming system is, of course, the streamer itself. The Munich MU I have here is…

Silent Angel Munich MU

VAF Signature i93 MKV

On Test VAF Signature i93 MKV Loudspeakers Loudspeakers + • Wonderfully revealing and articulate • Bentley-prestige aura! − • Bass-reflex port could be further optimised RRP $21,999 You're greeted with a visual testament to the designer's meticulous effort and investment before even removing the grilles from these high-end loudspeakers. The array of physical features isn't just for show; they represent sophisticated engineering aimed at achieving unparalleled fidelity. For those less acquainted with the intricacies of multi-way speaker design, it is essential to understand the challenges and objectives involved. The goal is to create a multi-source audio reproduction system that harmonizes tonal quality, timing, accuracy, imagery, resolution and the listening environment. Whether or not you're familiar with technical terms like ‘linear phase’, ‘phase distortion’, ‘power response’, ‘transient reproduction’ or ‘Hilbert transform’, it's crucial…

VAF Signature i93 MKV

Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 800.2

On Test Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 800.2 Integrated Amplifier Integrated Amplifier + • Supremely powerful • Valve-enhanced sound • Solid-state reliability − • Remote labels could be clearer RRP $22,000 In some ways, the name of Musical Fidelity's latest amplifier is a misnomer. The Nu-Vista vacuum tube was indeed a ‘New Vista’ electronic device when it was introduced by RCA in 1959, when it was physically smaller, more robust and exhibited higher performance than anything else available at the time… and indeed, in some applications, for the next 20 years. But it is now 2024. The Nu-Vista is not a new device, and why would Musical Fidelity use an old-fashioned vacuum tube anyway? Well, it's for the same reason that valve audio amplifiers have never gone out of production and valves…

Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 800.2

Laboratory Test Report

As you can see both from the bar graphs and the tabulated results over the next few pages, the Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista 800.2 amplifier is enormously powerful. During Newport Test Labs’ testing, it met or exceeded its manufacturer's 1kHz power output specifications, with power output at 330 watts (25.2dBW) per channel, both channels driven into eight ohms; and 552 watts (27.4dBW) per channel, both channels driven into four ohms. You can also see that its power output dropped off a little at the frequency extremes, with Newport Test Labs reporting measured outputs of 276 watts at 20Hz and 270 watts at 20kHz into eight ohms, both of which are very slightly below specification. However, you can see from the dBW figures that we're talking about a difference of just 0.9dB…

Laboratory Test Report

Austrian Audio The Composer

On Test Austrian Audio The Composer Headphones Headphones + • Among the best dynamic headphones sound ever • Among the most comfortable ever • Beautiful build − • Best with a good headphone amplifier • Not cheap! RRP $3,999 There's every chance you haven't heard of Austrian Audio. The company is only six years old, and the vast bulk of its catalogue is professional gear: microphones and studio headphones. When I received these headphones they didn't yet even have official distribution in Australia. But that's now changed for two reasons: firstly because Audio Tuning (the company behind Pro-Ject and Musical Fidelity) is taking on their global distribution, and secondly because of the high-end The Composer headphones, the company's first consumer pair. Or, not quite. It is the company's first consumer…

Austrian Audio The Composer

Resurrecting Vinyl: how to clean your turntable and records properly

Hi-fi Primer Look, no one said physical music ownership was going to be easy, and if you want the very best sound quality from your turntable and records, you're going to need to keep them clean. No, blowing the dust off the player's dust cover every once in a while doesn't count… and that's if you even use a dust cover, of course! Indeed, for all the love and wonder of physical music, it takes a bit of extra legwork to ensure you get (and keep) it at its very best. And of all hi-fi kit, record players probably require the most. Any sort of grime can cause audible issues in playback such as pops and crackles or a muffled, undefined sound. This might be literal dirt, or dust ingrained…

Resurrecting Vinyl: how to clean your turntable and records properly

On Test Rotel A8 Integrated Amplifier Integrated Amplifier + • Informative sound sets the benchmark at this price • Nails the basics − • No digital inputs or Bluetooth RRP $649 A strong sense of déjà vu fills the room when I unbox Rotel's new A8 integrated stereo amplifier. It reminds me of the company's excellent, award-winning budget models from the early 2000s. Sure, there is more sophisticated switching here along with flashes of colour thanks to the use of LED lighting around the central volume control, but in essence, the A8 looks to be packing the same DNA. Just to be clear, that's a good thing! DESIGN This is not an amplifier to show off about. It is a slim unit that stands just over 7cm tall and whose styling…

On Test esoterica Tannoy SGM 10 Loudspeakers Loudspeakers + • Punchy and dynamic • Big midrange presence • Go loud! − • Grilles hide adjustment panels • Mounting hardware RRP $9,999 Tannoy was famous for its loudspeakers long before it built its first hi-fi loudspeaker. Every railway station in Great Britain was fitted out with the Scottish company's public address speakers to announce the comings and goings of the trains among other public service announcements. Indeed, its name was for a few years in danger of losing its ‘trademark’ status and becoming a generic term for public address systems. The Collins dictionary says of the company's name: ‘A Tannoy is a system of loudspeakers used to make public announcements, for example at a fair or at a sports stadium.’ Tannoy's legal…

Laboratory Test Report

esoterica Lab Report Tannoy SGM 10 Loudspeakers The in-room frequency response measured by Newport Test Labs for the Tannoy SGM 10 is shown in Graph 1. The response was measured using pink noise as the signal source and the trace shown is the average of nine individual measurements, made in a grid fashion, with the centre of the grid on-axis with the compression driver. The response averaging smooths the response to what would be perceived by the human ear. You can see that it is exceptionally flat and linear across the midrange, such that between 200Hz and 10kHz it is essentially within ±1dB! The overall measured frequency response was 50Hz–20kHz ±3dB, which is also exceptionally good. You can see that the response rolls off quite sharply above 9kHz, losing about 4dB…

Laboratory Test Report

Is Tidal truly lossless?

esoterica Feature Tidal investigation We all know that of the two music streaming services most widely supported by hi-fi hardware, Tidal is technically “better” because its streams are mostly losslessly compressed. The other, more popular one, which is of course Spotify, has promised lossless compression via a Spotify HiFi tier for years but so far failed to deliver; the best you can currently get from the green streaming giant is lossy compression at 320kbps. To give you an idea of how that compares to ‘CD-quality’ audio, uncompressed ‘CD quality’ is 1,411kbps while losslessly compressed ‘CD quality’ tends to be in the region of 700 to 900kbps on average. Now, here's the thing: we all know Tidal is lossless because it tells us so. And while I have no particular reason to…

Is Tidal truly lossless?

B&W 805 D4 Signature

Lab Report esoterica Bowers & Wilkins 805 D4 Signature Loudspeakers On Test Loudspeakers + • Superb sound — especially the midrange • Exclusive finishes • Compact cabinet − • Speaker terminals not very grippy RRP $21,900 Signature loudspeaker designs were once exactly that: loudspeakers that bore the actual signature of the person responsible for designing them. That's still true in some cases, but in many others it is now used in the spirit of a top chef's ‘signature’ dish. Certainly in the case of the Bowers & Wilkins 805 D4 Signature, an actual signature would not, sadly, be feasible — the design's originator, John Bowers, died in 1987, and his founding partner, Roy Wilkins, after leaving the company many years earlier, has also long since departed. So when it comes to…

B&W 805 D4 Signature

Laboratory Test Report

Graph 1 shows the in-room frequency response of the 805 D4 Signature, as measured in the far-field by Newport Test Labs, using pink noise as the test stimulus. You can see that the section of the response from 1kHz down to 300Hz is very flat — within a dB or so — after which there is a rise of around 2.5dB to a shelf that starts at around 200Hz and is maintained down to around 150Hz. The response then rolls off slowly and steadily with decreasing frequency, this roll-off due to the speaker being measured on a stand in the centre of a room. If the speaker had been closer to a wall, the level of bass would be higher than is graphed here. Above 1kHz, you can see the…

Laboratory Test Report

The Wombles were GOATs. The furry litter-pickers are my guilty secret…

Music Reviews The Wombles Can you easily name your favourite recording artists? When asked this question, I generally rattle off a rapid list of Led Zeppelin, ELO, Yes, Kate Bush, Pink Floyd — these were the formative artists who shaped my early listening, and their albums feature large (monumentally for Led Zeppelin, given I bought all nine of the 2014/5 deluxe boxsets) in my vinyl collection. If I check my streaming history, however, only ELO and Yes feature there strongly, and even they are both outranked by Philip Glass and 10CC, and are quite dominated by Alex the Astronaut, who thankfully saves me from a list entirely devoid of contemporary artists. But there is an omission. I have long suppressed from my list the band which may have been most influential…

The Wombles were GOATs. The furry litter-pickers are my guilty secret…

Music Reviews Top Picks

The Cure Songs Of A Lost World POLYDOR/FICTION Partly road-tested live over the past two years, the dense orchestral arrangements of those new, trialled songs inevitably led to speculation that this new album would be a sequel to diehard fan favourite, 1989's ‘Disintegration’. But ‘Songs Of A Lost World’ is actually a different animal. Where ‘Disintegration’ provided light amongst its melancholy, ‘Songs…’ is darker and downbeat — a blend of ‘Disintegration’ and ‘Pornography'era Cure. But its position in the overall Cure canon is less relevant than where it stands in 2024, which is backcombed head and sloped shoulders above the dreck of indie/goth rock revivalists. Other than 1985's ‘The Head On The Door’, ‘Songs…’ is the only album in The Cure's discography written solely by bandleader Robert Smith. Informed by…

Music Reviews Top Picks

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