To hear of a new audiophile amplifier-in-miniature from Marantz is exciting enough: when you discover it’s also part of the revival of one of the most covetable series in the company’s history, it’s time to take some serious notice.

The HD-AMP 1 first broke cover at the D+M Group’s annual European dealer/press event in the Summer – the ‘European’ remit now extended to take in participants from as far away as Russia, Asia and even Australasia.

After the presentations, and various workshops and demonstrations, we moved on to the main exhibition room – and sitting under the excellent HD-DAC 1 was what looked like a slightly grown-up version of the DAC/headphone amp.

However, it wasn’t giving much away – by virtue of the fact it was a display dummy, with nothing on the rear panel beyond a captive mains lead, as you can see below.

The press information explained that this HD-AMP1 was coming – well, sometime soonish.

It was recently finally launched to the Japanese press at the beginning of November, at which point I engaged ‘pester-power’ mode, and the emails started flying to Marantz Brand Ambassador and all-round audio guru Ken Ishiwata, asking when I could get my hands – and more to the point my ears – on a sample.

After all, I was very much taken with the HD-DAC1, which I have been using as a reference for headphone reviewing since I first covered it for Gramophone back at the beginning of the year: it’s currently away being reviewed elsewhere, and is sorely missed.

So just a read of the specs of the HD-AMP 1, described by Marantz as ‘an integrated amplifier with DAC-mode’, caught my attention.

As well as being a digital to analogue converter capable of handling content up to 384kHz/32-bit and DSD11.2/256, using the respected ESS Sabre DAC, it also delivers 35W per channel into 8ohms, or 70W into 4ohms, and has both digital and analogue inputs.

Also new here is an in-house-developed digital filter set-up: called Marantz Musical Digital Filtering (MMDF), it offers two settings prosaically described as being ‘to cater for different tastes and music’ – which of course is what it’s all about. Also present and correct are – of course – the Marantz Hyper-Dynamic Amplifier Modules, or HDAMs, the players of a major part in the modern Marantz sound.

It also comes in that lovely retro-Marantz look we first saw in the HD-AMP1, complete with the signature ‘porthole’ display and a choice of black or ‘silver gold’ finishes for the solid aluminium front panel, and matching casework with wood-effect side-cheeks.

But the most toothsome elements were saved for last: when it hits the shops in January 2016 it will sell for £799 in the UK – which I have to say is rather less than I was expecting, given that the HD-DAC1 lists for £679.

Even more interesting is that introduction to the product: it says ’Marantz again amplifies its dedication to pure musical performance with the rebirth of MusicLink, a product series launched in 1990 with the focus on reproducing the music essentials from small-size, rarely-seen design components.

‘The aim is simple: to bring the listener all the emotion and musical detail of the original sound studio, combined with an elegant appearance and luxuriant feel. It is not a coincidence that the creator of the delightful new MusicLink Series is once again Ken Ishiwata.’

Ken seems pretty buzzed about the revival of the MusicLink name, and so am I, as I still have an original set-up from many years back, in the form of an SC-22 preamplifier (left) – or ‘active line-stage control amplifier’ – and a matching pair of SC-22 50W monobloc power amps. Hooked up to a very early CD-63 MkII KI-Signature CD player, it’s still pressed into service for reviewing from time to time, and almost a quarter-century on is still performing faultlessly.

As a result I’m very much looking forward not only to hearing how 21st Century MusicLink sounds, but discovering what else is to come in the ‘delightful new series’.

Oh, and the pester-power worked: I’m told am HD-AMP1 sample is on its way to me as you read this. I’ll report back…

Written by Andrew Everard

Two models gain single-rate and double-rate DSD64/DSD128 via a free firmware download, available from today

Naim has just announced a firmware update for its Naim DAC (or nDAC) and DAC-V1 models, allowing both to handle DSD music files.

DSD can be input over the asynchronous USB connection from a computer in the case of the DAC-V1; via S/PDIF on the nDAC; or from a USB stick on both models. Both DSF and DFF files are accepted.

The firmware will enable the two models to handle both single-rate DSD (DSD64 or DSD2.8MHz) and double-rate DSD128/DSD5.6MHz, and the additional programming and optimisation of the core DSP code is said to have had further general sound quality benefits.

The upgrade also brings sample rate conversion to the DAC-V1, allowing a digital input to be adjusted on-the-fly to handle out-of-range input clock signals, thus improving overall robustness with S/PDIF sources lacking an accurate clock.

The new firmware is available for download from the Naim website, here for the DAC-V1 and here for the nDAC, and Windows users will also need a driver update, available here. No drivers are required for Mac OSX computers.

Written by Andrew Everard

I’ve just published a blog on the new recording by the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, released on Blu-ray Audio complete with Dolby Atmos sound

Is there a place for Dolby Atmos in music? Yes, I understand all about the need for flying debris in those big action movies. but for a recording of a world-famous choir performing in one of UK’s best-known buildings?

Well, yes, there is: as I explain in this piece, just published for Gramophone, this may be the first classical recording to use Dolby Atmos, but others are thinking along the same lines…

Written by Andrew Everard

New digital amplifier revives the famous Marantz MusicLink name – and does so in style

Last weekend’s system? Mac Book Air providing the tunes, Bowers & Wilkins 803 D3s filling the room.

Linking them together, the Marantz HD-AMP1 – the company’s new super-amplifier-in-miniature,  yours for just £799.

Yes, a compact and highly affordable integrated amplifier driving a pair of speakers with a price-tag in the region of £12,500; and however ridiculous the combination may sound on paper (or screen or whatever), it works – and spectacularly well.

Having first encountered the Marantz HD-AMP1 in decidedly dummy form back in the summer at the D+M Group’s annual conference for dealers and press, I’d been keen to get my hands on a sample for some listening as soon as possible, and for a couple of reasons.

One was that it builds on the success of the company’s HD-DAC1 DAC/headphone amplifier, which I reviewed at the beginning of this year, and which I’ve been using ever since as a reference for headphone testing; the other was that, like that product, the new one has been overseen by Marantz Brand Ambassador Ken Ishiwata. And I’ve known Ken well enough for more than two decades now to recognise when he thinks a product is on to something special.

Classic looks
That ‘something special’ description certainly applies to the HD-AMP1: for a start it has the classic looks of the HD-DAC1, complete with the references to Marantz products of the past in its ‘porthole’ display and star detailing complete with blue power indicator, not to mention the classy metal casework and wood – oh, all right then, wood effect – side cheeks.

Whether in black or the company’s ‘silvergold’ finish, the HD-AMP1 one looks solid, substantial and well-proportioned, the precisely resolved styling of the HD-DAC1, with its ‘high end in miniature’ appearance, scaling up very successfully in this new model.

It’s also a lot more than just a slightly larger version of the previous model, with a quick fix power amplifier bolted in: Marantz – and Ishiwata – doesn’t work that way. Instead, what we have here is a product with a cosmetic similarity to its smaller sibling, but with extensive re-engineering – and new features and capabilities – under its substantial lid.

To cover off the obvious question first, the HD-AMP1 will do almost everything possible with the HD-DAC1, including decoding and converting high-resolution audio and driving headphones to a very high standard – there’s even adjustable gain for the headphone output to ensure it’s able to power even electrically demanding cans. Just about the only thing missing is line outs, or preouts to enable it to be used as a preamp straight into power amplification.

But then why would it need these, when it has onboard amplification able to deliver 35W into 8ohms and 70W into 4ohm loads? Especially when, as we’ll see, those apparently modest figures belie its real-world speaker-driving ability.

Input flexibility
What you get instead is a choice of analogue or digital inputs: two sets of entirely conventional line-ins, plus one coaxial and two optical digital inputs, plus both USB-B and USB-A sockets, the front one for memory devices and portables, complete with iOS compatibility, and the rear one operating asynchronously with extensive isolation to keep noise from a connected computer at bay.

Completing the line-up is a set of high-quality speaker terminals, able to accept 4mm plus, spades or bare wires, a single subwoofer output, and Marantz remote control in/out sockets, as found on almost every product from the brand.

The amp modules here are the respected Hypex UcD (Universal Class D) switching-mode units, while the digital-to-analogue conversion is in the hands of the equally ESS Sabre DAC, as found in a wide range of top-notch digital devices these days – most of them being considerably more expensive than the Marantz. This converter allows files of up to 384kHz/32bit resolution to be handled via the USB-B, along with not just DSD64/2.8MHz, but also DSD128/5.6MHz and DSD256/11.2MHz, with the conventional digital inputs good for 192kHz/24bit. That’s what you call future-proofing.

Supporting this is a dual-clock system allowing correct conversion of a wide range of formats – one clock handles 44.1kHz and its multiples, the other 48kHz, 96kHz and so on – along with filtering downstream of the DAC making use of the famous Marantz Hyper-Dynamic Amplifier Modules, in their upmarket HDAM-SA2 and –SA3 versions.

I still reckon someone came up with the HDAM name and then thought of a meaning for the acronym, but these modules, built from discrete components and used in place of the more common chip-amps, have been used to very fine effect in generations of Marantz products.

Musical filter
Finally there’s a user-selectable digital filter – Marantz Musical Digital Filtering, no less – which to these ears delivers subtle, but worthwhile, differences. In the standard filter 1 position, the sound has a characteristically Marantz (or do I mean Ishiwata?) combination of depth, tight focus and warm, deep and yet beautifully controlled bass, along with what I can only really describe as a luminous view of voices and instruments.

By contrast, the sound with the filter in its second position is subtly, but noticeably, more hi-fi, in a way that’s slightly too ‘obvious’ for my taste. There’s certainly more attack to the sound, but it can begin to sound like detail is being hurled at the listener with some force, and while instruments stand out from a mix even more clearly, they can appear a little over-projected and lacking in their characteristic weight and resonance.

OK, so I’m slightly overplaying these differences in the cause of comparison: as I said, they’re subtle, but they’re definitely there. I know which I prefer, but I wouldn’t say one was right and the other wrong: rather the selection of these settings will be down to personal taste, and may well even vary according to the music being played at the time.

A very Marantz amplifier
What is beyond any doubt is that this is not only a remarkably accomplished amplifier for its size and price, but also a very Marantz amplifier, for all the reasons I mentioned above when talking about the ‘filter 1’ position. And that’s especially so when the amp is used in line with Ishiwata’s suggestion that I stuck to listening with the ‘source direct’ setting in use, giving the cleanest possible signal path through the circuitry.

Very Marantz? What I mean by that is its ability to develop that broad, deep, yet precisely focused soundstage between and around the speakers, thrilling you with the impact of instruments and voices, and allowing you to hear elements of mixes previously thought familiar, with the effect that almost every track listened to comes up fresh.

And yet all this is achieved without any sign of effort or the smoke and mirrors involved in creating the illusion of a three-dimensional performance – the music just happens before the listener, and it’s hard not to be swept away in the performance.

There’s another aspect of the HD-AMP1 worth mentioning, too: along with the announcement of the arrival of the amp, Marantz announced that it also marked the revival of the MusicLink range, last seen in the company’s catalogue some time in the 1990s.

Relatively short-lived, the line-up comprised much the same kind of ‘hi-fi in miniature’ components as we see here, but in the form of a CD player, preamps and a range of power amp options. We’ve been running a preamp and a pair of monoblocs in our dining room system for many years now, and they’ve performed faultlessly.

One can only assume, if the MusicLink range is being revived with this unit – and presumably the HD-DAC1 (seen above with the HD-AMP1) will become part of the line-up – that there are more products on the way: taking a clue from the rest of the Marantz catalogue, the obvious contenders would be a disc player and/or a network music device, which should make for an interesting 2016!

Exceeding expectations
And the HD-AMP1 is more than up to the task of exceeding expectations, as it demonstrated when used with the big Bowers & Wilkins speakers: it really shouldn’t have worked, but it not only drove the 803 D3s, but did so in an entirely convincing fashion, whether with the fine detail of solo or small-ensemble classical music, or pounding or rock with all its impact intact.

Not that you need to go as far as the big floorstanders from Worthing to hear what the HD-AMP1 can do: I had good results when using it with much more affordable floorstanders, in the form of the long-discontinued PMC GB1 speakers, some high-quality compact speakers I have on-site for review at the moment, and even the little Neat Iotas I use as my desktop loudspeakers.

In fact, whatever you choose to drive with it, the Marantz shines, and it’s also more than capable of revealing the benefits of stepping up through the choice of hi-res files on offer out there, as was apparent when comparing DSD64 and DSD128 versions of the same track, and even the very few DSD256 files I have in my library.

Played through the Bowers & Wilkins speakers in particular, the HD-AMP1 just delivers more presence and sparkle as you move up through the DSD spectrum, but it’s also entirely convincing both when used with more modest speakers and when playing files at standard CD resolution. This is an amplifier you can buy with confidence for your current music collection, knowing it has the wherewithal to handle whichever direction your purchases may take you in the future.

Just occasionally I come across a product beyond the extremely good and well into truly special territory – having used the HD-AMP1 for a while now, I’m convinced the Marantz team has done it again. Compact it may be, but this amplifier has definite giant-killing ability, and is one of the most convincing products in its sector this side of £1000, if not beyond.

Add in the stylish ‘retro’ looks, the solidity of build and the comprehensive specification, and you have a real hi-fi bargain on your hands. That’s not a bad start for the New Year, is it?

SPECIFICATION
Marantz HD-AMP1
Type Stereo integrated amplifier with built-in DAC
Price £799
Inputs Two sets of line analogue; two optical, one coaxial digital; asynchronous USB-B for computer connection; USB-A for iOS devices and USB memory
Format handling Up to 192kHz/24-bit via conventional digital inputs; via asynchronous USB up to 384kHz/32-bit and DSD to DSD256/11.2MHz
Outputs One set of speaker terminals, subwoofer, headphones
Output power 35Wpc into 8ohms, 70Wpc into 4ohms
Finishes Black or silvergold, with wood-effect side-panels
Accessories supplied Remote control handset
Dimensions (WxHxD) 30.4×35.2×10.7cm
www.marantz.com

Written by Andrew Everard

Premium-priced label undertakes transfers from the original masters to LP, hi-res digital files – and even reel-to-reel tape

One of the joys of the annual High End Show, held each May in Munich, is the sheer variety of products on display. Downstairs from the glitzy showrooms in the main atrium space, an ever-growing number of halls house everything from small booths selling cable and connectors to large exhibition stands and even rows of cars showing off their sound systems – there’s always something new to discover.

One such discovery this year was Horch House, based in Austria and specialising in reviving classic recordings from the original master tapes, and making them available to enthusiasts. Founded in 2012, it started with audiophile Volker Lange’s enthusiasm for analogue tape machines, and his realisation that the range of pre-recorded music available to play was more than a little limited.

What he was looking for was high-quality tapes, and it turned out that the only way to achieve this was to get hold of original masters, and find a legal way of releasing them.

He joined forces with Andreas Kuhn, whose Swiss-based business Analog Audio specialises in the restoration and refurbishment of classic Studer professional recorders, and who counts among his clients Paul McCartney, Abbey Road Studios and Sony Studios Tokyo. His role in the Horch House project has been as a consultant, maintaining the tape machines the company uses.

In 2104 music producer Thilo Berg came on board, and now co-owns the company with Lange. Having worked for Sony, BMG, Columbia and Universal before setting up his own label, Berg has big ambitions for Horch House, saying ‘I’m keen to speak to any and every music publisher in the business with a view to delivering the widest possible portfolio of high quality analogue master tape copies to as many people as we can.’

The actual remastering is in the hands of Christoph Stickel, who has developed what the company calls its ‘soft refurbishing’ process. This involves making analogue and digital copies of the original tape, then using those to experiment with recorder set-up to approach as closely as possible the conditions under which the master tape was made. Only when these settings have been finalised is the original tape re-loaded and the actual copies made.

And then what does the Horch House team do to these recordings, many of which are very old indeed? The answer is ‘absolutely nothing’: there’s no clean-up, remixing or processing involved, so what you’re getting with one of the company’s releases is quite possibly as close as you’re going to get to the original recording, played back on an optimally set-up machine.

Beyond that, it’s up to you to supply the playback machine, and keep it maintained to specification in order to make the most of the sound of your newly-bought tape – which, by the way, is likely to have cost you around €600 for a four-tape set of the 1964 Maria Callas recording of Puccini’s Tosca, or just under €400 for one of a number of recordings by jazz musicians such as George Duke or Oscar Peterson.

In this age of downloads and music libraries in your pocket, it seems reel-to-reel tape is having something of a revival: I know of a number of enthusiasts running everything from high-end consumer machines of the past to rescued studio recorders, and at most hi-fi shows I attend there’s usually at least one room sourcing its demonstration material from a big old recorder of the kind we used when I was back at school and involved in sound and lights for drama productions.

At that time we’d moved on to using a couple of Akai 4000DS machines, bought new by the school for just this purpose, but I also remember there being some big Ferrograph machines still kicking around, their British battleship build even allowing them to withstand use by hamfisted and over-enthusiastic sixth-formers with ambitions to be the next legendary producer.

You know, I’d almost be tempted to think about buying one these days, almost 40 years on, especially as they still seem to command relatively sensible money. Hmm, maybe not a New Year’s Resolution, but you never know…

Anyway, back to Horch House, and not being kitted up with a reel-to-reel right now – and more than a little daunted by the prices for what must be the most fragile home playback format there is – I was more to discover that the company also releases its restorations as LPs and digital files.

The prices are more reasonable, too, with the LPs at less than half the price of the tapes, even though of course vinyl is one step removed from the master, thanks to the equalisation required for mastering to disc.

Right now, the digital files, selling for similar money, seemed of much more interest, being available in DSD64 (usually DFF, although some titles come as DSF files) as well as 96kHz/24bit and 192kHz/24bit WAVs.

However, as one used to downloading massive files from the likes of 2L and NativeDSD to feed my DSD addiction – the benefits of a 120Mbps internet connection! – I was surprised that the Horch House experience isn’t all about buying online and then watching the files zip to the computer.

Instead, the company delivers its files on credit-card-sized USB storage, each one in its own fitted storage box, so having selected some titles I’d like to hear, it was a matter of sitting back and waiting for the padded envelope to drop through the letterbox.

On arrival I tried the files both with each album plugged into the front USB socket of my network player, and with the contents copied to my usual NAS drive and streamed over the network.

The titles I’d been sent, including a 1970s recording of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, Ella Fitzgerald’s Sunshine of Your Love from 1969 and a much more modern blues set by Hans Theesink and Terry Evans.

They show what I have long thought about the DSD format: as well as being excellent for new recordings, it’s a great medium for the preservation of older analogue ones, and as a means of making them available to a whole new audience.

Admittedly the 1969 compilation of live recordings from the Fairmont Hotel perhaps isn’t Ella at her finest, the program including the title track, Hey Jude, This Girl’s in Love With You and standards such as Old Devil Moon, but it’s hard to argue with the vitality of the sound.

Backed by the likes of Tommy Flanagan on piano, Ed Thigpen on bass and Frank de La Rosa on drums, this is a relaxed-sounding combo captured in concert, and with plenty of sparkle in the recording.

Similarly the Orff, a work so familiar as to now be almost a demonstration cliché, has a freshness in this 1974 recording made by musical forces in Liepzig directed by Herbert Kegel. To these ears the recording is a little lighter in the bass than more recent ones, which tend to go for maximum impact in the ‘O Fortuna’, but none the worse for that: there’s a freshness and fluidity to the sound here that has the effect of sweeping the listener along with the music.

And just in case there’s any idea that it’s only old recordings able to benefit from the care Horch House puts into its transfers, the blues set has real bite and drive, and is packed with detail, from the movement of fingers on strings to the sense of space around the performers.

Not surprisingly, then, I’m looking forward to see what the company can do with some of its forthcoming releases, which topically include the original John Williams recording with the LSO of his scores for the first three Star Wars movies.

Looks like Horch House could be one to watch…

Written by Andrew Everard

The return of the Technics direct drive turntable is official, but the new models are rather more conservative than expected

UPDATE: Since I posted the blog below, it’s been reported that Technics is saying the SL-1200G will sell in the USA for $4000.

So, at last the Technics turntable is back: the company has just announced two models are on the way this year. A limited edition 50th anniversary model, the SL-1200GAE (above) will be first out of the traps, with just 1200 available worldwide from this summer, followed by the SL-1200G some months later.

The two will join the Grand Class G30 range announced at IFA in Berlin last September, and while some are viewing the arrival as being very much on-trend, given the current much-vaunted vinyl revival, which has even seen LPs back on sale in some Tesco supermarkets, the new model is so close in concept to the old SL-1200 models one might wonder why Technics took so long.

It was, after all, the main question being asked when Panasonic first announced it was reviving Technics back in 2014, so much that what was actually announced – the flagship R1 series and more affordable 700 Series line-up – was in danger of being lost in the fog of ‘yes, but will there be turntables?’ speculation.

Not that Technics did much to quash the rumours, even alluding to the turntable heritage in the launch presentation for its ‘revival’ range.

Way back then Technics head Michiko Ogawa (above) said that the DJ’s favourite turntable was long gone, and that it would cost a fortune to retool to make it again – although she did drop hints Chief Engineer Tetsuya Itani (below) had been experimenting with some ideas he had on the subject of vinyl playback.

When a prototype turntable (above) was shown at IFA last year, it looked very different from the classic SL-1200 series models, with a rippled-effect top-plate to the plinth and a much more skeletal design, making it look rather more like a typical high-end turntable and less like a DJ deck, excellent though the Technics decks have proved – at least with some fettling – as audiophile players.

After all, the SL-1200 series was never designed as a DJ deck: it, and the SP-10 models widely used in broadcast studios back in the days when they played records, were built as hi-fi, and only adopted by the DJ community due to factors such as their high-torque direct-drive motors, pitch control and armour-plated build quality.

So, what to make of the new SL-1200G and SL-1200GAE, beyond the fact I’m deeply touched they’ve put my initials on the limited edition version?

Well, given the silly prices sellers seem to think people will pay for an as-new original model – around £1300 or $2300 for a still-factory-sealed example – not to mention the inflated prices of what are clearly very knackered eBay specials, many with dubious customisation, the effect of the new arrivals will be very much dependent on price.

I’m sure the 1200 Anniversary Edition ones will sell faster than hot ramen on a cold Osaka day – after all, one of the gold-plated SL-1200s will set you back well into four figures used, and someone on that well-known auction site is chancing their arm with a pair of new SL-1210Mk5 gold-platers for £12,000.

Or you can buy an SL-1200 Gold from the States for $8k. Snip.

Fancy an SP-10, the broadcast-standard direct-driver? You can easily spend well into four figures for just the motor unit, while there’s a complete turntable with plinth and arm on at least one German auction site for €3100, or about £2300.

It would seem unlikely that Technics will want to sell its new model for less than current secondhand values (or at least aspirations), although if it did it might well take some heat out of what is arguably an over-inflated market.

However, the pricing of the ‘new Technics’ products to date suggests that even the SL-1200G is likely to be pitched at levels best described as ‘ambitious’, and it remains to be seen whether, even with all the improvements to the drive, build and so on, it will be beyond the pockets of DJs – or at least the bedroom ones – and into the area where pop-up lights, strobes and S-shaped tonearms are rather sneered at.

If that’s the case, it could be that all the SL-1200-alikes punted into the market to fill the gap when the Technics turntable range was discontinued back in 2010 will carry on, and the prices of original SL-1200/1210 variants will continue at their current inflated levels.

Missed opportunity?
That could be a missed opportunity: after all, the original SL-1200 was described as a ‘Middle Class’ player back in 1972, not a ‘Grand Class’ one, and back then could even be bought as a motor unit alone, so you could bolt on your own choice of arm. Quite a few SL-120s found themselves fitted with SMEs, for example.

And that was kind of what I was hoping for when I first saw that prototype being displayed back in September: a high-quality, but above all simple and frill-free direct drive motor unit for enthusiasts, perhaps available with a no-nonsense straight arm or even no arm at all, and designed to take the fight to the likes of Pro-ject and Rega.

In other words, a bit like the Sony PS-HX500 turntable (above), which also broke cover this week, and which is a simple design with what looks like a more than reasonable tonearm attached. Well, simple with the added benefit of built-in DSD-capable analogue-to-digital hardware to allow it to ‘rip’ records to a connected computer, in anything from CD quality through hi-res PCM all the way up to double-DSD 128/5.6MHz.

In the Sony’s case, the drive for the platter is via belt, not the Technics direct-drive system, but you get the idea – and the Sony is expected to cost around £400, which is suspect is rather less than an SL-1200G, let alone the limited edition version, will cost you.

I liked the clean lines of that first Technics mock-up, but I can’t help thinking the company has taken a slightly safe path with the design of the new models, even though I am sure Itani and his team will have engineered them to within an inch of their lives. Not least, they have developed an all-new motor for the G/GAE, designed to solve some of the problems of past direct drive designs, improved the platter with a triple-layer construction, and completely reworked the fitted tonearm, in aluminium on the standard 1200G and magnesium for the GAE variant.

And they’ve even attempted to prepare us for the shock of the price, introducing the new models by saying ‘When developing a direct-drive motor, considerable capital investment is required for large-scale production equipment. In contrast, belt drives can be made with little cost.’

Over the past year or two, I’ve been spending the odd wasted hour following various SL-1200/1210s on various auction sites, and promising myself that one day I’d buy one and spend some time exploring in more depth what all the fuss was about by using it as it was originally intended. If you will, it was just an itch I felt a need to scratch.

Or rather not scratch.

But I’ve a feeling I’m going to have to keep on dreaming…

Written by Andrew Everard

New model features cubic shape, uses side-mounted auxiliary bass radiators

Naim has just announced the second model in its Mu-so line of all-in-one wireless music systems, the £595 Mu-so Qb.

Named for its cubic shape, the new model is taller than the original Mu-so, launched some 18 months ago, and is designed to fit into smaller spaces, either as a first Naim system for newcomers to the brand or as a second-zone speaker for owners of the Mu-so or Naim’s ND- and Uniti models.

Due in shops in March , the new model uses a glass-reinforced polymer chassis, to which are mounted the multiple drive units, the top-panel complete with  the same touchscreen controller as used on the original model, and the amplifier and processing modules attached to the rear heatsink.

The drive unit complement here is slightly simpler than that on the Mu-so, using a single oval woofer, two midrange drivers and a pair of tweeters. The size of the enclosure means the long bass-tuning port of the original Mu-so was too large, so two tuned pistonic bass radiators are used, one on each side of the enclosure.

DSP control is used to tune the built-in amplification to the needs of the drive-units – the Qb has one amplifier channel for each driver, with 50W each for the midrange and treble drivers, and 100W for the woofer – and a wrap-around grille covers three of the vertical faces of the enclosure.

Black comes as standard, with optional grilles available in the same colours as the Mu-so options: Burnt Orange, Vibrant Red and Deep Blue.

Also optional is a remote control, although the Qb, like the original Mu-so, is best controlled using the free Naim app on either iOS or Android tablets and smartphones.

New for the Qb, but applicable to the ‘full-size’ Mu-so too, is the ability to operate as a ‘master’ for multiroom operation of up to five Mu-so, Uniti or ND- products – previously the Mu-so could only be used as a ‘slave’ or extra zone device.

Otherwise the functions of the Qb are the same as the Mu-so itself: it has Wi-Fi and Ethernet connectivity, and also offers both AirPlay and Bluetooth/aptX wireless. It can play content stored on a network-connected storage or computers via UPnP, and also has Internet radio, Tidal and Spotify Connect.

Content at up to 192kHz/24-bit can be played, while physical connections to the rear extend to optical digital in, USB-A for portable devices and drives, and a 3.5mm stereo analogue input.

The Mu-so Qb stands 21cm tall, is 21.8cm wide and 21.2cm deep, and weighs 5.6kg. The result of an extensive development process and close co-operation with Naim’s manufacturing partner, it’s designed to build on the huge success of the original Muso.

Or, as Naim Technical Director Roy George puts it, ‘With Mu-so Qb, we use the same principles that helped form the original Mu-so: no compromise on materials, sound quality or features.’

Written by Andrew Everard

Things weren’t promising the first time I heard the new Naim Mu-so Qb in action: after being introduced to the technology, the initial taste of what it could do, in an unfamiliar listening room, playing far too loud for the space, put me in mind of the window-rattling bass boom I’d heard from a pimped-up Saxo behind me in the Euston Road traffic not half an hour earlier.

Notes and rhythms became a blur of brain-fuddling proportions, and everything else was probably in there somewhere – well, maybe.

Surely this wasn’t what Naim Technical Director Roy George has spoken about going through thousands of versions of digital signal processing to achieve?

Now, after a few days’ use in a more typical environment – ie at home, both in the living room and the kitchen – it’s clear that ‘first blast’ was maybe a bit over-enthusiastic on the part of the demonstrator, and hardly indicative of what the latest member of the Mu-so family can do.

In fact, I’m sitting here right now using the Naim app to switch the same music between the Qb and my main system, using Naim’s NDS, 555PS, Supernait 2 and NAP250 DR, and you know what?

You guessed it: it’s a doddle tell the difference between them – but then what did you expect, comparing a £595 all-in-one system with a set-up in which the interconnect between the network player and the amplifier costs about the same? And yes, the ‘big system’ does – from a great height.

What’s much more to the point is that, when the Mu-so Qb is parked on the worktop in the kitchen, and suitably dialed in for its location – loudness off, wall proximity setting at ‘less than 25cm’ – , walking through from the listening room to give something a stir or check on the oven now finds music just as enjoyable being played, not to mention allowing seamless listening to speech radio thanks to the perfect synchronisation between the NDS and the Qb.

Even more germane is that, on the occasions when I’ve picked up the iPad to discover the Qb still selected, I’ve found it perfectly suitable for listening to everything from my local BBC station, whose mid-morning programme has a near-perfect mix of playlist-free music and intriguing conversation – today, the roots of London’s Chinatown and the long-gone electronics shops of Wardour Street – to the music stored on my NAS drive.

And it’ll do so all the way up to 192kHz/24bit files, provided you have it connected using a wired Ethernet hook-up: as with all of Naim’s streaming products, trying to get anything much beyond 48kHz/24bit over Wi-Fi is pushing your luck, and that’s all Naim says the unit will do via a wireless connection.

That’s not exactly a great hardship, however: after all, anyone playing via Bluetooth or AirPlay is going to be limited to CD quality anyway, and when using the Qb as a wireless multiroom extension to an existing Naim network set-up the file transfer is downsampled to 320kbps, whatever PCM-based resolution you happen to be playing.

Kick back and enjoy
Yes, a big Naim system blows it out of the water on detail, ambience and all that hi-fi stuff, but when it comes to simply kicking back and enjoying the music or whatever, the Qb gives a very impressive account of itself.

So that’s what Roy George spent all that time tuning!

In fact, what’s he’s achieved is a very Naim sound from this little 21cm cube, floating on its clear acrylic base and with its Statement-style multifunction controller on the top (both features carried over from the original Mu-so): the more you listen to the Qb, the more you forget you’re listening to a system so small, such is the lucidity and involvement it delivers from a wide range of music.

Playing the 192kHz/24bit version of Antonio Forcione and Sabina Sciubba’s Meet Me In London set – it’s almost the law when reviewing Naim equipment, but is no hardship given how wonderful it sounds – finds the Qb not just filling the room with sound but also focusing the two performers extremely well, and bringing out no only the nuances of the sound, but also the gains in presence when switching from the CD-quality version to the hi-res.

In fact, I’ve just realised I’ve listened to the whole album via the Qb and enjoyed it immensely, and am now playing some late Miles Davis – Tutu, since you ask – and loving the warm, rich way the Naim is powering out the bass, drums and especially the trumpet. And however I hard I push the level, I can’t provoke it into Citroën Saxo bass; in fact, the louder it goes, the more it seems to open up, and the better it sounds. Lovely – that’s 300W of amplification and those custom-designed drivers in action!

OK, so the Qb isn’t really stereo: although it has separate treble and midrange drive units for each channel, Naim prefers to say they’re ‘offset and angled perfectly to create a left-right dispersion asymmetry’.

And yes, it’s possible to make it sound a bit leaden if you don’t take the trouble to dig just below the surface of its menus and set it up right: run it in too small a space with loudness on, hard against a wall or on a nice sounding-board table-top with the ‘free space’ setting chosen, and the low end thickens up.

However, get it right, crank up the level and you’ll be amazed at what this thing can do: the louder you play it the cleaner the sound seems to get, and it stays crisp, focused and undistorted right up to the upper reaches of its volume control, grumbling and thumping out bass-lines, letting voices and instruments soar and pattering cymbals just as it should.

Party, party!
Best of all, go for it at party levels and it stays just as tight – and that’s going to come as a real eye-opener for owners of cheapo Bluetooth speakers, not to mention a nasty shock for their neighbours.

Naim says that the original Mu-so has done a fine job of introducing new buyers to the brand, and it’s beginning to see buyers of its mainstream systems and components citing a good experience of the system as their reason for starting system-building. Can’t see the Mu-so Qb doing anything but accelerate that trend, not to mention attracting a lot of ND- and Uniti owners into multiroom audio, with one or more of these units dotted around the house. And that could well make it an even more significant product for Naim’s future.

But then that’s as it should be: impressive as the original Mu-so was – and that’s mightily so – I can’t help but feel that what many expected would be a ‘Mu-so Lite’ is even more of an achievement.

I’ve been reading some chatter of late about ‘premium priced’ and ‘if you can afford it’, but frankly that’s missing the point. At £595 this is no less than a steal: as befits more than 40 years of Naim tradition, the Mu-so Qb is quite simply the little box that rocks.

Written by Andrew Everard

So long, SwimmyVision™ – you really won’t be missed

Reports coming out of Korea over the past few days suggest that the world’s leading TV manufacturers – LG and Samsung – have finally realised that 3D is a gimmick that’s had its day. Again.

OK, so the big two aren’t completely dismissing the facility, which will remain on their premium sets, but the fact they’ve both seemingly decided to stop promoting 3D across their ranges is a clear indication that they reckon it’s no longer the selling advantage it once was.

Or at least was once hoped to be: y’see, the TV industry has long relied on gimmicks to tempt us to buy new sets. Just as the movie industry in the late 1950s and early 1960s attempted to drag people back into cinemas and away from their newly bought or rented TVs sets with everything from bigger, wider screens to 3D and even mild electric shocks through seats and aromas pumped into the auditorium, so of late TV manufacturers have been using similar tactics.

We’ve had TVs of varying degrees of ‘smartness’, we’ve had bigger screens and curved screens, and HD-ready, Full HD and now 4K TVs – and we’ve had 3D. But why?

Well, there are two reasons. First, the product replacement cycle of TVs has traditionally been a long one, more akin to that for washing machines and fridges than smartphones and the like: people only tend to buy new TVs when they have a compelling reason, such as a radical shift in technology like the switchover from analogue broadcasting to all-digital in 2012 or, to a more limited extent, when major sporting or cultural events inspire a new purchase.

However, we’ve been a bit short of those compelling reasons of late, and even the likes of the most recent Olympics and World Cup football tournament have failed to deliver the expected upswing in global TV sales.

Even the 2016 Super Bowl, the formerly US-centric football game now increasingly watched worldwide, failed to deliver for the TV companies: as my colleague John Archer noted, broadcaster CBS failed to deliver America’s flagship sporting event in 4K, let alone High Dynamic Range, thus wrongfooting the TV manufacturer companies hoping the even would deliver its expected post Christmas/New Year sales boost.

Yes, there were a few of the inevitable click-hunting Best TVs To Buy For Super Bowl 2016 pieces on some of the UScentric ‘tech’ sites, but they all seemed a bit half-hearted.

However, the major problem ‘innovations’ such as 3D and curved screens are designed to tackle is the ever-tumbling pricing of TV sets. Retailers, both online and physical, are fighting tooth and nail for sales, not just here but worldwide, and that means ever-sharper buying on the part of the retail groups, designed to bring ever-keener prices to the consumer.

Not only is it now possible to buy a big screen for ridiculously little money – around £330 will now get you a 50in screen in the UK, and there’s a good choice at around $370 (or around £255) on Amazon’s US site – but also even the latest screen technology isn’t immune from the relentless price-competition.

In the States, Amazon will sell you a 50in 4K TV for $548 (about £380), while the same company’s UK site has similar sets from £420. Even if you want to go for a ‘big name’ such as LG, you can buy a 49in 4K TV for £589, a 50in Philips 4K for £90 more, or a Sony for £700.

Is there such a thing as a ‘premium TV’ anymore? Well, yes: you can spend more than twice as much should you want to, and larger screen sizes command even higher prices.

But as the experience with ‘the next big thing’, OLED, seems to be showing, however hard the manufacturers try to ‘premiumise’ (as once I heard it described) their products, the market will have its way, and prices – and therefore margins – will soon tumble. Even OLED TV prices are falling, not least because the ‘premium-priced’ models haven’t been the runaway sales success the manufacturers had hoped.

Against that background, what chance did 3D ever stand, with the need to wear special glasses – often dedicated to the particular brand of set you bought –, the need to sit fairly still while watching, and of course the brightness and definition loss involved in showing two pictures at once on a single small screen?

As so often in the world of TV gimmicks, it was always a ‘because we can’ technology, not a response to an overwhelming clamour from the world’s viewing public. And while the bandwagon picked up speed in impressive fashion, from movies on Blu-ray to Sky’s dedicated TV channel to BBC test transmissions and even HM The Queen sending her seasonal message in 3D (above), it soon hit the road-blocks of disinterest, now leaving only Blu-ray releases and the odd online stream as a source of new viewing material.

Not so many years back, every TV demonstration I attended involved donning the funny specs and being told just how much more impressive Avatar or special ‘made for demonstration’ cartoons looked in 3D; these days, such demos are consigned to history, and having endured the poor, dim images, wobbly ‘cut-out’ 3D and borderline headache too many times I really won’t be shedding any tears.

See ya, 3D: don’t let the door swing out of the screen, appear to hover in thin air and then hit your backside as you leave.

Now, about those ridiculous curved screens…

Written by Andrew Everard

Compact – actually, make that tiny – floorstanders pick up the plaudits at Sound and Vision event

This could so easily be one of those clickbait stories: ‘They wanted to design a new loudspeaker – and you won’t believe what happened next!’ You see, the latest model from  British speaker company Neat Acoustics – so new it doesn’t even have a name yet – is a tiny floorstanding model just 45cm tall, based on the existing Iota, and capable of a huge, room-filling sound.

What’s more, the newcomer from the Barnard Castle factory seems to have created quite a stir at the Bristol Sound and Vision show – home to no shortage of silly-money speakers and systems – and not just for the ‘WTF?’ factor of walking into the room and seeing the two ultra-compact enclosures. Indeed, more than a few visitors were saying they thought it delivered the best sound at the event.

Oh good – so it wasn’t just me, then…

It’s still a work in progress, but when you can get the irrepressible Bob Surgeoner of Neat away from talking guitars and classic recordings – he’s an avid collector and player of both, with encyclopaedic knowledge – a few more details are forthcoming.

Set for an official launch at the Munich High End 2016 show in May, and in the shops soon after that, the new speaker uses the same drivers as Iota – a 50mm ribbon tweeter and 10cm mid/bass driver – in a sealed enclosure with an upward tilt, while the extra cabinetry houses a downward-firing 13.5cm bass unit with port-tuning.

It’s set to sell for around £1250-£1300 a pair when it does go on sale, and is likely to be in a rather more conservative range of colours than Iota – think white and possibly black, and you’ll be on pretty safe ground.

Playing on the end of a Naim SuperUniti, with a UnitiServe storing the music, the little speakers were originally intended to be even smaller, looking like miniature stage monitors, but along the way have gained a bit of extra height. But they’re not exactly huge, as you can see from this picture of the pair alongside the company’s demonstration set-up. The other vital stats, by the way, are just 20cm wide by 16cm deep.

And that up-tilted design certainly works: even in one of the notoriously nasty-sounding hotel rooms used for the show, the Neats managed to cast a sonic picture well above the speakers themselves, and with excellent imaging as well as fine punch and timing. And serious bass.

I’m a big fan of the original Iotas, and have a pair sitting on foam studio monitor wedges here on my desk as I write this, powered by an original NaimUniti; it’s been my desktop system for a couple of years now, so I’m very familiar with what it can do. The new Neats – whatever they end up being called – have to promise of being able to bring the Iota sound to more conventional room set-ups, and I’m looking forward to hearing them here at home as soon as possible.

And when I do, I’ll make sure you’re the first to know just how these unusually attractive mini-floorstanders perform.

Written by Andrew Everard

The Sharp/Foxconn alliance appears to have OLED technology in its sights, though we’ll be in the next decade before it starts making TV panels. But is that going to be too late?

The protracted negotiations regarding the acquisition of a major stake in Sharp by Taiwan-based Foxconn have led to a lot of speculation over what the massive contract manufacturing company saw in the ailing Japanese maker of displays.

But now there seems to be come clarity: although Foxconn already has a stake in Sharp’s existing LCD panel factories – originally built to help it dominate the supply of TV displays but now much more concerned with making the more profitable smaller panels for tablets, phones and the like – it seems it doesn’t want to ride on that existing technology, but build up Sharp as an OLED manufacturer.

Reports from industry analysts suggest that Foxconn/Sharp could be in the OLED business as soon as 2018, with more than half of the Taiwanese company’s ¥389bn (£2.45bn) investment in Sharp reserved for OLED development. The Osaka-based company has already shown small OLED displays, including a flexible 3.4in prototype displayed on the Sharp booth at  CES 2013.

And it’s thought that’s the area Foxconn/Sharp will tackle first – taking on the current leader in this field, Samsung, with panels aimed at use in smartphones within the next couple of years. Foxconn is of course a major supplier to Apple, making the company’s iPhones, among other products, at its Chinese factories, and the ability to use its own displays, rather than having to buy them in from third party suppliers such as Samsung, would do Foxconn’s profitablity no harm whatsoever.

Tablets and TVs in 2021?
It’s expected that production will expand to tablet-sized OLED panels a couple of years later, in 2021, when the alliance is also expected to start making TV-sized OLEDs.

The advantage would be that any such panels will be able to make use of Sharp’s IGZO technology, co-developed with Japanese company Semiconductor Energy Laboratory, and originally designed to give LCD panels higher resolution and increase energy-efficiency, meaning longer battery life and less heat, not to mention slimmer displays with narrower borders, in portable devices.

90in OLED TV
As far back as 2013, Sharp was saying that ‘OLED displays… will have the potential to jump to as high as 90-inches diagonal, powered by IGZO. IGZO also enables displays such as curved (i.e. non-flat or linear) panels built with OLEDs, as well as specialty QFHD (Ultra-HD) panels.’

At the time, it said ‘this is expected to have a big impact on the consumer TV market,’ but the question remains whether the emergence of this technology in five years’ time will have a similar effect.

One possibility is that the combination of Sharp’s technology and Foxconn’s expertise in huge-scale, low-cost manufacturing will enable OLED prices to be brought down to mass-market levels, but it remains to be seen whether by 2021 that will have happened already, either at the hands of current OLED TV leader LG Display or as the result of the entry into the market of the big Chinese TV panel manufacturers.

Already companies such as Skyworth have been making aggressive noises about challenging LG’s current market dominance – and of course five years is a very long time in TV technology.

Written by Andrew Everard

The innovative little floorstanders from Neat Acoustics are here: and they’re every bit as magical as first demonstrations suggested

I was very taken with the little Neat Iota floorstanding speakers when first I encountered them at the Bristol Show in February: they didn’t even have a name, but they proved quite a talking-point – not least due to their trick of seeming to cast a soundstage image up to eye-level, despite standing just 45cm tall.

At the Munich Show in May, the speakers were again on display (above), in a choice of finishes, and they now had both a name – Iota Alpha – and a price: they’re £1385 a pair. True, they were on static display in Munich on an open booth, rather than in a demonstration room, but what I’d heard in Bristol was enough to convince me that I had to get a pair home for a listen PDQ.

We now I have, and I’m here to report that, like the original Iotas I have on my desk, and which have performed solid service since they were launched, the Alphas perform way beyond expectations, and could be just about the most room-friendly speakers I’ve ever encountered.

New readers start here: the Iota Alpha is about half as tall as most floorstanding speakers, and combines the drive units of the original – a 50mm EMIT planar magnetic tweeter and 10cm mid/bass unit – with an extra 13.4cm bass driver. The first two are in their own housing, which is essentially a sealed version of the Iota enclosure, angled upwards and attached to a ported chamber in which the downward-firing bass unit is mounted, the whole enterprise being mounted on four high-quality spikes.

Placed in the room, and with a bit of breathing space behind them to let the port work, the Alphas immediately impress with the focus and precision of their soundstage and imaging. As the speakers are ‘handed’ – ie they come as a mirror-mage pair – you can use them with the tweeters inboard of the mid/bass units or outermost: after some experimentation I settled on ‘tweeters outward’.

With them inwards there was definitely very sharp focus of elements in the soundstage, but my preferred set-up gave much the same imaging, and a broader, more natural soundstage with a greater sense of space and openness.

Sound on a higher plane
But the real magic of these speakers is the way that image just hangs in the air before you, way above the top of the little enclosures. I had worried that I’d find myself having to look down at the speakers to hear them at their best, but there was none of that: instead I soon forgot I was listening to speakers well below my sightline, making them effectively visible in use.

And they go low and punch hard, too: I tried them with a range of amplification connected to their single set of terminals, from an old NAD right the way through to a Naim Supernait2, and while the speakers were very good on the end of the less expensive amp, they really came to life when drive with a higher-quality amp with a dose of extra power. On the end of a Naim NAP 300 DR I happened to have passing through they sounded even bigger, richer and expressive, that deft, fast and well-extended bass underpinning a crisp, lucid midband and treble.

There’ll be a full review of the Iota Alphas in the August issue of Gramophone, on sale next month, but for now it’s enough to say that the speakers have to go away next week for measurement for another review, and they’re going to be missed.

No, they’re not cheap, and the same money would buy you a pair of much larger, and considerably more impressive-looking, speakers – but if you want to introduce a dose of magic into your system, the Neat Iota Alpha really is a must-listen.

SPECIFICATIONS
Price £1385/pr
Drive units 50mm EMIT planar magnetic tweeter, 10cm mid/bass driver, 13.4cm downward-firing woofer
Sensitivity 86dB/1W/1m
Impedance 4ohms
Frequency response 33Hz-22kHz
Finishes American Walnut, Natural Oak, Black Oak or Satin White; others to order
Dimensions (HxWxD) 45x20x16cm

www.neat.co.uk

Written by Andrew Everard

High-end flagship Marantz 10 Series system due early 2017, HEOS multiroom spreads to more products from both brands

Denon and Marantz are set to launch a wide range of products across their product lines in the next few months, with Marantz having replacements for the popular CD6005 and PM6005 entry-level stereo components, a CD player for the MusicLink system and a flagship 10 Series featuring DSD upscaling plus an integrated amp designed as a preamp and monobloc power amps in one unit.

Denon meanwhile, has a new range of AV receivers, with some models incorporating the company’s HEOS multiroom system, a range-topping receiver with 11 channels of amplification built-in, and an all-new headphone line-up celebrating the 50th anniversary of the company’s first pair of ’phones.

Much more HEOS
And there are plans to expand and extend the HEOS technology beyond the existing wireless multiroom speaker line-up: the new HS2 models are now on sale, offering hi-resolution capability up to 192kHz/24bit, due to be extended in the future to handle DSD; the company has shown a prototype AV unit (below) with multichannel amplification plus the choice of using HEOS speakers to give wireless surround; and HEOS integration is extending some Marantz models as well as the upper reaches of the Denon receiver range.

That last element is part of what D+M’s Terry O’Connell describes as turning HEOS from being purely a standalone brand into an ‘ingredient’ for other models in the range. Internal discussions are still being held as to how many more Denon and Marantz products will become HEOS-capable beyond the current clutch of AV receivers across the two brands, and how the ‘ingredient’ will be described – one favoured solution under consideration being ‘Powered by HEOS’.

However, expect to see more HEOS-capable products appearing, from receivers and amplifiers to systems and maybe even headphones – as the company moves to extend the wireless interoperability of its two brands.

One of the Denon models with HEOS onboard will be the AVR-X6300H (above), due in the shops in October at £1899: as well as both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X (with Auro 3D due to be added via a firmware upgrade), and wide-ranging 4K/HDR compatibility, the ’6300H has 11 205W channels of amplification onboard, 13.2-channel preouts, Audyssey MultEQ XT32/LFC calibration with a new Audyssey App on the way, and the ability to play hi-res audio all the way up to DSD.

Denon expands Design Series
The Denon Design Series is set to gain another CD player, this time matching the DR100 network receiver, and among the celebratory headphone models is the AH-D7200 over-ear design, due on sale at the end of the year at £599.

This model uses a real-wood enclosure for the 50mm Denon Free Edge Drivers, an ultra-high purity 7N copper cable, and a floating plug design to avoid mechanical noise transmission.

The company is also set to launch a new wireless ‘fitness earphone’ design, the AH-C160W, with Class 1 Bluetooth for better transmission, extended battery life despite being 20% smaller and lighter than the existing AHW150 model, and improved waterproofing and sweatproofing. Available in three colours, the new model goes on sale in November at £129.

Marantz adds HEOS
Marantz is overhauling its AV receiver range with new models culminating in the 11.2-channel SR7011, complete with HEOS, DSD streaming, a full range of 3D audio formats and 4K/HDR compatibility. It has nine 200W amp channels, Marantz current feedback HDAM amplification, and will sell for £1399 when it arrives in September.

There’s also a new AV preamp, the AV7703 (above), which hits the shops in November at £1699. It has similar specifications to the 7011, but with 11.2-channel preouts on both RCAs and XLRs, and again comes with HEOS connectivity.

Marantz has update its popular slimline AV receiver: the new NR1607 (above), on sale this month at £599, has both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X decoding, 4K passthrough and upscaling, hi-res playback up to DSD5.6 and seven HDMI inputs.

The company is aiming to boost its market-leading status in the CD player and amplifier markets with replacements for the popular CD6005 and PM6005: the CD6006 is retuned for enhanced sound quality, while the PM6006 has gained an extra optical digital input, and has component improvements throughout. Both models are available immediately, at £399 apiece.

The new Marantz MusicLink system, comprising the HD-DAC1 and HD-AMP1, will be joined in September by a £449 CD player, the HD-CD1 (seen above with the HD-AMP1). Tuned by Marantz Brand Ambassador Ken Ishiwata, the new player is designed as a high-end machine in miniature, using the company’s preferred CS4398 DAC and an HDAM-SA2 output stage.

‘The New Reference’
You’ll have to wait a while for the stars of the show, however: the new Marantz 10 Series won’t be available until next January.

Described by the company as ‘The New Reference’, the £5499 SA10 SACD/CD player/DAC and £6499 PM10 amplifier are designed to build on the company’s celebrated SA7/SC7/MA9 system of 12 years back, and are named in honour of the company’s legendary Model 10B tuner, the first source component designed under Saul Marantz.

The SA10 has both disc playback and USB input, with format compatibility all the way up to DSD11.2/256 – even with files burned onto data discs, thanks to a new SACD-M3 transport – and upconverts all incoming file formats to DSD11.2 before conversion to analogue.

This process is part of what’s called Marantz Musical Mastering, combining MMM-Stream filtering and upconversion and MMM-Conversion to turn the DSD stream into audio output. It’s the result of a close co-operation between Ishiwata and Marantz designer Rainer Finck, who was part of the original team behind the development of Bitstream conversion at Philips.

‘DSD is analogue’
Bitstream converters have fallen out of favour, but one of the very best of their kind was the TD1547, otherwise known as the DAC 7, used in Marantz players of the past.

Known for its musical sound and even tonal balance, the DAC 7 was a 1-bit DAC, just as DSD is a 1-bit format: rather than the combination of, say 24-bit resolution at a 192kHz sampling rate, as used in many hi-res files, DSD uses 1-bit, but at a much higher sampling rate. So DSD64 (used for SACD), is 1-bit at 2.8224MHz, and DSD256 – or Quad-DSD – is 11.2MHz/1-bit.

This means music stored in DSD is a much more literal representation of the original analogue waveform of the sound recorded, and thus needs much less processing to turn it into audio able to be passed to an amplifier.

Or, as Ishiwata puts it, ‘DSD is analogue’: the signal to be passed to the conversion section in the form of a high-frequency stream of pulses, requiring only a very high-quality low-pass filter to pass the purest possible audio to the player’s output stage.

Partnering the player, the PM10 amplifier has separate preamplifier and dual bridged monobloc amplifier channels, all the way back to power supplies for each, all ‘under one roof’. It uses Marantz HDAMs in the fully-balanced preamp, which includes a high-quality discrete phono stage for both moving coil and moving magnet cartridges, and will deliver 200W per channel into an 8ohm load, rising to 400Wpc into 4ohm.

Written by Andrew Everard

German pro-audio company proves that, for the best possible sound, timing is everything

That’s the problem with being interested in audio: just when you think you have your system completely sorted, along comes something to challenge your assumptions and show you there’s still room for improvement. The problem is doubled (at least) when you make a substantial part of your living reviewing hi-fi equipment: not only is one’s system less like the much-vaunted open window into recordings, and more like a revolving door, but it’s also necessary to confront the ‘different, but is it better?’ question on an almost-daily basis.

(Actually, trying to make a living reviewing hi-fi equipment is a problem in itself, but that’s a horse of a different colour.)

Just occasionally, however, something comes along to change one’s parameters by causing a re-think of assumptions, and that’s the case with the Mutec MC-3+ USB, a little black (or silver) box with a battery of lights, made by a German company specialising in pro-audio equipment but just beginning to find itself a niche in the wider audio market.

I’d been hearing good things about the Mutec from several sources I tend to trust simply because their listening tastes and experience tend to accord with mine, so I was interested to take a listen and find out for myself what all the fuss was about. I have to admit to a certain cynicism, not to mention a feeling of ‘do I really need another black box in my system? I thought this digital audio stuff was meant to make life simple’, but the plainish-looking white shipping box sat around in my listening room while the non-stop procession of products for review came and went, daring me to give its contents a try. Eventually I could ignore it no longer, and into my system it went.

You might by now have got that there wasn’t a whole lot of feverish anticipation going on – after all, how much difference could yet another tweak make? I’d already bought a dedicated computer to play audio files, configured it with almost everything not sound-related turned off and plugged in a couple of Audioquest Jitterbugs – was it worth doing anything else?

Indeed, was it worth introducing another component, at around £800 costing more than many a high-quality DAC, into the system, especially when I’ve always been quite an advocate of ‘less is more’, keeping signal paths as short as possible, and so on?

And anyway, what’s this Mutec thing supposed to do, when it’s at home?

Time for an explanation
Well, the MC-3+ USB is the latest in a range of products from a company for which timing is almost everything: based in Berlin, Mutec makes a range of clock generation and distribution devices, plus sample rate and format converters, used in professional audio and video applications.

Put simply, all digital signals need to be referenced against a master clock – a kind of ultra-high-speed electronic metronome use to keep things in order – and if the master clock in your digital source is singing from a different hymn-sheet to that being used by your digital to analogue converter, problems can arise in the way digits get crunched into audio. Well, I did say ‘put simply’…

The result is jitter, perhaps most apparent in video systems, where it can sometimes be seen as a slight flicker in the monitored image, but also capable of subtle effects on audio, such as a loss of definition, or in extreme cases clicks and pops.

For that reason, the optimal solution is to get all the devices in a digital chain taking their timing from the same master clock, which is what Mutec’s reference clock generators and distributors do. And what the MC-3+ USB does, in a mains-powered box just under 20cm wide and a little over 4cm tall, is ‘reclock’ an incoming digital using a high-precision clock signal and then output it to whichever DAC you choose to use with it.

Actually, it does rather more than that: the Mutec doesn’t just tidy up the digital data, but rather uses what the manufacturer describes as ‘aggressive’ re-clocking, stripping all the clock data from the incoming signal and replacing it with the output from its own high-precision internal clock. Or, in a studio environment, it can share that clock signal with other devices with clock inputs, so everything is kept in sync, or accept an input from an external clock generator.

Of more interest to the audio enthusiast will probably be the ability of the Mutec to take a variety of digital input connections – USB, optical and coaxial S/PDIF and AES/EBU – and output them via almost as wide a range of connections, after doing its reclocking stuff.

Conversion, too
It also offers format conversion, being able to accept inputs all the way up to DSD256 – which uses a sample rate of 11.2MHz – and output at up to 176.4kHz, doing the DSD-to-PCM conversion on the way. Mutec points out that what’s happening here isn’t a sampling rate conversion – avoiding that was a major element of the design – but rather ‘a direct down-dividing out of the DSD stream, respective to its embedded sampling rate’.

In other words, it will convert from DSD down to 176.4kHz, 88.2kHz or even 44.1 kHz (if you must), but not to 192kHz, 86kHz or 48kHz as these wouldn’t be a direct step down in sampling rate.

Meanwhile the USB-B input has full galvanic isolation, meaning no electrical noise from a connected computer can get through it to the connected DAC.

Not surprisingly, this comprehensive capability, and the pro-audio origins of the unit, means that – although it only has two buttons to control it, a third being no more than a power switch – the Mutec can initially look baffling. That’s in no small part due to the 33 LED indicators crammed into that compact front panel, along with a lot of tiny labelling. But then the specification means there’s a lot to cover on a product with very little frontage and a job title like ‘Synchronizable Digital Audio Master Clock and Audio Re-Clocker and USB Interface’!

However, once you get the hang of the operation – there’s a menu selector and a button to scroll through the options – it doesn’t take long to set up the MC3+ USB, and once chosen you can clock in your settings against prying fingers attracted by all those glowing lights. Or indeed you can turn off all the lights should you find them distracting, allowing the Mutec to be used in what’s effectively ‘stealth mode’. Believe you me, you will find them distracting.

So (deep breath), does it work? The simple answer is yes, and with every single device with which I’ve tested it. In the past few months I’ve had through my room a bewildering variety of DACs, from those built into a number of integrated amplifiers all the way up to big-ticket non-oversampling audiophile models, and in every case the Mutec has brought sonic gains which are immediately apparent, from cleaner detail in even the subtlest nuances of recordings through to a tighter sense of rhythm and timing, and – my persoanl favourite – enhanced presence.

In other words, recordings played from the MacMini using Audirvana+, which is my go-to set-up for DAC testing and increasing amounts of my listening, simply sound more real. It’s not a subtle improvement, even with relatively inexpensive DACs such as those built into some sensibly-priced amplifiers, it appears to be consistent across a wide range of recordings, and I’m yet to find a DAC whose performance doesn’t benefit from the inclusion of the Mutec in the chain.

And of course it also has the not inconsiderable benefit of enabling you to use your computer’s USB output with DACs only providing conventional S/PDIF inputs. Used with the Naim DAC, for example, it turns an already very fine digital-to-analogue converter into what is, by any standards, an exceptional USB DAC.

In fact, I’d go so far as to say that, with most DACs offering direct USB input of DSD data – usually in the form of DSD over PCM frames, or DoP – the sound of the same files via the Mutec’s onboard conversion, output to the DAC as 176.4kHz/24-bit over coaxial digital, has greater impact and vibrancy, along with an improved sense of ‘rightness’.

Of course as a reviewing tool the MC-3+ USB is slightly problematic, as it can mask some of the deficiencies of a DAC under test running ‘under its own steam’. But as a way of revealing what else is happening in the audio chain it’s proving invaluable: it forms a very potent digital audio combination with an inexpensive MacMini and the Naim DAC in particular and, as I discovered in some recent listening sessions, starts to throw some new light on the effect of even small changes in the components used to feed it with digital data.

But perhaps that’s a story for another time…

The Mutec MC-3+ USB is available through UK distributor Affinity Audio.

Written by Andrew Everard

Spent a fascinating day down at Naim Audio in Salisbury last week, getting acquainted with something big – very big – on the way from the company.

Lips very much zipped until the official reveal later this week, but here’s a hint or two…

Complete ground-up redesign sees four network audio models launched, all based on the company’s new ‘platform for the future’

It’s seven years since the groundbreaking NaimUniti appeared, setting the standard for all network music systems – and now Naim has unveiled a complete new generation of its Uniti range: New Uniti.

This isn’t simply a refresh of the existing line-up: this a complete rethink of Uniti, with everything changed from the styling to the software platform on which the series is built, all the way through to new production methods to hand-build the range at the Salisbury factory.

Four New Uniti models have been announced: the Uniti Core ripper/server/player (£1650); the £1600 Uniti Atom compact network music system (below); the £2999 Uniti Star, complete with built-in CD ripping and music storage; and the range-topping Uniti Nova, at £3800.

Naim Uniti Atom: £1600

All feature new styling that, while unmistakably Naim, has a sharper edge and, in the two full-size network players, a distinctive ‘two box’ look. Meanwhile the players have also inherited the top-mounted volume control and white illuminated acrylic company logo of both the Mu-so line and the flagship Statement amplifier system.

Naim Uniti Star: £2999

Also striking is the new display on the Atom, Star and Nova: it’s a full-colour 5in panel, able to show extended information and cover artwork. And even the remote control is a newly designed RF type, even able to control New Uniti models in a different room: it pairs with the device it’s to control using proximity sensing, rather like a contactless credit card.

Bidirectional communication with the Uniti being controlled also allows visual feedback of the volume setting on the handset, for example.

It also has tilt and motion sensors, enabling it to sleep when not in use, then wake when picked up: this also allows Naim to claim a one-year battery life for the remote.

New platform
However, the most significant change is the all-new software platform on which the New Uniti products run. Naim has ditched the ‘off the shelf’ solutions used in Uniti models to date – yes, including the Windows OS under the skin of the UnitiServe! – and built its own modular system to run not only this first tranche of products, but also forthcoming network-capable models.

In fact, company MD Trevor Wilson, while emphasising the huge programming and testing resources it has taken to develop this package – as MDs do! – , goes on to describe it as a ‘platform for the future’. It’s for that reason Naim is describing the New Uniti launch not just as a major event, but also as one of the most significant moves in the company’s 40+-year history.

The new platform has massive processing power, and has taken a lot of programming, as befits what Naim MD Trevor Wilson describes as ‘a platform for our future’.

Three years in the making
The software team rose from seven to 25 during the development process (which has been ongoing for over three years), marking a massive investment to ensure the new platform could do what Naim wanted – now and in the future.

In other words, it’s a fair bet to assume we’ll be seeing a lot more of this platform in future Naim products across the range.

So what do the New Uniti models do? Well, all are 384kHz/24bit-capable on WAV, 384kHz/24bit on FLAC, AIFF, and Apple Lossless, and can handle DSD2.8MHz/64 and 5.6MHz/128. They have Ethernet 10/100Mbps and dual-band IEEE 802.11b/n/g/ac wireless networking on the three systems, with internal Wi-Fi antennae rather than the rubber external ones of current products.

Twelve ultra hi-res streams
All three systems can stream to up to six network players, or sync up to six Uniti/ND-/Mu-so players in party mode. The Core, meanwhile, has 10/100/1000Mbps Ethernet, and can deliver up to 12 simultaneous streams at up to 384kHz/24bit.

All formats are limited to 48khz when using Wi-Fi connectivity, but Naim says a lot of work has gone into improved buffer capacity and network capability to ensure stable streaming, even up to the maximum data-rates.

As well as UPnP streaming and Internet radio, all three systems support Bluetooth aptX HD, Apple AirPlay, Tidal, Spotify Connect – with Roon ‘to be activated in the near future’ – and Google Cast for Audio.

The Google advantage
Naim’s Steve Sells points out that this last capability opens them up to any online audio service that’s Google Cast-compatible – of which there are already dozens, including the likes of Qobuz and YouTube. So as well as those built into the new models, users will be able to access many more streaming services via Google Cast.

Essentially this means the New Uniti models are service-agnostic, which was one of the major intentions behind the new platform, Naim saying that it wanted to get out of the features-race and instead make models able to adapt to future developments and requirements.

Easier updates
To that end the new models will also be able to update their firmware ‘over the air’ using a network connection, rather than requiring the somewhat laborious computer-based method of the current ND- and Uniti ranges.  Users will be prompted to update via an indicator on a revised Naim app soon to be available, which will control both existing products and the whole New Uniti range, without the need for a separate app for the Core ripper/server.

Naim Uniti Core: £1650

Talking of the Core (above), it features new bit-perfect ripping software, comes without a hard-drive installed to allow the buyer to choose the size they want to install, and now has an internal power supply rather than the offboard ‘brick’ used to power the UnitiServe.

Ripping Star
The Uniti Star also has a built-in ripping drive able to store rips on USB drives or SD cards (there’s a card-slot on the back). The Nova also has an SD card slot for additional storage, and it’s also possible to connect an external USB CD/DVD drive to the Atom and Nova models, and use them to rip music to connected USB drives and, in the case of the Nova, SD cards. The Core rips to its internal HDD, and can also rip to network drives.

Naim Uniti Nova: £3800

At the heart of all the new models is the same kind of SHARC processor used in the NDS, now in fourth-generation 40-bit form (left), and the New Unitis use the same Naim-written oversampling, buffering and digital filtering found in the NDS and Naim DAC.

The three network systems all use digitally-driven analogue volume controls: these only default to fully digital volume adjustment at very low levels, in order to allow the analogue resistor ladder used further up the range to be kept as simple as possible for the best sound.

Amplification throughout is of a traditional Naim design, with the Atom delivering 40Wpc, the Star 70Wpc and the Nova 80Wpc,. All three systems use substantial toroidal transformers, with much smaller switch-mode supplies for standby mode to keep power consumption down. All three also have newly-designed dedicated headphone amps built-in.

The Uniti Atom (above) has two optical and one coaxial digital inputs, two USB-Type A sockets, plus one line-in and both line and sub/preouts, with a galvanically-isolated HDMI input with Audio Return channel available at a £100 premium.

The Uniti Star (above) has an extra coaxial input plus a BNC digital in, adds a five-pin DIN inputs and has HDMI and an SD card slot as standard, with DAB/DAB+/FM radio available for an extra £151, making the price £3150. Meanwhile the Nova gains two more line-ins – one each on RCAs and DIN – and is available with the DAB/DAB+/FM radio module for an extra £159, bringing the price to £3959.

Finally the Core has two USB sockets, and a digital BNC output to allow it to be used as a transport directly into external DACs, controlled by the new version of the Naim app.

Availability
Build of the Uniti Core is already underway, with Atom assembly due to start in the next few weeks, and sales soon after. Huge demand from distributors and retailers, already at double initial expectations, means Naim has had to adopt a staggered production plan: Star and Nova assembly will ramp up during the first quarter of next year, with all models being built in those new purpose-designed assembly cells in Salisbury. The company says it has already had to increase the size of that production area substantially, just to meet that initial demand.

Each production cell uses the very latest state of the art CAD software and touchscreen display technology, initially adopted by Naim for the construction of Statement. It’s now being rolled out across the factory, to ensure every detail of the product is built with extreme accuracy and repeatability. Each cell carries out the whole manufacturing process, the product entering as a kit of components and leaving as a fully closed, finished and tested unit ready for shipping.

One more thing…
Oh, and one final thing: the New Uniti models all come with a new Naim mains plug as standard. As the company explains, having for a long time taken great care with its mains plugs, choosing only high-quality MK UK plugs and tightening the cable clamping screws to a set torque, it upped its game with the Power-Line cable, complete with floating pins able to align themselves for better contact with the socket.

For New Uniti it has ‘reverse engineered’ Power-Line into a more affordable version, Power-Line Lite, with the same floating pin technology: this cable will not only be standard with all the new models, but will also be rolled out to other Naim products supplied in the future, hopefully starting sometime early in 2017.

It will also be possible to buy the Power-Line Lite cable on its own at some point next year, as an upgrade for existing Naim products. It’s expected it will cost around £95-£100, rather than the £500+ of the ‘full fat’ Power-Line, and initially will only be available with a UK three-pin plug.

Written by Andrew Everard

It’s one of the hi-fi industry’s best-kept secrets: the company many of the top names turn to when they need new speakers designed and engineered

‘It’s not about having the right equipment – anyone can buy that: it’s more to do with knowing the questions to ask, interpreting the answers, and constantly learning and investigating.’

Karl-Heinz Fink is sitting behind his desk in the office/meeting room of Fink Audio Consulting, housed in an anonymous building in Essen, Germany. I’ve entered down a corridor on which hang a number of guitars, and a rack of instruments sit beside his desk. As he talks, he’s absent-mindedly strumming on his latest acquisition – or it might be the most recent product of the in-house woodworking shop – and listening as he tunes it while explaining what makes the company tick.

By now you may be wondering what FAC does, and why I’m telling you all this. Well yes, it does make the odd guitar, but that’s very much a sideline, a hobby shared by several involved in the company: the main business here is the design, engineering and production of audio products, starting with speakers but now expanding into active electronics and the like.

Oh, and turntables. And guitars.

Going public
Fink Audio Consulting ‘broke cover’ at the 2016 High End show in Munich with its massive WM-3 concept loudspeakers (above), but before you dismiss it as just another of those companies showing at such shows with massively over-engineered designs unlikely ever to see production, time to think again. You see, this is probably the biggest loudspeaker company you’ve never heard of, although the chances are you will have encountered some of its products.

In fact, for some years now FAC has been the ‘go to’ consultancy for many of the world’s biggest companies when they need to launch a new speaker, or range of speakers. It works across the hi-fi, general audio, pro audio and even the automotive sectors, and can offer anything from design input to a complete ‘turnkey’ solution including design, production engineering, sourcing and quality control.

As well as its design facility, it can also offer small-scale prototyping and small-scale production in-house, and works closely with factories in China to ensure the finished products match up to the designs it develops – it even has staff permanently based in Shenzhen covering engineering and production. In addition it has strong relationships with experts in other fields, such as the industrial designer Kieron Dunk of Industrial Design Associates, with whom FAC has worked closely on many projects.

Asking the right questions
Having started out more than 20 years ago simply designing speakers, these days the company works down to the component level, designing and producing drive units using its comprehensive battery of in-house measurement tools. So it comes as quite a surprise when Fink says that, despite its expertise, the company is still learning, still investigating: as he puts it, ‘We may not know all the answers yet, but we think we know the right questions to ask, and have the tools to find the right solutions.’

It’s in the nature of a consultancy to operate behind the scenes, and not all of its clients want its involvement in their new products made public. However, of late it seems that having FAC on your team has become less of a guilty secret and more of a badge of honour, so acclaimed have many of its designs been over the years.

Indeed, Fink has co-operated with some companies for a long time: the company was in at the start of Armour Home’s Q Acoustics brand, developing all of that company’s much-lauded affordable speaker range, and now the flagship Concept 500 floorstanders, all with industrial design by Dunk; worked on designs such as the recent Boston Acoustics lines under D+M (as well as Denon and Marantz system speakers), and had a hand in Naim’s Ovator speakers as well as the drive units used in the Naim for Bentley system.

And those are merely the ones I’m allowed to mention!

That’s just scratching the surface, as was clear when I visited the company a few months ago to see how the massive WM-3 speakers were progressing, having attracted so much attention in Munich that plans were in hand to turn concept into production models.

Phone calls were flying about a problem on a soundbar speaker due on the production lines in China in days; power supplies for Bluetooth speakers were being engineered in another room; and the characteristics of a work-in-progress drive unit were being explored in a third using the company’s array of measurement systems.

All of the in-house team are music enthusiasts as well as experts in their field, and their fascination not only for their work but also many related areas of electronics and music reproduction is infectious when you tour the Essen facility.

For example, our listening session with the latest iteration of the massive WM-3 speakers, which were constantly being improved and refined, rapidly took a left turn into an exploration of the effects of various cables involved in the MacMini/Auralic/Mutec/DAC system Karl-Heinz was using as the front end of the system.

He’d already developed a prototype power supply for the computer, and was keen to try not only some cables one of us had brought, but also let us hear some wires a friend had sent him from an obscure Swiss company: ‘These aren’t so expensive, but they sound really good.’

And when we got down to the effects of a metal shell on the plug on a digital cable against the usual plastic one, it became clear not only that this company is open to the exploration of every aspect of the music reproduction chain, but also that we possibly ought to take a deep breath and get back to concentrating on what actually happens within the walls of the facility.

Back to basics
At the heart of what the company does are the fundamentals of speaker design: the behaviour of drive units and the cabinets in which they are mounted, and the interaction between the two. Central to this is the use of the Klippel R&D system, which is able to measure everything from the way a speaker cone or dome reacts to an input signal to the vibrations in the walls of a cabinet.

Fink explains that ‘Drive unit design is very different from the way it was in the past. Then people specced a shape, made it in various versions, then measured the variants and picked the best. Even back then we had a laser-scanner to make these measurements, in fact before Klippel came out with one – that was fine for measuring, but it couldn’t tell you how to solve the problems you found.

‘These days computer modelling lets you simulate materials – for example a polypropylene cone needs one shape, a metal one another – unlike in the old days where we chose a shape and then tried different materials. The choice of material isn’t the complete answer, but adjusting shape and materials works well to come up with the best solution.’

And the company is always willing to try something new: Lampos Ferekidis, FAC’s drive unit engineering expert and chief number-cruncher, used to be with driver manufacturer NXT, and so has plenty of experience in unusual shapes and materials.

He says that ‘My approach is influenced by the work I did with NXT, with BMR (Balanced Mode Radiators) technology, and the AFR (audio full range) which came before it.  The core point is that every speaker is modal,’ – ie has certain frequencies at which it performs less than optimally – ‘and you can’t change that. So you have to decide whether to push those out of bandwidth or live with them, work with them, by tweaking the modes to a different frequency range.

‘After all, what could be an advantage in a certain frequency band may not have a benefit on axis, but only appear off-axis. So the way to design is different: for example break-up’ – the point at which a driver diaphragm starts ‘misbehaving’ – ‘sounds like something negative, but isn’t if you know what you are doing with it.

‘It’s an industry fairy-tale that every mode needs to be cured by damping, but do that and you just get overlapping low-Q modes, so our way of thinking is to work with the modes. For example, many people say that polypropylene, with its high damping characteristics, is a bad material for speaker cones, but we simply design using its characteristics.

Nature’s not industry-standard
‘In our work for automotive clients, where millions of drivers have to be made, the advantages are that the cones are easier to make more consistently in huge volumes than, say, paper-based cones. After all, trees don’t grow to industry standard!’

Karl-Heinz Fink adds ‘That’s why I say I am lazy: don’t want to do the same thing many times when we can simulate and design right the first time!’

Using the Klippel system, along with his company’s experience interpreting the results it gives, has proved a major benefit for the way the Essen operation works: ‘In general, Klippel gave us low-distortion driver units. If you see drivers from companies who know how to use it, their speakers have much lower distortion than those of 15 years ago.

‘We’ve learned a lot about the stability of drivers with signal.  Break-up sounds over-dramatic, being a transition from the ideal pistonic motion to modal effects, but in fact the motion is still pistonic all the way.

‘For example, in developing tweeters for the automotive sector we had to switch from rare-earth magnets back to ferrite – it was a cost thing. We started with a design used in Castle speakers, and from there we developed Finite Element models to allow us to predict directivity, the frequency response of the driver, and how various factors affect output. That work led us to a new 28mm dome tweeter for the Q Acoustics Concept 500 (below), which radiates better off axis than the earlier 22mm design.

Always learning
‘It’s an example of how each area of work generates knowhow we can feed back into further product development. We’re always about learning why things sound a particular way, so you don’t have to go through so many iterations in the development process.
50% of our work is now automotive, and it’s getting more important these days. That means very simple crossovers, typically using just one capacitor, so we must make tweeters able to work with this, and no crossover on the woofer. So now for one major motor industry client we’re making a tweeter with very smooth integration with the woofer, just to keep things simple.’

Lampos adds that ‘Our automotive work has shown us what we measure in a car cabin is more about the acoustic power characteristics of speaker than its on-axis response, as listening in-car is off-axis. You see a lot more in the power response than in the on-axis – for example, whether a speaker will sound lean or fat or whatever. But on-axis response has been adopted due to what is like an unwritten agreement between acoustic engineers – because it’s simpler!’

Markus Strunk, who is the company’s vibration specialist, says that ‘While you can optimise drivers, the cabinet makes a major contribution, as you can hear when you do something as simple as putting a magazine on top of a speaker, or using hot-melt glue inside the corners of an enclosure.’

Using his laser scanner, he can measure cabinet vibrations, and see that ‘cabinet distortion is both apparent and audible, and that 30dB below what speaker is doing is cabinet contribution. Every time you make a change of cabinet material or change design, the speaker changes – the image, the balance, and the voicing.’

Think first, make later
Karl-Heinz explains that ‘Again we use simulations – after all, we don’t want to make many iterations of cabinet material. Marcus wrote his own programs, and now we can simulate how the cabinet will work before making a prototype.

‘The idea isn’t to construct the stiffest enclosure we can make – we decided to go for higher noise levels but consistent ones, with no peaks. For example, for the first prototypes of the Q Acoustics Concept 20, we tried to see whether we could make normal cabinets better, and discovered that the ‘figure of eight’ internal bracing used to date was bad – it was distributing noise. So instead we chose a mix of materials/sizes, and found we could make a cabinet with lower noise without all that bracing.’

Marcus adds that this led to the development of the constrained layer damping used in the speakers, using a mixture of materials and the Gelcore layer within the walls of the enclosure: ‘With the laser scanner we can measure how much energy is dissipated in the damping, and over what frequency range. The old methods were all about trial and error with accelerometers attached to the cabinet surface, but now with the laser scanning we can measure more accurately, and see the effect on sound pressure levels.’

Listening to the cabinet
And it seems the old ‘face to face, out of phase’ method enthusiasts use to cut down noise when running in speakers also has its place amongst all this hi-tech measurement equipment: Fink explains that ‘with the speakers like this, the drivers cancel out: then what you can hear is the cabinet.’

This thinking has informed every element of the cabinet design, extending to the design of the reflex port and the terminal panel: ‘If you can isolate those effects, it has a huge effect on the design. So on the Q Acoustics models we just use holes for the terminals, not a plastic panel.

‘For the new Concept 500 model this thinking has been extended to the use of a damped terminal panel made from a sandwich of MDF, steel and bitumen, thus preserving the integrity of the Dual Gelcore construction of the cabinet.’ This design, seen above, takes the technology developed for past Q Acoustics speakers, which have had two layers of material sandwiching a gel layer, and turns it into three solid layers and two layers of gel, offering even greater damping for a more inert structure.

In the meantime, Fink’s own WM-3 monster speakers are inching closer to becoming a production reality, so great was the interest shown in them on their Munich début last year. At the High End 2016 show they were demonstrated in the Marantz room (above), on the end of that company’s New Premium SA-10 SACD player and PM-10 amplifier, then in prototype form but now in production; this year Fink will have his own room at the show, and the speakers may well be called WM-4 by then, so far on have they moved from the versions demonstrated last May.

Why the Marantz connection? Well, Fink and Marantz Brand Ambassador Ken Ishiwata are both close friends and ‘partners in crime’, having worked together on a range of projects over the years. For that reason it was no surprise that, when Ishiwata decided to demonstrate the finished Premium 10 products to the world’s press back in December, they were playing through a pair of the just-announced Q Acoustics Concept 500 speakers.

So, why WM-?
The WM-3s, or WM-4s, or whatever they end up being called – I was trying to work out whether the prefix indicated a desire for world domination with these ‘Weltmeister’ speakers, but it seems it may simply be because they look like a giant Waschmaschine! – look set to sell for around €100,000 a pair. That price will include some degree of consultancy from Fink and his team on optimising the room in which they are used, while buyers may also get a personal set-up visit, and even an offer to do all the acoustic treatments if required.

Given how good the speakers already sound, those lucky enough to be able to afford them will be getting a treat. With both anechoic and controllable echoic test rooms on site in Essen, along with an excellent dedicated listening room and the facilities to prototype products in-house as well as small-scale driver manufacturing, the Fink Audio Consulting team doesn’t just create great speakers: these people also have a superb working knowledge of how their designs interact with the spaces in which they’re used.

And above all, a love of music – from making it to its recording and playback – runs through the company: taking the tour, I see guitar amps being serviced, repaired and their designs improved, and I’m given a 2014 LP by jazz musician Hans Theessink, the recording of which was sponsored and produced by Fink [Live at Jazzland, Sommelier du Son SDS 0016-1].

And down in the street-level bay where which car audio systems can be worked on (and guitar amps tested!) I find a stack of studio mixing and multitrack recording equipment. It was acquired it at some point, and now is just waiting for some time to be found to bring it back into use. It’ll happen…

A while after my visit, I’m not at all surprised to see Karl-Heinz showing on Facebook his latest buy: a classic German-made Telefunken M15A tape recorder – all 50kg of it – now installed in his listening room. Used in many German broadcast stations back in the purely analogue age, you can be sure it’ll be getting plenty of use as a reference source as the company continues to develop, refine and innovate.

As Fink puts it, it’s all about knowing the right questions to ask, and having the right tools to hand, however unusual they may seem – and that’s what enables this music-fanatic company to deliver the very best solutions to its many clients.

Written by Andrew Everard

New BeoLab 50 model takes the technology of the outlandish BeoLab 90 and makes it rather more domestically acceptable

Just had an interesting flying visit to Denmark to hear the new Bang & Olufsen BeoLab 50 speakers, launched today. Trips to the acoustics department in Struer are always fascinating, but this one was doubly so for various reasons – not least that this time the company seems to have produced a speaker that looks like a speaker!

The new BeoLab 50 takes a lot of the technology found in the company’s BeoLab 90-, which was launched almost two years ago, and tames it into a more domestically acceptable form. The shape is striking but not huge, the 61kg per speaker weight just about manageable without heavy lifting gear, and the price – well, the speakers are £11,465.

Each.

Three bass units are mounted in each speaker, which is roughly triangular in plan view: the 25cm drivers fire to the front, and to the sides and rear, while there are three 10cm midrange drivers arranged in a cluster – as on the BeoLab 90 – and a single 19mm tweeter.

Of course, being a Bang & Olufsen speaker, that tweeter is not just mounted in an Acoustic Lens assembly, which powers up into view when the speakers are activated, but also has adjustable Beam Width Control, the shape of the Acoustic Lens changing to give wide (90 degree) or narrow (45 dsgree) treble dispersion. It’s a mechanic version of the multi-tweeter system found in the BeoLab 90, and lets you switch from a focussed treble suited to ‘sweet spot’ listening to a wider spread when all the family is gathered.

All of this is controlled via the Bang & Olufsen App.

The speakers also have Active Room Compensation, with a microphone to measure their effect in the room and internal electronics to tailor the sound to suit. Different presets can be set for various listening locations in the room, all under the control of digital signal processing, and the speaker also packs seven 300W ICEpower amplifiers, custom designed for this model.

The speaker has a wide range of input options, with both digital and analogue versions of the company’s Power Link system, conventional RCA line input, coax, optical and USB digital at up to 192kHz/24bit, and both Wireless Power Link at up to 24bit/48kHz and WISA extending this to 24/96.

So how do they sound? Well, after a lengthy listening session in the Struer listening rooms, I had to conclude that these speakers may look (almost) conventional, but they sound anything but. There’s massive bass, seeming unburstable but as tightly controlled as it is extended, and a lovely sense of integration, sweetness and detail in the midband and treble.

If the BeoLab 90 saw the company moving back into the audiophile arena, albeit with a speaker whose form-factor was, to say the least, challenging, then the BeoLab 50 may well win it even more fans in the ‘serious audio’ arena, not least due to industrial design making it look like – well, like a pair of speakers.

Yes, the new model is expensive – would it be a Bang & Olufsen if it wasn’t? But that price begins to make sense when you consider this is a complete system in a pair of speakers, complete with 2100W of amplification per side, and a ‘just add source’ design: for the demonstrations I had the speakers were just connected to the digital output from an Oppo Blu-ray player, with music sourced from disc or my own collection on a USB thumb-drive.

Of course, more comprehensive listening will be required in a known environment before I can really get to grips with what the BeoLab 50 can do, but on this first encounter the new model looks to be every bit as impressive as its massive forbear of a couple of years back – just less mad.

Other interesting discoveries on this very brief trip? The acoustics department at B&O is on the move, from its current location – home of the celebrated ‘Cube’ measurement chamber – to new, purpose-built facilities in what was the Factory 4 assembly area. Already bigger, better listening facilities are taking shape, along with a new anechoic chamber, and I was assured a ‘new Cube’ was in the planning.

And what will become of the current facilities? Well, in very Danish style, they’re going to be turned into a start-up/incubator facility for new audio companies. The new occupants will be able to take advantage of the excellent set-up being left behind – although for now the Bang & Olufsen engineers will also be making use of the Cube, and some other parts of their current home, until the new acoustics engineering facility is completed. As a statement of continuing commitment to high-quality audio in Struer, it’s pretty impressive…

Forthcoming firmware update will allow full Roon operation, allowing network hi-res music streaming from computer storage and superior search and browsing capability

I’m enjoying the new Naim Uniti series: I’ve already had the Core, the Atom and the Nova through my hands for various reviews, and have been impressed with both the new capabilities and the excellent sound quality, which lifts the performance beyond that achieved by the sector-defining original Uniti models of eight – yes, really – years ago.

I was also pleased to see that, like the Mu-so all-in one systems, the new Uniti models could have music sent to them by computers running Roon, which in my opinion is the most thoroughly sorted method of playing music stored on a PC, Mac or NAS. OK, so my initial experience of new Uniti and Roon has been using the AirPlay capability of the Naims, which perforce downsamples anything above CD quality, but all the user-appeal was still there.

And that includes the way Roon can combine your own music library and services such as Tidal seamlessly, conjuring up a continuous (and well-matched) automatic playlist based on the music you’ve just chosen; its near-instant acquisition of whatever you’ve loaded onto a NAS without the need for rescans; and its excellent interface complete with album information, reviews and more – and fast, accurate, intuitive search.

Now Naim is offering a full Roon Ready status for these new models, via a firmware update confirmed today and due to be available October. Roon Ready will allow the new Uniti models to integrate completely into a Roon system without the need of any configuration, and deliver bit-perfect music playback even from hi-res content.

The Roon-equipped Naim appears in Roon’s audio device indication, just as it does when the AirPlay-type connection is being used, but even with the confusion I initially had when the two connections were in place – it took a moment or two to work out which was which, solved by renaming one of the two – it was immediately apparent just from listening that the ‘proper’ Roon connection was by far superior.

I’ve been testing a beta version of the Uniti firmware for a few weeks now, and have been impressed not only by how smoothly the Uniti Nova I had to hand operated when fed from Roon, but also by how excellent it sounds, whether with hi-res music up into the realms of DSD or just CD-quality content. I’ve played a lot of music using the Roon/Naim combination, and I’m even more sold on both the software and the hardware than I was before.

OK, so there was an initial glitch when carrying out the online firmware update, the Nova’s display showing a big warning triangle and an error code, but then as a veteran of updating Naim firmware, I’d be disappointed if there wasn’t some drama!

Re-running the update procedure from the web browser interface saw the whole thing work fine second time. And it must be said this new firmware procedure is a whole load more elegant than the processes involved in updating my original NaimUniti and NDS.

There’s no denying that Roon can seem at first to be rather expensive, at $119 a year or $499 for a lifetime licence, but the sheer flexibility and enjoyment of using it, plus the ability to upsample music and so on, would soon make it a must-have once experienced.

And anyway, new Uniti owners can always see whether it’s for them with the free 14-day trial available from www.roonlabs.com

I’d suggest that’s a trial well worth taking, especially if you have an extensive music library and also use Tidal. But beware – the whole thing can become very addictive, and may change the way you listen forever!

So the latest stats from the record industry suggest that not only is streaming accounting for an ever-larger slice of the music sales ‘pie’, but download sales are declining even faster than the beleaguered CD.

Might I suggest that the download slowdown isn’t just due to the convenience of streaming, but because downloads are just too expensive?

That was brought home to me when I stumbled across a reference, in a hi-fi review I was reading, to the Buddy Holly Down The Line – Rarities compilation from a few years back: being still of a generation preferring to buy and own music rather than stream it, I decided to acquire a copy, so cast around the legal download sites to pick up a FLAC copy to uplaod to my network server.

Given it was just on a whim, I hummed and hahed more than a bit when I discovered that prices for the two-disc set varied from around £16 to £20, and some extensive searching of sites both in the UK, elsewhere in Europe and beyond didn’t find that price shifting much.

So the set remained in various baskets for a day or two while I considered how much I wanted the set, until I had a late-night inspiration and looked on that famous South American river site for the wonderfully old-fashioned idea of what these days is called ‘physical media’.

£9.99 including delivery and 24 hours later, the two discs were received, ripped and playing from my NAS – and very good they sound too, combining Holly’s demos and early studio takes from his all-too-short career.

Seems the decline of CD can be good for some, if prices have fallen this far. But given the costs of pressing, packaging, stocking and delivering CDs to the end consumer, not to mention the environmental impacts of making bits of plastic inside plastic boxes rather than simply offering files for download, how can online purchases of catalogue albums really be so expensive?