7 Of The Quirkiest Hi-Fi And Home Cinema Products On The Planet

Enough of the serious stuff, time for some oddballs...

Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds

Out with the old Bose and in with the new

Q Acoustics 5040 Home Cinema Package

Want to inject some energy into your home cinema sound? Look no further

TURNTABLES

Whether you're buying new records or dusting off old ones, these great players will do your vinyl justice

WIRELESS HEADPHONES

With active noise-canceling other sonic tech moving at a rapid pace, this is a fascinating category

CD PLAYERS

If you're still hanging on to your beloved CDs, they will sparkle when played through these

WIRED HEADPHONES

For the true audiophile, these expressive wired headphones will enhance your listening experience

How To Be Good At Everything

All-in-one stereo speaker systems used to be about - now they are about excellence compromise

THE BEST GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY TRACKS TO TEST YOUR HI-FI SYSTEM

What Hi-Fi?'s own Awesome Mix Tape will give your stereo set-up a good run out

Burmester 100 Phono

This Burmester is a topclass phono stage with a price tag to match

SME Model 60

Careful evolutionary engineering has resulted in one of the world's most capable turntables

Goldmund: Mimesis 37S NextGen/Telos 300

Expensive but worth it

Stax: SR-L700 Mk2/ SRM-700T

These Stax set the standard for detail and clarity

Unconventional wisdom

\"The overall sonic signature is instantly likeable and one that offers a magnified view of any recording you throw at it.\"

NAD C 538

A solid CD player worthy of serious consideration

AUDIO TECHNICA AT-LP3

This brilliant budget turntable combines features and performance to great effect

LENCO L-85

Great features make this a highly recommended budget plug-and-play deck

REGA 10

Signature Rega sound in a highly accessible package

Yamaha YH-5000SE

Mention Yamaha to us and it is the brand’s enviable track record with home cinema amplifiers that comes to mind

Wilson Benesch A.C.T.3Zero

We listen to hundreds of products every year. Some are bad, many are good and the odd few are truly excellent. But then, once or twice in a decade, if we’re lucky, we come across something as sublime as Wilson Benesch’s A.C.T. 3Zero

Bowers & Wilkins Pi7 S2

Premium earbuds with not-so-premium performance

Sony NW-WM1ZM2: Portable music player

We just happened to be reading a Steve Jobs biography the other day. Among all the interesting insights and anecdotes, we came across a story about the original Apple iPod. It is said that, throughout the development of this landmark music player, Jobs feared that Sony would get to market first with this type of product.

WHAT HI-FI SHOW REPORT 2023

In our quest to bring the finest sound and video to our fans and industry as a whole, the What Hi-Fi team works tirelessly to stage the annual show. As always, the support and enthusiasm from the fraternity is humbling and makes us push ourselves even beyond the norm. In a bid to be more inclusive to all sorts of music lovers, we invited some of the world's finest headphones, AV receivers and even the most talked about bookshelf speaker of the year! Besides the large demo spaces and substantial displays by AK International showcasing the finest that Focal and Naim have to offer, even the colossal Grande Utopia EM EVO made an appearance as a showstopper. Expectedly, it did leave everyone dumbfounded with its sheer size and sticker price!