CATEGORIES

Sugar Ray

Sonos’ latest soundbar is a more than affordable option for watching films and listening to music. Cliff Joseph tunes in

China tease

Attractive open-back headphones at a closed-back price. CliffJoseph samples a little known brand and is pretty impressed

LSX II marks the spot

New line in UK wireless hi-fi

REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL

Exciting things coming your way in the month ahead

LET THERE BE ROCK!

The hardest working heavy metal band prefers to think of themselves as good old rock and rollers. Nigel Williamson gets down and dirty with AC/DC

DESTINATION: NORTH BERWICK

There’s a new record shop making waves on the East Lothian coast, nurturing tomorrow’s DJ talent today. Simon Berkovitch hits the decks and digs the crates

Black beauties TURNTABLES £500-£995

The vinyl LP record goes from strength to strength and with it there’s a whole new wave of turntables to spin it on. Nick Tate samples six of the best affordable designs

DESTINATION: HACKNEY

Man about town Simon Berkovitch heads to East London in search of vinyl bliss and finds that heaven is a place on Mare Street

Healthy earworms

A catchy tune that runs continually through your mind, known as an earworm, can be very annoying, but Neville Roberts has found they can also have beneficial effects

No-show business

In the immortal words of Johnny Rotten: "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" Steve Sutherland does as he rails against the practises of secondary ticketing sites

That's not alright mama

The launch of a new biopic about The King sees Nigel Williamson contend that Elvis Presley is long overdue some critical respect

Energy squared

Acoustic Energy's smallest floorstander has received a full reworking and Ed Selley has been giving it a shake down

Break with tradition

If you think that all Italian speakers have a certain look and sound, Rosso might make you think again reckons David Vivian

Stop, look and listen

Zidoo arrives in network audio from a different angle to most. Ed Selley finds the Neo Alpha springs a few surprises

Gaining Momentum

It's smaller and cheaper than previous Sennheiser buds, but Cliff Joseph reckons the TW3 is a step in the right direction

Groove's in the heart

Based on Vertere's flagship RG-1 Reference Groove turntable, there's a host of innovation in the brand's new SG-1 Super Groove

Smooth operator

Now in MkII guise, Lindemann’s network-attached DAC and analogue preamp sees a raft of internal updates and the promise of “production secured for upcoming years”

Wide load

The flagship of NAD's classic range borrows from the Masters Series and Ed Selley thinks the results are seriously impressive

Here's looking at you, punk!

Steampunk styling meets luxury audio as the master of touchscreen streaming launches one of the most eccentric-looking, tactile and flexible all-analogue integrated amplifiers HFC has ever seen

About time

It's taken Eclipse seven years to update its TD307 desktop speakers, but David Vivian believes it's been worth the wait

Ton up!

A&K enters the Bluetooth market for the first time, with this affordable earbud offering. Cliff Joseph gives it a workout

Signature dish

The ever-expanding ZEN range gains another member and Ed Selley thinks this one might be one of the best yet

CHARIOTS OF FIRE

The legendary composer and man behind some of the best film scores, Vangelis had a singular vision. Nigel Williamson honours the recently departed electronic music innovator

Higher Concept

The Concept 50 puts the basics of the outstanding Concept 30 into a floorstander. Ed Selley finds out if it is as talented

One for all

Nick Tate remembers the striking-sounding Nineties Marantz CD-72 Bitstream silver disc spinner

Take the floor

Looking for speakers that don't just do bass but continue to sound better as your system improves? David Vivian doesn't have the answer, he has six of them

A vinyl-lover's perfect dream

This icon of British hi-fi celebrates its own diamond jubilee with a new super-expensive flagship turntable, which means - amazingly - that the very best just got even better

MAD FOR IT!

Paul Butterworth is the manager of the Manchester city centre branch of Richer Sounds, Daniel Sait finds out how he goes about keeping its customers happy

The X factor

The look hasn't changed in decades, but Grado's vow to stay on the pace is reflected in its new SR325x. David Vivian listens in

Premier league

Rotel's flagship amp from its main separates range owes much of its thinking to something more special says Ed Selley