June 2012
Within This Issue...
Editorial By Noel Keywood

 

  The gorgeous, sculpted Red Reference CD player from Chord Electronics is a product I have lusted after since it was launched – and it is now in MkIII status. How time flies. One reason is buried in the history of this magazine. We interviewed its designer, Rob Watts, long long ago when he started Deltec Precision Audio and designed some fascinatingly unique digital products. It was great to speak to Rob yet again, this time by telephone, about the technology behind the Red Reference MkIII. A player like this is so unusual but advanced there is nothing else remotely similar, making it vital to speak to the designer to get the facts within our report right.

Sneaking in through the back door, metaphorically speaking, came the amazing Tellurium Q power amplifier. It doesn't have the arresting looks of the Red Reference, but again inside this product lies something very different: a single-ended transistor amplifier. Mad - but not bad! Read our report to find out why.

You thought digital cables couldn't affect sound quality? We all thought that, or were told it by those 'experts' who don't know how little they know. Hi-Fi World readers know better though! Two great letters from readers this month tell us why digital cables matter, how they affect sound quality and also tell us where digital is going. Fascinating. I'm dreaming of fibre optic cable runs around my house already, using ultra-fine, glass high tech. cables. Forget Ethernet cables. And TOSLINK cables?"Gaslight" (to paraphrase a certain classical conductor commenting upon LP after hearing CD).

Over in the parallel world of AV, Blu-ray is its standard bearer behind and appears to be going nowhere. Silver discs are now viewed as "yesterday" (they too have become gaslight!). Manufacturers are furiously giving their AV products network connectivity to move away from reliance on silver discs, including Blu-ray. We review two AV products that illustrate just what is happening to AV as it morphs into more than just Home Cinema support technology.

There's a lot going on out there and this month's issue of Hi-Fi World brings it to you. I hope you enjoy!

--- Noel Keywood, editor.

 

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