CATEGORIES

Ear we go!

Available in any colour as long as it’s black, Grado debuts its true wireless earbuds. Cliff Joseph ditches the wires

DALI- Spektor 6 £500

This Danish designed budget floorstander promises a big bang for your buck, but can it deliver?

Touch and go

As CA improves its affordable wireless earbuds with the Melomania Touch. Cliff Joseph gives them a go

Acoustic Energy- AE120 £800

Looking for a floorstander that packs a mighty punch from a small cabinet? Your search could be over

Sennheiser HD 560S open-back headphone

AIMED SQUARELY AT the audio enthusiast, Sennheiser’s HD 560S isn’t exactly awash with modern features – there’s no Bluetooth or noise cancellation, no smartphone app or microphone for taking calls. The earpieces can be adjusted to get a good fit, but they don’t fold flat for travelling and you don’t even get a carry case. In fact, the only accessories included are a 3m cable with a 2.5mm connector for attaching to the left earpiece and 6.3mm for an amp along with a 3.5mm adaptor for other audio devices.

Force field

It might seem madness to have a mains cable that’s powered by another mains cable, but it works. Ed Selley reveals all

Direct action

In late-Seventies Japan, Denon turntables had a great reputation in pro audio circles. The DP-55K shows why, explains David Price

Demand better

Streaming is now an integral part of how we access music, but who is the current pick of the pack? Ed Selley gets online to find out

Harnessing the Atom

A big speaker needs a commensurately big amp to properly run it, right? Not necessarily says Ed Selley

Fyne tuned

David Vivian wonders if a hot-rodded version of Fyne Audio’s original floorstander has the required sonic change of gear

MUSIC MAKER

From Meridian to MQA, David Price looks at the illustrious career of Bob Stuart

3030 vision

Q Acoustics adds a larger stand mount to its successful 3000i lineup but, as David Vivian discovers, size isn’t everything

Mas-sive attack

AVID’s philosophy of high mass platter, suspended sub-chassis and torquey motor continues, and MFC is mightily impressed

Page, but no plant!

Short of striking us all deaf, Steve Sutherland wonders whether there’s anything more the Gods might do to kill of music forever. Then he discovers the Swamp Ash

True blue

Offering the performance bump of the Momentum 2 minus some of the features, CliffJoseph finds out how this in-ear fares

SVS Prime Pinnacle

A three-way floorstander with a bespoke midrange unit, a trio of bass drivers that you’re unlikely to find elsewhere at the price and a neat 25mm aluminium dome tweeter, the Pinnacle is the very definition of a cabinet that offers maximum bang for your buck.

Sennheiser Momentum 3 Wireless

THIS LATEST VERSION updates the Momentum 2 Wireless, which is still on sale at £300.

KEF R5

Far from being shy and retiring, the three-way R5 is a quite astonishing amount of floor standing real estate for the money.

Dynaudio Evoke 30

One of the most common issues mentioned when it comes to considering floorstanders is the room that’s needed to accommodate them.

Dan Clark Audio Aeon 2 Closed

A TIMELY UPDATE to the Aeon Flow (HFC 435), the Aeon 2 has a new plannar driver structure that flips the original design 180° in an effort to remove flow disturbance from the magnets between the diaphragm and the ear.

Bowers & Wilkins PX7

WIRELESS HEADPHONES ONLY sound as good as the transmission protocol that’s employed.

Audio-Technica ATH-CKS5TW

LOOKING BIG AND chunky and weighing in at 8g, there’s a reason for the size and weight as this in-ear is packed with features.

Acoustic Energy AE500

STANDMOUNT LOUDSPEAKER

Piega Premium Wireless 701

An elegant exterior can hide a multitude of sins, but pleasingly this floorstander sounds every bit as good as it looks

Passion project

Two brands with the same strong ideas combine to leave Ed Selley floored

Monitor Audio Bronze 500

Five years after Monitor Audio’s Bronze 5G, it’s all change again. But how will the new, bigger Bronze speaker stack up?

Yamaha A-S3200

Unlike so many of its price rivals, the A-S3200 is totally devoid of streaming or even DAC functionality. This is an unapologetically old-school integrated, complete with MM/MC phono input and headphone out.

Running in the family

Speaker manufacturers tend to leave electronics to others, but Ed Selley wonders if they might have some bright ideas of their own

Audiovector QR5

The newest addition to Audiovector’s entry-level range, this great Dane joins a hugely competitive and talented sector

Beautiful Obsession

Ed Selley celebrates 10 years of being uplifted as he looks back over a selection of dream setups