Premium stereo system

A serious price for seriously talented and well-matched hi-fi

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You need only glance at the price of this system to know that we are looking at serious hi-fi here. We are at the very least in nosebleed territory, well up the crags of the hi-fi mountain range, if not quite in need of oxygen; the upper slopes of this hobby, after all, can take you beyond even the peak of a metaphorical Everest. What Hi-Fi? is perhaps more suited to the Alps than the Himalayas; just over 13 grand is heady enough for us.

What that serious price doesn't mean, however, is that you're not getting good value for money. Far from it. This system, as with all the others you will see recommended in What Hi-Fi?, no matter the cost, is punching well above its not inconsiderable weight.

The path to hi-fi excellence can be a long and complicated one, fraught with compatibility woes and mismatched components. But, sometimes, a lineup of stellar individual performers comes together to create something truly magical, where the sum is greater than the parts.

Vertere Acoustics' high-end turntables have dazzled us in the past, with their outstanding rhythmic and dynamic expression and innovative engineering.

What impresses us even more is how this brand dares to think differently when it comes to its 'entry-level' Dynamic Groove (DG) model. Instead of simply scaling down the higher-end MG-1 or SG-1 models and using cheaper materials, Vertere takes a completely fresh approach with the DG model in a bid to hit the (relatively) lower price point.