This time it's personal - the Naim Uniti Atom HE

/ Audio T Brighton/

Hi folks, and welcome to this month’s article from us here at Audio T Brighton. We’re in for a bit of a headphone journey this month because the streaming DAC/pre-amp in question is something I use personally on a daily basis. Let’s dive in and let you know my thoughts on this little marvel. Welcome to a review of the Naim Uniti Atom HE.

Naim Uniti Atom Headphone Edition...

naim uniti atom he

Released as an addition to the Naim Uniti Atom during the lock-down in 2020, the Naim Uniti Atom HE is a useful alternative package for the personal listener, without foregoing flexibility to the budding audiophile when playing back through some speakers, with the addition of a power amp or active speakers, of course. More on that feature later.

HE is very well connected...

At a glance, the Naim Uniti Atom HE looks virtually identical to the standard Naim Uniti Atom, so let’s summarise the similarities/differences because the retail price of both units are the same.

Naim Uniti Atom v Naim Uniti Atom HE

  • Ethernet/Wireless - Ethernet/Wireless

  • no phono stage - no phono stage

  • 3.5mm headphone input - 6.35mm input, 4.4mm & XLR balanced

  • HDMI eARC input - N/A

  • 40W/ch into 8ohms amp - Discrete headphone amp (1.5W/16ohm)

  • Both feature 2 x Toslink, 1 x Coax inputs, 1 x analogue RCA input, 2 x USB storage

If your primary listening is through a pair of loudspeakers, then the Naim Uniti Atom is a unit that performs superbly at the price, really looks the part, offers a good headphone output, connects to your T.V. and only needs a turntable and phono stage to be added separately to finish off a quality stereo system you’ll be happy with for many years. However if your raison d’etre is towards personal listening via a pair of headphones, then the Naim Uniti Atom HE really comes into its own.

Armed with 3 headphone outputs; a standard single-ended 1/4 inch jack on the front of the unit allows playback through the majority of cans, or if you’re more serious about your headphone playback, then two balanced connections are available; a 4.4mm Pentaconn on the front panel and a 4-pin XLR on the rear of the unit. The two outputs on the front automatically mute the pre-amp outputs on the rear, useful if you have a power amplifier connected to speakers. The rear balanced XLR output doesn’t mute the speakers, so you’ll have to use the headphone/preamp selector switch on the top-left of the front panel to make your choice. However, you can also make your output selection with headphones connected to one of the two jack sockets on the front panel if you wish, the switch usefully lighting up with a headphone symbol when connected to the headphone output.

Balanced or single-ended headphone output?

Balanced inputs/outputs are a hot topic in the hi-fi world at the moment, so let’s briefly discuss their pros and cons. Before we start though, we need to sing the praises of the DIN connections that Naim have used on their systems for a number of decades. The noise and grounding benefits of DIN are such that Naim still recommends their use on sonic grounds, where possible, but they are not widely used around the world which limits connectivity across brands when mixing and matching hi-fi components. Naim have opened the doors of compatibility across the world by incorporating balanced connections on their new products in the Naim 200 and Naim 300 series released in 2022/23.

naim uniti atom he with focal clear MG headphones

So why use the balanced connections on the Naim Uniti Atom HE?

The main reason is one shared with the professional audio industry. Noise is an unfortunate by-product of electronics, wi-fi and long cable runs - just ask any guitarist! Unfortunately, as well as sending a signal along a copper cable, the cable often acts as an antenna for RFI and EMI noise. Proper shielding and balanced connections can help reduce noise, especially over a longer cable length. For shorter lengths, like those often encountered in domestic use, single ended RCA connections may be better, as advocated by companies like Linn, but your mileage may vary depending on how noisy your electrical environment is.

Personally, I run a longer length cable (5 metres) so I can sit or lie down on my sofa when late-night listening. I also like the uncluttered look on the front fascia and robustness of the 4-pin balanced XLR connector in the long term, so I chose a balanced cable termination, but that is just me!

HE, HE, HE, this thing is no joke...

The Naim Uniti Atom HE is a diminutive device, only occupying a half-width profile, meaning placement is somewhat easier than for a full-scale system. A small table or shelf near a mains outlet, along with a good pair of headphones and a cable of a decent length is all you need!

The original Naim Uniti Atom had a respectable headphone performance but the Naim Uniti Atom HE’s headphone outputs really do play in a different league! Detail, separation and staging of instruments in the mix are far clearer, with dynamic contrasts superior in both macro and micro-dynamic domains, especially with a pair of headphones that can do the Naim Uniti Atom HE’s discrete headphone stage justice.

Focal headphones are a suitable match, such as; Clear MG, Celestee, Stellia and Utopia. This is only to be expected as Focal and Naim are now sister companies and developed many of their product ranges in tandem. Other headphones that will work well are the Meze 109 Pro, Meze Empyrean 2’s.

Whatever headphones you decide to pair with the Naim Uniti Atom HE, you are sure to be mesmerised by the sound it produces, whether they be open or closed-back headphones. Naim’s engineers have clearly spent time fettling the amplifier section and it will drive both low and high impedance cans comfortably, quoting 1.5 Watts into a 16 Ohm load, so there will be few headphones that won’t be able to be driven by the Atom HE.

Naim Uniti Atom HE as a streaming DAC preamplifier...

In all the hullabaloo about the Naim Uniti Atom HE as an excellent headphone amplifier for personal listening, we may forget a major use case for our budding audiophiles. It also happens to be an excellent streamer/DAC/preamplifier!

The Atom HE has both single-ended RCA outputs and balanced, stereo XLR outputs in the preamp section. The ability to add a power amplifier of your own choice is a major bonus to this device, allowing the user to tailor their power amplifier choice to loudspeaker and room requirements.

We’ve found the Naim Uniti Atom HE pairs particularly well to the latest iteration of the Naim NAP 250 power amplifier.

Another benefit of separating the preamp from the poweramp is the ability to upgrade the components individually when you’re ready to do so, along with the inherent sonic benefits of doing so. A Naim NSC 222 streaming pre-amp would be a good partner for the Naim NAP 250, opening the door to better units further up the range, including the Naim NSS 333 streamer and Naim NAC 332 pre-amplifier.

From there, the sky really is the limit!

naim uniti atom he shown with a pair of focal clear mg’s

As always, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so get in touch to book a demonstration.

Thanks for reading.

Ade, John and Paul - Audio T Brighton

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

If you’ve enjoyed this, why not go ahead and read some more of our other blogs, and be sure to follow us on our social media channels below…

What sounds better: streaming or CD?

/ Audio T Portsmouth/

It’s a good question and one we are often asked. And, as with much else in hi-fi, the answer is (you guessed it) not straightforward. We’re leaving vinyl, and its particular sound qualities, out of this blog (one for the future perhaps).

Ultimately, as with any hi-fi component, it boils down to what sounds better to you. And for that you need to listen to products before you buy. This is why Audio T stores are all equipped with demonstration rooms and we are more than happy to set-up listening sessions for our customers.

portsmouth demo room

That said, perhaps we can help shed a little light on streaming versus CDs without, hopefully, becoming too bogged down in the science…

On the face of it…

The first, most obvious, thing to note is that while standard CDs are limited to 16-bit/44kHz, high resolution (or high definition if you prefer) music is commonly streamed at 24-bit/96kHz or 192kHz.

In general terms, the more bits the greater the dynamic range. The sample rate at which the music was recorded is measured in kHz. So, 44kHz is 44,100 samples per second. A sample simply being the readings that the analogue to digital converter in the studio takes to produce a copy of the music. In general terms, the more samples the more information in the copy.

So, on paper, a high res stream will contain more information and have greater dynamic range than music played at 16-bit/44kHz. This does not necessarily mean it will sound better.

A poorly recorded or remastered track will still be a poorly recorded track regardless of the number of bits or the sample rate. In fact, a poor recording can sometimes sound worse played in high res on a good system simply because you’re hearing more of that bad recording!

Ripping

First, let’s look at streaming a CD that you have ripped to a hard disc drive, either in your computer or network attached storage drive (NAS).

Jason Gould, Brand Ambassador for Naim Audio, explains that CD players work on a system of real-time data retrieval, using error correction where required to reconstruct the digital information accurately.

If you make a bit-perfect copy of a CD then, in a quality machine like the Naim Uniti-Core, the Innuos Zen Mk3 or the Bluesound Vault 2i the streamer will not have to contend with real time data retrieval using error correction.

NAIM uNITI-cORE

“The answer relies on certain parameters being in place, but the short answer is that streaming a properly ripped CD is superior,” Jason says.

“It provides a bit perfect data package with all of the guess work taken out of error correction. The net result being a much more faithful rendition of the given music programme.”

So, says Jason, depending on the quality of the components being used you are better off making bit-perfect copies of your CD and playing via a quality streamer than using your CD player.

Streaming

But what about music played via a streaming service (e.g. Tidal or Qobuz) vs CD replay? Theoretically, a 16bit/44kHz CD is sufficient to capture all the information and frequencies that a human ear can detect, and beyond.

In this scenario it seems that a good CD player may have an edge over streaming via streaming service at 16bit/44kHz. And a good CD player may even compete well against high res streaming.

Nick Clarke, Managing Director at Cyrus Audio, says: “All things being equal then there would be no difference between a CD and a streamed 16/44 audio track. However, in the real world, not all things are equal.”

Nick explains that streamers get their data in blocks or packets that are passed over the network which is a possible source of noise. These packets are placed in a buffer for decoding. Finally, the uncompressed audio is pulled from the buffer as a continuous stream of data

“By contrast, a high quality real-time read-back CD player, such as the Cyrus Servo Evolution engine (as found in the Cyrus CDi), extracts the data from the CD as a continuous bitstream with no timing breaks,” says Nick.

Cyrus Cdi

“This is an inherently less noisy process than the block processing required in all streamers. Even higher resolution playback can be affected in this way.”

“Not all CD players operate like that”, adds Nick. “Some use a computer USB drive and treat the disc as a data file, and work similar to a streamer, bringing with it the same noise and timing issues. The advantage is that this process allows the player to read lower quality or heavily damaged discs as there is sufficient time between the block processing to inter-populate the missing information.”

Other factors

Of course streaming comes with huge benefits in terms of sheer convenience and being able to explore a vast library of music. Then again if you subscribe to a streaming service you will never own the tracks and albums, unless you buy the music. Added to which, for many, choosing and listening to a CD while reading the sleeve notes is more of a musical occasion, akin to playing a record.

Ashton Wagner, Electronics Design Coordinator at Rega Research Ltd, sums it up well: “Assuming we are starting with the same 1s and 0s then, the only other way we can get any changes is in how we treat the 1s and 0s on their way to our ears.

“But a big part of the hi-fi hobby for me is collecting, listening to, and cataloguing different versions of albums, both on vinyl and digital (I’m a hoot at parties, I swear).

“The subjective differences in sound quality are sometimes subtle and sometimes considerable. Restricting oneself to either CD or streaming often removes options.”

Wiim Pro

Conclusion

The advent of CDs in the 1980s was widely thought to spell the end for records. And yet 40 years later, vinyl not only remains popular among hi-fi enthusiasts but has undergone a resurgence in popularity, including among younger generations.

There is little reason to think that, even as streaming technology and equipment improves, streamed music will mean the end for CDs any time soon. Indeed, according to recent reports, CD sales rose in 2023 for the first time in two decades.

CDs offer a different listening experience and, in the real world, a good CD player can more than hold its own against music streamed at 16-bit/44kHz, and even give high res streaming a run for its money.

Ripping your CDs and streaming them bit perfectly may offer some sonic advantages over playing them live, as it were. Storing your CDs digitally may also make playback more convenient and will allow you to declutter.

Streaming a well-produced track in high res 24bit/96kHz, or higher, via a good quality streamer will tend to provide more musical information than the same track streamed at 16/44 or played on a standard CD.

Audiolab 6000N play

You may be able to hear that difference. But whether it sounds ‘better’ is another matter.

Jason, at Naim, says: “The caveat to this is that 44.1 and high res, is best listened to, when downloaded from the chosen site, Qobuz and Tidal, for example. Bit rates aren’t always consistent when streamed on the ‘fly’.

“When engaging in 44.1, we believe that ripped compact disc is still best and typically native high resolution recordings favoured over remastered versions of earlier recordings.”

Options

Streaming is becoming ever more popular in the hi-fi community, driven in part by the number of quality products available on the market.

If you’re just starting out with streaming then check out the Wiim Mini, Wiim Pro, Wiim Pro Plus or a Bluesound Node 3 or Audiolab 6000N Play. Great options for a streamlined streaming system include the Wiim Amp and the Bluesound Powernode 3, in both cases you only need to hook up a pair of speakers.

Bluesound Powernode 3

There are many other great streaming products available and you can check these out on the Audio T website.

If you want to audition any of our streamers then please call us on 02392 663604 or email us at portsmouth@audio-t.co.uk

Thanks for reading.

Alan - Audio T Portsmouth

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us

If you’ve enjoyed this, why not go ahead and read some more of our other blogs, and be sure to follow us on our social media channels below…

“Spin The Black Circle” - The Vinyl Revolution

/ Audio T Cardiff/

Matt from Audio T Cardiff takes a deeper dive into his passion for vinyl records and why there has been such a resurgence in the format and its effects on both the turntables and Hi-Fi industries in general.

With yet another great Bristol Hi-Fi show done and dusted, it’s a great time to reflect on the year’s activities as well as our own setups and systems. And I must say, Wow! What a show it was. With it being my second year working at the show I had a better idea of what to expect, and was mentally prepared for the sheer scale, and it was great to see and meet many of you there again. Some of us took the opportunity to grow our record collections with the numerous vendors at the show, others used the show as the perfect excuse to plan upgrades, and some younger attendees even taking the leap and buying their first ever turntables, with numerous customers starting their journey with the award winning Rega Planar 1. I know I came home from the Bristol Hi-Fi show with another three records and a continued desire for the Rega Naia, which is on many people’s wish lists.

All of this talk of turntables has no doubt got us buying yet more vinyl. Oh the addiction continues!

When we talk about the resurgence in vinyl collecting, I see this as a great thing, encouraging younger generations to get immersed in music and not just listening to it streamed (which is still a great way to listen to music and discover new bands) but to enjoy an album from start to finish. It is incredibly enjoyable.

In my opinion there’s nothing like walking into a record shop and discovering that album, getting it home, opening up the gate fold, putting the record on and looking at the album artwork as we listen to the music. In my eyes, it’s the perfect way to listen to music and I feel that it’s a great thing that record companies are reissuing old albums, giving new younger generations the chance to listen to the classics as they should be, as well as listening to new artists of the day.

pearl jam vitalogy lp

You might be wondering about the title of this blog “Spin The Black Circle” which is a song by Pearl Jam on their ‘Vitalogy’ album. Eddie Vedder wrote this song about his love for vinyl. I highly recommend listening to this album.

Where The Magic of Vinyl Started

Let’s go back in time a little, not as far back as the gramophone but the age of popular music in the 50s. This was a time when our only access to new music was either listening to the radio or going to the local record store and listening to the new singles of the day. Music styles change over time and artists evolve but to me, the big changes started to really happen in the late 60s with the rise of the guitar heroes such as Clapton, Hendrix, Beck and Page, to name but a few.

As consumers, we bought their singles and then their albums as this was the way they were released at the time. Many of us still buy music this way, although sadly there’s very few listening cubicles in record shops these days, but in saying that, some of the small independent record shops out there will put a record on if you ask!

The Vinyl Time Machine

For me, records hold memories and emotions, new, old, good and bad. For instance, this takes me right back to when I was a lot younger, queuing outside Spillers Records in Cardiff when an album was released. I remember nagging my dad back in 1987 to take me to my local record shop to get Guns ‘n’ Roses ‘Appetite For Destruction’. Opening that gate fold and looking at the album artwork while listening to the record and thinking ‘this is a cornerstone in the sound of rock & metal’.

Moving on a little later, I remember queuing up for Metallica's ‘Black’ album in 1991… Yep I was once one of the long haired band T-shirt brigade. Not much has changed apart from getting older and my hair being a lot shorter now! It’s fair to say my listening habits haven't changed. The funny thing is, I will still wait in line for a record even now. It’s memories like these that tie us to the music that we enjoy.

All this talk of music brings up an important question. Why have Vinyl LP sales been increasing year on year for the last 16 years? The truth is, vinyl never went away, despite new technologies coming along such as CD players and then streaming. The turntable seems to be stronger than ever right now. Why? Is it a trend, a fad or a passing craze? The truth is that turntables and vinyl collecting has always been here and the wonderful, magical analogue way of listening to music has never completely ceased. When mainstream record labels opted for digital formats, independent labels, especially those specialising in Punk and Metal really leaned in to vinyl and pushed limited edition coloured variants to encourage sales.

The great thing is that as well as people rediscovering their love for their record collection; younger generations have discovered vinyl for the first time and started their journey into collecting. This discovery/re-discovery of the format has piqued a great interest in new turntables and good quality Hi-Fi to complement it. With customers looking beyond the basic turntables sold in the high street shops it’s no surprise really… Why play a £30 record on a £100 all-in-one player? We all know vinyl can sound so much better!

The Ultimate Vinyl Sound?

A big question asked in store is “can vinyl sound better?” The answer is a big resounding “YES” and the other question is, “Do I have to spend thousands to accomplish a great sounding turntable?” The answer is “No”, you don't have to spend thousands. A great example of a turntable to start with is the Rega Planar 1 Plus teamed with a Wiim streaming amplifier and a pair of Dali Spektor 1 speakers, a fantastic starter system. This system takes care of the vinyl as well as streaming, so you have the best of both worlds. The only thing is, there’s always a way to make things sound even better.

wiim streaming amplifier

One Giant Leap For Vinyl

The possibilities are endless with so many manufacturers out there, it can get very confusing. The great thing is that all of us at Audio T are here to help and guide you. Although my own system is very good I can still see ways of improving the performance, as we say “there’s always room for improvement”!

What do I look at first? We strongly believe source first. This brings the turntable back into the equation as this is the voice of the system. My advice will always be to listen to at least three options of turntable, for instance Rega Planar 2 to Rega Planar 3 or other brands such as Linn and Michell. The other part of your turntable to look at is the cartridge, from moving magnet to moving coil options we supply brands such as Audio Technica, Ortofon and Dynavector. As we know every cartridge has its own sound and is a very big part of the character of your turntable. The proof is in the listening and we can offer you the chance to hear what sounds right to you, as I always say there are no wrong answers.

Taking Care Of Business

One of the only annoying things about vinyl is noise, snap, crackle and pop and not in a good way. So how can we help with this annoyance? How do I look after my turntable? And just as important, how do I look after my vinyl? Fear not, there are multiple ways of looking after your new turntable and keeping your prized possessions such as your vinyl in good shape.

Let’s start with the tools of our trade.

  1. Record brush

  2. Stylus brush

The record brush: Static can be an LPs worst enemy and a good quality record brush can reduce static build up. We offer solutions such as one of our favourites the Audio Technica AT 6013A record brush which has two steps of carbon fibre bristles as well as a velvet pad which removes the dust particles from the record. While the LP is spinning on the turntable you gently hold the brush on the record and the dust will start to collect on the carbon fibre bristles, then proceed to pull the brush toward you off the edge of the LP. The carbon fibre bristles remain straight and can get deep into the vinyl groove. Also available is the Pro-Ject Brush-IT which does a job but our go to is the Audio Technica AT 6013A.

Vinyl & stylus cleaning tools

The next tool to have on hand is a stylus brush. The Pro-Ject Clean-IT is a fantastic little stylus brush for everyday use, again utilising very fine carbon fibre bristles for a safe and effective clean of the stylus tip. With the tone arm locked in the arm rest you offer the brush to the tip of the stylus and then gently clean the stylus by pulling the brush towards you. This brush gets rid of those little bits of fluff on the stylus and helps with the life of the LPs and the stylus itself. If the stylus is very dirty you may need to use a fluid or a gel to get rid of that ingrained dirt. The Audio Technica “Tacky Gel” AT617A is a simple yet effective way to clean the stylus tip, or for a deep clean the tool for the job is a stylus fluid. The Audio Technica AT607A stylus fluid should only be used when the stylus is particularly dirty and should be used sparingly.

Sill Not Sounding Right?

There are a few things you can check such as the tone arm set up. Tracking force, cartridge alignment and anti-skate set up. Wear on the stylus or even wear on the belt which can cause speed issues. If you don’t feel comfortable checking these things yourself fear not, we can help with this. I find there’s nothing more satisfying than getting a turntable playing and sounding like it should. Speaking of turntable setups, we can set up your new turntable for the first time when bought from us, also if you buy a cartridge from us we set up your tonearm and check the health of your turntable free of charge.

Cleaning Vinyl

There are multiple ways we can clean our vinyl collection and no it doesn't involve the dishwasher. On the odd occasion you might find a second hand bargain in a charity shop but the trouble with that is a lot of the time the vinyl isn't in the best shape giving you those unwanted crackles and pops and possibly extra stylus ware. There some great products on the market to clean your vinyl and get it sounding right.

The first method we recommend is record cleaning spray which works really well for manual cleaning. The cleaning method with the Tonar spray is really simple yet effective. A couple of light sprays on the vinyl then using the Tonar micro fibre cloth wipe around the record then wipe with a dry microfiber cloth.

The second manual way we recommend for cleaning your vinyl is a little more fun in the process the Project Spin clean Mk2 which comes with cleaning fluids and drying cloths. This cleaner is really simple but effective.

The third way we recommend cleaning your vinyl is even more in depth than the manual way of cleaning back to the Project brand once again with VC-E2 and VC-S3 cleaners both cleaners work their vacuum system to draw the cleaning fluid and dirt away from your vinyl into the machines inboard tank leaving your vinyl clean and ready to play.

degritter mkii

The fourth way we recommend is more intensive again and is now currently our favourite way to clean vinyl, the Degritter Mk2 ultrasonic vinyl cleaner. This vinyl cleaner goes even deeper again when it comes to how it gets into the groove of the record with its ultrasonic cleaning process. You can alter the cleaning time depending on how dirty your vinyl is. It also dries the vinyl for you and it’s relatively quiet. Although this is one of the most expensive vinyl cleaners that we sell, I feel it is definitely worth its price tag if you have a large vinyl collection.

All of these cleaning methods above don’t just clean the vinyl they can also help with static build up on the vinyl. The other thing we recommend to do after you have cleaned your vinyl is to use a new antistatic record sleeve, which again helps to keep your record in tip top shape.

Conclusion

Music is the thing that binds us all and brings us together because of the emotional bond we have with it. Listening to music still remains very personal, wether it’s vinyl, streaming or compact disc. Vinyl will always be the main listening format for me, that wonderful feeling I still get when I lower the tonearm and the stylus catches the groove, especially when it’s a new record I haven't heard before. If you would like to start your vinyl journey, or improve the system you have, why not pop in and see us and have a chat and a listen.

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

Thanks for reading

Matt, Nick and Kerrin - Audio T Cardiff

If you’ve enjoyed this, why not go ahead and read some more of our other blogs, and be sure to follow us on our social media channels below…

Turntable and Vinyl cleaning products can be found at all of our Audio T stores.

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ProAc Response D2R, an unsung hero?

/ Audio T Oxford/

ProAc are a family owned manufacturer of high quality loudspeakers with over forty years of experience in the industry. Launched 12 years after the Response D2, the D2R incorporates a ribbon tweeter, as opposed to the dome tweeter of the earlier model. Whilst most attention tends to be garnered by the D2’s bigger brother, the D20R, the D2R should not be overlooked.

Construction

On the larger side of normal by modern stand mount standards, this two-way bass reflex design features a 6.5” glass fibre midrange unit with a distinctive copper phase plug. The aforementioned 2.75” ribbon tweeter sits above the driver off axis (to both improve phase alignment and sound staging). They are also front ported, making easier to position them in corners of a room.

The cabinet is constructed from a mixture of marine ply and high-density fibreboard. This mixture of materials is deliberate and helps with ProAc’s philosophy of minimising internal bracing.

The overall fit and finish is of the highest order, with materials of the highest quality used without.

Specifications

The frequency range is 30Hz to 30kHz. The impedance is 8 ohms, and with a quoted sensitivity of 88.5dB. In reality this means that these loudspeakers are not hard to drive and can be well partnered with many good quality amplifiers.

We drove the ProAc D2R with a Rega Elicit amplifier (an excellent match for these speakers), and the superb Innuos Zen providing streaming duties. Placement was 40cm from the back wall with a slight angle of toe in. Tweeters inboard. Standing on high mass stands it was now time to play some tunes:

Listening

One of my favourite artists is Shawn Mullins, and his best album (in my opinion) is Soul’s Core Revival. The acoustic version of Twin Rocks Oregon displays excellent transparency of both guitar and vocals and more so later when his band kicks in. Shawn’s baritone voice is conveyed in convincing style.

Moving onto Lady Blackbird (an artist introduced to me by a great customer called Paul a year ago) 2021’s Black Acid Soul album: For me the standout track is ‘Collage’. Buttery smooth and full of emotion; this track highlights the rich extended bass and deep wide soundstage; the location of each instrument is exact. It also displays the ProAc’s open and natural treble (not harsh as some ribbons can be).

Whilst these speakers do not plumb the bass depths to the same extent as the larger D20s (who go far lower than the plus 2Hz advantage would seem to suggest), the bass is taut and tuneful.

Conclusion

The ProAc D2R are fabulous loudspeakers, detailed and open but not too bright, possessing great imagery and a lovely, natural sounding bass.

These speakers are ideal for a small to midsize room; for someone who wants high end Hi-Fi without over egging the pudding by having too large speakers for the space available. For anyone looking at a high quality stand mounted loudspeaker, these should definitely be on their list for auditioning. Sometimes bigger, is not always better!

If you would like to have a listen please get in touch.

Thank you for reading.

Jon & Rob - Audio T Oxford

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

If you’ve enjoyed this, why not go ahead and read some more of our other blogs, and be sure to follow us on our social media channels below…

ProAc can be found at the following Audio T stores

The Wiim Amp - Easy to dismiss on a Whim, but Will Wiim Win?

/ Audio T Bristol/

Ask a bartender - serve a cheap whisky in a shot glass and it’s gone in an instant - in a heavy glass tumbler most customers coo about how earthy, peaty and marvellous it tastes. Suddenly, they turn connoisseur and ask about it’s single malt, sherry cask origins from the wild island 200 miles north of the Outer Hebrides…

Wiim’s Impact

The Wiim Amp has garnered many praises from reviewers. Darko Audio’s video review clocked 1.5 million views and with good reason. The Wiim is beautifully packaged and designed, if rather too similar to a fruity tech company, and an app that is a breeze to use with smooth setup straight from the box. That is the concern here, this feels too good to be true - A Hi-Fi product with modern design leans, small footprint, light weight and sounds great, All for an exceptionally reasonable £319.

But is this just a cheap whisky in a fancy glass?

Wiim Who?

Getting to the bottom of this young upstart in Hi-Fi felt like some sort of deep internet mining. The holding company is Linkplay Technologies, formed in 2014 - a consortium of Google, Broadcom, Inter Video and Harman with another 6 tech partners and a group of mostly Chinese Investors. Access to deep pockets will be needed, given the technology toes this new kid on the block is stepping on (to date a number of patent infringement charges filed, all won so far) It is almost comical that they chose an ambigram name like it’s closest rival.

Specifications

Having experienced the Wiim mini and Wiim Pro, the Wiim Amp follows the trend with an incredibly easy setup. From the moment you attach speakers to it and turn it on you are greeted with an audible welcome and instruction to download the Wiim App and follow the on screen steps. Out of the box it has Bluetooth 5.1, Spotify connect, Tidal Connect, Apple Airplay 2, Google Chromecast, Squeezelite, Roon Ready (awaiting certification - nearly there at the time of writing and should be in the next update), Alexa Cast & DNLA. Internet Connectivity is via 802.11 b/g/n/ac 2.4G/5GHz Dual-band or 10/100 Mbps LAN. Audio inputs are via HDMI Arc, Optical & Line In. The Amp is a Class D putting out 60W in 8Ω, 120W into 4Ω, plus there is a dedicated sub woofer output.

The remote control is a Bluetooth device, so no need for line of sight. It also has a microphone at the top of the remote to allow for voice control via Alexa, Siri or Google voice control.

You can output to speakers, a pair of Bluetooth headphones or a speaker or to an Airplay device. Need multi-room? No problem, grouping and setup is a breeze. You can even take a line input from a turntable and have it play to the other devices.

Put simply, there is no other product on the market at this price that does all of this. And looking at the product roadmap, there is more to come.

Setup & Listening Notes

As mentioned previously, from the moment you open the box, clear instructions, connect this to your speakers and switch on, there is an audible direction. The package has a QR code that you can scan and download the Wiim app. The app actually guides you through the setup with very clear instructions. It’s fast, checks and upgrades itself with a very realistic time and off you go. The exhaustive list of streaming services available is impressive. The manual is possibly one of the best written available, comprehensive and clear with no marketing fluff - refreshing.

The audio settings allow for EQ options. Choose from 24 preset settings, fine-tune with a 10-band graphic EQ, or dive deep with a 4-band parametric EQ. Plus, enjoy the freedom to set independent EQ profiles for each input source, be it HDMI, Optical, Line, BT, or Network. Craft your perfect audio landscape, room by room, source by source. There is also the Sub Out level and crossover frequency to tune in the sub to your speakers.

Initially, we demonstrated the Wiim Amp with a pair of Acoustic Energy AE100². That’s a complete and comprehensive Hi-Fi system for a shade over £550. Switching to Dynaudio Emit 10 and then the Emit 20, each setup progressively improving the speakers resulted in a marked improvement. With the Emit 20, there was great detail, but a noticeable sweet spot, after which things became a little strained.

Listening Notes:

  • Lots of body with great control in the highs, mids and bass.

  • Large, involving stereo imaging with great depth and latitude.

  • Engaging listening across most genres. Classical and Jazz did come across a little thin in our listening session.

In Summary

How does it compare with separates?

The closest comparative would be the entry level Rega IO (£420) with a Wiim Pro (£149). That’s close to twice the price of the Wiim Amp and yes, in my humble opinion it does sound better, but twice as good? The Bluesound Poweredge is possible, but this is at £599.

This could be a case of a company with deep pockets looking to disrupt the cosy world of Hi-Fi pricing for market share. Only time will tell if the young company will mature gracefully over the years to come.

If you looking for a streaming amp for a smallish room, a starter system, or perhaps even a second system. At this price there is only one choice. But, as ever, don’t take our word for it - book a demonstration and audition it for yourself.

Thanks for reading

Justin - Audio T Bristol

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

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Look Mum – No Wires! The DALI Rubicon 8C Active Loudspeakers

/ Audio T Swansea/

Lads, lads, lads! Help me out!

Our tale begins, with a long-standing customer’s request that we look after a friend who needed a new hi-fi, let’s call her A-P. She had a particular difficulty in her room in that her piano, cello and extensive vinyl collection are at one end of her nine metre long music salon and the only place to sit speakers is at the other, in front of the sofa, which lies roughly equidistant between the boundaries. Oh, and we can’t run any speaker cables.

Hmmmm….

A couple of smartphone snaps later and we could see that apart from the ‘no wires’ rule, this will be a winning space for the right system, but it’s a jolly big space.

We’re going to have to go active.

Going active

Remembering the lovely Alex from DALI brought down their entry-level active Oberon 1C speakers last year, and thinking how rather good they were, I gave him a call. He recommended the Rubicon 8C for a room this size and reminded us that our colleagues in Audio T Cheltenham had sold a pair of 8C recently and thought very highly of them. A quick call to the boys in Cheltenham confirmed that to be the case.

OOOOO…MYSTERIOUS. AND SHINY.

Despite, at the time, it being very close to the Bristol Hi-Fi Show, Alex brought the monolithic Rubicons down himself and gave us a quick lesson in the DALI Equi ecosystem of active loudspeakers and preamplifiers.

that dali hub preamplifier looking all sleek and black.

The technical bit

At its heart is the DALI Hub, which is capable of streaming high resolution audio wirelessly to compatible active loudspeakers. Fitted with three digital and two analogue inputs you can also fit an optional HDMI module, which enables the user to connect seven speakers and a subwoofer to create a very capable home cinema system.

hub’s rear panel. you can’t really miss the link button used to set the mesh up, just as well..

The upgrade module we’re interested in here though, (music salon remember), is Bluesound's flexible BluOS high-resolution multi-room platform. The NPM-2i module enables high-resolution (up to 24/96) audio to be streamed to any DALI Equi speaker and will integrate with other BluOS-enabled devices to create a multi-room setup around the home. It’s also MQA certified, as are DALI Equi speakers, which is handy if you’re a Tidal customer – their 24-bit service uses MQA.

Eagle-eyed readers will recall that Bluesound products are one of our favourite “reasonably-priced” music streamers. Capable of excellent sound, easy to use and with a reliable platform and control app. We were more than happy when DALI announced they were partnering with Bluesound. Many Hi-Fi companies’ in-house apps are underwhelming in day-to-day use, and it makes sense to buy into a proven control app that benefits from regular maintenance to keep it running smoothly. In turn, this frees expensive digital engineers up from fixing app bugs, to creating even better Hi-Fi. Let’s face it, no-one likes bug-fixing…

rear of hub again - note the bluesound (Bluos) streaming module

Demo time…

A couple of days later, our excited customer was sitting on her own sofa in front of a pair of DALI Rubicon 8C in the stunning Piano Black finish.

Set-up is pleasantly straightforward - Connect the power cables, switch on the Hub, switch on the speakers, keep clicking the little grey button on the rear of one speaker until it displays an icon of where it is in the room, do the same with the other speaker, press the corresponding button on the hub, wait for the ethereal Scandi tones to issue from the cabinets... And Robert’s your mother’s brother.

Open the BluOS app, select players, select DALI Hub, select music source and… Browse.

It took me a touch under three minutes.

Miles Davis’ ‘A Kind of Blue’ is a firm favourite at Chez A-P and so we settled in to listen to the Rubicons warm up with (it has to be said A-P) a spectacularly lovely cup of tea. In between sips, I set up a Rega Planar 3 turntable with matching phono stage and connected it to the Hub’s RCA sockets. A-P is a cellist and a succession of cello tracks issued from the DALI as A-P quickly got to grips with Tidal.

“This cello sounds really good Ade – and that piano is bang-on. The timbre is great, very convincing, but the scale of it! It sounds full-sized. That’s... Impressive. I wasn’t expecting that at all. Wow.”

The Ted Talk…

Three 16.5mm woofers connected to a 250 watt amplifier in an 110 litre cabinet will give you scale in the way you would expect, but it’s nothing if the high end isn’t up to snuff. DALI have fitted a two stage ‘hybrid’ tweeter – a silk dome coupled with a ribbon. This is silky sweet, has a wide dispersion pattern and retains its composure even at distressingly high volume. According to DALI, the combination reaches down to 2.5kHz which manifests itself in a seamless presentation.

the hybrid dome/ribbon tweeter in all its glory. 6 1/2 inch woofers included for scale

A lower frequency crossover point between the midrange and high frequency drivers is desirable, because the larger cone typically found in a midrange driver will distort when it reaches into the high frequency range. Ribbon tweeters have much better dispertion than domes at very high frequencies and exhibit much better control in that register. A hybrid design should give us the best of both worlds - a silk dome to reach down towards the midrange and take the pressure of the midrange unit and a ribbon to soar into the troposphere.

All of that is moot of course, if the end-user doesn’t like the result. Fortunately A-P is very much on board, especially when I span up the Rega Planar 3 and she dug into the vinyl…

Meanwhile, back in the salon…

“The differences in recordings are quite stark. These old Phillips pressings are a bit... Thin compared to the newer Deutsche Grammophon ones, but they’re all enjoyable, so... Thank you.”

“You’re most welcome. Are we happy?”

“Yes, but do they come in a wooden finish? These black ones may match my piano, but they stand out too much against that yellow wall.”

“Walnut then ma’am?”

“Walnut it is.”

Coda

At the time of going to press, the Rubicon 8Cs are on dem in our ground floor salon, here in sunny Abertawe(Swansea) If the experience appeals, why not pop on down the High Street and give them a whirl….

swansea’s ground floor music salon at the time of going to press. ignore all the toys on the 2nd 3rd & 4th shelves. we’re only using the dinky silver and black unit on the top.

and those great big speakers of course ;-)

Thank you for reading, Nic, Adrian & Andy

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to contact us

If you’ve enjoyed this, why not go ahead and read some more of our other blogs and be sure to follow us on our social media channels below…

DALI can be found at the following Audio T stores -

A Newcomer To The Oldest Hi-Fi Show In England!

/ Audio T Southampton/

As someone who is fairly new to the Hi-Fi industry, and who is also relatively young compared to the average audiophile, you could assume a prestigious event such as the Bristol Show Hi-Fi Show to be quite overwhelming for me, but it was quite the contrary!

In this article I will be taking a brief look at my first experience at the Bristol Show, along with what enticed me whilst there and what the whole show was like overall.

Linn’s Spectacular room at the show!

As many of you will undoubtedly know, the Bristol Show has been running for 37 years now, hosted by Audio T at the Delta Hotels by Marriott Bristol. This show is an auspicious opportunity for manufacturers to showcase what new and exciting equipment they have to offer. There are around 80 different exhibitors that come along for the weekend, anywhere from long-standing powerhouses such as Rega, Linn and Naim, to new and exciting first-time exhibitors like Advance Paris.

Rega’s room, showcasing the new ND7 cartridge and upcoming pre/power!

New to the bristol hi-fi show and audio t - Advance Paris.

As I previously mentioned, I am rather new to the world of Hi-Fi, and when I first heard about the show, I was both very intrigued and excited, but also quite nervous in a sense. Safe to say, I found the show to be a fantastic event with the rare opportunity of being able to see so many great brands and industry professionals in one place.

Left to right: Farid from audio t Cheltenham, James from audio T Bristol and myself, TIAGO, from Audio T Southampton

The Bristol Show was quite the eye-opening experience for me, giving me the ability to check out different makes & brands that I haven’t previously experienced and seeing what new and exciting things they had in store for the upcoming year.

The best part of the show for me though was being able to meet some of the minds that designed and built all of the fantastic kit being displayed, allowing me to pick their brains as to their thought process during the R&D end of creating all this equipment. Even though I spend my days surrounded by Hi-Fi and Home Cinema, I found the show gave me the opportunity to learn a lot of new things, and also a great opportunity to experience brands and equipment we don’t necessarily see in Audio T Southampton.

In addition to the array of incredible audio equipment on display, there are also several record vendors present, offering new and used LPs and CDs. The opportunity to browse through their selection added a unique dimension to the event. It's not uncommon for attendees, including myself, to leave the show with a few records in hand, ready to enrich their music collection.

Diverse Vinyl is a great stall to find a few records to fill your free tote bag

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the Bristol Hi-Fi Show, and I am very excited to go back next year! If you have any doubts about attending the Show, let me be the first to tell you that it is a very worthwhile experience for any music lover!

Thanks for reading

Tiago - Audio T Southampton.

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

If you’ve enjoyed this, why not go ahead and read some more of our other blogs, and be sure to follow us on our social media channels below…

The Bristol Hi-Fi Show will return - Friday 21st – Sunday 23rd February 2025

Audio T Cheltenham And The Neat Acoustics Classic Elite

/ Audio T Cheltenham/

Neat Acoustics have been suppliers of funky stuff to needy audiophiles for a rather large number of years now, and have become rather good at it too! Here in the Cheltenham store we needed something fun to do while the Gold Cup horse racing shenanigans had scared away all but the bravest (or foolish) of our customers. So we asked Bob Surgeoner, (the boss man and resident design genius at Neat), if he could send us a pair of the new Classic Elite floorstanding loudspeakers to give us something to look forward too and like he always does… He said yes!

The Neat Elite classic in satin black

In 2022, Neat launched the first model in its new Classic range with a new version of the legendary Petite. This giant-killing little speaker became an immediate success with a succession of exceptional reviews and awards, leading to a demand for a floorstanding companion for the mighty stand-mounter. So, looking once again to the company’s legacy products, it was deemed appropriate to revive the Classic Elite, a model last in production in 2016.

the business end of our demo pair

Like the Petite Classic, the new version of the Elite retains the outer dimensions of the original model, but with updated drive units and a completely redesigned crossover. Designed to work well in smaller listening spaces, this latest design brings a full-range performance without dominating the living room.

ready to play

The bass-mid driver is the latest version of Neat’s own R3 doped paper cone unit, the same as used in the flagship Ultimatum range, and the tweeter is the remarkable AMT (Air Motion Transformer) from the Petite.

These superb drive units are seamlessly blended by a minimalist crossover using carefully chosen components of the highest quality.

also in oak wood finish too

The staggered port tuning through the base and the rear of the cabinet contributes to the clean, defined and rhythmic bass response. Along with superlative treble performance from the Air Motion Transformer tweeter, the Classic Elite combines all the usual Neat trademarks of clarity, musical engagement and a convincing soundstage in a compact and elegant cabinet.

walnut wood

Available in a choice of oak and walnut real wood veneers (which look lovely) and satin black and satin white.

Tuned port venting downward at a precise space and spiked bases too

According to the blurb these speakers can reproduce bass right down to 25hz! so I chose to put that to the test with one of my favourite demo tracks, Hey Now by London Grammar from their first album, which is called If You Wait.

I can’t Wait

This album is beautifully recorded and is pressed up over four sides each playing at 45 rpm for extra dynamism and it works too! As part of a system with the Rega P8 turntable with the Ania Pro cartridge feeding the Rega Elicit amplifier it was obvious right from the start of the track that something really rather good was about to happen and when at the 1 minute and 20 seconds point the bass drops in it is astonishingly subterranean. But here’s a thing that took me totally by surprise, the whole sound was beautifully airy and open with the delicate shimmering guitar in the background coming over like I had never heard it before (and believe me I have heard it many many times…) Hannah’s vocal soars out of the boxes and floats in the space created between the loudspeakers, a goosebumps moment! This was levels of bottom end combined with detail retrieval not normally associated with speakers this small or at this price level. Very cleverly that deep deep bass never gets in the way of the rest of the performance. everything remains clean and open with that rare ability to let you follow every little nuance that is going on in the music all at the same time…which is just wonderful!

Hey Now

To sum up all I can say is that the Neat Classic Elites are shockingly good value for money. They are easy to drive and so sound good on more modest amplification, however, if they are properly driven with a top quality source and a good amp they really spring to life like no other speaker of this size that I know. They take a bit of running in (200 hours as recommended by Neat) but persevere with this and you will be rewarded with a truly sensational sound! The Neat Elites are definitely ones to put on your demo list.

Many thanks for reading

Andy, Jon and Farid - Audio T Cheltenham Store.

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

If you’ve enjoyed this, why not go ahead and read some more of our other blogs, and be sure to follow us on our social media channels below…

Neat Acoustics can be found at the following Audio T stores

Chromey yearns for Jern, Rupert loves them too - Jern Loudspeakers

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Full Metal Jacket

Chromey and Rupert are truly awed by the jern 11.

In the grand scheme of things, JERN Loudspeakers are a relatively new company, but stem from a long pedigree of Danish engineering and consulting. The Danes in general don't have a bad rep when it comes to speaker design, well known brands like DALI and Dynaudio for example. The raison d'etre for this little design is the superb cast metal enclosure. Not just any casting mind, but a high graphite content cast iron. Although the use of metal for enclosures is nothing new, dating back to the 1950s with the Goodmans Stereo Bowl for example; and through the generations, there have been plenty of metal cabinet designs. However, none have been in an inert cast graphite iron form. Danish JERN, pronounced 'yern' in English, are quick to point out the strong sonic advantages of the material. This, combined with the unique shape, and the rest of this speakers technology have, of course, a huge influence on the overall sound signature of the speaker.

JERN are always going to be a small bespoke manufacturer. Casting a heavy iron cabinet is never going to be something for the mass production mass market.

vibration kill chromey, Don’t panic!!! it’s just a patent

The technical bit…

The Model 11 stands just about 12” tall. It may be small, but they are mighty; they are over 12 kilo mass (each!) and make the speaker feel like it defies gravity, feeling a lot heavier than that! They come in four finishes, Polar White, Casting Grey, Nordic Black and Danish Red. It's shape has been carefully crafted, after the early pioneering work of engineer Dr Harry Olsen.

Olsen carefully measured the effect a cabinet had on sound resonances, and the cast cabinet of the JERN closely follows the ideal. Across their range of speakers there are differing qualities of drive units. The 11 starts the ball rolling, no pun intended! There is a clear synergy across the models. All feature simple 1st order crossover designs, famed for their flat phase response and transient speed.

Try not to get absorbed along with any diffracted sound chromey!

The tweeter is a 22mm Wavecor model with a textile membrane and a foam ring on the mounting plate to help absorb diffracted sound, providing a clearer and more pinpoint sound.

The mid/bass driver has a 146mm chassis and a woven glass fibre cone, the centre pole of the large magnet structure is ventilated to aid dispersion of heat, increasing power handling. The shape of the cast cabinet aids time alignment of the unit. That is to say both the voice coil of the bass unit and the tweeter are aligned, this with the first order crossover allows the two drive units to seamlessly integrate. The design is a sealed infinite baffle type enclosure. It does not have a bass port. All bass ports add some 'colour' to the sound, but at such low frequencies most of us feel it, rather than hear it.

the doughnut will hold you in place chromey.

To aid mounting of this heavy speaker, JERN can supply a couple of round 'doughnut' style rings to help locate and possibly protect any furniture you might like to place your heavy little JERN speakers upon. There is a matching stand available too, at a premium. The base of the speakers is flat, so some experimentation with different speaker stands is possible. The majority of speaker designs are designed to give their most accurate frequency response in a 'free space', that is to say well away from walls or corners. The JERN have huge immunity to coloration, thanks to the inert cabinets, and they are designed to be placed close to a rear wall. Much more convenient than most speakers. Connections are via a high quality set of binding posts / 4mm sockets. The speakers in room response is quoted as 45 hz to 20 Khz, sensitivity is on the low side, at 86dB per watt, and a nominal 4 ohm impedance, does dictate the use of fairly 'punchy' powerful amplification.

lets get ready to rumblllllllllle!!!!!!

Demonstration

With that in mind, the JERN speakers were hooked up to a NAIM NSS 222 streamer/preamp and latest NAIM NAP 250 power amplifier, located on a NAIM Frame lite, Chord Company Epic XL speaker cable and stands from Solid Steel. Our Manchester audition room is fairly large, and with quite huge bass absorbing windows. If any room can test a speaker’s performance, it is in here!

From the onset this speaker truly impresses, with its lack of colouration from the cabinet. Listening was started on George Benson's classic 1976 album Breezin' and the title track. This laid back smooth jazz track is impeccably recorded at the hands of engineer Al Schmitt at the world famous Capital studios in Hollywood. Played back on the JERN this track sounded immense. The sense of space and and openness was just incredible. Benson's guitar just floated in to the room, with real sonic realism. Trying to catch the low bass out, I upped the funk to a track by 'The Headhunters', God Made Me Funky. This track was played in a cinematic way, with a literally huge sound-stage, the bass lean, tight, fast and accurate.

Playing John Cage's latest album 'Solo', featuring Cage playing a retrospective of his past 50 years of work on the grand piano. A simple recording, it is superbly engineered, these little speakers really conveyed a grand piano in our listening room. The sound from both speakers converged so well, they actually manage that rare trick of actually disappearing, and the piano sound genuinely appearing in front of you. Playing various tracks from the ECM label, with their signature reverb sound was just utterly beautiful.

Whatever music was played, whatever genre, there was an underlying sense of accuracy and space. Flicking through a Frank Sinatra compilation, spreading across the years, each track had its own sonic personality, these little speakers providing the widest window on the sound available.

Those that value stereo image should really seek this speaker out. The imaging was just incredible, especially for a sub £1,500 speaker. Put your hand on a cabinet while playing, and there is no sense of vibration from it. The presence on vocals and wind instruments like saxophones is very impressive. The bass, although soufflé light, can convey textures and tones beautifully; rather than a muddy undercurrent to the tune, the bottom end displays real accuracy, individual strings have an open touch that few designs can match.

job well done boys!!

The speaker is not perfect, no speaker is. But very few speaker designs at any price point come with this sense of accuracy space, pace and absolute clarity... they are so radically different in looks sound and build, a unique, bespoke hand made speaker, refreshingly clean. Do not let the unconventional looks put you off. These little loudspeakers from Denmark are highly recommended.

Be sure to pop along to the Manchester store to view the Jern 11 in the flesh and experience the incredible sound they offer.

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

Thanks for reading

Haden, Munir, Dave and James - Audio T Manchester

If you’ve enjoyed this, why not go ahead and read some more of our other blogs, and be sure to follow us on our social media channels below…

JERN Loudspeakers can be found at the following Audio T stores

Our New Demonstration Rooms - Audio T Reading - Swallowfield

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A warm welcome everyone from Audio T Reading and wishing you well from our new leafy abode in Swallowfield. For more than 25 years at our old premises in Reading town centre, it was a pleasure to welcome hi-fi enthusiasts to the old shop and offer them the opportunity to audition a range of high-performance equipment – from fantastic starter systems to pretty pieces of bespoke audiophilia – in the comfort of our demonstration rooms. During that time, we were thrilled to have an outstanding main demo room, one of the best sounding rooms across the land for assessing and enjoying music reproduction. When the time came for us to leave town to our new home in Swallowfield, we were somewhat moved and reluctant to switch off the lights and close the door to our old demo room for the last time…

reading’s old demo room with room treatment - on dynaudio’s confidence event night 2022

TRADING PLACES – QUEENS WALK TO SWALLOWFIELD

But with fond memories aplenty, gracefully close that door we did (eventually) and firmly in our thoughts from then onwards has been to focus our efforts on designing a new main demo room; one that would honour the attributes of the outgoing facility while taking big steps forward to enhance the auditioning experience for our visitors to come. But what would those advancing steps look like? Would the best way, to some extent, involve trying to replicate the studio-esque room acoustics we had at Queens Walk, Reading? For example, in our new demo room, should we proceed to redeploy the multitude of room treatment panels that unmistakably adorned our previous listening chamber? Or would it be best to draught in certified room-analysis experts to acoustically measure the properties of the room and suggest a sonic treatment plan to best fit? And so on...

audio T Reading’s new demo room in swallowfield 2024 - sans room treatment

SILENT TREATMENT – KEEPING IT SIMPLE

Well having considered the aforementioned possibilities and many more, we decided for the foreseeable future to proceed without any of the more extravagant sonically room-beautifying options. Instead, we took aim at making a “real” room… one that when built (which, hooray, it now is!) would still be class-leading yet, on balance, would show up its flaws as well as its strengths. Why have we chosen this particular pathway? Well, a key reason is that the vast majority of us consume our music and audio in environments that are non-ideal and often double up as our living quarters. Our home listening rooms may not be the perfect shape and build for audio reproduction; They may have ceilings that are very low or exceedingly high. Modern homes tend to have internal stud walls that are thinner and form enclosures that resonate more than traditional solid walls. Older abodes may possess lovely but acoustically awkward structural features such as bay windows or grand chimney breasts, the likes of which can create added sonic effects like lingering echoes and other audible distortions. Given all of this and more, we decided it would not be truly representative of our customers’ home auditioning settings to offer a demo facility that is close to acoustically perfect.

taking the mic - the focus position for lyngdorf’s room optimsation

WABI-SABI – DISCOVERING BEAUTY WITHIN IMPERFECTION

This leads us to another important reason for auditioning within a real room with its own vices and virtues; It provides us with an opportunity to assist you not just with expertise on the excellent equipment that we offer, but to demonstrate the knowhow we have developed for setting up optimally performing hi-fi systems in less-than ideal room conditions. We can show you the positive effects of placing your loudspeakers favourably in challenging spaces to obtain stunning sound, and we can illustrate how to make stepwise changes within a sub-optimal listening room that may not even require you to reach for specific room treatment items – simple tweaks that can make a rewarding difference and actually cost you nothing but your time. We can show you the mechanics of how to position yourself relative to the speakers, which should always be one of the first resorts to achieving good sound. And we can demonstrate how to sonically work with your room instead of fighting against it. As an additional sharing, in our perfectly imperfect new demo room, we can elucidate the sonic virtues of room optimisation; for example, ‘Room Perfect’ is a proprietary room-correction feature of Lyngdorf’s TDAI-1120 and TDAI-3400 advanced audio players. We can also show you how ‘Space Optimisation’ works on Linn’s Majik DSM and Selekt DSM digital music systems – the latter being fully customisable, e.g. with a choice of Linn DAC plus other tailored options.

lyngdorf’s tdai-3400 media player featuring room perfect - atop of Lyngdorf’s cd-2 cd player

FUTURE PLANS – AUDIO T READING IN SWALLOWFIELD

Our new main demo room not only serves as an ideal setting for auditioning sensational hi-fi equipment, but it also provides a great opportunity to learn about in-room system setup and gain knowledge about listening rooms in general. Ongoing plans will soon see our main listening space evolve into a state-of-the-art audio-visual demonstration room, with four studio-quality in-ceiling speakers – Dynaudio’s S4-C80 – already installed for Dolby Atmos and sounding awesome. And as part of the next phase of development here in Swallowfield, work is underway to construct a second, smaller, demo room that will have its own unique sonic character and provide further opportunities for audition and optimising audio systems within a smaller room setting.

the most important part of your system… is you! - just ask bowie

As we bring this web log to a close, it’s clear that there is plenty of chatter within our hi-fi circles just now putting ever increasing emphasis on your listening room, even suggesting that this is the most important part of your hi-fi system. To a large extent we concur that there is truth to this, but despite all of our sharing here about listening rooms, we believe that the most important part of any hi-fi system is you! Please do come back here soon for a deeper dive into this…

Thank you for reading, Rishi and Gareth – Audio T Reading

Our new Swallowfield store is accessible via the 600 bus route from Reading town centre and is very easy to reach by road with the A33, M3 and M4 all nearby. On arrival you’ll find ample free parking right on our doorstep, perfect for those rainy days, and our showroom and demo rooms are all on ground level. Our picturesque surroundings provide many places to enjoy a countryside walk, a riverside stroll, or a picnic. Plus there are local sites of interest to explore such as the Blackwater River, Wellington Country Park, Siren Craft Brewery and a host of cute village pubs with gardens. Why not come and make a day of it!

Be sure to follow us on Facebook to stay up to date with what’s going on in store.

The products featured here can be found or enquired about at the following Audio T stores:

Dynamic Dynaudio - a closer look and listen to the Dynaudio Contour 30i

/ Audio T Brighton/

Hi folks, and welcome to this month’s article from us here at Audio T Brighton. We’ve certainly been treated to some quality gear coming through our door in recent months and our March blog continues this tradition with another special loudspeaker - the Dynaudio Contour 30i floor standing loudspeakers. Let’s delve in a bit deeper!

Dynaudio Contour 30i floorstanders...

dynaudio contour 30i’s in gloss black with our naim 300 series system

The latest iteration of the Dynaudio Contour 30i are our most recent acquisition here at Audio T Brighton , and they have numerous technical improvements over the original Contour 30 model. A 2.5 way design, using two larger 18cm Magnesium Silicate Polymer bass/midrange drivers with a tuned 2nd order bass crossover frequency of 300Hz to integrate the bass drivers and a separate tweeter crossover at 2200 Hz.

Quoted frequency response is 32Hz up to 23kHz at -3dB. Sensitivity is quoted at 87dB/1W. IEC power handling is rated at 300W and impedance quoted at 4 Ohms.

dynaudio contour 30i in nordic silver looking elegant in a domestic setting.

Dynaudio refine the design of their drive units periodically and the Esotar 2i tweeter now incorporate the Hexis inner dome to deal with back wave resonances and give superior sound with lower distortion figures. Our Dynaudio representative, Bill Livingston, was keen to show us the bass drive units in a recent visit to us, explaining how their choice of aluminium in the voice coils, instead of the usual copper, improved speed and dynamics owing to the reduced mass of such material. Other improvements to the asymmetric spider boast superior acoustic response. As you will read shortly, our listening tests certainly seem to support the claims made.

dynaudio contour 30i’s features

The crossovers in the Contour 30i are chock full of high quality Mundorf capacitors and air-core inductors, enabling Dynaudio to simplify the 2nd-order crossover, enhancing performance further. Dynaudio go to great lengths to get their speakers sounding right, with some of the most advanced testing facilities in the industry.

dynaudio’s advanced factory testing facilities

Dynaudio Contour 30i variants...

The Dynaudio Contour 30i are available in Gloss black, Walnut and Nordic Silver. As can be expected of speakers in this price category, the fit and finish are exemplary. According to Dynaudio, each cabinet takes over 90 minutes to turn on a five-axis CNC machine, the lacquering process takes 40 hours to cure, and 16 pieces of sandpaper are used in order to finish the speaker to Dynaudio’s standard.

So how do they sound?

As a previous owner of several Dynaudio speaker models, including the Dynaudio 42 and Dynaudio Focus 110 standmount speakers, plus my personal experience of the current range of Dynaudio Evoke 10, Evoke 20 and Evoke 30 we have on demonstration here at our Brighton Audio T shop, I have become accustomed to the family sound Dynaudio speakers exhibit. Refinement and added detail become more apparent as you move up the range; they all have the “bounce” and fun sound I associate with the Dynaudio in house sound, without losing technical quality in the process.

dynaudio contour 60i in walnut

Once you get to the Contour range, things definitely go up several gears, with models in the Evoke range only hinting at what’s to come sonically. My first experience of the Contour range came when I had the pleasure of listening to the Dynaudio Contour 20i on the end of a Naim Uniti Nova, )available to read in my blog here). To say I was bowled-over with their performance would be somewhat of an understatement, such was their refinement, musicality and fun-factor.

The Contour 30i take the scale and bass extension to another level and although not that hard to drive, quality electronics are almost a prerequisite to get the most out of them. Our resident Naim 500 series system consisting of ND 555 streamer, Naim NAC 552 preamp and Naim NAP 500 DR power amp fronted by a Linn Klimax LP12 with a Urika phono stage and Radikal 2 power supply really pep things up Guardiola style! Let’s put it this way, if there were a footballer called Dynaudio Contour 30i in the squad at Manchester City, I’m sure Pep Guardiola would have his name on the team sheet early on!

dynaudio contour 30i

As always, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so get in touch to book a demonstration.

Thanks for reading.

Ade, John and Paul - Audio T Brighton

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

If you’ve enjoyed this, why not go ahead and read some more of our other blogs, and be sure to follow us on our social media channels below…

Tape's Not Dead!

/ Audio T Cheltenham/

The sole purpose of this month’s blog is to gently guide your collective attentions to a rather wonderful book that I was recently gifted by some like minded friends from our Monthly Music Club!

Yes!….I can read!!

The book in question goes by the title of “High Bias…The Distorted History Of The Cassette Tape” by Marc Masters (no….me neither). Now I have been variously called a “Tapehead” or “Tape Pervert” for a number of years now and even as I sit here now writing this blog I am sitting behind what can only be described as a wall of various different types of cassette tapes. And if you, like me, have even a remote or passing interest in the format then you will love this book.

I love that clever subtitle

Various chapters take you through the early development and birth of the revolutionary cassette tape in the 1960s to the Walkman inspired domination of the format in the 1980s. Cheap, portable and reusable, these small plastic rectangles changed the course of music history in so many ways.

a close up of the chapter titles

Each chapter tackles a different aspect of how far from killing music, home taping was actually responsible in so many ways for keeping it alive! The influence of cassette tape rippled through myriad scenes that the giant corporations just couldn’t control. For so many people tapes meant freedom to create, freedom to invent and perhaps most importantly, freedom to connect both with other like minded people and cultures.

the comeback has begun…chapter seven says so!

Bands like Metallica and Iron Maiden got started with self-distributed tapes, and many others followed. Over time, the recording quality improved. Bruce Springsteen’s classic album Nebraska was recorded on a four-track tape, and he famously could not make it sound better when he tried to recreate it in the recording studio. The emergence of hip-hop also owed much to the cassette. The enduring legacy of The Grateful Dead grew courtesy of the tapers that the band allowed to record their concerts and swap tapes.

With this book Marc Masters brings vividly to life the tape artists who thrive underground. The concert tapers who trade bootlegs; mixtape makers who send messages via cassette; tape hunters rescuing forgotten sounds and music; and comes bang up to date with today’s labels that reject CD and streaming and sell their music on cassette. Their stories celebrate the cassette tape as dangerous, vital and radical.

With energy, insight, and wit, Masters provides a welcome examination of an often overlooked format and cultural turning point. Go on give it a go….I loved it!

‘We Are Rewind’ in all their retro glory

Have you got a load of tapes sat at home and nothing to play them on? Or perhaps you’ve bought the latest Harry Styles or Taylor Swift albums on new cassette release? Well look no further! You can rekindle your love of the format with We Are Rewind and their series of contemporary portable cassette players. Housed in a durable and stylish metal chassis, the cassette player features an audio input to record your own tapes, a 5.1 Bluetooth output to connect to speakers or headphones, and a built-in rechargeable lithium battery that provides 12 hours of continuous playback. Available in 3 colors: Orange (SERGE), Blue (KURT) and Grey (KEITH), you can find out more Here.

Many thanks for reading…

Andy, Jon and Farid -

Audio T Cheltenham Store.

If you’ve enjoyed this, why not go ahead and read some more of our other blogs, and be sure to follow us on our social media channels below…

Audio T Oxford contemplate the IsoAcoustics zaZen isolation platforms.

/ Audio T Oxford/

According to Wikipedia (so it’s bound to be correct), “Zazen” is a meditative discipline that is typically the primary practice of the Zen Buddhist tradition, more informally to include all forms of seated Buddhist meditation. IsoAcoustics zaZen platforms are therefore aptly named as their function is to bring a sense of ordered calm to the product that sits upon it, and therefore create an enlightened musical experience.

Rega P10 in situ on a zaZen

Many of our customers consider music to be a meditative and restorative process, regardless of their musical preferences. So, this article is about whether these accessories can bring actual improvements to your existing kit or proposed purchase, and transport you deeper into the music…

What is a zaZen platform?  

Naim Uniti Star looking and sounding good on a Zazen 11

The zaZen is a black lacquered high-density fibreboard platform that has dimensions of 43x38x3cm, with a foot attached underneath at each corner. It comes in two sizes:

· zaZen I - 38mm in height has a weight capacity of just 11.3kg

· zaZen II - 42mm in height can handle up to 18.1kg.

Showing the zaZen 1 and 11 with isolating feet

Underneath the platform is a set of four IsoAcoustics patented isolation feet that are partly recessed into the body of the block. This combination aims to reduce vibration, lower the noise floor, and increase available information heading towards your ears. The feet act as isolation, preventing most ground-based vibrations from passing through to the platform itself, thus reducing the potential feedback from loudspeakers back into your system.

As well as being designed for noise and vibration elimination the zaZen’s actually look pretty cool under most equipment!

So, how do they how fair in practice?

We tested both the Isolation Platforms across a range of equipment. What we found was:

Low frequencies – Turntables are especially well catered for by the zaZen; bass presented previously as rounded instead becomes more controlled, it remains deep – but you get greater insight into the bass shape and depth and subtlety of playing; it is faster with more impact, without reduction in mass.

Valve equipment - The zaZen imparts an enhanced mid-range and high-frequency clarity thanks to the reduction of microphony in the valves from the speakers. Bass is tighter as mentioned above.

Generally - it’s surprising just how many products do benefit from that vibration reduction, streamers in particular seem to benefit from the sense of space brought by the platforms, along with headphone amps, phono stages and solid-state amplification in general. The zaZens do bestow a sense of calm upon all the products they support, the lower noise floor allowing important aspects like voice (midrange), detail, interplay, and soundstage to become more intelligible.

A cumulative effect - There is a positive additive effect of two or more platforms, so you can add more as you go along and get an increasingly more insightful sound.

Summary

IsoAcoustics zaZen range help reduce ground-borne vibration and give you a significantly greater insight into your music. Clearly a lot of engineering nous and expertise has gone into these lucid sounding products. They do exactly as advertised and have a very positive effect.

They are simple to use - you put the zaZen on a shelf, put a product on the zaZen. Aside from some care in selecting the right model for the weight of the product, the job is done.

Visually and sonically, they complement many existing equipment racks and the equipment that sits on them; or if you are the kind of person that loves good sound but finds high-performance audio furniture at odds with the design ethos of your home, a zaZen under each device on your domestic furniture make it sound a great deal better.

What’s not to like?

Not sure what IsoAcoustic product is best for your equipment? Use the handy “Product Selection Wizard” Here.

Thank you for reading.

Rob & Jon.

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

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Seventy years and counting, Saul Bernard Marantz's legacy continues.

/ Audio T Manchester/

In the early days of audio recordings, records suffered from inconsistent recording characteristics. In 1952, unhappy with equipment available at the time, music lover, freelance graphic artist, and amateur musician Saul Bernard Marantz, created what was for the time, a revolutionary pre-amplifier. The Audio Consolette was equipped with every equalizer curve necessary to handle erratic recording characteristics and immediately struck a chord with his friends. As a result, Saul established the Marantz Company in 1953 and opened a factory in Woodside, Queens, New York.

This was over 70 years ago, and the story of the Audio Consolette is worth a deep dive into for another blog, and because it involves RIAA curves I’m going to have to tap into Haden’s mind for some more knowledge on this.

Did you know! Saul Marantz built the very first Audio Consolette at his kitchen table..

I also can't help but feel a bit guilty about not covering Marantz's 70th Anniversary last year with a blog or acknowledgement of how they have contributed so significantly to Hi-fi over the past seventy-plus years. Watch this space for a separate story on that.

For now though, we would like to take quick look at the brand new 50 series combo from the Marantz Hi-fi collection…

I think that’s too casual chromey, our readers want a little more focus please.

The Marantz Model 50 amplifier and the CD50n (CD and network player) both fall in the middle tier of the Hi-fi range from Marantz. We'll run through some of specs and features here.

The CD50 Network streamer and the Model 50 amplifier

Marantz Model 50

A high-current, dual-device A/B amplifier, rated at a healthy 70 watts into 8 ohms and 100 watts into 4 ohms. This will partner a wide range of speakers from floorstanders to difficult to drive bookshelf speakers too.

The amp feels hefty because of the double layer bottom plate, which keeps the chunky power supply and thick metal front plate in place without any flex. Always a good sign for your engine room.

As regards to the styling and the new look from Marantz, which is all encompassing across the range, including the new AV surround amplifiers, I like it!

The wave ripple effect on the front fascia looks great in my humble opinion, Certainly not boring, reminds me of radio waves. Also, just like the Audio Consolette from 70 years ago we have bass and treble tone controls.

Around the back you have six analogue inputs including upgraded connectors for CD and phono, the most commonly used inputs. The moving magnet phono stage uses a new circuit without distortion-inducing coupling capacitors.

And as you can see the chunky binding posts let you connect 2 pairs of speakers to the Model 50, so you can, if needed, stick another pair in a different part of the house like the sun room for example and enjoy your music in there.

it says Marantz chromey, not massage.

Marantz CD50N

Marantz's combined CD player & network player, things start to get a bit more interesting.

The CD playback comes courtesy of a 32bit/384 DAC that gets those digital bits converted. The mechanism for the drawer is super smooth and so quiet, and if you're wondering “what's the big deal” well, it feels like an age since we have had CD players that can hold a candle to our regular British brands that tend to use manual drawers that you open by hand, pressing a button and having a drawer present a CD to you in this fashion, seems pretty cool again.

Marantz CD50n

The CD50's streaming credentials are underpinned by HEOS. A now established streaming platform that can claim to hold its own against other tried and tested platforms by Naim, Yamaha and Linn.

Within the app you can control streaming services from Tidal, Deezer and Spotify with the potential for more in the future.

You can also stream music from your own server to access music you may have previously stored on your computer or NAS drive. There's access to a tuner via the HEOS App, opening up thousands of radio stations for your perusal.

Ahh, a close inspection of those wonderful copper screws that hold everything in place

Two aerials on the back of the CD50N give you Bluetooth and Wifi, you can then stream directly from your phone to your hi-fi, podcasts, radio shows, YouTube even audiobooks. The addition of Airplay 2 affords you the ability to stream directly from your iphone and ipad too.

Aerial acrobatics coming up from chromey (alley-oop)

Another feather in the cap of the CD50N is the addition of digital inputs to the rear panel, you have a USB DAC for a direct PC/MAC connection for asynchronous file playback. An optical input and a coaxial input make up the rest.

More importantly, as regards to inputs, the CD50N has a HDMI ARC input. So if your stereo speakers are positioned on either side of your TV, you can connect a HDMI cable from the TV via the HDMI ARC and TV sound now extends to your wonderful Hi-fi speakers.

Around the back.

The source

And talking about wonderful speakers, we connected our Dynaudio Evoke 30s to the Marantz combo for an audio workout. So, firstly, we tried out the CD playback courtesy of that wonderfully smooth mech.

And to be fair, we were quite impressed, the DAC in the Marantz CD50 is from a lineage not to be sniffed at. Our Ali Farke Toure, Niafunke CD sounded great, a nice open sound that wasn't harsh like a lot of cheaper CD players can be.

The streaming playback followed suit, accessing Tidal through the HEOS app was a breeze.

And 24bit playback, again sounded smooth and refined, there is never a sense that the CD50 is shouting at you, but just gently talking to you with dulcet tones.

Now, to be honest, we didn't get to try out the HDMI ARC option on the CD50, however, we were quietly confident that the 32/384 DAC would do a way better job of being honest to one of Jools Holland's guests than a soundbar.

The final touch of super convenience for all, is the Airplay 2 and the Bluetooth function.

Everybody's phone connected seamlessly. We have a mixture of Android and iPhones in use at the store, and they all connected with little fuss. So YouTube audio here we come.

Ok, so to the engine room.

Everything we have spoken about regarding the CD50's sound wouldn't qualify were it not for the Model 50's handling of the Dynaudio Evoke 30's. The 100 watts into 4 ohms is more than ample for the speakers to sing along at loud volumes without missing a beat. Lower volume control is also great, which is always a good indicator, when the volume needs to be dropped for late night listening the sound stage is still full and rounded.

We tried some German electronic music from one of our faves Robag Wruhme, just to put the amp through it's paces, and sure enough, it didn't disappoint, The track Thora Vukk sounded huge with bags of bass filling our listening room, without sounding slow or wallowy.

So to wrap up. combined and individually, the series 50 from Marantz are a great new addition to Marantz's range, purchased together or as addition to an existing system, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Our Marantz 50 series pairing is on demo at our Manchester store, feel free to give us a visit.

Thanks for reading

Munir, James, Haden & Dave - Audio T Manchester

If you’ve enjoyed this, why not go ahead and read some more of our other blogs, and be sure to follow us on our social media channels below…

The New Acoustic Energy Cor(inium) Blimeys!

/ Audio T Bristol/

Acoustic Energy have been busy. First seen at the Munich Hi-Fi Show in October 2023, the Corinium floorstanding speakers, which have been a three year project spearheaded by Acoustic Energy Managing Director Matt Spandl, have arrived in store with much anticipation on our part…

The Balancing Act of Price, Performance & Aesthetics

The brief for the project was simple and ambitious - to create the most dynamic, live sounding and musically involving loudspeaker Acoustic Energy have ever created.” This represents Acoustic Energy’s first speaker that lands them in the mid to high-end Hi-Fi experience. Many brands take aesthetics way beyond price/performance and into the realms of luxury interior design and fine furniture - with designer brand appeal a central part of their products. There is a convergence point that Acoustic Energy are very aware of - price/performance with a conservative competent nod to aesthetics, and the achievement here is very much on brand.

Corinium Design

Standing at 1100mm high, they sit between the AE509 and the taller AE520 and are slightly wider and deeper. The Corinium use the same 500 series Resonance Suppression Composite (RSC) cabinets, but these have a lovely curve to them, reminiscent of the 2009 Acoustic Energy Radiance series, and further acoustic suppression by having a minimum cabinet wall thickness of 22mm rising to 50mm on the top and bottom plates, The front baffle is in two parts - a 25mm MDF and mounted to a 6mm single piece aluminium to create a flat inert surface. Where floorstanders gain in lower octaves sound reproduction over stand mount speakers, they can lose in transparency, speed, mid-range and high frequency detail. To overcome this the tweeter and mid range drivers are housed internally in a separate cabinet to the two bass woofers.

Tweeter

Acoustic Energy searched for a new lighter stiffer material than the carbon fibre used in the 500 series and researched the possibilities of TORAY TETORON™ - a Japanese manufactured polyester with similar properties to silk, but with greater stiffness. The 28mm tweeter, mounted to the aluminium front baffle, has lower colouration, greater speed and detail in transients than the 500 series. Interestingly, the crossover point is very low at 3400Hz. Most tweeters cross from mid range driver to tweeter around 1800Hz to 2600Hz. 3400Hz is similar to the SH25-76S in the ATCs and Esotar in the Dynaudios .

Mid range

Carbon fibre is the choice for the midrange, as in the 500 series, but these are the next generation. This driver handles five of the eight octaves in musical reproduction and is crucial to the overall mid-range tonal character of a speaker. Visually comparing the AE500 series to the Corinium, this driver has a steeper cone angle and is sunk in the cabinet more with a steeper wave guide.

Bass

With a crossover of 260Hz, these all new 140mm drivers, two in each speaker, are used to deal with “…Most of the important bass weight and speed“. Housed in a separate area to the mid and tweeter arrangement, their sole purpose is to support that mid-range and come alive when needed.

Cabinet and Finishes

This new Acoustic Energy Corinium comes with a premium flagship colour of Aston Martin Racing Green as well as standard Black, White and a gentle Tectona Teak finish.

Acoustic Energy are rightly proud of their new addition, and they have a dedicated sister website about the Corinium development here, which is well worth a read, and they are featured in this quarter’s Audio T Music at Home+ Magazine.

Setup and Listening

Cirencester, being just up the road from Bristol, allowed for a visit from Paul Burnip and Wayne Davis from Acoustic Energy to hand deliver our new Coriniums. We had already setup the new Naim 300 series (Naim NAP 350, NAC 332 pre with NPX 300 power supply, NSS 333 streamer) system ready to go.

Firing up Qobuz on the Naim app I went straight to the 141 track Audio-T Bristol playlist - https://open.qobuz.com/playlist/2438053

The Coriniums excel at timing across all frequencies. The 4 degree speaker rake really helps lift the sound stage with an ethereal quality and are not as rakish in the flesh. The detail and transparency are exquisite.

Compared with the AE520s, these are a more forward presentation with a little more top end. Although, that top end never becomes harsh and brittle. The mid range is quite sweet and very much like a Harbeth or Sonus Faber Olympica Nova. Limit to your Love, James Blake bass notes extend and are very textural with the finger clicks sharp and easily placed to the left of the airy vocals.

Female vocals and sibilance are well handled, Both Sides Now - Joni Mitchell really very insightful. Acoustic guitar of Canadee-I-O - Penguin Eggs, Nic Jones -Poor Boy, Bryter Layter -Nick Drake and Over The Hill - John Martyn have attack, snap and sparkle without being too tinny. Classical and Jazz pieces are where these speakers really show what they are capable of, with the reproduction far exceeding other Acoustic Energy speakers and putting it in the realms of higher end speakers.

Qobuz Audio T Bristol, Selected from Playlist:

  • Veto, Tremours - SOHN

  • Sailing to Philadelphia - Mark Knopfler

  • Limit to your Love - James Blake

  • Hey Now, If You Wait - London Grammar

  • Both Sides - Joni Mitchell

  • Witchita Lineman - Glen Campbell

  • Poor Boy, Bryter Layter - Nick Drake

  • 5:15, Quadrophenia - The Who

  • Canadee-I-O, Penguin Eggs - Nic Jones

  • Kora - GoGo Penguin

  • Natten - Bremer/McCoy

  • Passing Ships - Andrew Hill

  • Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No.14 in C-Sharp Minor Op.27 - Murray Perahia

  • Over The Hill - John Martyn

Conclusion

In High End Audio there is the law of diminishing returns - the point at which to secure truly better Hi-Fi performance a lot more needs to be spent for the final percentages of absolute performance gain. And this is completely understandable as the research time, manufacturing materials, component selection and engineering become more expensive, more time consuming with longer development and build times.

What Acoustic Energy have created here is a speaker that balances on the knife edge of price/performance and aesthetics. Acoustic Energy could have followed the pattern of many other manufacturers of tweaking or releasing a 500 MkII or a 700 series signature range and such like.

Instead, they tore up the rule book, hunkered down, got to work and crafted a luxury High End sound performance with great design and a sound that punches well above the £6,000 asking price - a considerable step up from the 500 series and a very serious proposition up against any speaker in High End Hi-Fi.

Justin, Max & James - Audio T Bristol

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

If you’ve enjoyed this, why not go ahead and read some more of our other blogs, and be sure to follow us on our social media channels below…

Sub Be Good to Me - The Ruark Audio RS1 Subwoofer

/ Audio T Swansea/

Friends tell me I am crazy,

That I’m wasting time with subs,

They’ll never be hi-fi,

 That’s not the way I see it,

‘cause I feel glad when one is mine,

Whenever one’s near me,

People always talk about subs’ reputatio...

(that’s quite enough of that, thank you! – Ed.) Spoilsport.

The….select club, that is Audio T Swansea’s blog readership (hello!), will be familiar with my subwoofer evangelism. Normally they’re REL, near to/or north of a grand and glossy habitues of our room corners. This little fellow does not fall into any of those categories, yet makes a spirited bid for our attention.

radiused wooden corners, grey marl open-weave cloth, cute little feet, what’s not to like?

Welcome to the family

Ruark have planned to make a companion subwoofer for their cute MR1 stereo system for quite a while now, but other projects such as the R3S and the new streaming R410, (both of which are compatible with the RS1) have hitherto taken priority with Team Secret Squirrel over at Ruark R&D. Finally, the wait is over and poor, young Eduardo at Ruark Sales will no longer have to bat away subwoofer-related questions from me.

the ruark mr1 mk2 active stereo speaker system. (well, one of them,) next to a walnut finish rega planar 1, chosen to match the ruark subwoofer. These blogs aren’t just thrown together you know.

It’s a handsome little fellow, achingly fashionable grey cloth wrapped around its middle, with a crisp walnut topping (and bottoming.) It will fit right in, in just about any modern front room you could mention and quite a few old-fashioned ones too. The rear panel is populated with the appropriate controls – gain, crossover and phase adjustment, plus a single RCA input and wee LEDs & graphics to reassure you that when the RS1 isn’t receiving a signal, it goes to sleep. Ahhhh, bless.

that modest rear panel

Set-up

Set-up is straightforward enough: play a track with a constant bassline (such as Ray LaMontagne’s “You Can Bring Me Flowers”) and adjust the phase position so the bass sounds at its loudest. Begin with the crossover and gain far too high so one is overwhelmed with bass, reduce the crossover so the RS1 isn’t reproducing the same notes as your MR1s, then drop the gain until you can’t tell where the sub is when your eyes are shut. You will probably need to recalibrate after a couple of weeks – the driver becomes more efficient and reaches higher into the register, so you might feel the need to pull the crossover down a smidge, adjust the gain a fraction.

fender guitar model’s own

Here, we’ve installed the Ruark RS1 as part of a basic vinyl replay system, such as you might enjoy in a small room: Rega Planar 1 Plus turntable (with onboard phono stage), Ruark MR1 Mk2 active speaker system and the RS1 subwoofer. At the time of writing, yours for a bargain £1097. One can connect a digital source such as a TV, which is ideal for movies and gaming, although most folks use the Bluetooth connection for streamed music, YouTube etc.

ooooo swoopy. gots to love a creative artist.

Without the subwoofer – it sounds really good. More scale and projection than one would expect from titchy speakers, Chaka Khan bounces along with gusto; rich, clear vocals and clean synth bass encouraging everyone to cut that rug. Switch the RS1 on and…..well, that’s better! We’re not hinting at bass any more, it’s tangible and we can feel that it fills the room. It adds the weight we didn't know we were missing, the kind that puts the music right into your guts. Marvellous.

yes, i know it’s christy moore, i was playing chaka khan before nic (photograper) got involved. in fairness, the system does do a credible job with the live acoustic.

The RS1 is £349, available from all Audio-T stores and you’ve been listening to the boy from the big, bad city.

Thanks for reading, and with sincere apologies to Beats International

Ade, Nic & Andy - Audio T Swansea

REGA ISIS compact disc player - Queen of the throne CD playback

/ Audio T Brighton/

Hi folks, and welcome to this month’s article from us here at Audio T Brighton. We’re in for a rare treat this month because the compact disc player in question is the “top dog” from Rega, the ISIS. Let’s dive in and have a look and listen!

Rega ISIS - the goddess of healing and magic

The Rega ISIS CD player is a real gem of a compact disc player and sits at the top of the tree when it comes to digital playback. According to historical Egyptian texts, Isis is the Goddess of healing and magic. As we will find out later in this article, the Rega ISIS has musical properties that make this a fitting description of how it sounds.

According to the latest market music sales figures, despite plateauing CD sales, they are still outselling vinyl LPs 2 to 1, clearly demonstrating a need for quality CD players in the hi-fi market. A relative veteran of the Rega range, it still more than holds its own against modern competition in the form of hi-fi streamers. If you’re into the idea of owning your music in a physical format, the Rega ISIS is a good reason to do so.

In the words of a former England manager, Terry Venables, “Form is temporary, class is permanent!” and this certainly comes through in our listening tests.

Rega ISIS features...

The Rega ISIS weighs in at just under 20kg, exhibiting a sound that mirrors this with similar gravitas. We’d recommend the top shelf of a sturdy hi-fi rack, such as one of the designs from Quadraspire’s range, because as one can see from the pictures in this blog, it is a top-loader and not something to be moved around on a regular basis, unless you’re into lifting weights at the gym!

The remote control is something to behold, made from a block of solid metal, with an incredibly weighty feel, that fills you full of confidence when in hand.

Careful choice has been made for every component in the digital and the analogue signal path of the Rega ISIS to ensure the integrity of the signal. Using discrete class A operational amplifiers and filters, the circuit can then be optimised for sonic performance.

Advanced grounding techniques are integral to the design of the Rega ISIS, part of the Holy Grail of hi-fi and an often underused and under appreciated technology in high fidelity design.

Hypervigilant design of the PCBs ensures isolation of not just the digital and analogue sections, but also the motor, display and user interface processor. All sonically critical electrolytic capacitors have been by-passed with polypropylene or polyester film capacitors.

The Rega ISIS uses power supplies that utilise custom Rega K-Power smoothing capacitors, along with fast diodes which have been used throughout in power supply rectification. Rega have also ensured that power supply impedances in the digital to analogue converter are kept very low by the use of solid polymer capacitors. Optimised control code for the control of the CD processor and user display speeds up the initialisation process, by means of a tighter control interface between the user micro and CD processor.

As a final nice touch, along with the weighty remote control, the Rega ISIS ships with a Rega Couple interconnect and the same high quality mains lead as comes with the Rega Aura phono stage.

Rega Isis rear view showing digital input choices

Another string to the Rega ISIS bow is that it can be usefully employed as a DAC input for another source. Although one may frown on the use of a computer to play back music, the Rega ISIS was ahead of its time when they designed it with a USB input, allowing stellar playback form another digital player. It can also be used as a top drawer transport with its digital coaxial output into another DAC, although one can hardly imagine playback at a much higher level than the Rega ISIS can achieve on its own.

Rega for life...

rega isis laser assembly mechanism

Rega are one of the few companies that offer a Lifetime Warranty on their products, subject to normal wear and tear or user mishap, and this certainly installs some confidence in purchasing their products. In the case of the Rega ISIS they go one better than this (or should I say two better than this) by archiving two matched laser mechanisms at the factory for the original purchaser of a Rega ISIS. Given that one can expect the life of a CD mechanism to be an average of approximately 10 years and this being one of the main reasons for consigning a CD player to the recycling bin at the end of its life. It is nice to know that the additional mechanisms more or less guarantee three decades of quality CD playback for the potential purchaser, and may be the deciding factor when making such a substantial outlay for this CD player. However, when one factors in the potential lifespan of the Rega ISIS and its superb construction & sound, the outlay seems to be very reasonable once the maths has been calculated!

So let’s get to the sound...

Rega Naia, Rega aura and REga aethos system

Our test system at Audio T Brighton consisted of a Rega ISIS CD player, Rega Naia turntable, Rega Aura phono stage into a Rega Aethos integrated amplifier and Rega Aya floor standing speakers.

To be honest, there is a family sound to Rega components and having recently waxed lyrical about the Rega Naia with Aphelion 2 cartridge paired with a Rega Aura phono stage, the Rega ISIS simply carries this on. Both sources have a dynamism, tone and sheer musicality to their sound that engages the listener in such a profound way, trying to do any jobs other than enjoying the music are nigh-on impossible.

To read more about our experiences with the Rega Naia with Aphelion 2 cartridge in partnership with a Rega Aura phono stage, please feel free to read my earlier blog HERE.

I am your father...

rega isis rear view

Advising someone to listen to the the Rega ISIS is a bit like telling Darth Vader to use the force - it really is a Master of the Universe when it comes to CD playback and we’ve heard nothing like it here at our Brighton Audio T store. It really is an other-worldly experience, so come in and book a demonstration before Luke Skywalker shows up (or our Rega rep takes it back!)

As always, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, so get in touch to book a demonstration.

Thanks for reading.

Ade, John and Paul - Audio T Brighton

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

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Chromey basks in Rega's Aura.

/ Audio T Manchetser/

Rega's reference phonostage, the AURA could be seen as perfect for any high end turntable, but especially the new Rega NAIA…

It's funny, a couple of generations back, phono stages hardly existed. But when CD started to have its moment, a lot of amplifiers began to lose their internal phono capabilities. A record deck requires a sophisticated circuit to both amplify and equalise the delicate signal from the record deck’s cartridge and stylus. In the dark digital days, it was considered an unnecessary addition to an amplifier and was removed by certain manufacturers, some offering a basic add on phonostage, some not. But from this there developed a market for add-on phono stages, some of which from small manufacturers could be better sounding than the propriety one from a major maker! The market for phono stages opened up, and now, you can buy anything from £100 to £100,000, with huge arguments about just 'what' makes the best design.

The cartridge fitted to the end of your turntable's arm produces a tiny tiny voltage, especially moving coil type cartridges. A cartridge is effectively a mini generator. As the record groove turns, the undulating record groove wall moves the stylus side to side and up and down, and the tiny generating system produces a stereo signal from this. (In mono records, information is 'cut' as just sideways movement in the groove.) In voltage terms, the average moving coil, MC, cartridge produces only around 0.0005 of a volt! A terrifyingly low signal level. The phono stage has the hard job of amplifying this very low signal up to around a 1 or 2 volts (5 volts for a balanced signal, on your typical XLR type connections).

That sadly is not the end of the complexity. All records are 'cut' with an equalisation curve, called the RIAA curve, very simply the treble is severely boosted and the bass severely lowered when a record is 'cut' at the studio. On playback, this boost and cut needs to be reversed for perfect reproduction on playback: The bass severely boosted, and the treble hugely reduced.

As you can see from above, the phono stage has an incredibly complex job to do. The Rega Aura is a state of the art piece of electronics designed to do just that, and gain the maximum fidelity from your records. It has been 100% optimised to resolve the 'best' from all low output moving coil cartridges, and been designed to fit universally in to any High End audio system.

The first thing to hit you about the Aura, is its substantial build. 10mm thick aluminium panels form the top and the bottom of the unit, minimising any possible vibrations interfering with the delicate and highly sensitive audio electronics within the case. At the rear are six professional audio connectors. Four professional grade phono sockets provide input from your turntable, and output to your amplifier, with the addition of a pair of balanced fully professional XLR output connectors. A ground terminal and an IEC mains connector. The front panel contains a power switch, mono/stereo switch; this helps reduce noise while playing mono records, a mute switch; handy for changing records, gain high/low selector; depending on just how low output your cartridge is, and fine adjustment of both the cartridge load and capacitance; each cartridge has its own unique settings.

For the technically minded, the AURA can be broken down into four parts; arguably the most important part of any amplifier is the power supply. On the AURA it is simply huge; an oversized high current toroidal mains transformer literally supplies the juice, along with dual balanced power supply with active regulation, with a much higher voltage than is common in any phono stage. The input from the cartridge is directly coupled to the input electronics, in this case a direct connection to an array of FET transistors, delicate enough to accurately boost up the delicate audio signal to a useable level. The signal is then passed on to the middle part of the circuit via a passive high filter, this corrects the treble part of the RIAA curve.

The middle circuit builds on the gain of the first part, and accuratly corrects the bass part of the RIAA equalisation curve actively. Lesser designs combine the RIAA correction in to one active filter, although cheaper, this kind of circuit can both increase distortion and be less accurate. Of course this is a state of the art design, and a no compromise design at that. The final part of the design is a 'flat' amplifier to give a suitable output for your amplifier. Fully balanced to suit direct connection to other balanced designs via the XLR connections, as well as the more conventional phono sockets. Internally, the two channels are built in monoblock configurations on the main high quality circuit board.

In use, we have tried and tested the AURA in all manner of systems. In every case it has excelled in performance. The sensitive FET front ensures high gain and low noise, providing you with a deeper incite in to the recordings. The split passive (treble) and active (bass) RIAA ensures soaring heights, with pin sharp stereo imaging, combined with controlled, clean, deep articulated bass. Kick drums delight in their power, but light and open touch. Cymbals have clarity and depth, with no spit, sizzle or splash. Both male and female vocals have a true authority and power, helped by the AURA's powerful output stage and huge power supply. The overall sonic landscape is smooth, weighty, extended and beautifully detailed. The amount of information retrieval is truly impressive, as is the expansive sound stage. Stereo imaging is holographic, the internal monoblock design of the circuit really helping to maximise the stereo separation. There is a lot of competition in High End phono stages. What marks the REGA Aura out is its utterly organic sound. The way the music starts and stops, its openness and smooth dynamics. It's universality aids its popularity as our 'best selling' High End phono stage, it's ability to extract the best from all low output moving coil cartridges, as well as being optimal for REGA's own excellent cartridges.

If you are in this market, and looking for the very best fidelity for your money. Contact your local Audio T dealer for an audition today.

Thanks for reading

Haden, James, Munir & Dave - Audio T Manchester

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A look at the AURALiC Vega G2.2 Streaming DAC

/ Audio T Southampton/

Established in 2009, AURALiC has become a well established company known for driving innovation in high-performance music reproduction technology for over a decade. Inspired by a Berliner Philharmoniker concert in Waldbühne Berlin in 2008, AURALiC's founders, passionate classical music enthusiasts, embarked on a journey to create a company dedicated to providing a genuinely high-resolution music streaming solution. This vision materialized over the following years.

Having used AURALiC products as part of my main Hi-Fi system I was eager to get my hands on the updated Vega G2.2 to assess what improvements have been made and to see what the latest incarnation of Vega could do

The VEGA G2.2 retains key features such as:

  • AURALiC’s proprietary Fusion DAC structure

  • Direct Data Recording (DDR)

  • Galvanic Isolation

  • Passive analog volume control

  • Analog preamplifier

VEGA G2.2 now incorporates:

  • Tesla G3 platform, providing a significant boost to processing power and capabilities.

  • HDMI (eARC) input (needs release of firmware V10)

  • A new dual 60fs Femto Clocks powers the DAC operation and time the Tesla G3's data output to the DAC.

I didn’t put the Vega G2.2 into a stack of other AURALiC products such as the Aries or Leo; instead I used it as the main engine of a minimalist system set-up that would discreetly grace any room.

This type of set up can be further minimised by having a pair of Active speakers such as ATC SCM40A.

I added a Chord Electronics Etude power amplifier and a Pair of Harbeth P3ESR XD loudspeakers to the Vega G2.2 and I connected an optical cable from the TV - although when the new software is released, an HDMI (eARC) connection would be used.

An Apple Remote control was set up with the AURALiC to allow control of the volume and input selection. The Vega can be mapped to any remote with a wide range of functions.

The AURALiC system is very easy to use with the lightening app (Apple only), however it can also be set up using any web browser set to the IP address of the Vega.

AURALiC recommends Bubble UPnP or DS, Linn's Kazoo or Lumin if you do not use the proprietary lightening App.

Vega has a comprehensive streaming capability although I opted for using it as a ROON endpoint.

There are numerous reviews of the Vega G2.2 which confirm the high regard that this product has with the critics.

Part-Time Audiophile

‘At the beginning of this review, I said that I had been searching for something as I bought other DACs. The honest answer is that I was searching for the sound the AURALiC Vega G2 gave me. What I found with the AURALiC Vega G2.2 was everything I loved about the original, but simply more of it, more detail, more space, more realism’

Hi -FI news

‘This is another worthwhile upgrade for AURALiC's Vega model, the G2.2 gaining even greater clarity and clout with everything from driving rock to complex classical music. As a network player you can just slot it into your system as you would, say, a CD player.’

The Ear

‘The bass is a clear strongpoint, it extends all the way down and has a degree of articulation and shape that indicates that the AURALiC is a first class converter, most DACs can do powerful bass but fewer are able to show you the full attack and decay of each note with this degree of clarity.’

‘That it also works well as a digital and analogue preamp is a real bonus, partnered with a sympathetic power amp or active speakers you don’t need anything else to set up a top notch streaming system if you have an account with Qobuz or similar.’

Final thoughts…

Having initially listened to the Vega G2.1 and then inserting the Vega 2.2 into the system, it immediately became apparent that regardless of the music it just gave more clarity, soundstage and depth to the music. It is not a revolution but it is a marked upgrade.

My current playlist including Lankum, Lisa O’Neil, Fergus McCeadie, Corto.Alto, has never sounded better through a one box streamer.

This demonstrated to me the flexibility of incorporating AURALiC into any system and I would whole heartily recommend a demonstration to see what it can add to your system.

Thanks for reading

Nick - Audio T Southampton.

If you have any questions about any of the equipment featured in this article, or any other Hi-Fi or home cinema enquiries, be sure to Contact Us.

If you’ve enjoyed this, why not go ahead and read some more of our other blogs, and be sure to follow us on our social media channels below…

AURALiC can be found at the following Audio T stores

"Is it all that glowing?" McIntosh MHA200 Vacuum Valve Headphone Amplifier

/ Audio T Swindon/
"Is it all that glowing?" McIntosh MHA200 Vacuum Valve Headphone Amplifier

The MHA200 is not very discrete, this isn’t a product that is meant to be tucked away in a rack, hidden away amongst other gear (not just by preference but also by design). The rather aggressive and raw feeling of a tube based product, along with the stainless steel chassis and a statement look of a McIntosh product is definitely an eye catcher but more so an ear catcher.

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