PREMIUM STREAMING

A serious hi-fi set-up that will make your music sing

- 

Now this is a serious hi-fi system, one built with the latest 21st century technology in mind. For the best part of seven grand, you will have a system that makes your music truly sing; and here we have a full house of 2024 Award-winners to boot.

While it is by no means always the case that simply bunging a gaggle of Award-winners together will produce a system worthy of the name, this trio of equipment fits together beautifully and fully justifies the individual Awards given to the component parts. Synergy at its finest.

We kick things off with the stunning Audiolab 9000N streamer. Despite a hefty two and a half grand price tag, the 9000N still managed to come away from our Awards with not only the Best Buy in its category, but also the overall Product of the Year gong. When you consider that it was up against some brilliant opposition from the Cambridge products we highlight elsewhere in these systems, and a fabulous budget WiiM streamer, that just shows how superb the Audiolab is – even at this price.

The 9000N is an impressively transparent streamer and seems able to shift character depending on the recording. It sounds clean and uncluttered even when confronted by a complex piece of classical music, and retains an enviable degree of composure when music jumps quickly from quiet sections to full-bore crescendos. "Tonal neutrality is impressive," we say in our review, "as is the streamer's ability to resolve the finest of details. Instrumental and vocal textures are rendered with care, and its confident handling of dynamic nuances keeps the listener gripped."