December 2015
In This Issue...
Queen's Entire Collection And Abbey Roads Studio

  Queen were surely a band everyone was wowed by and loved. With a massive on-stage presence and songs like Bohemian Rhapsody (1975) that had a structure all of their own, this band was as popular in Patagonia as Peterborough I suspect. So when we heard Abbey Road Studios – a mile from our offices – were at it again, re-mastering the entire Queen studio collection this time – last time it was The Beatles – we were right there! You can read Paul Rigby's fascinating and admirable coverage of this audiophile LP box set, that takes in not just the songs but the technical mastering difficulties, on p79 of this issue.

Our telepathic readers, equipped with high speed cheque books, managed to get there first though, as Jenny Vine tells us on p36 of Letters. I suspect this box set will receive an equally enthusiastic reception around the world, where it will bring back old memories to those who first span Queen on LP long ago. Was it really the 1970s? Oh dear!

There's plenty of coverage in this issue of Chord's new portable DAC, Mojo, so I'll not say any more here. You can read my views, written days after launch, in our News Feature on p7 and my column on p67. Meanwhile Mojo is being tested for a review in our next issue; we didn't want to rush-review it for this issue, as some may choose to do.

Mojo is aimed at the portable market, for use with mobile phones, not Digital Audio Players (DAPs) I was told. But I spotted a press shot of it being used with an Astell&Kern AK120 DAP all the same (!).

You can see what I thought of FiiO's latest budget wonder DAP, the X5 2nd Gen, on p28. At just £399 the Mojo may be used in conjunction with players like this: we will see after listening to it at length next month.

And finally, we all loved listening to Quadral's Rhodium 400 loudspeakers. They were small but sassy, with surprisingly firm low bass for a ported loudspeaker: I wondered where it was all coming from at times! Don't miss Jon Myles review on p12. 

--- Noel Keywood, editor.

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