Issue 178    December 2019

Our Largest Issue Ever!
Recent audio products iare hugely uplifting!
Editorial By Alan Sircom

  This is one of our largest ever issues, and it is devoted to this year's Awards. Why so many awards? We have felt that the audio industry is undergoing something of a renaissance at the moment, and many of the best sounding, and best performing audio devices have been made in recent years. The improvements to streaming and personal audio devices are self-evident, but there have also been improvements in all fields of audio and these deserve respect.

Although this year has been a somewhat turbulent one internationally, and that has reflected in a quieter market (not simply for audio and not just in the UK; people are being a little more circumspect in their buying habits universally at the moment, as if lying in wait for events across the globe to resolve themselves one way or another), the level of innovation and intuitive design that has gone into recent audio products is hugely uplifting, and bodes well for the future. We are coming up to the centenary of the birth of radio broadcasting, and 1920s saw the introduction of electrical recording technologies, and it was the decade that Rice and Kellogg showed the world how to make a loudspeaker. 100 years on, we are still perfecting these technologies, and the 20s this time round look set to be as technologically exciting as the Roaring Twenties of the last century, but without Flapper Girls and Model T Fords!

This issue is not without its ups and downs, however. Sadly, this month is the last we will see Chris Martens name as Editorial Director. He leaves Nextscreen after almost 17 years with the company. His role in Hi-Fi+ in recent years, starting as Publisher and then as Editorial Director, has been pivotal in shaping the direction of the magazine. In particular, he was instrumental in the development of the significance of personal audio to the modern iteration of Hi-Fi+, but has also helped develop the brand into a truly international audio presence, and has been a champion of the magazine in his native America for many years.

We don't expect this to be the last we'll see of Chris Martens, as his writing and insights on audio – and especially in the field personal audio – will still appear on the pages of Hi-Fi+. But, regardless... thanks from all the team!

Our congratulations to Daniel Grimes of Wakefield in the UK, who wins a pair of the excellent Dan Clark Audio ETHER 2 headphones, worth more than £2,000! Well done!

Alan Sircom, Editor Hi-Fi+