Hitachi’s discovery and production of MOSFETs (Metal Oxide Silicon Field Effect Transistor) had a major role in the hi-fi world that was just around the corner in the mid-1970s. The world had only been in solid-state for fifteen years and was still on a long and steep learning curve. However, Hitachi’s new power MOSFET output […]
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The tale of the Musical Fidelity A1 design is already well-known. Tim de Paravicini accepts the challenge. “I strive to be innovative, and if I can avoid it, I don’t duplicate anybody,” he explained. “It all started with a circuit on a breadboard that I created with low feedback and that acted like a valve
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Tube amplification was viewed as an extreme niche in hi-fi in the late 1990s, similar to how most petrolheads thought of kit cars (i.e. “interesting, but not for me”). So maybe it’s a sign of the times that we’re suddenly getting more new valve items than transistor products. Icon Audio happened to be in the
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The M1 CLiC, which cost £1,239 when it was released in 2011, was an exceedingly amazing piece of equipment at the time. It was described at the time as a preamplifier, DAC, and network music player all in one, and it seemed incredibly adaptable. When you paired it with the matching £599 M1 CDT transport,
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This was a superb affordable audiophile valve amplifier that was launched in 2012 for the princely sum of £1,700. “The original Stereo 40 was born in 2000, and was at the heart of what we do, top quality amplifiers at a reasonable price,” said chief designer David Shaw. This is a jumble of ideas with
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When the 3155 was introduced in January 1985, NAD touted it as “two products in one.” “As a preamplifier, it rivals the sound characteristics of most discrete audiophile preamps while outperforming them in terms of operating versatility.” It pushes even problematic loudspeakers to shockingly high volume levels with clean, substantial, full-bodied musical sound that is
The famous 845 power triode began life as a radio transmitting vacuum tube, with a physically huge anode dissipation of 75 watts and an anode voltage of 1,250V. Because the thoriated tungsten filament – which shined like a lightbulb – was powered at 10 Volts and 3.25 Amps, any transmitter running a large number of
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When Naim Audio released its first standalone digital-to-analogue converter towards the end of the first decade of the new century, it raised some eyebrows. The company stated that it wouldn’t be worthwhile to do one until it could provide something technically novel, which it did. The £1,995 Naim DAC was created with jitter in mind
Few could have predicted how popular the JBL L100 would become when it was initially introduced at CES 1970 in Chicago. It was a consumer version of the professional 4310/4311 monitors, with the same driver lineup and powerful Alnico V magnets. For the midrange and treble drivers, a basic crossover was used, with the bass
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Some may dismiss this as merely another of the many power amplifiers made by the Salisbury solid-state specialists over the years, but I believe it has something unique to offer in the grand scheme of things. Naim Audio rose to prominence with the NAC 32 and NAP 250, despite not being the company’s first preamp/power
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