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Goldmund announces Eidos Reference SACD player, yours for £175,000

Home News (Image credit: Goldmund) Ultra-high-end Swiss hi-fi manufacturer Goldmund has launched a new SACD player, the EIDOS Reference, costing £175,000. The player takes its name from Plato’s theory of forms and is as high-minded as it is high-priced. The Eidos Reference can read all current digital disc formats (SACD, CD, CD-R, CD-RW) and audio… Read more

Moon’s streaming product family gets Spotify Connect and AirPlay 2

Home News (Image credit: Moon) Thanks to the latest firmware updates, Moon’s streaming products now support Spotify Connect, following their recent compatibility with AirPlay 2. Every Moon component based on the company’s MiND2 (Moon Intelligent Network Device) streaming module is receiving the latest firmware update – the ACE all-in-one music system, MiND 2 network player,… Read more

Sennheiser HD 560S

Our Verdict The Sennheisers offer an even and analytical listen, they’re just missing an extra ounce of energy and fun For Expansive, detailed presentation Comfortable design Solid build and finish Against Beaten for verve and energy There’s an old Chinese proverb, attributed to zen master Hsi-Tang Chih Tsang in 800AD, that reads: “Although gold dust… Read more

Best speaker stands 2021: budget and premium

Home Best-buys Best Speaker Stands Buying Guide: Welcome to What Hi-Fi?’s round-up of the best speaker stands you can buy in 2021. We’d argue there’s really no such thing as bookshelf speakers. Even if that’s how yours were advertised, it’ll take a sturdy pair of speaker stands to have them sounding their best. You needn’t… Read more

X-Chair X3 ATR Mgmt Chair Review: Heat, Massage and Customized Comfort

Our Verdict The X3 ATR Mgmt from X-Chair offers loads of customizability to best suit your body and budget, as well as excellent lumbar support and an optional heat and massage feature. If you work and game from home, it’s a worthy investment for your comfort and your spine. But starting at over $900, “investment”… Read more

Bluetooth 24-bit/96kHz support is coming via Qualcomm Snapdragon Sound

Home News (Image credit: Qualcomm) Qualcomm has introduced a new system-on-chip platform that supports 24-bit/96kHz audio over Bluetooth. Currently, Qualcomm’s aptX HD and flagship aptX Adaptive Bluetooth codecs can transmit music up to 24-bit/48kHz, but the new Qualcomm Snapdragon Sound takes that to 96kHz – the sampling rate studio music is often recorded and, as… Read more

Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon Sound certification promises a big wave of hi-fi wireless headphones

Qualcomm today announced Snapdragon Sound, which is what the company describes as “a chain of audio innovations and software” that work together to significantly improve audio quality when listening to music through wireless headphones, earbuds, and other devices. The goal is to deliver “high-resolution, wired quality audio, wirelessly,” according to James Chapman, Qualcomm’s VP of… Read more

Jack Dorsey’s Square acquires Tidal majority stake for $297 million

Home News (Image credit: Jack Dorsey/Twitter) In somewhat unexpected news, Tidal has a new owner. Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter, and founder and CEO of Square, has announced that Square has acquired a majority stake in Tidal. Announcing the news on Twitter, where else, Dorsey said, “It comes down to a simple idea: finding new… Read more

Vinyl revenue overtakes CDs for the first time since 1986

Home News (Image credit: Rega) The RIAA’s year-end report on the state of the US music industry shows that revenue from vinyl sales has overtaken that of CDs for the first time in 35 years. Sales of the classic record format in the US have increased consistently since 2006, but last year it saw its… Read more

Samsung starts shipping its most ambitious TV lineup in years

Samsung has begun shipments of its 2021 TV lineup, which is is led by new “Neo QLED” 8K and 4K TVs that use Mini LED technology to achieve greater contrast and improved picture quality than in previous years. With Mini LED, the company is able to cram much smaller LEDs — and way, way more… Read more

Austrian Audio Hi-X50

Our Verdict The Austrian Audio Hi-X50 deliver excellent sound in a carefully designed and well-made package For Solid build Forthright and informative sound Even-handed nature Against 1.2m cable is an optional extra Austrian Audio isn’t the most interesting of names for a new hi-fi manufacturer, is it? But though it shows a certain lack of… Read more

Best Bluetooth record players: budget to premium plate spinners

Home Best-buys Best Bluetooth Record Players Buying Guide: Welcome to What Hi-Fi?’s round-up of the best Bluetooth turntables you can buy in 2021. While the mechanics of vinyl playback haven’t changed all that much since the medium’s inception, turntable technology hasn’t stood entirely still. One major evolution that has brought a growing number of record… Read more

iFi Zen Can

Our Verdict If you’re after an affordable injection of clarity and detail for your wired headphones, iFi has it in the Can For Expansive, detailed, sound High-end feature set Classy build and finish Against A little sonically polite Often when the What Hi-Fi? team receives a new product for review, we like to pit it… Read more

Best subwoofers: deep bass for music and movies

Home Best-buys Best Subwoofers Buying Guide: Welcome to What Hi-Fi?’s round-up of the best subwoofers you can buy in 2021. Who doesn’t like bass? Whether you have a stereo system or a home cinema system, there’s a lot to be said for bringing a subwoofer to the party. It’s not just all-action movies and dancefloor… Read more

Mogwai’s Stuart Braithwaite on turntables, soundtracks and live church recordings

Home Features (Image credit: Brian Sweeney) This interview was originally published by What Hi-Fi? in March 2016. It is easy, often and now especially, to become consumed by technology. It is easy to allow the romanticism of music, the entire grounds for that technology, to be camouflaged. That is why, speaking with Stuart Braithwaite, guitarist,… Read more