The DVD-Audio vs. SACD conflict was raging by 2002. Many manufacturers first pledged their allegiance to one format, but quickly realized that they needed to support both new hi-res disc formats. Because this was before the age of so-called “universal” players, most businesses offered a choice of two models that were essentially the same. For […]
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Prices began to drop within a few years after the first SACD players arrived. You didn’t have to spend £5,000 on Marantz’s groundbreaking SA-1 any longer. Suddenly, DVD players with SACD compatibility became available for a tenth of the price, and the Philips DVD 763SA was the cheapest serious Super Audio Compact Disc spinner by
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The vintage Ultimo 10X, a high output moving coil built and manufactured by Dynavector of Japan, will be remembered by any analogue enthusiast worth his record collection. It was one of the most musical cheap pickups available in the late 1970s, with the added benefit of not requiring a pricey step up transformer. The problem
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Even in 2004, CD players seemed to be nearing the end of their useful life. Because of the onslaught of DVD-Audio, SACD, and even universal machines, less and fewer people sought outdated, unreconstructed CD separates. Those who did were discerning audiophiles who realized that even the best DVD spinner couldn’t play 16-bit Compact Disc as
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Back in the early nineteen seventies, the main purveyors of turntables in Britain were Garrard and BSR, with the likes of Lenco, Dual, Philips, Collaro and Balfour also providing some popular designs. Many were auto-changers, and they were frequently featured in popular radiograms of the time; however, they were far from suitable for audiophile use.
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As one might anticipate, the cartridge market in the late 1970s was thriving. This was the pinnacle of the vinyl craze, when the format was all-powerful and the only method to listen to high-quality stereo recordings. As you might expect, the market was broad, with cheap Goldring G850 moving magnets retailing for around £10 and
Elite Electronic Industries 700 Review Read More »
If, as LeCorbusier put it, “design is intelligence made visible,” then Roy Gandy, the Rega RB300’s designer, has a few extra brain cells. This tonearm is a seminal design that was initially introduced in the summer of 1983. Its tracking weight spring can be chastised for adding a tinge of hue. The RB250, on the
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Peter Walker of Quad was entirely correct in looking for a better way to construct a loudspeaker. The failures of his flagship loudspeaker, the Quad CR Corner Ribbon, which was a radical hybrid design with a ribbon tweeter and a conventional bass driver in a wood cabinet, inspired him. Even though it was one of
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Since its introduction over half a century ago, many hundreds of thousands of Hadcocks have been sold in over a hundred countries, making it one of the most popular tonearms that most audiophiles have never heard of. It’s a traditional unipivot design – indeed, for its fans, it’s the classic unipivot – that predates more
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Farad Azima, his brother Henry, and Stan Curtis were the founding directors of Mission Electronics, which was founded in 1977. Another intriguing new British hi-fi firm to emerge from the ‘Silicon Fen’ around Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire – the UK’s equivalent of Silicon Valley, if you will – it quickly established itself with the likes of A&R
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