Easy listening

Nick Tate is beguiled by this interesting new mini monitor that sports a little long-lost BBC DNA magic

Back in business

As Oppo makes its audio comeback with an affordable and impressive set of earbuds, Cliff Joseph welcomes it with open ears

Welcome to dreamland

For over 40 years this family-run speaker specialist has epitomised the best of Danish design. This newbie continues the tradition

Common PEOPLE

Forget Blur and Oasis, when it came to Britpop only one band mattered.

Master class

Nick Tate talks to the men behind a significant new series of MQA releases: The Montreux Years

Top five

Brand new speaker range from France

Let's get physical

Shine worn off streaming? Vinyl collection denting the bank balance? It's time to reconnect with the original digital format.

Black Rhodium Twist Classic

Hi-Fi Choice the low-cost twin flex supplied with a starter music system, the Twist Classic is a two-core twisted pair employing 0.75mm2 tinned copper conductors insulated with a 1.2mm silicone rubber dielectric.

The Missing Link Alaqeia

THIS INTERCONNECT USES The Missing Link's Ultrapure silver-plated oxygen-free copper conductors in a pseudo-balanced construction to offer superior RFI rejection and is insulated with a PTFE dielectric.

Russ Andrews Evolution-300 PowerKord

BUILDING ON THE success of the Evolution-100 PowerKord (HFC 461), the 300 employs twice as many woven conductors.

True Colours Industries Python II

MARKETED AS A no-compromise reference-grade speaker cable, the Python II is available as a standard pre-terminated stereo cable and also as a 4-conductor pre-terminated bi-wire.

Jack White Fear Of The Dawn

IT’S HARD TO think of any artist who has seized DIY control of the entire production, distribution, promotion and marketing of his music as totally as Jack White.

A RECORDING TECHNOLOGY SHOWDOWN

What's the best way to record music? Half-soeed mastering? 33 or 45rom? Analogue or digital? Mike Valentine has produced an audiophile recording that allows you to decide for yourself. Neville Roberts attends the session

Nilufer Yanya Painless

BORN IN LONDON 26 years ago to an IrishBarbadian mother and a Turkish father, Nilufer Yanya may be the embodiment of modern multi-cultural Britain but she’s built her career in the old-fashioned way.

Angel Olsen Big Time

BORN IN ST Louis, Missouri 35 years ago and adopted at birth, Olsen began singing in a punk band in her teens before moving to Chicago, where she became a backing singer for Will Oldham, whose albums as Bonnie Prince Billy have made him pretty much the liege lord of alt-folk.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs Cool It Down

IT’S MORE THAN 20 years since the Yeah Yeah Yeahs emerged as part of a new millennium resurgence in edgy, post-punk alternative American rock. Formed in New York by singer Karen O, drummer Brian Chase and guitarist/ keyboard player Nick Zinner, the trio’s earliest gigs were supporting the Strokes and White Stripes, which provided them with an audience that was already willing and able when the band eventually released its first album, Fever To Tell in 2003.

What's in the box?

When it comes to choosing loudspeakers, there are many designs to pick from. Neville Roberts discusses what different cabinet enclosure types offer

DESTINATION: NORTH BERWICK

There’s a record shop making waves on the East Lothian coast, nurturing tomorrow’s DJ talent today. Simon Berkovitch hits the decks and digs the crates

DESTINATION: HACKNEY

Man about town Simon Berkovitch heads to East London in search of vinyl bliss and finds that heaven is a place on Mare Street

DESTINATION: OXFORD

Simon Berkovitch, takes a punt on Riverman Records – a haven for classics of all kinds

Slipped discs

Back in October 2021 we warned you that a potential vinyl shortage was in the offing. Nigel Williamson confirms our darkest fear could be coming true

What Apple wants...

As the Cupertino company’s latest plans hint at the development of a next-gen successor to Bluetooth, CliffJoseph finally has hope for its wireless future

Yup, vinyl!

As Record Store Day starts to become part of the problem, Steve Sutherland salutes the positive steps being made to solve the current vinyl shortage

DESTINATION: The Face Mags £5 THANET

It’s a tale of two cities – Margate and Ramsgate – for Simon Berkovitch, but the song remains the same in these record shops for bookworms on the Kent coast

Bowers & Wilkins PX7 S2

Available in grey, blue or black, B&W describes the Px7 S2 as its: “best active noise-cancelling wireless headphone yet” – at least until the Px8 arrives on the scene, stepping the price right up to £500. Though it looks very similar to previous incarnations, the Px7 S2 is a major upgrade that includes improvements both inside and out. B&W states that the earpieces are slimmer, slightly lighter and padded with memory foam for extra comfort.

iFi Audio GO blu

A portable DAC that uses Bluetooth to connect wired headphones to a wireless audio source might seem like an odd idea. After all, if you want the convenience of wireless music the obvious solution is a set of Bluetooth headphones. There is, however, some method to the apparent madness behind iFi's GO blu.

Philips Fidelio L3

Philips refers to the L3 as “accessible high-end”, an approach that extends to the choice of materials and build quality as well as sound that’s rich and refined, tuned as much by ear as measurement by the Fidelio team. Assets include a decent battery life of 38 hours, which falls to a still generous 32 hours if you keep the ANC switched on while 15 minutes plugged in gets you a handy six hours of playback. Forget to power down when you take them off and the L3s will do it for you after a few minutes.

Mark Levinson N°5909

Mark Levinson is an unashamedly luxury brand and its No5909 makes no compromises whatsoever, offering “luxury listening on the go”, with hi-res audio support, impressive battery, active noise cancellation (ANC) and a number of versatile connectivity features.

Audio-Technica ATH-CKS50TW

Audio-Technica’s ATHCKS50TW is a generously priced earbud, but it provides a really good combination of useful features and attractive sound quality. It might be a little on the chunky side, but A-T says it’s designed to fi t very securely in the ear and there are four sizes of ear-tips included. I manage to get a good fi t, but some users may still prefer earbuds with a more compact design.

Technics EAH-AZ60

It has to be said that the Technics' EAH-AZ60 doesn't make a great first impression. The £200 price tag is tempting, but the charging case that holds the earbuds feels rather light and flimsy compared with most of its rivals. And, upon downloading the Technics Audio Connect app, you're presented with pages of irritating terms and conditions and some rather confusing instructions.