Volume 6 No. 3

Reviewed In This Issue
2 WE HAVE MANY CHOICES
Editorial By Paul Messenger

4 STAN’S SAFARI No19
The roots of hum, and how to avoid it

6 DNM HFTN
Short report on DNM’s HFTN speaker cable terminators

7 RADICAL CHIC
Gradient’s Helsinki takes a very unusual approach to both directivity and presentation

10 LETTER FROM SHENZHEN
How the Chinese economy is responding to global recession

12 NAÏVE NETWORKING
A computer sceptic tries getting to grips with network audio

15 RIPPING YARNS
Jason discusses the delights of a good GUI

16 EXCELLENCE IN MINIATURE
Magico’s Q1 must surely be the most advanced and costly miniature speaker around

22 THE VALVE DAC
Every brand has a DAC these days, but one with valves is very unusual

24 SUPER-SLIM TONIC
An unusually fashionable and lounge-friendly speaker with some clever ideas

32 TWEAKING THE TANNOYS
David King has found that simple changes substantially improved his Westminster Royals

34 MUSIC AND THE EAR
Examining the relationships between our hearing and music

37 WHITHER DIGITAL?
Meridian supremo Bob Stuart talks about the evolution of digital audio

40 ROCKING WITH UNITY
Rafael Todes tries a compact active speaker with Pro credentials

42 THRAX DIONYSOS
This Thrax pre-amplifier puts Bulgaria firmly on the high end hi-fi map

44 DAC FOR MAC?/UNPLUG ’N’ PLAY
A DAC to match a Mac mini, and the bonus of a battery supply option

47 SPHERICAL SEDUCTION
Does the Planet L deliver substance as well as style?

48 VALVES GALORE
This MM/MC phono stage uses no fewer than 22 valves

50 BITS & PIECES
Short reviews on six accessories

26 FOUR AFFORDABLE CARTRIDGES
Chris Bryant tries four mid-price movingcoils, from Audio-Technica, Dynavector, Ortofon and Zu Audio (nee Denon)

31 DISCRETELY CLASSY
What effect does Naim’s new discrete component power supply regulator have on a NAC552?

52 JAZZ PICKS
Greg Drygala surveys the current jazz scene

55 THE BEST OF CLASSICAL
The latest classical picks from Colin Anderson

58 ROCK, POP AND OTHER NICE
Nigel Finn chooses recent highlights

60 SUBJECTIVE SOUNDS
Back to vinyl bliss

 

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