LATEST ADDITIONS

Ken Kessler  |  Feb 29, 2024
This month, we review: Taj Mahal, Black Sabbath, Martin Denny and Miguel Espinoza Fusion.
Mike Barnes  |  Feb 29, 2024
This month we review: Madness, Cat Power, Raze Regal & White Denim Inc. and Micko And The Mellotronics.
Steve Harris  |  Feb 29, 2024
This month we review: Jim Rotondi Quintet, Paul Mottram, Logan Kane and Aaron Diehl & The Knights.
Peter Quantrill  |  Feb 29, 2024
This month we review: Scottish CO/Maxim Emelyanychev, Pina Napolitano, Wiener Concert-Verein/Zlabinger, etc, Dubois, Orfeo Orch/Vashegyi and Household Cavalry Band, St George's Chapel Winds Orch.
Andrew Everard  |  Feb 27, 2024
This month we review and test releases from: Thierry Fischer/Utah Symphony, Espen Berg et al, Jack Dejohnette's Special Edition, Chris Kramer & Jens Filser and Sons Of Liberty.
Review: Andrew Everard,  |  Feb 26, 2024
hfnoutstandingKEF's R series adopts all the 'acoustic principles' of its far costlier Reference range, but is the big R11 Meta a 'disruptor'

How to make sense of the KEF speaker range? A sideways glance helps no end: comparing ostensibly similar models from across the company's four mainstream lineups – five, if you count the highly polished Muon flagship [HFN May '08] – will give a clearer idea of the way these various loudspeaker series dovetail together, even when the similarities seem greater than the differences.

Steve Harris  |  Feb 23, 2024  |  First Published: Aug 01, 1999
hfnvintageSteve Harris on a small British manufacturer making a bid for the high ground with a single-ended amplifier offering a choice of output valves

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the audio underground in the US and Europe finally picked up on the efforts of Japanese audiophiles two decades earlier, and started a revival of single-ended triode amplification. The American interest really got going when enthusiasts started salvaging dusty pre-war systems out of old movie houses. Western Electric's 300B triode, dating back to the dawn of cinema sound systems, became the tube of choice.

Review: Adam Smith,  |  Feb 22, 2024
hfnoutstandingDeveloped from the phono stage debuted in the Makua preamp and Kula integrated, the Lupe is a deceptively simple-looking but hugely flexible, app-driven phono preamp

In recent years Dutch firm Mola Mola has spread its wings from the Bruno Putzeys-designed pre/power amplifiers it debuted at CES in 2013 to include partnering separates. The first of these was the innovative Tambaqui DAC [HFN Nov '19], which fleshed out the company's optional digital module into a standalone design, and into the Kula integrated [HFN Oct '21]. These are now joined by the £7299 Lupe phono preamplifier named, in typical Mola Mola fashion, after a fish – 'Lupe' being the Hawaiian name for the broad stingray.

Review: Jamie Biesemans,  |  Feb 19, 2024
hfnoutstandingFirst the Nu-Vista series, and now the iconic 'Class A' A1 integrated is reimagined by Musical Fidelity's new owners. How close to the original is this modern version?

Now that Heinz Lichtenegger, president of parent brand Audio Tuning, is comfortably behind the wheel of Musical Fidelity and the marque is churning out a steady flow of new products, including the rather notable Nu-Vista amplifiers [HFN Mar & Aug '23], it's good to see the full history of this British brand being revisited. The £1499 reissue of the 'griddle plate' A1 integrated amplifier is a case in point. Without losing sight of the past – or the original A1's flaws – it has been reworked by Simon Quarry, the engineer in charge of most new Musical Fidelity designs. The result is a fully symmetrical, Class A-biased amplifier that looks, and sounds, true to the original – it is not simply a vintage lookalike with unconvincing innards.

Steve Sutherland  |  Feb 16, 2024
Betty Davis, Stevie Wonder and an IRS showdown along the way... Steve Sutherland on a studio in America's Deep South that's produced more than its fair share of classic cuts

It's a bit of a mystery why it didn't come out when it should have. One story goes that the record company had no faith in its sales potential and shelved it. Another has it that the singer had a row with the record company boss over a track called 'Stars Starve, You Know', which had a right go at him.

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