Hi-Fi Choice is the essential guide to audio excellence in the home. It is a no-nonsense guide to the finest products available, from vinyl and valves, to multi-channel digital audio and high-fidelity video. Hi-Fi Choice sorts the best from the rest with rigorous test processes and a highly experienced team of reviewers.

Welcome • www.hifichoice.com Issue No. 469 December 2020

Diamonds are forever • Wharfedale launches its Diamond 12 speaker range

The new traditionals • UK’s Spendor updates a classic

Sennheiser HD 560S

Prime time • VPI unleashes a couple of new classy turntables

Karma-AV brings inakustik to UK

Three’s company • Denon celebrates 110-year anniversary with three new Special Edition products

Raising the bar

Home starters • Falcon Acoustics launches IMF100 Complete@home loudspeaker system

A MAZE-ing • KEF claims world first with its Metamaterial Absorption Technology

Restore… reimagine • Bang & Olufsen unveils Beogram 4000c turntable

Q for Quality

Amp in memoriam • Bryston launches new BR-20 preamplifier

GRADO’S TRUE WIRELESS BUDS

iFi Micro iDSD Signature

Shoot for the Moon

FURUTECH NCF AC OPTIMISER

Groovy retro

A fitting Tribute • A well-kept secret is revealed as the last flourish of one of the industry’s greats, notes a very surprised Andrew Everard

Q&A

Unique group tests • Our Group Tests are supported by rigorous and exhaustive listening procedures carried out by experts

PHONO STAGES £700-£1,350 Deck hands • Looking to partner your turntable with a standalone phono stage and don’t know where to start? Fear not, David Vivian has got it covered

Leema Acoustics Elements Ultra £1,350 • The joint-priciest phono stage here, this has impressive specs and should be no slouch

Lehmann Audio Black Cube SE II £850 • The smallest phono stage has a redoubtable German pedigree and is keenly priced

Musical Fidelity MX-Vynl £700 • Small, beautifully designed and keenly priced, but how does it sound?

Primare R35 £1,350 • They make them big in Sweden, but the quality of design and build is impressive, too

Rega Aria MK3 £1,000 • The latest iteration of the Aria from a name that’s synonymous with fine phono stages

Tom Evans MicroGroove+ X mkII £1,000 • Introducing the most continuously evolved phono stage pitching for glory here

Group test verdict • A week is a long time to spend in DIP Switch Central, but a remarkably unfazed David Vivian emerges to deliver his final thoughts on a hard-fought battle

True Blue • Neville Roberts puts the new range of Tellurium Q Blue IIs against its older illustrious predecessors to see how it fares

Lightning strikes twice • Auralic’s ‘Wireless Streaming Transporter’ combines a slick interface with wide-ranging functionality reckons Andrew Everard

Leading light • The Lumina Series is the latest range from Sonus faber and the entry point to its portfolio. Ed Selley sees how it shapes up

Hot dog! • David Price experiences old-school thrills with Longdog Audio’s P6100M monoblock power amplifiers

One is fun • Ruark’s latest all-in-one adds more network smarts to its stylish platform, Ed Selleyfinds out how it stacks up.

Comfort break • It might not exactly be the height of fashion when it comes to looks, but David Price still enjoys this sweet-sounding hi-fi headphone

The brains trust • Conventional hi-fi finds itself challenged from many different areas. Ed Selley listens to a system with some clever solutions to seeing off all comers

LETTERS

Meridian time • As the man behind MQA and...