July 2015
In This Issue...
Schematics, 384kHz DAC, plus great gear within this issue.
Editorial By Noel Keywood

  It has been a long time since we published circuit diagrams in Hi-Fi World. But you'll find pages of them this month, starting at page 88. As editor I always quake a little at what non-technical readers will think when we publish circuits, because if you're not into DIY and don't enjoy the smell of solder flux, this is all gobbledegook. But on the other hand I know a lot of readers love a good, hard look at what's going on, as well as something to build – and I feel David Lord's feature has merit past the effectiveness of his circuits. He writes in an easy, accessible style – rare in this field – and both parts of his feature article have contained in-depth info on the best way to get a great sound from LP. He even makes the point that unless you're running in balanced mode, you are not getting the best from your record deck, going on to illustrate the issues in fine detail. I loved reading it all – I hope you do. And solder flux smells sort-of nice in any case!

Good grief – Cowon's Plenue P1 has an ARM based Cortex A9 computer on-board, running on Linux. And it played 384kHz sample rate digital – I half expected smoke to come out of the headphone socket. Having just received a press release in our editorial in-box for a new Astell&Kern player, an AK380 with dual-32bit DACs (actually, most DACs have 32-bit minimum internal resolution, see Enjoy the Music.com's review of the AK380 here) and a price of £3000 – yes, really – there seems to be some sort of portable techno war going on in Korea, both companies being Korean. You can read about the amazing Cowon on page 15. It eats digital for lunch.

Whilst reviewing Tannoy's new XT 8F loudspeakers I heard that they had been sold by their previous investment company owners, who probably turned a nice profit since Tannoy are an attractive purchase, and have been bought by an acquisitional offshoot of German pro audio manufacturer, Behringer. What Behringer get is a large factory in Coatbridge, Glasgow and an almost unique name with a long and illustrious history. I hope they will continue with Tannoy's wonderful Prestige Series that must surely be just about unique. I see this product in the same vein as Bentley or Harley Davidson; both were once seen as anachronistic and beyond hope in a modern world, and both are now thriving in a way few thought possible. Happily, Tannoy never gave up on the Dual-Concentric and you can read about their lovely new XT 8F – a loudspeaker with cojones – on page 58.

Yes – it's a busy hi-fi world out there. I hope you like the bit of it we bring you in here, our latest issue.

--- Noel Keywood, editor.

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