HIFICRITIC Vol 11 No 4

Reviewed products from Rotel, NAD, Spendor, Magico, LINN, PROAC, Amazon Alexa, Pass, Chord, ATC, Sonos,  HEOS , MusiCast, DSD Audio, QED, Focal and MBA.

In addition to Stan Curtis’ regular wise commentary on matters audio, here musing on pioneers of the analysis of subtle effects such as vibration on audio quality, Martin Colloms scrutinises the top of the line LINN KLIMAX Katalyst DS digital audio player, the one where the powerful DSP even includes micro correction for the tiniest errors emanating from the audio output transformers.

​Kevin Fiske temporarily eschews his large high sensitivity Audio Note UK loudspeakers for a pair of long established stand mount compacts the D2-II from those painstaking industry stalwarts, PROAC.

Andrew Everard has penned a comprehensive rundown on voice operation, the hands free technology, including the devices and the connected systems under such control, especially for music replay.

Harry Harrison tackles the new, much vaunted  Chord portable audio accessory, the POLY connectivity interface unit for the popular MOJO compact audio player, and with fascinating results.

​Continuing his near forensic coverage of Nelson Pass and his largely Class A operating creations, Kevin Fiske explores the XP-12 and XA30.8 pre-power combo.

Frequently controversial, Julian Musgrave provides further diary musings on audio matters of a personal nature.

Martin Colloms has wanted to review a bigger ATC for years, and now gets his wish in the shape of the latest ATC SCM 50 PL, a high performance passive stand mount.

Frequently avoided by audio separates reviewers, multi room audio and the advancing generations of wirelessly connected and controlled audio is a truly massive market, here addressed by Andrew Everard. His extended feature includes Sonos, HEOS and MusicCast.

Keith Howard is fascinated by audio coding formats and here applies his well known analytical skills to unravelling the available DSD formats, including the highest definition, and how they work and how well they sound.
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Colloms was sent a moderate cost speaker cable, a new design from QED called the XT-25 and had enough time to run it in before formal testing.

Andrew Everard has a penchant for Rotel, or so it seems, and finds the strong points in their latest multi-format high power integrated amplifier Rotel RA-1572.

​Andrew also covers a similarly powerful , network compatible Class D amplifier from NAD, the C388.

Colloms tackles the new Magico POD accessory feet upgrades for the entire range of Magico S series speakers, not to be taken lightly, not least in respect of the 100kg per loudspeaker weight of his own Magico S5 MKII examples.

Chris Frankland samples a new Spendor, the A4, while the editor Paul Messenger tackles the substantial floor standing Focal Scala EVO loudspeaker and a new design, the Marauder from Modern British Audio with a full range driver.

An expert reporter provides the low down on the most popular of those heated glass bottles, namely the triode.

Our  music coverage continues with  guest contributor Wayne Hyde , introducing his shortlist of favourite recordings.

Also for music content we have many Rock, Jazz and Classical reviews, while the issue finally closes with Paul Messenger’s perennial column, Subjective Sounds.