Hi Fi News

Our exclusive review of dCS’s incredible five-box streamer/DAC [HFN Feb ’25] has touched off some correspondence on the – er – touchy subject of its price tag [p119]. Similar outrage might be levelled at any number of the flagship products that grace our pages, but then Hi-Fi News is duty-bound to report from the cutting edge, even if that clifftop has become more precipitous over the last decade or so. Testing 100kg amplifiers and 200kg loudspeakers requires very specialised facilities [see p41], so the next time you see a very big speaker ‘reviewed’ elsewhere, spare a moment to ask how this was done… But let’s return to the sordid topic of coin and why the ‘high-end’ typically means ‘high-ticket’. The answer, in short, is economy of scale. At first sight…

Matrix expands MATRIX AUDIO ADDS FLAGSHIP TRANSPORT, CLOCK Following the lead of Matrix Audio’s MS-1 streamer/DAC [HFN Feb ’25] are two new digital transports, plus a reference clock, that integrate the flagship M Series’ ‘design language’ and full-size chassis. Ticketed at £1800, the TT-1 is MA’s successor to its Element S transport. Fronted by the same touchscreen user interface as the MS-1, and leveraging that model’s ‘hi-fi streaming hardware’, it combines outputs on coaxial, optical, AES/EBU, I 2 S and USB with local/network streaming managed by the latest iteration of the brand’s MA Player OS. Playback from USB drives, plus (optional) built-in NVMe SSD storage, is also supported. The flagship NT-1 [pictured right], for £4000, mirrors the TT-1’s specification but replaces the switching power supply with a linear PSU that…

Over the weekend of February 21-23, the Florida International Audio Expo, founded by Bart Andeer and his partners, celebrated its sixth year as a showcase of high-end audio systems. Held at a new venue – the Sheraton Tampa Brandon Hotel near the Florida State Fairgrounds – the event brought together hi-fi industry leaders and boutique innovators. Demos featuring state-of-the-art gear attracted audiophiles to a sunlit setting where listeners could evaluate sonic performance, or just enjoy the music… Driven here by REF 330M amps from Audio Research [HFN Apr ’25], Oneiros Audio’s debut speaker is a 1.61m-tall floorstander with a flowing silhouette. The monocoque carbon fibre cabinet, said to benefit from F1-inspired engineering methods, weighs 140kg and houses pairs of custom-made graphene-composite bass and mid units, plus ‘diamond’ dome tweeter. www.oneirosaudio.com…

If you’d used the word ‘psychedelic’ in polite conversation back in the 1960s, the only people who would likely have understood it would have had a background in medicine. But since then, the long and fruitful relationship between creatives and recreational drug-taking has ensured that it’s now much more often used to describe music. And even then, ‘psychedelic’ has become so widely used that it’s routinely appended to pretty much any music that has a slightly unusual, surreal feel to it. Settling on a list of 20 psychedelic records spanning the late ’60s era of LSD cheerleading to the present day, therefore, isn’t easy. It’s a description that can cover all kinds of modern music, from laid-back, pastoral folk to minimalist techno to doomladen heavy rock. BEAMED TO YOUR BRAIN…

You hold in your hands the world’s oldest and most respected hi-fi magazine – Hi-Fi News – where heavyweight audio engineering is our stock in trade. All our review products are typically subject to a one-month test process from shipping, unpacking, installation, photography, lab work, extended listening, disassembly/packing and collection. This practice was maintained right through the pandemic period, with full Covid biosecurity adding to the logistical complexity of our four-week issue schedule. But we did it… never missing one issue of the magazine or compromising the ‘Hi-Fi News Pledge’: 1. Our hardware reviews are never brief ‘hands on’ experiences of a product from a press conference, brand-led demonstration or distributor’s back room spun up into a four or five page article. 2. Products reviewed in Hi-Fi News already have…

Review: Mark Craven Lab: Paul Miller Named after the Maine town where it started in 1984, although now based down the coast in South Thomaston, Rockport Technologies has been known by audiophiles since the 1990s as a manufacturer of high-end – and heavyweight – loudspeakers. The Orion floorstander tested here is no exception, weighing 163kg per piece and selling for £165,000. Suffice to say, it’s a far cry from the early sub/sat systems of chief designer Andy Payor [see boxout, p45]. The Orion sits one from the top in Rockport’s range, the flagship spot being held by the £229,000 Lyra. And because the manufacturer easily fits the definition of ‘boutique’, with a small staff and production runs that other companies would consider ‘limited edition’, there are only four other options.…