Volume 6 No. 1

Reviewed In This Issue
2 EDITORIAL BY PAUL MESSENGER
The business of being the editor.

4 STAN’4 STAN’S SAFARI No17
Are analogue and digital distortion mechanisms qualitatively different?

6 LETTER FROM SHENZHEN
Peter Comeau examines the thorny issue of outsourcing.

8 WALLS OF SOUND
"Look, no speakers!" An intriguingly different approach to getting quality sound in your lounge.

12 AUDIO RESEARCH REF5 SE
MC tries the souped up SE version of the Reference 5 pre-amp.

15 AUDIOPHILE RECORDING
DIY recording for audiophiles, by a serious musician.

16 KEF BEFORE KEF
A chance meeting leads to some interesting deep background.

17 BUDGET STREAMING
Getting Cambridge Audio’s NP30 streamer working well took some effort but was ultimately worthwhile.

19 TWEAKING THE SONDEK
The Audioflat RubiKon is only half the price of Linn’s Keel, and it can be used with Rega arms.

20 AUDIO NETWORKING
More on the Naim UnitiServe and other computer network audio matters.

24 CLOCKING ON
Assessing MSB’s new femtosecond clock.

25 STANDING OUT
The new luxury stand-mounts put extra emphasis on the speaker stands.

27 GENELEC 8050A
Studio monitors seem excellent value, but do they deliver interesting music?

29 SONIC STUDIO AMARRA
A high end music player for Mac computers.

32 AUDIO RESEARCH REF150 POWER AMP
How good is Audio Research’s latest valve power amp?

36 THREE DISPARATE TURNTABLES
Turntables from Rega, Pro-Ject and Hanss come under scrutiny.

42 SEARCHING FOR SLEEPERS
The secondhand sector is full of interesting items.

45 THE HDMI FARRAGO
HDMI seemed a fine concept, but the practicalities aren’t so straightforward.

48 HIFICRITIC ‘AWARDS’
A rundown of the hardware that we’ve come to respect.

50 BITS & PIECES 2
Short items on the latest Proteus amplifier, B&W’s P5 headphones and Alto Extremo supports.

52 RIPPING YARNS
Jason Kennedy makes a case for computers and USB sockets.

53 THE BEST OF CLASSICAL
Colin Anderson selects some recent classical music releases.

56 ROCK, POP AND OTHER NICE MUSIC
Nigel Finn picks half a dozen new rock & pop releases.

58 2011 INDEX
An Index to the four issues of Vol 5.

60 SUBJECTIVE SOUNDS
It seems like you really can’t have it all...

 

Subscribe!

Click here to subscribe to HIFICRITIC

 

Previous Issues

2011

January/March   April/June   July/September

October/ December

 

2010

January/March   April/June   July/September   October/December

 

2009

January/March   April/June   July/September   October/December