Volume 8 No. 1

Reviewed In This Issue

2 Approaches In Reviewing And Vinyl Longevity
Editorial By Paul Messenger

Contents
4 STAN'S SAFARI No25
This month Stan focuses his attention on the humble resistor.

6 WIRELESS FUTURES?
Andrew Everard examines and discusses the possibilities of a wire-free future.

9 NAIM'S LITTLE DAC
Naim's compact DAC-V1 might be aimed at computer users but it makes plenty of sense as a digital pre-amp too.

10 ULTIMATE FACT
Martin Colloms' unvarnished review of PMC's Fact.12 loudspeaker.

14 JPLAY + JCAT
Chris Bryant tries out the JPLAY audio replay software and the JCAT USB cable.

16 40 YEARS YOUNG
Linn celebrates the 40th anniversary of its timeless Sondek with this special 'fully loaded' record player.

18 VALVE INTEGRATION
Audio Research has combined pre- and power amps in its new VSi75 integrated amplifier.

22 AVOIDING EMI BY MAXIMISING EMC
Tony Waldron explains electromagnetic interference mechanisms, and how the EU EMC Directive is helping provide solutions.

26 AFFORDABLE M-C CARTRIDGES
Chris Bryant tries out four relatively inexpensive m-c cartridges.

30 REVIEWING HI-FI
Martin Colloms explains the evaluation procedures he adopts to achieve the best results with long term consistency.

34 EXAKTITUDE
Jason Kennedy flew to Glasgow to find out about Linn's low-loss DSP-based Exakt speaker technology.

36 PASSIVE EXCELLENCE
The Audio Music R-S balanced transformer level control delivers excellent sound at a reasonable price.

38 THE Rs HAVE IT
Apollo-R, Saturn-R and Elicit-R: Rega's latest budget electronics investigated by Paul.

41 FIRST NAIT
Martin Colloms revisits an original Naim Nait, first introduced some thirty years ago.

42 BACKUP STRATEGIES
Pete Wood explains why it's essential to back up computer audio files, and how to do so.

45 BITS & PIECES
Chris Bryant tries out Musical Fidelity's V90-series headphone amplifier and phono stage.

46 LOUDNESS WARRIOR
Mastering maestro Bob Ludwig talks about his life and of fighting the 21st century loudness wars.

50 INDEX
Our annual index to Volume 7's music and hardware features and reviews.

52 FAVOURITE THINGS
PMC's Tom Barron picks his top ten favourite discs.

54 JAZZ PICKS
Greg Drygala picks six interesting recent jazz releases.

56 THE BEST OF CLASSICAL
Colin Anderson chooses a new batch of classical releases.

58 ROCK, POP & OTHER NICE MUSIC
Nigel Finn of The Chord Company presents his latest selection

60 SUBJECTIVE SOUNDS
Linn's 40th Anniversary LP12 reminds Paul Messenger of the Linn/Naim alliance... and the split.

 

Subscribe!

Click here to subscribe to HIFICRITIC

 

Previous Issues
2013
January/March   April/June   July/September  October/December

2012
January/March   April/June   July/September   October/December

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