That's for good reason, as both the Sonos Beam (Gen 2) and Arc Ultra (and the Arc before it) have been mainstays at the top of our soundbar guides.

And now there's a new kid on the block hoping to make the same impact – let's hear it for the Sonos Beam Ultra. The US brand claims that the latest edition to the Beam family delivers "true Dolby Atmos sound and clear dialogue from a compact soundbar that fits your room".

Whether the Beam Ultra is truly that good will only become clear once we've had it in our testing room for exhaustive, comparative testing, but we have had a brief listen to the new soundbar at a launch event in Berlin, and the early signs are very positive.

Price

The Sonos Beam Ultra will set you back £699 / $699 / AU$1099.

That puts it directly between the Sonos Beam Gen 2 (£449 / $449 / AU$649) and the Arc Ultra (£999 / $999 / AU$1799), both of which have scored What Hi-Fi? Awards and five-star reviews.

A little surprisingly, the Sonos Beam Ultra isn’t a replacement for the Beam Gen 2, and the older model will remain on sale. That feels like a good move to us, as it leaves a more affordable Dolby Atmos soundbar (albeit without dedicated drivers) in the range.

Design

Having briefly handled the Beam Ultra at the demo, it felt lightweight yet well-built and sturdy.

The new bar comes in at 2.9kg, which is slightly heavier than the Beam Gen 2’s 2.8kg. It is also a little thinner and longer than the older Beam model, which means it should fit nicely under your TV screen. You can also mount the bar to your wall if you prefer.

The soundbar comes in two colour options: Black and White. That’s the same as the rest of Sonos’s soundbar models, and the matte finish looks quite stylish.

It also features perforated grilles on the top. On the lip of the bar, you will find a press button to activate Bluetooth, as well as touch controls for volume and play/pause.

Features

Those perforated grilles at the top are included to allow the two up-firing drivers on either end of the bar to work their magic.

The Beam Gen 2 is an excellent deliverer of Dolby Atmos audio, despite its reliance on virtualisation rather than physical up-firing drivers. That said, the addition of up-firers for the Beam Ultra should result in an even more convincing Atmos performance.

In fact, the Beam Ultra has nine drivers in total – four more than the Beam Gen 2. These are arranged in what Sonos says is a 7.1.2-channel configuration.

Sonos states that the centre channel has been redesigned to feature a coaxial transducer, which embeds a tweeter into a woofer. With this new arrangement, the brand says the Beam Ultra will make “movies sound wider” and “dialogue sound clearer”.

While the new bar supports Dolby Atmos, DTS:X is still not on the cards. That’s not a big surprise considering this has been the case with all of Sonos’s products, but it could be a drawback for those wanting fully comprehensive surround sound options.

For physical connectivity, you will find a single HDMI eARC port at the back of the bar. The lack of dedicated HDMI inputs and passthrough functionality is no surprise (no previous Sonos products have had either), but it's still a shame for those who are already running out of HDMI sockets on their TV.

You will also spot a USB-C port, which is an upgrade on the Beam Gen 2. Sonos offers the optional Line-In Adapter which lets you connect any piece of traditional hi-fi with a 3.5mm aux jack, such as a turntable or CD player. There is also the Combo Adapter so you can hardwire the soundbar to your router.

While there is no remote control to adjust the soundbar, the newly updated Sonos27 app is on hand. This gives you access to advanced EQ settings and lets you adjust the input and volume.

You can also switch on the Night Sound setting from here if you don’t want to disturb the neighbours. Once again, the firm's Trueplay calibration is on hand to fine-tune the sound to your space.

As with previous Sonos soundbar models, music can be sent directly from apps such as Spotify and Tidal. Bluetooth 5.3 is on board, too.

There is the option to link the Beam Ultra with other Sonos products to create a multi-room listening experience, including the newly announced Sonos Ace Ultra over-ear headphones. That’s handy if you want to move around your house and still get audio from the TV, or simply want to keep the sound to yourself.

You can also add Sonos's wireless speakers as the surrounds, including the Era 100, which we gave a five-star rating. There's the option to transform its portable speakers, such as the Move 2 and Play models, into surrounds.

Sound quality

So, how does the Beam Ultra actually perform? While we will have to wait until we have it in our test room to deliver a final verdict, we got a taste of the soundbar’s audio performance at the demo.

Sonos kicked off with a Dolby Atmos mix of Harry Styles’ Ready Steady Go!, and the vocals felt clear, direct, and expansive, which immediately drew us into the track.

There are four AI Speech Enhancement levels to choose from, and we got a chance to hear them at various levels. As you would hope, these made voices even clearer and more centred, but we need to listen more to see how they affect the rest of the sound before deciding if they are worth using.

The instrumentals sounded reasonably well-placed around the soundstage, with the guitar plucking in the mid-section delivered with a strong sense of precision.

Next, some TV. The first episode of Widow’s Bay in Dolby Atmos showed off the bar’s wide soundfield, as atmospheric choral singing and crashing waves surrounded the listener as we followed a fisherman on a nighttime ocean trip. These built to a spooky crescendo, which demonstrated the bar’s promising dynamic handling.

From our first listen, the bass was not the deepest, but the soundbar delivered refined and detailed lower frequencies that gave the demo scenes a strong foundation.

As we said, we will hold off on delivering until we have reviewed the bar properly, but this initial listen made a promising first impression.

Early verdict

The Beam Ultra’s upgraded speaker arrangement and stylish design make us hopeful that the new model will build on Sonos's strong soundbar heritage.

Judging by this initial listening session, this latest soundbar continues to deliver clear vocals and an engaging overall experience.

Stay tuned for our full review, where we’ll compare the bar with the Beam Gen 2 and Arc Ultra to establish whether it’s the ideal combination of both or an awkward middle ground, before also testing it against rivals from the likes of Sony and Samsung.

MORE:

Here is our review of the Sonos Beam Gen 2

These are the best soundbars

And check out the best Dolby Atmos soundbars on the market

While Apple spent most of its annual iPhone event touting the AI (that's Apple Intelligence, not Artificial Intelligence, by the way) capabilities and camera quality of its first foldable, we did get a sneak peek at how movies will look and sound on the phone.

An uninterrupted, anti-glare-equipped 7.6-inch Super Retina XDR display with "Wide-angle OLEDs for excellent viewing angles", alongside a stereo speaker system that supports spatial audio, should make this the best AV product to come from Apple this year; and that's an issue in itself...

Apple neglected to update its 4K streaming box yet again, despite rumours that an upgraded version has been in the works for years now. Delays are cited as being caused by Apple having to overhaul its Apple Intelligence system after it fell short of expectations after its launch alongside the iPhone 16 series.

The new Apple TV 4K is expected to rely heavily on the upgraded Siri system shown off during the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo event, and a new rumour even suggests that it could sport the same A19 or A19 Pro chipset from the iPhone 17 or iPhone 17 Pro, respectively.

While rumours don't always tell the full picture, the truth of the matter is that Apple is really dragging its feet with the new Apple TV 4K. It's already lost some goodwill by raising the price of the existing TV 4K from £149 to £199 for the 64GB model, and from £169 to £249 for the 128GB model, earlier this year.

And need I remind you that the price increase has been applied to a product that launched almost four years ago.

A new Apple TV 4K is the real AV-focused announcement that I'm waiting for, and I feel as though my patience really isn't paying off at this point. I wrote this rant almost exactly a year ago (a year ago yesterday, actually), venting my frustrations and claiming that "I am losing patience"; if I was starting to lose patience in September of last year, you can imagine how I feel now.

While I am genuinely excited to try the iPhone Duo out, and I'm sure it will make a stellar portable movie-watching machine, I prefer to watch my movies on an OLED TV or projector, which is why I'm waiting for Apple to make a proper announcement for home cinema enthusiasts.

In the meantime, I'll keep waiting for Apple to finally pull the plug on the ageing (but still excellent) Apple TV 4K (2022); surely it can't be much longer now...

MORE:

Read our full Apple TV 4K (2022) review

As well as our Apple iPhone 17 Pro review

And check out our picks for the best streaming devices for movies and TV

But it’s also the first experience of living away from home for many, and a chance to make a dorm room or shared house that is truly your space.

To do that, you’ll need the essentials. And that, in our eyes anyway, includes a TV setup, noise-cancelling headphones and at least one way to blast out music at the weekend.

Luckily, we have you covered. It may have been a little while since our dorm-room days, but we do rate and review hundreds of AV products every year and know good quality when we see it.

We have rounded up a few of our favourite products below, all of which we’ve tried and tested. They are all within reach of a student budget, but still highly recommended for freshers and students of life alike.

So if you or a loved one has an imminent first week, here are some AV products sure to liven up even the most bare-bones student accommodation:

A What Hi-Fi? Award winner, the Sony WF-C710N are the cheapest noise-cancelling headphones we recommend and brilliant budget earbuds all round. For the new low price of £62, you’ll enjoy fulsome, controlled bass, a great sense of musicality and a cool design. Perfect for studying without breaking the bank.

Good news: you don’t need to pay through the roof for high-resolution music. Tidal has long been the music-streaming service of choice for audiophiles thanks to its 24-bit/192kHz streams, and students can get a £5.99 student plan that is better than half price.

To take full advantage of those hi-res Tidal streams, though, you’ll want a good portable DAC for the best possible sound quality. iFi has been producing affordable five-star models for years, and its latest, the iFi Go Link 2, comes highly recommended.

For the full budget audiophile experience, a Tidal subscription, portable DAC and decent wired headphones will set you up perfectly for three years of studying. The Røde NTH-100 are Award winners and one of our top picks at this price, thanks to its eloquent, revealing sound and well-made design that’s comfortable for hours at a time.

Dinky, portable and highly stylish, the Roberts Revival Petite 2 may look like a humble radio but is so much more. With Bluetooth, a 20-hour battery life, a 3.5mm headphone port and a clearer, richer and more dynamic sound than you might expect, the Revival Petite 2 will bring retro flair to your dorm parties.

They may be a bit costlier than some of the other items in this article, but if you’re looking for desktop speakers on a budget, then the Ruark MR1 MK3 is what we recommend. They are compact enough to lug to student accommodation and back, but most importantly they sound powerful, punchy and dynamic with excellent rhythmic drive.

If you’re on a student budget, the Pro-Ject Primary E is a great choice as an entry-level turntable. It lacks fancy features such as USB ripping, Bluetooth and automatic operation, but if you’re looking for a purist design and great quality sound, the Primary E comes recommended. It’s easy to set up for beginners too.

We’re sure AirPods need no introduction. But the Apple AirPods Pro 3 are the tech giant’s best headphones yet, with spacious, powerful and dynamic sound as well as impressive active noise cancelling. If you already have an iPhone, you can also enjoy snappy user-friendliness and exclusive features.

The Sony WH-CH720N may be getting an upgrade soon, but they still come highly recommended, with a forceful, robust sound and decent ANC for the price. A What Hi-Fi? Awards winner for the best wireless headphones under £100, they are absolutely our top choice at this price range.

The Echo Dot has undergone several generations by now and hasn’t always hit the audio sweet spot, but the Amazon Echo Dot (5th gen) punches above its weight with an impressively expansive sound. Alexa, now synonymous with audio assistants, is as helpful as ever, particularly if you have other Amazon smart devices such as a Fire TV.

For a TV that is big enough for a flat move night, small enough to fit in the car and cheap enough for a student budget, the 43-inch Samsung U8000F is more than up to the job. Great value at £229, it’s a solid all-rounder for both movies and gaming, and it has all the main streaming and catch-up apps built in.

If you’re moving away from home for the first time, there’s a good chance you’ll need your own games console if you can’t wrestle the family unit away. If you’re getting a PS5, we recommend the disc-based version, as it can double-up as a 4K Blu-ray player.

MORE:

Best cheap TVs: affordable 4K televisions for under £500

Best cheap wireless headphones: tried and tested by our experts

Looking for a bargain? Here are the best budget soundbars

Honestly? I'm happy that it was a no-show.

I think this is a wise decision. Not only does this mean that the focus is rightly on the new AirPods 5 models and the brand-new foldable iPhone Duo, but it gives Apple more time to iron out any kinks with these rumoured AirPods with camera (that's assuming it's a real product, of course).

AirPods with a camera were touted as early as 2024, with reports suggesting they will feature embedded IR cameras, centred around augmented reality. This is with a view to them working with Apple's Visual Intelligence, rather than capturing images and video directly.

Considering the current controversy surrounding the Meta glasses that can be used to record images and videos without people's consent and without making the fact they're recording obvious, I can't really imagine Apple going for a similar kind of camera embedded into small earbuds.

Apple has a reputation for being privacy-focused, so the cameras being used for features such as enhancing ANC, spatial awareness, or for accessibility reasons based on your surroundings (which are current best guesses) rather than actually capturing real pictures or videos around you seem more likely.

As reported by MacRumors, a video seen in a macOS Tahoe release doc shows short-term practical applications, such as identifying a book to save it for later.

AI and AI-powered features are all the rage today, and Apple Intelligence/Siri isn't exactly leading the popular race. With the updated, more conversational Siri AI that launched today with the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max – and which makes a big deal about protecting users' data and privacy – this could be a way for Apple to differentiate itself from the likes of Gemini, Claude and ChatGPT, and offer practical solutions that embed into users' iOS-led lives in a way that isn't too frivolous like generative AI.

The AirPods with camera, or AirPods Ultra, are rumoured to effectively be integrated in a souped-up pair of AirPods Pro 3, but considering the wealth of features already stacked into the Pro 3's compact buds (live translation, health features, various ANC modes and more) the current H2 chip would be working overtime.

It's not hard to imagine this would have a knock-on effect on battery life, along with perhaps less focus on improving overall performance – and that's not a trade-off I would be happy with.

And that's the key thing here: yes, technology advances in many ways, and it's exciting to have new possibilities, especially when products such as wireless earbuds have become so embedded in our busy, multi-tasking lives.

But I hope Apple doesn't forget what the AirPods' main purpose is: to allow people to enjoy their music.

Of course, Apple could use the proposed AirPods Ultra launch to launch an all-new, more powerful H3 chip. If it does, I hope it brings with it more advancements and improvements in the areas we really care about: sound quality, ANC quality, and battery life.

Camera or no camera, the current AirPods Pro 3 are a pretty great-sounding pair of 'buds. While the class leader, the Sony WF-1000XM6, still rules the roost here, the premium Pro 3 are a five-star pair whose nicely balanced, clear and dynamic sound is enjoyable with all genres, while ANC quality is excellent.

We wouldn't hesitate to recommend them for iOS die-hards, especially if you – like us – are all about the performance, and prioritise sound quality over fancy features.

Apple does a great job of refining features and improving performance, but it can sometimes be incremental – let's hope the next pair is a much bigger step forward in sound quality.

MORE:

Apple AirPods 5 boast improved ANC and updated acoustic architecture for a "richer, more detailed sound"

Read our Apple AirPods Pro 3 review

Our guide to the best wireless earbuds you can buy, tested by our in-house experts

The smartphone opens like a passport, with the outer display measuring 5.4 inches and the inner display coming in at 7.6 inches. With the outer display, you get 90 per cent of the screen area of the iPhone 18 Pro, which was also just announced at the Apple event this evening.

In both orientations, the screens sport an identical aspect ratio to help transitions between screens feel more seamless, whether it is open or closed.

John Ternus, Apple’s freshly appointed CEO, says: “iPhone Duo is the most transformational change to iPhone since the original.”

The speakers for the Duo are placed on the top and bottom of the phone to deliver spatial audio.

Under the hood, you will find the A20 Pro chip, which is also included in the new iPhone 18 Pro and 18 Pro Max. According to Apple, this upgrade means that it can deliver up to 35 per cent “better sustained performance” than the iPhone 17 Pro. On top of that, the phone is powered by iOS 27. This means that the controls are moved to the side of the screen to free up some space.

There’s some pretty nifty technology in terms of the screen, too. The nano-texture finish supposedly “minimises glare for an unparalleled viewing experience.” The first layer of the screen is glass, and below that is the folding display panel featuring custom adhesives that allow the layers to glide past one another “like the pages of a book” to relieve tension from bending.

It also has a 48MP Fusion Main camera, a 48MP Fusion Ultra Wide, and an integrated optical-quality x2 Telephoto.

For brightness, Apple says you can get up to 3000 nits of peak outdoor brightness. That comfortably outdoes the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s 2600 nits, but is on par with the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra's offering of 3000 nits.

The hinge in the middle is made of titanium and engineered from more than 100 components to create a “smooth, satisfying feel”. Inside the body, there are also support ribs to add extra stiffness.

If you’re worried about scuffing your fresh screen, there is a Ceramic Shield on the back of the phone and a Ceramic Shield 2 on the front that Apple says has three times better scratch resistance than the previous generation.

In terms of battery, there’s a bit of variation depending on which screen you use more. You can get up to 31 hours of video playback with the inner display, up to 44 hours of video playback with the outer, and up to 24 hours of usage per charge when both are used equally.

It’s the most expensive of the phones announced at Apple’s event as, for US buyers, the Duo will set you back an eye-watering $1999 / £1999 (roughly AU$2770) for 256GB.

That puts it in the same ballpark as the Samsung Z Fold 8 Ultra, which launched at £1899 / $2099 / AU$2999. We haven't had any time with the Duo, but with a promising set of specifications it should make for strong competition. Hopefully we'll get one in for testing soon. Watch this space.

MORE:

I've just reviewed the five-star Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8, so here are my immediate impressions of its biggest rival yet: the iPhone Duo

I'm excited for Apple's newly announced AirPods 5 – but one major issue has me scratching my head

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Muzak and the occasional foray into popular, mainstream acts are generally the official soundtracks of its launch events.

You know, the stuff you could play in front of your grandparents and at worst, they’d just look slightly confused, but probably find a way to happily tap along nonetheless.

But during this year’s iPhone launch, rather than the dulcet tones of Bono or whelps of Chris Martin, as the event trundled on, it was Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke’s voice that was ringing loud and clear – at least in my head.

Specifically, the iconic lyric “no alarms and no surprises” from the band’s 1997 banger of a single, No Surprises, was playing on repeat as the firm rattled off this year’s offerings.

Why? I’m not smart enough to pretend there’s any deep or philosophical meaning behind the thought.

It’s just that, as a serious music and movie nerd, that’s precisely what Apple delivered: no alarms and no surprises. Which made it a far better soundtrack than the official one – which I’ve already forgotten – and the reason I couldn’t get it out of my head.

Unlike days of yesteryear, when founder and former CEO Steve Jobs would famously always have “one more thing” to surprise fans, the pre-event rumours proved to be bang on the money.

New iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max handsets, with the standard smattering of tech upgrades, headlined by a new A20 Pro chipset and an assortment of AI upgrades. And then the new folding iPhone Duo handset people have been harping on about for just shy of half a decade.

Then the new AirPods 5 with ANC, as rumoured by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman before the event, which look like a nice refinement on the AirPods 4 with ANC – though I wish Apple had spent more time talking about the audio quality upgrades rather than all the clever AI gubbins, and had managed to deliver more than five hours of playback with ANC on.

Finally, the new Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 wearables, which come with yet more AI-powered health features and an Audio Intelligence live transcription service that lets you record, transcribe and check conversations in realtime – but sadly not the hi-res local music playback I’ve long asked for.

Yes, I like some of the stuff on offer, especially the 18 Pro’s new burgundy (Apple missed a trick not calling it Ron) colour and the in-frame camera mode for audio, which lets you cut out background noise when capturing a live performance.

And yes, technically Apple did say "and one more thing" before unveiling the Duo, despite every man/woman and their dog already knowing about it.

And, finally, yes, the two AirPods 5 models look decent, though I’m not impressed with either pair's quoted battery life with ANC on.

But that was it. There was nothing else on show to give us the old Apple “and one more thing” experience where we saw something we really were not expecting, and that, for me, is a crying shame.

Remember when Jobs' “one more thing” unveiled the Apple Cinema Display (a monitor with an atypical, at the time, 16:9 aspect ratio that was ideal for watching films)?

Or 2005, when he surprised us with the iPod Shuffle, and then, one year later, the first Apple TV?

Heck, he may not be as much of a showman as Jobs, but I can still hear the collective “ooh” from the team after Tim Cook’s “one more thing” unveiling of Apple Music in 2015.

To be clear (before I get hunted with torches and pitchforks by the Apple fans among our readers), that’s not a dig at the new hardware from the event – the new iPhones are as interesting as mobile devices can be for AV aficionados.

The firm has a strong record of delivering decent audio and picture quality on its iPhones, after all. That’s why, if you look at our list of Award-winners over the past decade, you’ll tend to see an iPhone on top as our recommended handset for serious music fans. So even a minor spruce-up to its offering is at least partially of interest.

And its foldable iPhone Duo has piqued my interest more than usual, as it has a similar movie-friendly aspect ratio to the five-star Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8.

If either AirPods 5 manages to fix our minor issues with the previous generation's lack of punch and dynamism, they could be great. So again, it's not about the tech it unveiled being particularly bad. We need to review it before we make any judgements like that.

I just wish it had something more meaty to show serious AV fans. Forget the Apple OLED TV or Dolby Atmos soundbar the team and I have been asking for; at this point, like our senior staff writer, Lewis Empson, I’d settle for a new Apple TV 4K.

Truthfully, I just want new stuff that hasn’t already been fully revealed in the sea of pre-event rumours to start appearing at Apple’s events again, as right now it all feels a bit stagnant.

MORE:

These are the best phones for serious music and movie fans

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No new HomePods materialised, but hey, you're always going to be let down by at least one major omission. Another year and no HomePod Mini 2? No surprises there, then.

The Californian mega-brand also announced the next generation of its standard wireless earbuds, the AirPods 5, again splitting the new models into two main variants: the AirPods 5 and the AirPods 5 with wireless charging. The standard AirPods 5 will cost £119 / $129, while the AirPods 5 with wireless charging case will cost £139 / $149.

That's a departure from the fourth generation of Apple's core AirPods line, where the key difference between the two models was the use or absence of noise-cancelling. Hence, the AirPods 4 and the AirPods 4 with ANC.

Many of the initial signs look positive. Apple is promising elevated sonic performance from the fifth-generation buds, teasing a "richer, more detailed sound across a wider range of ear geometries" alongside more immersive and dynamic spatial audio.

Noise cancelling should be better, too, with improved "computational audio algorithms" improving noise reduction by around 50 per cent. So says Apple, anyway.

Lots to be excited about, then, but one fly does appear to have landed in the ointment: those battery life numbers.

The standard AirPods 5 are teasing a paltry four hours of playtime from the buds with ANC enabled, which will creep up to around five hours when noise cancelling is switched off.

The AirPods 5 with wireless charging, conversely, offer five hours of in-ear battery, with 22 hours with the charging case. That total just edges the 20 hours of the standard model.

Those numbers seem bafflingly low, especially when compared with price-adjacent rivals. The Bose QuietComfort Earbuds (2024) (£119 / $149) deliver 8.5 hours of in-bud playback with ANC enabled, boosted to up to 12 hours with noise cancelling turned off.

The cheaper Sony WF-C710N (£70 / $130) are also superior, again granting 8.5 hours of playback with ANC turned on, 12 hours with it off, and a total of 30 hours with the charging case in play.

It's not as if Apple has improved on its last-gen offerings, either. The AirPods 4 delivered 4 hours of in-bud playback with ANC on, 5 hours with ANC off, and a total of 30 hours with the charging case. That means the in-bud playtime has gone down, and total playtime has actually decreased from one generation to the next. How has that happened?

It's fine for a more premium pair of earbuds to sacrifice a bit of battery life, or for a new generation to maybe lose out in this area because of new features or hardware, but when the mainline AirPods already offered such mediocre figures, Apple couldn't really afford to lose much more. What will the sixth-gen buds offer? Three hours of battery life if we're lucky?

It won't be a dealbreaker for many, but those figures really do seem poor in an era when some rivals are pushing to almost double the in-bud playback time.

It's not a disaster for Apple, but it means the onus is now on the AirPods 5 to deliver outstanding performance across the board – from sound to noise-cancelling – if they're going to justify such a glaring blind spot.

I might be wrong, but battery life figures do matter, especially when there's a fear of being left high and dry when your buds run out of charge, and you've no way of getting them powered again. I'm optimistic it isn't a decision Apple ends up regretting.

MORE:

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The iPhone Duo is Apple's answer to Samsung's dominant Z Fold range, which includes the recently reviewed Z Fold 8 – a five-star phone that convinced me foldables have reached the point where I could happily switch from a slab phone to a bendy one.

Apple's effort, however, will convince any remaining holdouts that this is the case. Like it or not, Apple's influence is so huge that this new foldable will win over naysayers who would never have taken a second look at a Samsung foldable simply because it runs Android.

Thankfully, the iPhone Duo is an exciting announcement for AV enthusiasts, especially those who rely on their phone for entertainment on long flights and train rides, such as myself.

While Apple barely spoke about the AV capabilities of the handset during its presentation, we do know that it has a 5.4-inch outer display and a 7.6-inch inner display, 3000 nits peak brightness on both displays, and stereo speakers that support spatial audio.

It even has an under-screen front-facing camera for uninterrupted video, which is a concept that Samsung used on its Z Fold phones a few years ago.

For reference, the Z Fold 8 has a 5.5-inch cover display and a 7.6-inch main display; now I won't point fingers at who is copying who here, but there have been years of leaks and rumours pointing towards the then-called iPhone Fold adopting this form factor. Samsung was the first out of the gate with this design though, so it's a tricky one to call.

Regardless, I think this is the correct move. While Apple hasn't confirmed the iPhone Duo's aspect ratio yet, it appears to follow the Z Fold 8's lead with a display that squashes letterboxing bars. This should make it pretty fantastic for watching movies and TV shows on the go, and it has an edge over the Samsung thanks to the inclusion of Dolby Vision HDR.

Interestingly, Apple has matched the aspect ratio on the outer and inner displays for a more "continuous" experience, which seems like a smart move, but I'll need to compare the iPhone directly to the Z Fold to see how this works in practice.

Apple also said that it has taken direct inspiration from the iPad lineup during its event, which also saw the iPhone 18 Pro, 18 Pro Max and AirPods 5 break cover, and that could hint towards the iPhone Duo being a follow-up to another Apple product we've previously championed.

The bendable Super Retina XDR OLED display with the Nano Texture anti-reflectivity coating sounds like a chip off the iPad Pro block; and while it looks like Apple has left Tandem OLED to the iPad Pro, the iPhone Duo could be our closest thing to an OLED iPad Mini.

Now, Samsung's latest foldable smartphone really did impress us; so much so that it earned a well-deserved five-star review. That's not to say it's completely perfect, though, and there is some room for improvement where audio is concerned.

Given Apple's stellar reputation for sound, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Duo outperform the Z Fold 8 in this category, as Apple's tuning leans more towards a warmer, more spacious hi-fi sound that's hard to beat.

That said, picture could be a closer race, and these smartphones might be heading towards a ferocious bendable battle, especially as we close in on our Awards testing process...

MORE:

Read our full Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 review

As well as our Apple iPhone 17 Pro review

And our Apple iPhone 17 review

As before, it comes in two model variants without eartips, with the big news being that both models now feature active noise cancellation. The more expensive AirPods 5 feature on-stem volume control, longer battery life with ANC on, and a wireless charging case.

They're an update on the AirPods 4 and AirPods 4 with ANC that launched two years ago on September 2024, and feature improvements to sound quality, ANC and the transparency mode, plus live translation capability.

The AirPods 5 will cost £119 / $129, while the AirPods 5 with wireless charging case will cost £139 / $149 – both go on sale on 18th September, with pre-orders starting today.

The AirPods 5 see an updated open-ear design, with a new multi-port acoustic architecture and next-generation adaptive EQ to improve sound quality. Apple says the new AirPods 5 deliver "richer, more detailed sound across a wider range of ear geometries", as well as making personalised spatial audio more immersive and dynamic.

Combined with improved "computational audio algorithms" Apple claims the improved ANC quality offers 50 per cent more noise reduction than the previous generation to deliver what Apple has called "the best ANC in an open ear design". The transparency mode has also been improved to be more "natural", says Apple.

Apple says the new AirPods 5 are "more durable than ever", with an increased IP57 rating for dealing with rain, sweat and dust ingress.

The AirPods 5 can be used hands-free in conjunction with the new, more conversational Siri AI, and both models will now also feature live translation, which was previously a feature reserved for the flagship Pro 3 and Pro 2 models.

In terms of battery life, the standard AirPods 5 offer four hours with ANC enabled on a single charge, with up to 20 hours with the included standard USB-C charging case.

The more premium AirPods 5 with wireless charging case offer five hours of on-ear battery with ANC on, and 22 hours with the charging case. This step-up model also features the on-stem volume controls – another feature borrowed from the AirPods Pro 3. The wireless charging case means it will work with Qi and Apple Watch chargers, while the standard AirPods 5 is restricted to wired USB-C charging only.

Both AirPods 5 will also support the usual iOS-focused features, such as spatial audio, conversation awareness, adaptive audio and Find My features.

MORE:

Read our AirPods 4 with ANC review

AirPods 4 vs AirPods 4 with ANC: which Apple pair should you pick?

Check out our guide to the best wireless earbuds we've tested and rated

That's right, as expected, the standard iPhone 18 model is nowhere to be seen. Rumours say it will launch next year.

iPhone Duo

The iPhone Duo opens like a paperback book, and is about the size of a passport. When open, it's the slimmest iPhone ever, and it has an asymmetrical shape with two rounded corners that could split opinion.

Both screens have the same aspect ratio, which should help content look its best across both. As was rumoured, the exterior screen is a 7.6-inch Super Retina XDR display, while the cover screen is 5.4 inches.

Perhaps mindful of how other foldables have broken in the past, Apple made a big deal about how durable it is. It features support rifts in the central support plank, for example. It's also rated IP68 water- and dust-resistant.

The control buttons move to the side vertically for easier reach, and the screen reacts depending on how you're using it. Partially close it, for example, and iOS moves the tappable buttons away from the seam, where they're harder to press.

The iPhone Duo comes in two colours: Star White and Night Sky. And it boasts an impressive battery life of 31 hours using the internal screen, and 44 hours using the cover screen.

As expected, Apple's first foldable is certainly pricey. It starts at £1999 / $1999 / AU3499 for the 256GB model, rising to £3199 / $3199 / AU$5899 for the flagship 2GB variant. It isn't available until 23rd October, with pre-orders starting on 16th October.

iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max

For the Pro models, Apple says it has upgraded four key areas: intelligence, performance, battery and camera. The screens are the same as those in the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, but don't dismay – there are usually some improvements to audio and video that Apple omits to mention during the launch, so stay tuned for our reviews.

These phones are powered by the new A20 chipset, which Apple claims is 20 per cent faster with 40 per cent faster graphics performance. The transistors in the new architecture are smaller and more densely packed, while Apple says its supercores are desktop-class. It also boasts better thermal management, which helps the battery life.

Speaking of which, both models last longer than their predecessors. The iPhone 18 Pro has the same battery life as the iPhone 17 Pro Max, while the 18 Pro Max has the largest increase in battery life of any iPhone. The Pro lasts 36 hours of video playback, and the Pro Max 45 hours. For general use, the Pro lasts 24 hours and the Pro Max 30 hours.

As rumoured, both models have a new variable aperture which adjusts automatically to let in more light as required. This will create a better depth of field and more stunning portraits. You can now record timelapse in 4K Dolby Vision HDR, and Pro Controls lets you manually adjust the aperture between four presets.

The Dynamic Island is now smaller, and can show three live activities at once.

Siri AI is more advanced, being more personal and capable, and works across apps. The new Siri app lets you dive back into old conversations, and Siri is built into the camera. You can also customise Siri's voice. But Siri AI isn't available in the EU for now.

The Pros have a subtle new design, and a new burgundy colour scheme.

The Pro starts at £1199 / $1199 and the Pro Max £1299 / $1299. There's a new 2TB model for power users.

MORE:

The best iPhones you can currently buy

The best smartphones of all stripes

And the best AirPods to pair them with

The app sports a new look inspired by Sky OS, with a matching colour scheme and similar navigation options, allowing users to explore the Best of Sky, Movies, TV shows, Sport and Kids directly from tabs on the home screen.

Sky has replaced the Downloads tab with My Library, which brings shows, movies and sports from your Playlist, recently watched media and downloaded content, together in one convenient place.

You'll also find new movie and TV show pages with more information (including cast and crew details, Rotten Tomatoes scores, and related recommendations), and the ability to save, record or download.

Sky is also improving the interoperability between Stream/Glass and Go with Continue Watching. This essentially allows you to switch between watching on your TV and your phone or tablet seamlessly.

As the name suggests, you can start watching something on your TV and then continue where you left off on your mobile device, and vice versa.

Remote recording is also new, and means users will be able to set a series, film or sporting event to record on their phone while they're on the go, and have it ready and waiting for them when they return home.

However, the biggest upgrade here is that Sky Go is getting a picture upgrade, going from 720p to 1080p, otherwise known as full HD. Sky notes that you'll need a supported device and a strong connection to stream in 1080p, but this should give users a noticeable picture upgrade when streaming on the go.

Finally, a new dedicated Sky Sports section is being added, which highlights live events, upcoming events and anything users have saved to watch later. Furthermore, you will be able to follow your Premier League team and save it in the My Library tab for easy access to matches and content.

The new version of Sky Go will be rolling out to iOS and Android devices soon, and Sky has confirmed that a desktop version for laptops is also in the works.

MORE:

Read our full Sky Stream review

As well as our Sky Glass Air review

And check out our picks for the best streaming services for movies and TV

We've all been there. But if you just want to escape to an impenetrable cocoon of silence, there's one audio company that does noise-cancelling better than any other: Bose.

And its latest premium wireless over-ears, the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen), are the brand's best noise-cancelling headphones yet, eliminating the deepest rumbles and most mid-band hubbub.

And now the noise-cancelling cans are available at a new lowest price – you can pick them up for £303 at Amazon thanks to a £30 saving at checkout. That's even cheaper than the previous low of £341 we spotted in May.

Yes, the name Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd gen) is a bit of a mouthful. But this latest generation has fixed the gripes we had with the first QuietComfort Ultra headphones: there's now wired listening over USB-C, battery life has been boosted from 24 hours to 30 and the Immersive Audio is more satisfying.

For the uninitiated, Immersive Audio is Bose's take on spatial audio. The 'Still' mode is now more spacious and dimensional, but it's the 'Cinema' mode that works best by pulling dialogue into greater focus while watching TV and movies.

We had high expectations when we put the QC Ultra 2's noise-cancelling abilities to the test, and we weren't disappointed. Whether we were walking past roadworks, riding public transport or jetting off on planes, the headphones provided us with a blanket of silence so we could enjoy our music and podcasts in peace. Only the shrill, high-frequency cry of a baby broke through the formidable shield.

The ‘Immersion’ mode can dial down the intensity if the vacuum effect is too eerie for you, while the 'Aware’ mode allows external sound in. A new algorithm can dampen down sudden loud noises more quickly now – we tested with a hoover and the headphones' noise-cancelling intensity reacts accordingly.

Sound quality has seen some tweaks from the first generation too, with meaningful gains when it comes to clarity and detail.

"Play Charli xcx’s Von dutch, and the Bose rev their engines, launching themselves into the upbeat track with their best foot forward," our Bose QuietComfort Ultra Headphones (2nd Gen) review reads. "The synths surge with low-end texture and impetus, the beat pulsates with snap and crispness. It’s the same pleasingly smooth, bass-rich character Bose has long favoured, simply more insightful and precise than ever before."

However, the Bose fall behind our current benchmark, the Sony WH-1000XM6, when it comes to sound quality, with the XM6 offering a more natural, even-handed tonality. The Bose prevail for outright sound-blocking intensity, however, and are currently £30 cheaper.

If it's noise-cancelling you're after above all else, Bose are the ones to beat. The QC Ultra Headphones 2 are strong all-rounders with an ANC ace up their sleeve, and are available at a new low of £303 at Amazon.

MORE:

More into buds? Our best wireless earbuds will sort you out

Our pick of the best wireless headphones

Read our Sony WH-1000XM6 review

The use of those two punctuation marks is intended to indicate that it was a reaction of both excitement and confusion. I was excited, because the original WH-1000XM4 is a classic. It’s one of the models that has made the biggest impression on me out of all the pairs of wireless headphones I have tested over the years.

These headphones took performance to a whole new level when they launched back in 2020 – look around online, and there’s still a lot of love shown to this particular pair.

The confused part of me, though, wondered where Sony would place them in its current range, since it already has the XM4’s successor, the WH-1000XM5 (pictured above). And this is a pair which is already pretty well discounted.

Following Sony’s official WH-1000XM4C unveiling (pictured below), though, the picture has become clearer. Or has it?

We know the new headphones cost £219 / $300 / AU$449.95, which is pretty close to where the WH-1000XM5 headphones sit right now.

We also know that the WH-1000XM5 will go end of life in February next year, as they aren’t compliant with EU battery regulation 2023/1542 (which stipulates that portable batteries need to be able to be removed by the end user), which comes into effect at the same time. The XM4C is compliant. So, I’m left wondering where the incentive is for people to go out and buy the XM5?

In our WH-1000XM5 review, we found them to feel less premium than the XM4, and they also don’t have the folding design of that model, which was a big selling point back at the time.

They still sound great, though, and at the time of our original WH-1000XM5 vs WH-1000XM4 comparison, we felt the newer model sounded “clearer and more open” and that the headphones were “more precise in the low-end, making the XM4 sound a little thick by comparison”.

We do know Sony has retuned the sound of the XM4C, but this is only through DSP – the hardware remains the same.

The WH-1000XM5, by contrast, introduced a smaller 30mm driver compared with the 40mm unit of XM4, so Sony will only be able to tweak the sound of the new model so far. We will, of course, let you know if and how the sound has changed once we get a pair into our test rooms.

I’m also intrigued to see how pricing looks over the next few months.

If retailers try to move all their existing XM5 stock with one eye on February next year, could they drop the price of those headphones below WH-1000XM4C? It could be an interesting few months that lie ahead, especially if you’re on the lookout for a new pair of wireless headphones at a great price.

It's not often we have two competing pairs of headphones from the same brand around the same price, but at least this should give an added element of choice for the consumer.

What do you think? Do you think there’s still a place for the WH-1000XM5 following Sony’s recent announcement? Would you consider a pair if they still sound better than the WH-1000XM4C? Let us know in the comments below.

MORE:

Back with a bang! Sony has resurrected a classic pair of wireless headphones by launching the WH-1000XM4C

Sony WH-1000XM5 vs WH-1000XM4: which headphones should you buy?

Our pick of the best wireless headphones for every budget

Read our full Sony WH-1000XM5 review

The beating heart of the ATH-AL5NC is a set of 53mm dynamic drivers that, says Audio-Technica, create a "detailed soundstage" made more natural and open by virtue of the headphones' open-backed design.

Being a pair of open-backs, the ATH-AL5NC don't offer full-fat active noise cancelling, instead offering a 'noise reduction' toggle to help reduce background noise and ambient sounds.

Audio-Technica is going big on battery life for the ATH-AL5NC, promising a hefty 75 hours of playback with noise reduction switched off and around 50 hours with it turned on.

If you run out of juice, a 15-minute quick charge promises to deliver up to eight hours of playtime, and if charging isn’t an option, users can switch to a wired connection via the included 3.5mm-ended cable.

The new over-ears also feature a 'Sound Leakage Reduction' mode, aiming, as you might have guessed, to reduce the amount of sound leakage coming out of the open-backed cans.

To toggle that mode and personalise your overall listening experience, you can control the new headphones via the A-T Connect app. You also get a low-latency mode for reducing audio lag during gaming and video calls.

Bluetooth Multipoint lets you connect to two devices at once, with standard Bluetooth AAC and SBC codecs alongside LDAC for streaming 24-bit/96kHz audio from compatible sources.

The Audio-Technica AT-AL5NC are available now in a single black finish, priced at £219 / $279 / AU$499. That could be a canny pricing ploy, as there aren't many great mid-range headphones available at that kind of money.

If anything, the AT-AL5NC are going up against the slightly more premium Grado GW100x (£249 / $275 / AU$440), which also blend Bluetooth powers with an open-backed design.

Could Audio-Technica be about to grab hold of an understocked corner of the wireless headphones market? We're intrigued to find out.

MORE:

Read our hands-on Sonos Ace Ultra review

4 updates on the new Sony WH-CH730N headphones that I'm excited for – and one that's bothering me

Now Playing: 5 of the best songs we've had on repeat in the test rooms as summer turns to autumn

Check out our pick of the best wireless headphones

The original Pro-Ject Debut broke cover at the end of the 1990s, carving out a stellar reputation as one of the best-value decks for buyers who wanted a terrific budget turntable that delivered that coveted combination of reliability and simplicity.

Like a young executive upgrading their home as they climb the corporate ladder, the Debut line has become steadily more premium over time, with 2023’s Award-winning Debut Pro making the transition to a more upmarket price of £699 / $999 / AU$1079 to significant acclaim.

At a not-trivial £999 / $1499 / AU$2349, the new Debut 10 Reference turntable once again moves the price needle upwards. Sporting a similar overarching design to the Pro-Ject Debut Pro, this new iteration incorporates a new tonearm, platter and sub-platter as it looks to compete in the higher echelons of vinyl society.

The Debut Reference 10 has traded Cup-A-Soup for caviar, but in moving even further upmarket, does Pro-Ject still remember its Award-winning roots?

Build & design

We have few complaints about the construction of the Debut Reference 10. Certain ‘blingier’ design elements won’t be for everyone, but there’s little question that this is a turntable of admirable build quality.

Those blingier elements include a rather whopping aluminium bearing block and counterweight attached to a carbon fibre tonearm, contrasting starkly with the matte finish of the MDF chassis. The turntable is only available in the satin black finish of our review sample, a colourway that, in our experience, is susceptible to attracting fingermarks.

The Debut Reference 10 incorporates a good deal of shining metal in its construction, from the various milled aluminium components – including an optional record puck and that massive shining counterweight – to the height-adjustable damped feet at its base.

The main platter of the belt-driven record player is made from acrylic, designed to contribute to what Pro-Ject describes as a “natural, liquid sound signature” while reducing the need for additional damping materials.

The main platter is paired with an aluminium sub-platter, machined to add mass to the ensemble and further reduce unwanted sonic resonances, sitting atop a main bearing that uses a stainless steel axle with a bronze bushing.

Setting the Debut Reference 10 apart from its forebears is a new 10-inch tonearm – a good deal longer than the 8.6-inch model of the Debut Pro – made using a carbon-fibre and aluminium sandwich construction. According to Pro-Ject, this longer arm helps reduce tracking and inner-groove distortion, thus improving the resultant sonic fidelity.

At the end of the tonearm is Pro-Ject’s own Pick It Pro Balanced moving magnet cartridge, a revised version of the brand’s Pick It model, and built for reduced noise and interference via its balanced signal transmission.

Nothing here is tricky to set up or to use. The cartridge comes accurately aligned in the tonearm’s headshell, while a detachable acrylic dust cover clicks in and out of place without much trouble. You’ll need to attach the small anti-skating weight and large counterweight to set the cartridge’s recommended 2g tracking force, and while there aren’t any numbers marked on the arm to assist you, Pro-Ject thoughtfully provides a stylus weight scale in the box.

Pro-Ject also provides a decent-quality detachable tonearm lead, which allows an avenue for future upgrading, meaning you can try different leads depending on your personal preference. There is also a mini XLR cable provided to make a balanced connection with Pro-Ject’s own suitably equipped phono stages.

Internally, the Debut Reference 10’s 15V AC motor is decoupled from the rest of the turntable and housed in its own substantial base to prevent vibrations from transferring to the chassis. A small switch on the left-hand side of the deck controls your turntable’s speed electronically, with a click to the left setting it to 33⅓ RPM and a click to the right setting it to 45 RPM.

If you want to go up to 78 RPM, you’ll need to attach the alternative round belt to the outer edge of the deck’s larger pulley, and then move the speed changer to its right-hand setting. The belt does slip off a couple of times as we test out our test turntable’s 78 RPM rotation, but after a few tries, we manage to get everything spinning at the speed we require.

Sound

There’s a weight of expectation sitting on the Pro-Ject’s shoulders as we connect it to our trusty Naim Nait XS 3 stereo amplifier and a pair of five-star Epos ES-7N standmounts.

We need to know exactly what this player can do, so to fully spotlight the extent of the Debut Reference 10’s abilities, we also spend time listening to it plugged into our reference Burmester 088/911 MkIII pre/power combination and a pair of the super-revealing PMC MB2 SE loudspeakers.

These choppy waters aren’t short of rival sharks willing to take a chunk out of the Debut Reference 10, including the Award-winning Rega Planar 3 RS Edition (£1099 / $1795 / AU$2399) and the new Technics SL-1500CS (£1099 / $1800 / AU$2499).

We don’t let the Debut Reference 10 off lightly as we spin our first records, either. We flit between Beethoven’s challenging Ninth Symphony and Dirty Diana from Michael Jackson’s Bad, yet the Pro-Ject takes everything admirably in its stride. Beethoven’s Ninth is handled with precision, authority and stability, while Dirty Diana is suffused with bite and ample lower-end grip.

So easily could the former have sounded muddled and the latter hurried, but Pro-Ject’s impressive performer gives each track just the right amount of rope – not too much for the music to sound strangled and restricted, not too little for things to become slipshod or hurried.

This finely judged balance isn’t the only weapon in the Reference 10’s arsenal. The Pro-Ject’s delivery sounds clear, organised and authoritative, and its presentation is open and spacious, too. Resolution levels are impressive, be it the punchy percussion scattered across Bad or the hazy basslines that are the trademark of Nas’ Illmatic.

The Debut Reference 10 has won us over, but how does it shape up against its key rivals? The Technics SL-1500CS sounds more powerful and authoritative thanks to the deck’s considerable sonic brawn, whereas Rega’s raucously entertaining Planar 3 RS Edition continues to lead the pack when it comes to rhythmic and dynamic expression.

In a pitched battle against the Debut Reference 10, the Rega outguns its Pro-Ject rival, bringing so much snap and verve to Jackson’s Dirty Diana that the Reference 10 can’t quite keep up. For making you want to don your white suit and bust out your best Moonwalk, the Rega remains the king of this particular castle.

That doesn’t, by any means, render the Pro-Ject obsolete or unworthy of praise. This is still a terrifically talented turntable, and with the Rega’s recent price hike taking it from £999 to £1099 in the UK, one that costs a not-inconsiderable chunk of money less.

Drop back to something a little slower-paced, such as Tom Jones’ Did Trouble Me, and the Pro-Ject is back in its element. Jones’ voice is as rich and smooth as a cigar soaked in malt whisky, and the Debut Reference 10 has the requisite weight and warmth to give the gospel tune that lovely feeling of soulful sincerity.

Verdict

Amid such strong competition, there was always a danger that the Pro-Ject Debut Reference 10 might become lost among the crowd. After all, when you’re up against the likes of Rega and Technics, you’re always going to have your work cut out.

Fortunately, the Debut Reference 10 is talented enough in its own right to grant it significant appeal. For its expertly judged blend of sonic authority and spaciousness, not to mention its quality build and ease of use, the Reference 10 is a smart choice for customers not willing to break the £1000 / $1500 barrier.

Review published: 9th September 2026

SCORES

• Sound 5
• Build 5
• Features 4

MORE:

Read our review of the Rega Planar 3 RS Edition

Also consider the Technics SL-1500CS

Read our Rega Planar 3/Nd3 review

Best turntables: top record players tested by our expert reviewers

The new Marantz MCR 60n DAB aims to keep that same compact concept going, but is now a much more elevated affair, with plenty of new features, a classy design, and a new price.

The MCR 60n DAB continues to feature a CD player, DAB/FM radio, Bluetooth and AirPlay 2, and it is now joined by a moving magnet phono stage owing to turntables’ continuing popularity.

The system is powered by Marantz's HEOS streaming platform, which brings with it support for popular music streaming apps, which include Tidal Connect, Qobuz Connect and Spotify Connect. There is also an optical input and a 3.5mm headphone output.

Hi-res streaming support has been extended to 32-bit/384kHz PCM and DSD 11.2 MHz, while low-latency LE Audio and two-way Bluetooth is also on board. It's Roon Ready, too.

For seamless TV audio playback, it now boasts an HDMI eARC input, which supports 7.1 channels and Dolby Digital/Dolby Digital Plus decoding via built-in DSP, and can play up to 24-bit/192kHz PCM audio.

These are substantial feature gains over the previous model, the four-star M-CR612 (also called Melody X) that we reviewed in 2019. The HEOS platform and app has been updated since, with Marantz saying the onboarding set-up process should be even better than before.

The sound quality has been improved, too. There is an updated power supply for higher and more stable current delivery, while the power rating has been increased to 65W per channel (into 4 ohms) from a previous 50W. Marantz says the extra headroom will result in better power delivery and better sound quality overall from the Class D amplifier. Additionally, there are new custom components in the circuitry to further help deliver a clean, powerful and low-noise performance.

The bottom chassis of the unit features an additional plate to help reduce vibrations coming from the CD mechanism, while the feet have a high density structure and felt cushioning to also help with damping and deliver a more stable bass performance.

The MCR 60n DAB can also be used as a preamp or with active speakers thanks to fixed and variable outputs, while the subwoofer output now has adjustable crossover filters in 10Hz increments from 30Hz to 250Hz.

The unit is also compatible with Dirac Live Room Correction, although you'll need to buy a license separately to make full use of the calibration software.

A new feature is the ability to save four 'Smart Selects' that store your favourite sound configuration for a certain source. For instance, you may want to employ different volume and tone settings and a Dirac-calibrated profile for when watching TV/movie content compared with listening to music via streaming or from radio, and this lets you choose your pre-set sound profiles accordingly.

These can be easily accessed from the button on the unit itself, or by using the updated remote control.

The design of the MCR 60n DAB is inspired by the Marantz Model M1, with a more minimal and luxurious design than before, but it retains the same compact footprint.

The Marantz MCR 60n DAB will be available for £800 / €900 / AU$1,700 from 15th September. This DAB version is for the European and Australian markets and is available in Champagne Gold and Black finishes, while the non-DAB version will be available for $1000 in the black finish only.

That's a substantial jump in price over the previous M-CR612, which we tested at £630 in 2019, while older MCR units tended to cost £500. With all the new features and proposed improvements for the MCR 60n DAB, we're hoping it will be more than justified.

MORE:

Read our Marantz M-CR612/Melody X review

We have a "Rega Special" turntable, a new Dolby Atmos soundbar and TCL's flagship Super QLED in for testing this month

The Linn LP12, Mission Cyrus One or a humble WiiM Pro Plus: what product got you into hi-fi?

There’s a very good reason that this humble studio in a leafy enclave of north west London is mentioned in the same breath as such legendary music venues as the Royal Albert Hall and New York's Apollo Theatre: its history.

Everyone knows of the studio’s legendary recording sessions by The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Stevie Wonder and many more. But fewer people know that this is where the concept of stereo sound was born (it was patented here by engineer Alan Blumlein in 1931, though back then it was known as ‘Binaural Sound’). As Kerr says, this was the “beginning of the whole concept of what we call high fidelity stereo sound reproduction.”

Without Abbey Road, the music industry as we know it wouldn’t exist.

So it’s difficult to overstate Abbey Road’s importance in shaping the modern music world. But perhaps more important than that are the experiences the studio has created, and the emotions these have given rise to.

Listening to music recorded here, “it's soulful, it's emotional,” Kerr says. They’re “recordings that change the way you feel that day when you listen to them – and we're very proud to be involved in it.”

Connecting to the music

Bowers & Wilkins speakers have been at the heart of Abbey Road for over 45 years. Founder John Bowers demoed the first model – the original 801 – himself in 1980. So enraptured were the engineers that the speaker stayed, only being replaced as newer 800 Series models improved on the original.

Pleasing Abbey Road's notoriously particular engineers is no mean feat – these people are at the very top of their game – so to do so consistently for nearly half a decade takes some doing.

Models earning pride of place in Abbey Road over the years include the original 801, the 801 Matrix in 1987, followed by the Nautilus 801, 801 D3, and currently the 801 D4 – last year, Bowers & Wilkins released a limited edition Abbey Road Edition 801 D4, celebrating a longstanding partnership spanning over 45 years.

These are speakers that don’t just play the music, they reveal it as closely to the artist’s vision as it’s possible to be. “Listening to the speaker, it’s everything that the recording is,” says Kerr. “It’s rewarding, or engaging, or uplifting, or maybe even depressing, if that's the recording. It makes you feel emotive. It just absolutely connects.”

Or as one recent visitor to the studio puts it more simply: "You can hear so much... It's just unbelievable."

So it’s hardly surprising that Bowers & Wilkins' speakers have been a fixture of Abbey Road for so long. Here’s to the next half century of great music!

From the studio to home

Seeing behind the scenes at Abbey Road is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for most of us – Abbey Road is still a working studio and so isn’t open to the general public. But with a Bowers & Wilkins speaker, discerning listeners can bring home that spine-tingling studio-quality sound.

The flagship 801 D5 loudspeaker costs £43,000 per pair, and brings a range of enhancements over the previous model: the design has been refined, it has a stiffer enclosure to reduce the unwanted impact of vibrations and resonances, and a new plinth design. It also comes in a range of new finishes with more durable paint, including Dark Walnut (inspired by the limited production 801 Abbey Road Limited Edition), Stealth Black, Warm White and Light Walnut.

Don’t forget to pair them with an amp that’s up to the job (like the Marantz Model 10).

Those on a more modest budget (or with less space to spare) will be well served by the 702 S3 loudspeakers. While these are a lighter-touch alternative to the 800 Series Diamond, they benefit from Bowers & Wilkins’ ‘cascading technology’ – the principle of taking technology from flagship models and applying learning and design advancement to other form factors. Hence the 702 S3 are able to offer many of the same core technologies as the 800 Series Diamond, but at £5750 they’re a fraction of the price.

Available in Gloss Black, Mocha and White, or signature options Datuk Gloss and Midnight Blue Metallic, the 702 S3 make Bowers & Wilkins’ world-class sound technology and renowned craftsmanship more accessible but without compromise.

We've hand-picked the most interesting products for our best-in-show report, which you can see below.

We haven't tested them – it's impossible on a very busy and extremely noisy show floor – but they appeared the most exciting and interesting of the tech on display. So in no particular order...

Xgimi Aura 3 Max

The Aura 3 ultra-short-throw projector features the world's first Dual Iris optical system in a UST projector. This delivers a native contrast ratio of up to 8000:1, meaning deeper blacks, brighter whites and a picture with more depth.

The RGB Triple Laser light engine also delivers up to 5700 ISO lumens, bringing brightness to the fore and making the picture clearer even on a sunny day.

Gaming features include 4K/120, VRR and ALLM, and it supports all the major HDR formats. Xgimi's X-Vision AI Image Processor optimises picture quality while anti-RBE tech minimises the rainbow effect that can occur with laser projection.

It's also ideal if you're short of space, throwing out a 120-inch picture when placed just 8 inches away from the wall. And if you do have more space, the image size can go up to 200 inches.

Its Google TV OS supports all the main streaming apps, and there's a built-in 80W Harman Kardon sound system, eliminating the need for a separate audio system. It's the complete package.

Beyerdynamic Aventho Y

Most wireless headphones struggle to last 50 hours before needing a recharge, but the Aventho Y go for a marathon 90 hours on a single charge. Now that's impressive.

Music is, of course, the focus, but this pair is seriously adaptable. You can add a boom mic and low-latency USB-C dongle for calls and games, for instance, and the interchangeable velour earpads should keep you comfortable for every one of those 90 hours.

But it's for music that they look seriously impressive. The Beyerdynamic app comes with customisable EQ profiles, genre-based sound presets and firmware updates, so the cans constantly improve over time. And with a user-swappable battery and parts, they will last you for years to come. There's also active noice cancellation onboard to keep the real world at bay.

AWOL LuxVision

The nights might be drawing in, but daytime movie sessions can still suffer from that pesky sunshine coming through the window. The AWOL LuxVision banishes this nuisance with an RGB triple laser engine delivering 5500 ISO lumens and 110 per cent Rec.2020 for clear visuals even in direct sunlight.

This ultra short throw model is versatile in terms of placement, thanks to its one-touch optical image shift, and quick to set up, with auto keystone and auto alignment. 4K/120 makes it suitable for gamers too, while RBE reduction ensures pure visuals across all formats. Flawless visuals, whatever the weather.

Canvas L

Billed as "the world's first audiophile soundbar," the Canvas L from Canvas HiFi combines a Danish design aesthetic with hi-fi-style engineering. Right up our street, in other words.

It promises "natural musicality, deep controlled bass and immersive three-dimensional sound," which should liven up your movies and music alike.

Inside is BACCH 3D+ processing and custom-made Scan-Speak drivers, and it's been tuned by renowned Danish audio engineer Benno Baun Meldgaard.

The aim was to create a genuinely audiophile speaker in a home cinema environment. Every acoustic element – including the cabinet construction, amplification, driver design and DSP processing – was engineered to deliver the kind of sound usually associated with hi-fi loudspeakers.

Earfun Wave Pro X

Winner of the 2026 Red Dot Design Award, the EarFun Wave Pro X offer a spacious acoustic chamber, with earcups whose geometry is inspired by the shape of the human ear, and that are angled at 12 degrees for a more natural fit. Breathable protein leather cushions and a woven fabric headband add to the comfort.

The cans are powered by DCAA (Dual-Coaxial Acoustic Architecture) technology, with a 40mm DLC driver and a 10mm LCP driver on a precisely aligned coaxial axis. This improves phase consistency between drivers, creating a "natural, detailed, and immersive sound experience". The headphones are also Hi-Res Audio certified.

The ANC intelligently analyses the surrounding environment and responds accordingly, blocking out just the right amount of noise, while beamforming keeps calls loud and clear. They also support Hybrid ANC in AUX wired mode, and support aptX Lossless, LDAC, and USB Audio.

With an impressive 90 hours of battery life, including 10 hours from a 15-minute charge, these cans are ones to watch.

Edifier XR6

The Edifier XR6 is no ordinary speaker – it's a professional-grade active studio monitor, suitable for home studios and pro recording environments. But it's priced much more accessibly than some of its rivals.

The tri-amped three-way architecture (with a 1.25-inch aluminium dome tweeter, 4-inch aluminium mid-range driver, and 6.5-inch aluminium woofer) lets each driver operate within its optimal frequency range for better clarity and transient response and less distortion. End-to-end 24-bit/192kHz DSP processing, active crossover, and automatic room calibration ensure accurate monitoring across different acoustic environments.

Resonance is minimised by the die-cast aluminium cabinet, and it's small enough to sit on a desk. With pro connectivity options like balanced XLR and TRS, AES/EBU digital input/output with daisy-chain capability, and an RCA input for consumer audio devices, it's ideal for both pros and enthusiasts alike.

TCL Q85K

Co-engineered by hi-fi doyens Bang & Olufsen, the Q85K brings Dolby Atmos to your home TV, with a peak output of 1180W through True-Sound Tri-Band Drivers and a Dual-Driver Force-Cancelling Subwoofer.

With the sound precisely distributed across the True-Sound Tri-Band Drivers, and lows, mids and highs separated, it minimises frequency crossover masking for a detailed and balanced high-fidelity sound.

Low frequencies are handled by the Dual-Driver Force-Cancelling Subwoofer. By counteracting internal mechanical vibrations while maximising the active acoustic area, bass is deepened, and the inward-taping 'floating' base design further minimises resonance.

It uses B&O's knowhow across both its hardware and software. There's the Beosonic Emotion Equalizer visual UI to fine-tune the audio depending on different moods, while the 360° Panoramic Soundscape combines Dolby Atmos decoding with B&O acoustic tuning to create an immersive soundscape with precise instrument separation and clear vocals.

The US brand has yet to make much of a mark in the world of headphones, though. Sonos’s first pair of wireless cans, the over-ear Sonos Ace, scored a disappointing three-star rating when we reviewed them back in 2024, and were outperformed by its Sony and Bose rivals.

As we said in our review: “the Sonos skip over the finer details and simply don’t stir the emotions like the very best pairs do.” Room for improvement, then.

This latest effort could spell a fresh start, though, with the new Sonos Ace Ultra headphones promising improved features and teasing a “rich, detailed audio” that aims to be more on par with the competitive premium wireless headphones market.

To get an idea of what the new headphones can do, I had an initial listen to the new Ace Ultra can at a hands-on launch session in Berlin during the IFA 2026 showcase.

Price

Sonos’s newest cans will set you back £399 / $449 / AU$699, pitting them against the Award-winning Sony WH-1000XM6 headphones, which launched at £400 / $450 / AU$699. That’s some tough competition already for the bushy-tailed Sonos hopefuls.

The original Ace headphones launched at £449 / $449 / AU$699, but they are currently available for less at £299 / $299 / AU$449. Surprisingly, Sonos says they will keep the original Ace on sale alongside the new step-up model, rather than Ace Ultra being a direct replacement.

Design and build

As I slip the demo pair of Ace Ultra headphones over my head, the first thing that becomes obvious is that Sonos is looking to prioritise wearer comfort. The soft memory foam ear cushions and the firm adjustable headband make it easy to imagine that, over longer listening sessions, the Ace Ultra would be easy to live with.

The ear pads attach magnetically and you can buy replacement ear cushions from the Sonos store, and you can even replace the battery yourself. That is great from a sustainability and cost perspective, and it’s all too rare from the major tech brands.

The Ace Ultra look very similar to the original Ace, but under the hood you will find brand-new Sonos-designed 40mm drivers. In theory, that should give the new headphones a big boost in sound quality.

Sonos has also included two more colour options as well as the classic Black and White: Agave (which looks like a greenish blue) and Sand.

Instead of opting for touch controls like many of its rivals, Sonos has once again gone for tactile buttons on the side of each cup, including controls to adjust noise-cancelling settings and power. The silver slider, or ‘content key’, gives you the same functionality as the previous model, so you can control volume, pause, and answer calls by sliding it up and down.

Features

If you hold down that content key slider, you can make the most of Sonos’s newly named ‘Fabric’ feature, which encompasses the multi-room capability of the brand’s ecosystem. This includes using the 'headphone linking' feature, which lets you transfer sound from a Sonos speaker or soundbar to the Ace Ultra headphones. This feature was restricted to select soundbar models in the original Ace, so it’s great to see the full feature that works with all current Sonos speakers on board this time around.

I get to see this in action during the demo, as the sound jumped from the Sonos Move 2 portable speaker to the headphones with a touch of a button in a matter of seconds. We then move to a different room, where the sound again transfers to a different Sonos speaker with the same ease.

A lot is going on behind the scenes, but the short of it is that the sound jumps to whatever product is within the closest proximity. It was all pretty impressive to watch, and it certainly speaks to the unique setup that you can get if you have several Sonos products in your home.

Active noise cancellation (ANC) is on board again, and Sonos claims that its effect is twice as powerful as the original Ace headphones. It’s an adaptive system which should be able to adjust in intensity as your surroundings change, and can also take into account any gaps in the seal due to glasses or hair. Presumably this is partly down to the fact that the new model boasts ten mics compared to eight used on the original Ace from 2024.

As with the previous Ace headphones, the Ace Ultra offer an Aware mode, which lets outside sounds in to keep you mindful of your surroundings, and there’s also support for Dolby Atmos spatial audio content with head tracking.

Battery life is a very healthy 35 hours with ANC activated (up from 30 hours from the original Ace) – that’s five more than the Sony WH-1000XM6’s claim of 30 hours under the same conditions. Sonos also says you can get three hours of playback from just three minutes of fast-charging, which is the same as the previous model.

The higher-quality aptX Lossless Bluetooth codec is supported for streaming files up to 16-bit/44.1kHz, while native support for 16-bit/48kHz resolution is available via a wired USB-C connection.

I didn’t get to connect the newly updated Sonos 27app to the headphones myself during the demo, but I get a glimpse of a few new features, including an interactive, granular volume dial that is activated by placing two of your fingers on the screen at the same time, then twisting to adjust.

Sound quality

So, how do the headphones actually sound? I had a chance to listen to the new cans during the brief demo, so what follows is an initial impression of the performance. We will have to wait for our review sample and put them through our comprehensive testing process before giving a final verdict.

With music streaming from Qobuz, I start with Muna’s Dancing on the Wall, and the sound is portrayed with a decent sense of spaciousness, and the instrumentals are reasonably well-placed around the soundfield. There’s a good sense of power from the bass, and it gives the track a solid foundation without overpowering the rest of the sound.

Moving to keep going! by Montaigne, the width of the soundstage really continues to blossom, although it's hard to get a handle on how well the Ace Ultra are handling the swell of dynamics during the track's intro in our brief listen.

It will be interesting to hear how the Ace Ultra measure up when pitted against price rivals such as the Sony WH-1000XM6 and the five-star Sennheiser HDB 630 during a longer listen, especially when it comes to subtler detail, dynamics and rhythmic ability. Those are key sonic features that are harder to discern during our brief demo, and we're hoping that Sonos has taken note of our concerns from the older Ace model to bring greater improvements here in the Ace Ultra.

The headphones’ noise-cancelling does seem to be working its magic, however. The conversation happening a couple of metres away in the demo room is barely audible, helping me feel more immersed in the music as it plays. Again, we’ll have to test these new over-ears in a greater variety of environments to see how their ANC quality fares against the best in class.

It’s also worth noting that I don’t get a chance to adjust the EQ controls during this demo, which could also have an impact on the sound quality.

Early verdict

The Ace Ultra have kept much of what we liked about Sonos’s debut over-ear headphones, with a comfortable and practical design, and new features that should make them appealing to those with multiple Sonos products at home already.

Judging by this initial experience, it seems the new premium Sonos wireless headphones offer clear vocals and a reasonably organised sound, along with improved ANC, but we’ll need further dedicated testing time to discover if they surpass the original Aces’ three-star appraisal and come close to – or even beat – the current class leaders in this highly competitive category.

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This is our review of the Sonos Ace

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The 2026 NFL season gets underway on September 9, with the Seattle Seahawks beginning their Super Bowl title defence against the New England Patriots in a rematch of last season's championship game.

The Seahawks enter as one of the favourites, but the Patriots, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Rams, Philadelphia Eagles and Detroit Lions will all have their eyes on the Lombardi Trophy. The season promises plenty of big matchups and storylines, and we've found the best ways to watch every game online, including free streaming options.

Follow our guide below for where to watch NFL 2026 live streams.

How to watch NFL 2026 for free

You can watch select NFL games for free in Australia, the UK, US, New Zealand, and Ireland:

• 7plus (Australia) - Select Thursday and Sunday games, playoffs and Super Bowl LXI, plus the 49ers vs. Rams game in Melbourne this week
• 5 (UK) - 2 Sunday games per week, plus select international games and Super Bowl LXI
• TVNZ+ (New Zealand) - 3 games weekly, plus all playoff games and Super Bowl LXI
• Twitch (US) - TNF, except Week 1
• Virgin Media Play (Ireland) - At least 22 games, including 18 Sunday games, 3 playoff games and Super Bowl LXI

If you're from one of these countries but are currently abroad and want to watch an NFL 2026 live stream, you can simply use a VPN. More details below...

Watch NFL 2026 live streams from anywhere

You won't be able to watch your regular NFL 2026 live streams while traveling abroad. The streaming service will spot that you're in a foreign country and block you.

You can use a VPN (virtual private network) to get around this, though.

We rate IPVanish as one of our favourites for unblocking sports streams. You can even currently get 83% off...

Watch NFL 2026 live streams in the US

In the US, NFL's live coverage is available on TV - CBS, Fox, NBC, ESPN, ESPN2, ABC and NFL Network - and online - Twitch, Prime Video, Paramount Plus, Fox One, Peacock, ESPN Unlimited and Netflix.

• Twitch (FREE) — TNF Weeks 2–17 + Black Friday
• Prime Video (30-day free trial)— TNF Weeks 2–17 + Black Friday + 1 Wild Card game — $14.99/month or $139/year
• Paramount+ — CBS NFL games — from $8.99/month
• Peacock — NBC NFL games — $12.99/month or $129.99/year
• ESPN Unlimited — ESPN NFL games + ESPN channels — $31.99/month or $319.99/year
• FOX One — FOX NFL games — $19.99/month
• Netflix — Melbourne + Thanksgiving Eve + Christmas Day + 1 Week 18 game — from $8.99/month
• NFL+ — Local & primetime games on mobile + NFL Network — from $6.99/month
• NFL Sunday Ticket — Out-of-market Sunday afternoon games

If you've cut the cord, you can get nearly all the TV channels showing NFL this season through a Live TV streaming option, such as Sling, YouTube TV (free trial), Hulu+Live TV, Fubo, or DirecTV.

To access your usual streaming service from outside the US, you'll need to download a good VPN, as detailed above.

• Expert TV advice: best OLED TVs for sports fans
• View the latest TV deals on Amazon

Watch NFL 2026 live streams in the UK

In the UK, Channel 5, 5Action, and the 5 streaming service are showing two NFL games live and free every Sunday. They'll also show the NFL London, Paris, Madrid and Munich games, as well as Super Bowl LXI completely free.

If you want access to every match, consider getting the NFL Game Pass on DAZN. DAZN's Season Pro pass costs £179.99, or £18.99 per month for 12 months. However, the two regular Sunday games shown live on 5 and 5Action will be available on DAZN 24 hours after they finish.

Sky Sports is showing at least five live games per week throughout the season. This includes every TNF, SNF and MNF, and NFL RedZone, as well as the Thanksgiving game, Playoffs, and Super Bowl.

Sky Sports plans start from £35/month or £22 if you're an existing Sky subscriber. Alternatively, you can grab a NOW Sports Membership from £14.99/day or £34.99/month.

Outside the UK during the NFL season? Use IPVanish to watch the tournament as if you were back at home.

Watch NFL 2026 live streams in Australia

Football fans Down Under can watch select live NFL 2026 games each week for FREE, thanks to Seven Network. The games will be shown on both TV and online - via 7plus.

Next, ESPN will broadcast at least five live games per week, including every TNF, SNF and MNF. You can access ESPN's coverage via Foxtel, Disney+, or Kayo Sports - the latter starts from just AU$30/month and includes cricket, AFL, rugby, F1, and more.

Kayo Sports also lets you choose between a 7-day free trial or getting your first month for just AU$1. Disney Plus, meanwhile, starts at AU$9.99/month or AU$179.99/year.

If you want to be able to watch nearly every match, though, you'll need the NFL Game Pass on DAZN. It starts from AU$34.99/month or AU$339.99/year.

If you're currently out of Australia but want to watch an NFL live stream, you'll need to get yourself a VPN, as per the instructions above.

NFL 2026 Preview

Although they didn’t win a single preseason game, the Seattle Seahawks will be looking to prove that last season’s triumph – which came after 12 long years – was the start of something bigger, with Sam Darnold, Mike Macdonald, and reigning Offensive Player of the Year Jaxon Smith-Njigba all back.

The New England Patriots, meanwhile, will have a chance to avenge their Super Bowl defeat immediately, with the 2026 season beginning with a rematch against the Seahawks. Drake Maye and Mike Vrabel will be hoping to go another step further this time, while the Los Angeles Rams look like one of the biggest threats to Seattle in the NFC, thanks to the addition of Myles Garrett and the return of Aaron Donald.

The Baltimore Ravens will also be ones to watch, with Lamar Jackson looking to finally get over the playoff hump under new head coach Jesse Minter. The Buffalo Bills remain firmly in the Super Bowl conversation with Josh Allen leading a new-look team under Joe Brady.

Then there's Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs, who will be looking to bounce back after missing the playoffs for the first time since 2014. Mahomes is returning after tearing his left ACL and LCL, but if he can get back to his best, the Chiefs should still be a threat in the AFC.

The Philadelphia Eagles and Detroit Lions will also be hoping to make deep playoff runs, with Philly looking to defend its crown and Detroit aiming to finally turn its recent regular-season success into a Super Bowl appearance.

And this season won't just be played out in the US. The NFL is taking a record nine regular-season games overseas, with games in Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro, London, Paris, Madrid, Munich, and Mexico City. The 49ers will play the Rams in Melbourne, the Cowboys will face the Ravens in Rio, the Eagles will take on the Jaguars in London, and the Patriots and Lions will meet in Munich.

• Fancy an upgrade? Here are the best TVs
• Or save money with these unmissable cheap TV deals
• Where to watch 2026 Premier League for free

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

Then we've got you covered. Our expert testers found the Harman Kardon Enchant 900 to be a particularly fun sound experience that delivers a much more immersive soundstage than most TV speakers.

It's seeing a healthy discount now too – the code ENCHANT20 brings the price down to £263 at Peter Tyson, saving you a whopping £167.

A 5.1.4-channel soundbar driven by a total power output of 195W, the Harman Kardon 900 includes two up-firing drivers for true Dolby Atmos support.

MultiBeam technology is on hand to create a more spacious soundstage, and the Harman Kardon One app allows you to adjust the EQ settings and calibrate the soundbar. We highly recommend you do this – our testers found a notable difference in the bar's soundstage after calibration.

Streaming services such as Tidal and Amazon Music can also be played through the app, with Spotify Connect and Bluetooth 5.3 also supported.

Those who already have Harman Kardon products will want to listen up – the soundbar can wirelessly connect to the Enchant Sub and Enchant Speaker, with two Enchant speakers able to function as rear surrounds.

The Enchant 900 alone is more than up to the job, however, as upon booting it up, we are "greeted by an energetic, exciting sound", as our Harman Kardon Enchant 900 review states.

It's an immersive, room-filling sound that's much more spacious than our TV speakers, with remarkably clear vocals and a reasonably clean presentation.

It's not the most subtle soundbar, however, with the treble especially sounding rather coarse when pushed.

But if it's a big sound you're looking for, the Enchant 900 provides that in spades, with plenty of spaciousness and excitement to boot. It's also far easier to recommend in the crowded entry-level Dolby Atmos soundbar market now that it's £167 off at Peter Tyson.

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Read our review of the Sonos Beam (Gen 2)

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Read our Hisense AX5125H review

This does mean our test rooms are heaving with new products, from feature-packed DACs to new floorstanding speakers and the latest TVs and more.

We won't list them all here (that's in a super-secret spreadsheet for our eyes only), but below we've highlighted a handful of the key products that we can't wait to put through the testing process.

Sonos Beam Ultra

It has just been announced, but we are expecting the arrival of the new Sonos Beam Ultra Dolby Atmos soundbar in our test rooms any day now. Costing £699 / $699 / AU$1099, the new model sits above the five-star, Award-winning Beam (Gen 2), and brings plenty of upgrades in its compact form.

The step-up Beam Ultra has nine drivers in total – four more than the Beam Gen 2 – which includes dedicated up-firing drivers for proper Dolby Atmos sound, for up to a 7.1.2-channel configuration.

The Beam Ultra will work with the updated Sonos 27 app, and will link with the new Sonos Ace Ultra wireless headphones to transfer sound between the two products. You'll also be able to use the portable Sonos Play and Move 2 as rear surround speakers with the Ultra.

Will Sonos be able to deliver a winning formula yet again? We shall see.

Rega Planar 6 RS Edition

At long last, we have Rega's Planar 6 RS Edition in our test rooms, which takes the standard, Award-winning Planar 6 turntable as a base and adds elements from the more premium Planar 8 (also five stars) into quite an attractive package.

The 6 RS features a foam core plinth sandwiched between two layers of high-pressure laminate that is coated in the same lovely brushed aluminium finish we've seen on the superb Planar 3 RS Edition. This adds rigidity while keeping things light – a key Rega engineering principle.

The top-of-the-line Nd9 moving magnet cartridge comes fitted as standard, and other elements taken from the P8 include the RB880 tonearm, an outboard power supply with electronic speed switching, and a double belt drive. Costing £2000, could this deliver the mid-way magic between the Planar 6 and Planar 8? We can't wait to take it for a spin.

Arcam A50 Signature

We're not the only ones celebrating our 50th anniversary this year. Arcam has also joined us in turning the big 5-0 and has launched the A50 Signature integrated amplifier to celebrate the milestone.

Billed as the "best-sounding integrated amplifier Arcam has ever produced", the A50 is the new flagship of the successful Radia line, which includes the Award-winning A5+ and A15+ stereo amplifiers.

It boasts 150W per channel into 8 ohms, with a fully dual-mono Class G architecture that aims to deliver purer audio. The specs list is exhaustive – analogue RCA and XLR, digital inputs including HDMI eARC and USB, MM/MC phono stage, and more.

Costing £2499 / $3000, the A50 Signature amp is also joined by a new CD25 CD player, that sits above the Award-winning CD5 – we have high hopes for both.

Ruark Talisman-R

We had an early listen to the Talisman-R speakers at the High End Vienna show in June, and now these premium floorstanders are waiting in the wings in our test room.

With a distinctive sloped baffle that harks back to the 1990 original, the new Talisman-R costs £1499 per pair and features a 27mm silk dome tweeter alongside a 16.5cm long-throw fibre woofer, updated cabinetry with internal bracing and real wood details.

We very much liked the previous-gen Talisman-R III's fast, dynamic and exciting performance, but that was a good 20 years ago. We're keen to find out if Ruark has held on to that same magic when we hear the new towers against their contemporary rivals.

TCL X11L

Despite also having an RGB Mini LED model (the TCL RM9L), TCL has banked on Quantum Dot tech for its flagship TVs. The £3999, 75-inch TCL X11L is the very TV with the tech we've had in our test room.

TCL's 'Super' QLED flagship TV features next-generation Quantum Dots along with a new super-high ‘Ultra’ colour filter, which put together should deliver a wider colour gamut, better brightness, more local dimming zones, slimmer designs and no colour crosstalk issues. The final point being a repeat issue we've seen crop up in some RGB Mini LED displays. It also comes with an integrated B&O sound system.

In our demo earlier this year, we were impressed with the X11L's "raw brightness", high contrast and wide colour range, so we are excited to see how it fares under our full review treatment.

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Back with a bang! Sony has resurrected a classic pair of wireless headphones by launching the WH-1000XM4C

Not because they fell short of our expectations – quite the opposite – but because the budget noise-cancelling over-ears were so good, we couldn't wait to see what Sony could do when given another chance to impress.

A sequel has indeed finally arrived in the shape of the Sony WH-CH730N, vowing to elevate everything we liked about the WH-CH720N while mitigating their modest but not-trivial limitations.

Those limitations included a slightly bass-heavy sonic signature, as well as a design that, if we're being charitable, wasn't exactly the last word in luxury.

If the WH-CH730N can rectify such minor issues without losing the character of what made their predecessors so great, they could truly be successors to some of our favourite headphones of the past few years. Now that's something worth getting excited about.

When Sony invited us for an exclusive look at the WH-CH730N, we had to take advantage. We haven't heard the new headphones yet, but we've had a sneak peek at how they look and feel, and heard directly from Sony about the changes the next-gen over-ears have made. From what we've seen, they could be something very special.

Excited for: a new folding look

When we went to see them in person a few weeks ago, we really liked the way the new WH-CH730N looked.

Taste is subjective – and how a pair of headphones appear on the outside should be a secondary priority to how they sound – but that wholesale redesign really works for us. The WH-CH720N were, to be charitable, rather rough and ready headphones, but the smoother, more modern design of their successors feels like a big improvement. Out are the rather basic earcups, replaced by larger, more premium cups that come across as far more premium than the headphones' modest price might suggest.

Better still, they should be more ergonomic to live with thanks to the fact that the new over-ears feel sturdier and are now fully foldable, something that was lacking in the somewhat rigid WH-CH720N. It was always a worry that you might accidentally snap your precious headphones in transit, but full foldability helps assuage such fears this time around.

It makes sense considering that these are still reasonably budget-friendly headphones geared towards everyday use. When you've got over-ears that are going to be thrown into backpacks and tossed into the back of the car, you want to know they're going to survive years of potentially hard use.

Excited for: refined tuning and (hopefully) better sound

At first, it was easy to hear the news that Sony hadn’t updated the physical drivers for the Sony WH-CH730N. You expect new hardware from one generation to the next, so the fact that Sony had kept the same 30mm dynamic units as found in the WH-CH720N just slightly smacked of complacency.

Yet that needn’t be the case. The thing is, the WH-CH720N sound great – they might be the best sound-per-pound wireless over-ears you can buy – with their slightly enthusiastic bass the only real point of criticism. Even then, you can tone that down via the in-app equaliser, so it’s not a huge deal.

As it turns out, we want more of the same from the WH-CH730N, albeit with a bit of sonic tinkering to make them as good as they can be. Tweaking tuning algorithms rather than physical hardware can make a surprisingly profound difference, too – just look at how much better the Bose QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (2nd Gen) sound over their first-gen antecedents.

The punchy, deeply musical personality of the WH-CH720N…but better? Sounds like a recipe for success to us.

Excited for: longer battery life

Wow, check out these numbers. We didn’t think the WH-CH720N were exactly short on battery life, thanks to their 50 hours of lifespan with ANC off and a still-massive 35 hours with it on, but Sony has really doubled down for the sequel.

The WH-CH730N will go for 75 hours before they need a recharge if you have noise cancelling turned off, a figure that quite frankly puts their predecessors in the shade. That’s a huge usability bonus, only sweetened by the fact that a three-minute quick charge will grant around an hour of playback when you’re in a hurry.

Not many rivals come close at this kind of money. The Austrian Audio Hi-X25BT (£129 / $140) will go for around 30 hours before they need a recharge, whereas even the mega-battery-boasting Philips TAH8000E's (£140 / $149) 70 hours with ANC off can't quite keep up.

Excited for: that seamless Sony usability

From the bottom of its range to the very top, Sony's headphones are very rarely a chore to live with. Quality tends to suffuse everything the brand does at the moment, with its wireless cans exemplifying this customer-first focus on usability and performance that few rivals can match.

What the WH-CH730N have in their favour right out of the gate, then, is the fact that they're a pair of Sony over-ears. That means certain features, such as DSEE upscaling for poorer-quality files, as well as 'Precise Voice Pickup Technology' for better noise calls and beamforming mics contributing to improved noise cancelling, are already in the bank.

Plus, access to the Sony Headphones app is never a bad thing, as while it's rarely been the most sleek or stylish platform in the world, the levels of customisation it offers are extremely tough to beat.

Unless something goes horribly wrong, we'd feel confident in stating that, from its voice calls to its ANC, we'll likely be in very safe hands with the WH-CH730N.

A small concern: that higher price

This isn't a dealbreaker for most, but it's still worth mentioning: the WH-CH730N are more expensive at launch than their predecessors. It's not a massive increase – only £10 in the UK – but it does point to a slightly more worrying trend in audio concerning rising prices.

This isn't something for which we blame Sony, but more a reflection of where things could be headed across the market. Due to poor market conditions, the global economic downturn, certain political decisions and an increasing scarcity of computer chips, consumer audio prices are rising, and even the budget end of the audio landscape isn't unaffected.

£10 isn't a huge rise from one generation to the next, but when even massive entities such as Sony are affected, it could point to an unwanted trend: higher prices for your headphones.

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The new budget WH-CH530 follow on from the entry-level WH-CH520 Bluetooth on-ears, while the affordable WH-CH730N are the sequel to the multiple-Award-winning WH-CH720N noise-cancelling over-ears.

Both sets come with a number of upgrades and tweaks to the firm's five-star formula, though only one has had an aesthetic refresh.

The WH-CH730N has had an external redesign, ditching the rough-and-ready aesthetic of its predecessors in place of a smoother, more premium design that doesn't look entirely dissimilar to the more expensive Sonos Ace.

Better still, the new noise-cancelling cans fold away; something their rather rigid predecessors couldn't do, much to our reviewers' annoyance.

The WH-CH530's design hasn't deviated much from the WH-CH520's, opting for similarly small rounded earcups, an on-ear fit and a reasonably compact form factor.

Internally, the actual hardware that the two new sets pack hasn't changed much, with both pairs housing the same drive units as before. That means both the WH-CH720N and WH-CH530 come with 30mm dynamic drivers.

Despite the lack of hardware changes, Sony claims both sets offer a major sonic boost over their predecessors, thanks to work it has done improving their digital signal processing and algorithms. Sony's established DSEE signal processing is also on board for cleaning up lower-quality files.

The WH-CH730N boast a titanic 75 hours of battery life with noise cancelling switched off, a figure that quite frankly puts the 50-hour lifespan of the WH-CH720N firmly in the shade.

The WH-CH530 aren't doing badly either, serving up 55 hours of battery life. That's a five-hour improvement over the 50 hours offered by their predecessors. A three-minute quick charge of the WH-CH730N will grant around an hour of playback, while the same charging time will grant 90 minutes of listening on the cheaper WH-CH530.

Both new pairs tease clearer voice calls thanks to AI noise reduction algorithms that spotlight human speech and dampen the clamour of the outside world. The noise-cancelling WH-CH730N also tout improved noise cancelling thanks to Sony's 'Dual Noise Sensor' technology and an array of beamforming microphones.

The WH-CH530 are available now in a choice of Black, Cobalt, White, Pink, Coral, and Mint, priced at £50 / AU$99.95 – which is the same price as their predecessors' original price tag. The WH-CH730N are also available now in a range of Black, White, Pink, Blue, and Oat colourways, priced at £110 / AU$229.95. That's a small advance on the original £99 asking price of the current WH-CH720N in the UK, but a decrease of AU$20 in Australia.

Price rises aside, we can't wait to try out both of Sony's latest over-ears. The WH-CH520 and CH720N have been holding steady on our list of the best wireless headphones ever since they debuted, and we're expecting their respective sequels to elevate their performance to even greater heights.

MORE:

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Check out our pick of the best wireless headphones

The WH-1000XM4C are a revised version of the original WH-1000XM4, which launched back in 2020.

That original XM4 was the longest-running pair of headphones in Sony’s 1000X series so far, and remained on sale for five years after their arrival.

In that time, not only did they become repeat What Hi-Fi? Awards-winners, the headphones also secured a place in the What Hi-Fi? Hall of Fame, where only products that make a long-lasting impression on our test team are included. This makes the arrival of the WH-1000XM4C all the more exciting.

So, “what’s changed?” we hear you ask.

The biggest change is to the battery. The reason the original XM4 reached end of life is that its battery was not compliant with the EU battery regulation (EU) 2023/1542, which stipulates that portable batteries need to be able to be removed by the end user.

• Why I think Sony’s new WH-1000XM4C headphones are a brilliant but risky gamble

This law comes into effect in February 2027, so for the XM4 to stage a comeback, the battery needed to change. The only downside is that it is smaller than the one used previously and doesn’t provide quite as much juice as the original.

This means battery life has dropped from 30 hours with ANC on for the original XM4 to 27 hours for the WH-1000XM4C.

Sony claims the design and finish of the headphones are identical, apart from a slight tweak to the Sony logo and the introduction of a letter ‘L’ and ‘R’ inside each respective earcup. The software driving the headphones is the same, too.

This means the 40mm driver of the original carries over to XM4C, as does the DSEE Extreme processing engine and the HD Noise Cancelling Processor QN1. While ANC performance should remain virtually identical to the original, Sony has been able to upgrade other elements of the new headphones.

The main change has been to the sound – Sony has tweaked the tuning of the headphones so it’s more akin to its most recent WH-1000XM5 and WH-1000XM6 models. It’s claiming richer and clearer vocals, greater separation and a more immersive listen, plus greater dynamics and punchier bass.

Through Sony’s Headphones Connect app, you can now access a ten-band equaliser and a dedicated Gaming EQ setting, which wasn’t available for the original.

The WH-1000XM4C have Multipoint Bluetooth and still feature Sony’s Precise Voice Pickup technology, which helps with phone calls.

In addition to the standard black and silver (which is a slightly lighter shade than before) finishes, there’s also a new lavender option which brings a splash of colour to the range. Sony hasn’t confirmed whether a Midnight Blue option will be available, as was introduced for the original model.

The WH-1000XM4C cost £219 / $300 / AU$449.95 and go on sale this month. You might be wondering what this means for the WH-1000XM5, which at the time of writing are still on sale. Their battery does not conform to the EU regulation, so they will go end of life before February 2027, and the WH-1000XM4C will continue in their place.

What do you think? Are you excited to see the XM4 return? Let us know by clicking on our poll and leave a comment below! We'll hopefully be getting a sample soon, so stay tuned for our full review!

MORE:

Here's our pick of the best wireless headphones you can buy right now

Read our original Sony WH-1000XM4 review

Sony WH-1000XM5 vs WH-1000XM4: which headphones should you buy?

The What Hi-Fi? Hall of Fame: the best products of the 2020s

The xboom Series takes aim at competitors like JBL, Bose and Sony, with an expansive selection of Bluetooth speakers, spanning from compact outdoor portables to room-filling “party speakers”. LG says that all speakers in the series have been tuned by former Black Eyed Peas member, will.i.am.

UK availability and pricing is as follows:

LG xboom Mini: a compact, ultra-portable speaker with an IP67 water and dust resistance rating. Available now for £40 / $70.

LG xboom Rock: an ultra durable, pocket-sized speaker encased in a shock-resistant, IP67 water-and-dust-proof chassis. Available now for £60 / $80.

LG xboom Blast: a plus-sized speaker which LG claims is “built for long adventures”. With 35 hours of playback, 220 watts of power, four drive units and three passive radiators, LG promises that the xboom Blast will deliver an "expansive soundscape” in any environment. Available now for £450 / $500.

LG xboom Stage 501: a “party ready” speaker, offering up to 25 hours of playback and 220 watts of power for “a bold, room-filling sound” from a five-sided cabinet. Available now for £500 / $500.

Aside from the speakers already released, LG says that the range-topping LG xboom Power 5000 and LG xboom Power 9000 speakers are also set to become available at the start of October, with pricing to be confirmed ahead of release.

MORE:

What makes great sound? We asked the audio experts at Sennheiser and iconic club Fabric how they get hi-fi results in different environments

“We know the home, we know audio, we know music” – we speak to Sonos about its operating system rebrand, its "customer-led" focus and app updates

Our pick of the best Bluetooth speakers tested by our expert reviewers

But if you're looking for the ultimate option when it comes to style, luxury and sound quality, there's only one line we'd recommend: the Focal Bathys series.

Luckily, the original Focal Bathys now has a price tag that's not quite as high-end as its appearance: the premium pair of cans is now £399 at Peter Tyson.

That's the lowest price we've seen for the wireless wonders, which previously dropped to £449 earlier this year. Given that we reviewed them at a whopping £699, that's a rather generous £300 discount.

Focal was previously better known for its wired headphone offerings, but that all changed with the release of the Bathys. We're pleased to report that this transition to Bluetooth hasn't resulted in a step down in finesse – even at their high-end launch price, these cans don't disappoint.

As you will have likely noticed, the usual Focal flair is present in the design, with aluminium ear cups and light-up logos. The playback buttons have a plasticky feel, but otherwise this is a gorgeous and solidly built pair.

The Bathys were Focal's first foray into active noise-cancelling, and a strong opening effort. Two different levels are available ('soft' or 'silent') as well as a 'Transparent' mode. There's also codec support for SBC, AAC and aptX Adaptive.

30 hours of battery life is on offer, with charging via USB-C. There's even a USB-DAC mode that supports 24-bit/192kHz audio through the USB-C port.

However you listen, the Focal Bathys are among the most engaging wireless headphones we have heard.

As our Focal Bathys review reads: "Instantly we recognise the smooth, warm, full-bodied tonal balance the company’s wired headphones have found so much success with, and here too that is complemented by very good levels of resolution, dynamic subtlety and rhythmic ability within the context of their type and price."

If you're willing to go the wired route, then the USB-DAC mode adds a degree of refinement and tightness to the delivery.

Focal has released an updated model with a purely magnesium driver, helpfully called the Focal Bathys Mg. The sound is a cut above in terms of refinement and expression, though you'll have to swallow the £999 asking price.

With the high-end Focal Bathys now at a similar price to the majority of the premium headphone market, now is the perfect time to snap up a flashy pair of luxury headphones at a drop-down price. With as much substance as they do style, the Focal Bathys come highly recommended for £399 at Peter Tyson.

MORE:

How do active noise-cancelling headphones work? Are they worth it?

The best noise-cancelling headphones you can buy

And our pick of the best wireless headphones

These included everything from multiple new Sonos products launching to the arrival of Yamaha’s new active speakers in our review rooms. So if you struggled to keep up with all the news, don’t worry.

As always, we’re here to help keep you apprised of all the most important AV developments with our latest Rewind column.

Sonos unveiled two new products

The biggest news of the week came from Sonos, which unveiled not one, but two, new pieces of hardware. First up are the new Sonos Ace Ultra wireless headphones. These are the second wireless headphones from the brand, following on from the three-star Sonos Ace we reviewed two years ago. Loaded with new drivers, refined tuning and upgraded ANC, Sonos made big claims about their improved audio quality at the event. Fingers crossed they ring true when we get the Ace Ultra in for testing.

Second, there was also a new Sonos Beam Ultra soundbar. Despite the naming, this isn’t a replacement for the long-lived, five-star Sonos Beam (Gen 2). Instead, the Ultra sits between the entry-level Beam (Gen 2) and Sonos Arc Ultra in the firm’s lineup. The biggest upgrade is the Beam Ultra’s new driver arrangement, which includes up-firing Atmos speakers. We haven’t reviewed it yet, but our staff writer, Robyn Quick, walked away from the demo session very impressed. We’re excited to get one into our viewing rooms for the full What Hi-Fi? review treatment, as a result.

Read the full story: Sonos Ace Ultra feature all-new drivers, updated ANC, and a "direct connection" to the current Sonos ecosystem

Read the full story: Sonos' new Beam soundbar is finally here with a big Dolby Atmos upgrade – but there’s still something missing

We reviewed Yamaha’s active speakers

Active speaker systems are a vogue category in the world of hi-fi right now, with the Cambridge Audio L/R series speakers, KEF LS Luxe and more already having passed through our review rooms this year. Last week, we had the Yamaha NX-70A wireless speaker system in our test rooms, continuing this trend.

Sandwiched between the five-star LS Luxe (£3500 / $4000 / AU$6375) and LS50 Wireless II systems (£2199 / $3000 / AU$4000) on price, they have stiff competition. But during testing we found plenty to like, with the units delivering a mature, spacious sound with a nicely extended, well-controlled bass. Add to this their stellar, high-quality build, and there’s a lot to like about them. Were it not for their strong rivals, which offer slightly more rhythmic drive, they’d be a class leader, rather than merely a valid alternative to the KEFs.

As we said in our review: “The Yamaha NX-70A is a sonically talented and highly adaptable wireless all-in-one speaker system. While it might not be an outright class leader, this system is nonetheless worthy of serious attention for its expansive feature set, heaps of aesthetic panache and mature, expressive sound.”

Read our full Yamaha NX-70A review

What Hi-Fi? readers unite behind Blu-ray

We always love it when we get to chat with you, our ever-opinionated readers – especially when the stars align and you agree with us. That’s exactly what happened last week when we collated your responses to our last Ask The Reader question: are we living in a golden age of home cinema?

You were all united in your response of no, we are not. But it was the reason for your rejection of said 'golden age' that caught our eye, with nearly all of you flagging the prevalence of streaming as a key reason, arguing that the technical and cultural benefits of physical media, especially Blu-ray, mean the days of yore were superior. We can’t help but agree.

Read the full story: The What Hi-Fi? readers have spoken and the age of streaming is not a golden one for home cinema – all hail the Blu-ray

A new premium Dolby Atmos system caught our eye

Samsung has long dominated the premium Dolby Atmos soundbar system space. That’s undeniable if you look at recent years’ What Hi-Fi? Award winners and our latest five-star review of the flagship Samsung HW-Q990H system.

But walking around the IFA tradeshow, our eagle-eyed (and eared) senior staff writer, Lewis Empson, spotted a potential rival with the technical chops to challenge for the crown this year. Specifically, the Hisense UX1.

Featuring satellite wireless surrounds and a subwoofer, complementing the central soundbar, the UX1 impressed him for three key reasons, which you can find out by clicking the article below.

Read the full story: Hisense is taking on the mighty Samsung HW-Q990H with a new Dolby Atmos soundbar system – here are 3 reasons I think it could be great

New Michi amps

Finally, last week Japanese brand Rotel unveiled two new additions to its premium line of separates: the Michi Prestige P430 preamplifier and Michi Prestige S430 stereo amplifier.

Offering music fans 230 watts per channel into 8 ohms worth of muscle, Rotel claims the S430 is designed for people who want to graduate from single box systems into the world of separates. Packed with custom hardware, Rotel claims it will deliver a sound full of dynamic impact and a firm but controlled low end.

Alongside it, Rotel is pitching its P430 preamplifier as an ideal purchase for music fans looking for modern connectivity alongside premium separates performance. Loaded with all the outputs you most people will ever need and built around an ESS SABRE ES9028PRO 8-channel DAC, Rotel claims the preamplifier will deliver audio with “pristine clarity, natural detail, and an open, precisely focused soundstage".

Both units are set to go on sale this month. The S430 will retail for £3599 / $3999 / €3999, while the P430 will cost £3599 / $3999 / €3999.

Read the full story: Double drop! Rotel expands its premium Michi portfolio with a new stereo amplifier and preamplifier

MORE:

Our reviewers rank the best stereo amps

These are the best hi-fi systems we’ve tested

Our picks of the best Dolby Atmos soundbars

Can anybody stop Paris Saint-Germain from making it three straight titles in the UEFA Champions League 2026/27? Despite a very ordinary start to the Ligue 1 season, it would still be a brave punter that bets against Luis Enrique's side from joining an elite group of clubs (Ajax, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid) that have won the competition three seasons running. And bringing in World Cup final scorer Ferran Torres as yet another attacking option certainly won't hurt their chances.

It's Europe's usual suspects that are most likely to stop them. Having taken PSG all the way to penalties in May's final, Arsenal are leading a five-strong EPL charge alongside Man City, Man Utd, Liverpool and the Europa League-winning Aston Villa. Spain also has five sides entering this year's league phase, with La Liga champions Barcelona and 15-time winners Real Madrid with the title in their crosshairs, and Atlético Madrid, Real Betis and Villarreal all hoping to battle their way through to the knockouts.

Germany's Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, Italy's Inter Milan and Napoli, and continent stalwarts such as PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands), Porto (Portugal) and Galatasary (Turkiye) are perennial threats. While it will be interesting to see who this year's Bodø/Glimt will be — could the likes of Como (Italy), LASK (Austria) or Sabah (Azerbaijan) cause some upsets?

Matchweek 1 (8th to 10th September) sees the reigning champions handed a relatively easy opener against Slovak minnows Slovan Bratislava at the Parc des Princes in Paris on Wednesday, while Arsenal face a much trickier task with a visit to Napoli on the same day. Real Madrid vs Inter Milan (Tue.) is undoubtedly the most eye-catching tie of the round, with Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid (Wed.) and Bayern Munich vs Bodø/Glimt (Thu.) also standing out.

Follow our guide below for information on where to watch Champions League live streams in 2026/27 with a VPN — and potentially for FREE. We've also got details of the kick-off times for the next set of tournament fixtures.

How can I watch Champions League 2026/27 for free?

You can watch multiple UCL games free-of-charge in Ireland, Turkiye, Belgium and Luxembourg each matchweek.

In Ireland, up to six Champions League ties are shown on free-to-air Virgin Media Two each week, with live streaming available via Virgin Media Play. A further two games are shown on free-to-air RTÉ 2, with live streaming available via RTÉ Player. See the schedule below for which games are showing free on Ireland this week.

In Turkiye, select games are available to live stream on TRT1, TRT Spor which are both available on Tabii.

In Belgium, select games are available to live stream on VTM Go and RTL Play. While Luxembourg's own RTL Play is the place to watch selected games for free there.

Watch Champions League streams from abroad

You won't be able to watch your go-to Champions League live stream while traveling overseas. The streaming service will spot that you're in a foreign country and block you.

You can use a VPN (virtual private network) to get around this, though. It's a straightforward piece of software that sets your device to appear as if it's in a different country, allowing you to watch your preferred Champions League live stream from anywhere in the world.

We rate NordVPN one of the best VPN for streaming sport. It offers a 30-day guarantee for all your money back if you're not happy with the service.

Watch Champions League 2026/27 live in US

In the USA, cable TV coverage of the Champions League is available via CBS Sports Network, which shows select matches each matchweek (two per day). You can see which ones are showing this week in the schedule below.

Select UCL programming and League Phase games will also be shown on free streaming service CBS Sports Golazo.

For comprehensive UCL coverage, Paramount Plus is live streaming all 189 Champions League games in the US. Paramount Plus plans start from just $8.99 a month or $89.99 year. And you can get access to the streaming platform for just $1, as it's bundled into a Walmart+ 30-day trial.

Need Spanish-language coverage? Cable channel TUDN will also show selected games, with sports streaming specialist DAZN streaming all matches from $20 a month.

If you don't have cable and like the idea of a fully loaded alternative, you can watch CBS Sports Network via an OTT cord cutting service like Fubo or Hulu + Live TV, both of which carry free trials for new users.

Watch Champions League 2026/27 in the UK

TV coverage of the Champions League is available via TNT Sports, which shows select games each matchweek. Its channels can be added to Sky, Virgin Media and EE TV plans.

However, the vast majority of UCL games (more than 185) are being live streamed on HBO Max, which includes TNT Sports with certain plans. Relevant subscription cost from £30.99 a month on a rolling basis or £25.99 if you commit to a whole year.

One game from each matchweek will be exclusive to Prime Video, which gets its pick of the Tuesday fixtures. It costs £8.99 a month or £95 a year, with a free 30-day trial for new and some returning customers.

Outside the UK for a part of the season? Get NordVPN to access your usual UCL streams.

Watch Champions League 2026/27 in Australia

Every single Champions League fixture is exclusive to streaming service Stan Sport.

To tune in you'll need both a standard Stan package (from $9.99 a month) and the Stan Sport add-on (a further $20). Stan Sport also has every single Premier League game available on the platform.

Australian viewers travelling abroad can access their Champions League streams using NordVPN.

Watch Champions League 2026/27 in Canada

All 189 UCL games are exclusive to the DAZN streaming service.

DAZN's plans start at $24.99 a month if you pay for a year up-front.

NordVPN will give you access to every game on DAZN even when you're overseas!

Watch Champions League 2026/27 in New Zealand

Every single Champions League fixture is exclusive to streaming service DAZN.

A flexible rolling subscription starts at $14.99 a month, or you can pay from $149.99 for a whole year.

Champions League Matchweek 1 Fixtures

Tuesday 8th September
AEK Athens vs LASK — 12.45pm ET / 5.45pm BST
Club Brugge vs Aston Villa — 12.45pm ET / 5.45pm BST Watch free on VM Play
Borussia Dortmund vs Villarreal — 3pm ET / 8pm BST
Lille vs Real Betis — 3pm ET / 8pm BST
Porto vs Manchester City — 3pm ET / 8pm BST
Real Madrid vs Inter — 3pm ET / 8pm BST Watch free on VM Play

Wednesday 9th September
Barcelona vs Feyenoord — 12.45pm ET / 5.45pm BST Watch free on VM Play
Stuttgart vs Viking — 12.45pm ET / 5.45pm BST
Liverpool vs Atlético de Madrid — 3pm ET / 8pm BST Watch free on RTÉ Player
Napoli vs Arsenal — 3pm ET / 8pm BST Watch free on VM Play
Paris Saint-Germain vs Slovan Bratislava — 3pm ET / 8pm BST
Sporting CP vs Galatasaray — 3pm ET / 8pm BST

Thursday 10th September
Fenerbahçe vs Roma — 12.45pm ET / 5.45pm BST Watch free on VM Play
PSV Eindhoven vs Shakhtar Donetsk — 12.45pm ET / 5.45pm BST
Bayern Munich vs Bodø/Glimt — 3pm ET / 8pm BST Watch free on VM Play
Como vs RB Leipzig — 3pm ET / 8pm BST
Manchester United vs Sabah — 3pm ET / 8pm BST Watch free on RTÉ Player
Slavia Prague vs Lens — 3pm ET / 8pm BST

• Where to watch a free F1 live stream
• Get the matchday experience with one of the best soundbars
• Shop our best TV deals

At first we thought the SL-1500CS was intended to replace the original, but Technics sees it as the next step in its turntable hierarchy, with the standard model continuing in production.

Build & design

What’s the difference between the two? It comes down to the direct-drive’s motor controller circuit. The new SL-1500CS design repurposes the company’s Delta-Sigma Drive technology, as seen in its digital amplifiers, to give the motor a purer signal feed. The result is a motor that spins more smoothly and accurately. This may not sound like much, but it affects every aspect of the record player’s performance.

Elsewhere, everything feels reassuringly familiar. The robust-feeling plinth remains a sturdy mix of aluminium, ABS and glass fibre to deliver a rigid, low-resonance structure. It is only available in a single finish, Metallic Grey, and to our eyes at least, looks smart.

The resonance-control theme continues with the SL-1500CS’s platter. It is made of die-cast aluminium and heavily damped with rubber on the underside to produce a more inert support for the record.

The record player’s ‘S’-shaped tonearm is a well-proven aluminium design. Its bearings are smooth and relatively play-free, while the detachable headshell makes cartridge swapping a breeze. The easily adjustable arm height is another tick in the Ease-Of-Use column. The lift/lower lever works well enough but doesn’t feel particularly precise or positive in use.

Technics has included an Ortofon 2M Red moving magnet cartridge as part of the package, and it is a good choice. This much-respected design is an unfussy yet capable performer that tracks securely at a steady 1.8g.

Speed switching is easily done at the touch of a button, with the SL-1500CS offering 78 RPM alongside the usual 33 ⅓ and 45 choices. We like the way the platter gets quickly up to speed without the judder and fuss of most belt-driven rivals.

The SL-1500CS is a semi-automatic design. It can be set to lift the arm at the end of a record side. This takes around ten revolutions to kick in, so don’t worry if it doesn’t happen as soon as the stylus tip reaches the run-out groove.

There is also a built-in phono stage, unchanged from the standard SL-1500C. Most included phono stages tend to be stop-gap efforts that are easily bettered by modestly priced outboard units. That’s not the case here.

We think this Technics phono module is good enough to hold its head high against most sub-£200 phono stages we’ve heard. If the urge to upgrade does strike, the circuit can be taken out of the signal path with the flick of a small switch on the back panel.

Setting up the SL-1500CS is easy. Once the deck is out of the packaging, the user just needs to fit the platter, attach the headshell, and set the tracking weight and bias to match. The Ortofon cartridge is already fitted and aligned in the headshell.

A quartet of large spring and rubber feet provide a degree of isolation from external vibrations, though as with any turntable, a level, low-resonance support is still recommended.

The deck’s tonearm leads are detachable. They do the job, but still leave a little too much on the table for our tastes. They would be our first port of call when the urge to upgrade strikes. All the SL-1500CS’s sockets are deeply inset under the plinth. While this makes for a neater installation, making the initial connections is more fiddly than we would like.

A record player at this level demands a good quality partnering system. We get great results with the Technics feeding an Arcam A15+ amplifier and KEF LS50 Meta speakers. We also installed the Technics into our reference system of Cyrus Phono Signature/PSX-R2 phono stage, Burmester 088/911 MkIII amplifier and ATC SCM50 speakers, to really put a spotlight on its performance.

Our benchmarks are the similarly-priced Rega Planar 3 RS Edition and the standard SL-1500C (fitted with an Ortofon 2M cartridge as standard). The comparisons are intriguing.

Sound

How much difference does improved motor control make? It turns out that the answer is quite a lot. Given how similar the two Technics decks are, the sonic differences are surprisingly large in a suitably transparent system.

The SL-1500CS is a livelier and more energetic performer. Beethoven’s 9th Symphony comes through with greater conviction, with more expressive dynamic shifts and a stronger handle on the individual instrumental strands.

The new model sounds composed and organised, making more sense of the music. We’re having more fun too, thanks to an increased sense of verve and drama.

Both Technics decks are supplied with the same Ortofon cartridge, so there is little difference in tonal character. They both sound even and balanced, though the new model offers notably more insight into the recording.

In general terms, the SL-1500CS proves to be an excellent performer for the money. That improved detail resolution doesn’t just better its cheaper stablemate; it is impressive for the price too. Control and composure are also top class.

We love the Technics deck’s sense of power when playing large-scale music. Its presentation is big, muscular and punchy. Crucially, it avoids sounding brutish; there is too much in the way of finesse to let that happen.

However, given appropriate music, the low-end kicks hard with plenty of weight and authority. Bob Marley’s Catch A Fire comes through with its energy and attitude fully intact. Move up the frequency range, and there is a good degree of clarity, with Marley’s voice coming through with natural warmth, body and emotion.

Add an impressive sense of stability coupled to surefooted rhythmic ability, and it is hard to escape the conclusion that this is one of the best record players we’ve heard anywhere near this price.

Our current class leader is Rega’s mighty Planar 3 RS Edition, of course. This comes fitted with the excellent Nd5 moving magnet cartridge, and sets sky-high performance standards for the price.

Unlike the standard Planar 3, the RS Edition features electronic speed change as well as a smarter finish on the plinth. There is no built-in phono stage, so this isn’t quite an apples-to-apples comparison, but it is close enough to prove useful.

Cutting to the chase, the Rega is ultimately the more transparent and insightful performer. It tells us more about the recording and edges ahead when it comes to dynamic subtlety and rhythmic precision. The Technics counters with more powerful, though less articulate bass and a fine sense of stability, so it isn’t all one-way traffic.

Verdict

If you are after the most sonically capable record player at this level, then go for the Rega. It is a superb product that’s beautifully engineered and a pleasure to use. However, the Technics SL-1500CS isn’t short of appeal either.

It too is superbly made, and feels like it will survive decades of use. If you are the kind of person that loves swapping cartridges, it makes that so easy. Factor in the impressive built-in phono stage and there are enough plus points for the Technics to be considered a worthy alternative to the Rega. The SL-1500CS deserves a high place on any shortlist.

Review published: 7th September 2026

SCORES

• Sound 5
• Build 5
• Features 5

MORE:

Read our review of the Rega Planar 3 RS Edition

Also consider the Pro-Ject Debut Reference 10

Best turntables: top record players tested by our expert reviewers

After a stunner in San Salvador de Jujuy, the rugby teams of Argentina and Australia head south to Mendoza for the second and final Test match of their mini series.

With fairly fresh memories of their embarrassing 67-27 capitulation on Argentine soil two years ago, the Wallabies came out all guns blazing last week to record an impressive, hard-fought 27-21 win to maintain coach Les Kiss's perfect record since taking charge. Flanker Tom Hooper's 55th minute try to take the lead was ultimately enough to tip the evenly balanced scales in Australia's favour, following tries from Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Carter Gordon and Fraser McReight.

The win may have allowed the Aussies to leapfrog Argentina in the world rankings, but they'll have to respond to injuries to Hooper and Tate McDermott, with Ben Donaldson coming in at 10.

That will be a boost to Felipe Contepomi's men who are looking for a big push towards next year's Rugby World Cup. He's brought in four news faces to the starting XV, including his own replacement fly-half in Nicolás Roger. Can the Pumas bite back?

Follow our guide below for where to watch Argentina vs Australia 2nd Test live streams from anywhere with a VPN. We've also got details of the kick-off time and full team line-ups below.

How can I watch Argentina vs Australia 2nd Test for free?

In the US RugbyPass TV will show then Argentina vs Australia 2nd Test for free. You can also access this via the RugbyPass app (iOS/Android).

If you're from the US but are currently overseas, you can simply use a VPN to tap into that free coverage. More details below...

Watch Argentina vs Australia 2nd Test live streams from anywhere

You won't be able to watch your regular Argentina vs Australia live streams if you're travelling overseas this weekend. The platform will detect that you're in a foreign country and block you. Thankfully, you can use a VPN to get round this.

We rate NordVPN as one of the best VPNs for streaming sports. It offers a generous 30-day guarantee for all your money back if you're not happy with the service.

How to watch Argentina vs Australia 2nd Test in the US

As explained above, RugbyPass TV will broadcast Argentina vs Australia. All you need to do is register an account.

Overseas right now? Use NordVPN to access your preferred coverage of the rugby.

• Expert TV advice: best OLED TVs for sports fans
• View the latest TV deals on Amazon

Watch Argentina vs Australia 2nd Test live streams in the UK

You can stream the 2nd Argentina vs Australia Test match on Sky Sports in the UK. It will be shown on the Sky Sports Action channel.

Outside the UK on Saturday? Use NordVPN to watch on Sky Go as if you were back home.

Watch Argentina vs Australia 2nd Test live streams in Australia

Stan Sport is your go-to to the 2nd Test watch in Australia, which costs AU$20 a month on top of a AU$9.99 a month Stan base plan.

If you're currently spending time in Australia from the US, use a good VPN as detailed above to tap into your free Argentina vs Australia coverage.

Argentina vs Australia 2nd Test : Need to Know

What is the Argentina vs Australia head-to-head?

Australia have won 31 of the 44 Tests with Argentina taking 10 and three draws.

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• Or save money with these unmissable cheap TV deals
• Where to watch F1 2026 for free

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

The niceties are out of the window ahead of the South Africa vs New Zealand 3rd Test, which isn't technically the decider but certainly feels that way. It's the last game of the Rugby's Greatest Rivalry series to take place on South African soil, even if Soweto hasn't always felt like home for the Springboks.

They've played three games at the Calabash and lost two of them. The team that beat them on both occasions? That would be the All Blacks, by 22-29 in 2010, and by 16-32 two years later.

Despite being outscored by four tries to three, another flawless display of kicking by Cheslin Kolbe dragged South Africa level. Eben Etzebeth's interventions at the lineout were also crucial, causing New Zealand to turn the ball over three times in key areas of the pitch.

It's fair to say Dave Rennie didn't take the first defeat of his All Blacks tenure well. He said that the Boks props "walk around" the mark, triggering a full-scale feeding frenzy in the media.

Rassie Erasmus and forwards coach Daan Human were quick to bite back, though it's worth clarifying that Rennie's allegation didn't come entirely out of the blue. Erasmus, ever the provocateur, had already raised Rennie's ire by making wave after wave of last-minute changes to his starting lineup.

The shared flight to Baltimore next week should be interesting.

Follow our guide below for where to watch South Africa vs New Zealand 3rd Test live streams from anywhere with a VPN. We've also listed the full schedule and venues below.

How can I watch South Africa vs New Zealand 3rd Test for free?

The 3rd test of the South Africa vs New Zealand Test series will be broadcast on RugbyPass TV. It's also available to access via the RugbyPass app (iOS/Android).

In New Zealand, meanwhile, free-to-air Three and its ThreeNow streaming platform are showing all eight games on tape delay. The 3rd Test kicks off at 3.10am NZST on Sunday, but will be shown in full again at 11.30am NZST.

If you're from the US or New Zealand but you're currently abroad, you can simply use a VPN to tap into that free coverage of the 3rd Test. More details below...

Watch South Africa vs New Zealand 3rd Test live streams from anywhere

You won't be able to watch your regular South Africa vs New Zealand 3rd Test live streams while traveling abroad. The platform will detect that you're in a foreign country and block you. You can use a VPN to get round this.

We rate NordVPN as one of the best VPN for streaming sports. It offers a generous 30-day guarantee for all your money back if you're not happy with the service.

South Africa vs New Zealand 3rd Test team news

South Africa team: Cheslin Kolbe, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Ethan Hooker, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Cobus Reinach, Jasper Wiese, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi (c), Ruan Nortje, Eben Etzebeth, Wilco Louw, Malcolm Marx, Ox Nche

Replacements: Deon Fourie, Gerhard Steenekamp, Thomas du Toit, Lood de Jager, Andre Esterhuizen, Cameron Hanekom, Morne van den Berg, Manie Libbok

New Zealand team: Damian McKenzie, Will Jordan, Quinn Tupea, Jordie Barrett, Leroy Carter, Ruben Love, Cam Roigard, Ardie Savea (c), Luke Jacobson, Peter Lakai, Sam Darry, Tupuo Vaa’i, Tyrel Lomax, Asafo Aumua, George Bower

Replacements: Samisoni Taukei’aho, Xavier Numia, Fletcher Newell, Fabian Holland, Wallace Sititi, Kyle Preston, Anton Lienert-Brown, Josh Moorby

How to watch South Africa vs New Zealand 3rd Test in the US

The South Africa vs New Zealand 3rd Test is free-to-air in the US, thanks to RugbyPass TV. All you need to do is register an account.

Outside the US right now? Use NordVPN to access your preferred coverage of the rugby.

• Expert TV advice: best OLED TVs for sports fans
• View the latest TV deals on Amazon

Watch South Africa vs New Zealand 3rd Test live streams in the UK

The South Africa vs New Zealand 3rd Test is being shown on Sky Sports in the UK, on its Sky Sports Action and Sky Sports+ channels.

Need the Sky Sports lowdown before you invest? Check out our dedicated guide to all things Sky.

Outside the UK today? Use NordVPN to watch South Africa vs New Zealand as if you were back home.

Watch South Africa vs New Zealand 3rd Test live streams in Australia

The South Africa vs New Zealand 3rd Test is available to watch on Stan Sport in Australia, which costs AU$20/month on top of a AU$9.99/month Stan base plan.

If you're currently spending time in Australia from the US, use a good VPN, as detailed above, to tap into your free RGR coverage.

South Africa vs New Zealand 3rd Test: Need to know

What is the Springboks vs All Blacks head-to-head?

The Springboks have won 44 of their 112 previous encounters with New Zealand. The All Blacks have won 64, and the other four ended in draws.

In South Africa, the head-to-head stands at 29-26-1.

• Where to stream the Premier League in 2026/27
• Or save money with these unmissable TV deals
• Where to watch F1 2026 for free

We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service).2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad.We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.

Specifically, the firm lifted the lid on its spiffy new Sonos Beam Ultra at the IFA trade show in Berlin.

Unveiled alongside the new Sonos Ace Ultra wireless headphones, I want to kick off this opinion piece by making clear: I think the Ultra looks impressive and is, in nearly every way, the successor we’ve been waiting for.

In fact, as our reviewer on the ground at IFA, Robyn Quick, rattled off the details about the bar to the team back home, all of us (outside of senior staff writer, Harry McKerrell, who’s always miserable) had a smile growing on our faces.

Upgraded drivers, including the addition of proper up-firing height channels? Yep, it’s got them.

The ability to add Sonos Era 100 or Era 300 satellite wireless speakers as surrounds? Yes, the awesome feature has finally trickled down from the Arc Ultra into the more affordable Beam range.

And as a cherry on top, Robyn then penned a feature detailing how it sounds. The top line is, while it’s too early to give our final verdict, the Ultra left a very strong opening impression – so much so that a game of rock, paper, scissors ensued among the team to decide who would be the primary reviewer (it ended in a stalemate).

All in all, it was huzzahs abound at What Hi-Fi? towers.

But then, one more fact came rumbling in that replaced our smiles with a quizzical expression. Specifically, the Ultra is not a replacement or successor to the Sonos Beam (Gen 2); it’s actually a new step-up model in Sonos’ range.

Yes, we don’t know how the Beam Ultra will perform in our test rooms, but truthfully, given the Beam 2’s age, this was a curveball for us.

Why would the company do that when the Beam 2 is so old? Surely, it’s time to let the old girl retire? These were some of the mutterings that came out of our mouths as we processed the information.

But as I pondered the question, a final bit of information trickled through from the launch event that, at least for me, explained the move.

The Beam Ultra is a lot more expensive, set to retail for £699 (around $946 / AU$1320). The Beam (Gen 2) – outside of big sales events where it’s dropped as low as £349 – usually retails for £429 / $429 in most stores right now.

Cash-rich people may laugh at the idea of going for a soundbar that launched in 2021, when a newer model is out. But truthfully, £160 / $160 is a lot of money for most of us right now.

As a person who has listened to the Beam (Gen 2) alongside newer rivals, I can confirm it is still a very competent unit. That’s why it remains the recommended small option in our best Dolby Atmos soundbars guide.

I cited the cost of living crisis as a key reason I don’t think we’re in a golden age of home cinema during our public debate on the topic earlier this year, and I stand by that sentiment.

So given that it still sounds good, keeping it around and giving normal people an entry point to Sonos’ ecosystem that won’t completely break the bank not only makes sense, but for me is 100 per cent the right thing to do.

It’s also why, even if the Beam Ultra delivers the sonic goods in our review rooms later this year, I can easily envision the Beam (Gen 2) retaining its recommendation. There are very few good, sub-£500 soundbars around and even fewer with the Beam’s compact form factor. So it’s definitely not beyond the realm of possibility…

MORE:

These are the best soundbars we’ve tested

We rank the best surround sound systems

Our picks of the best TVs

But then you'd miss the pretty great deals, especially if you or a loved one are heading to university in the coming weeks.

Whether you're into hi-fi or home cinema, there's a little something for everyone this week, all the way from mid-range Bluetooth speakers to premium AV receivers.

These are all products our expert reviewers have tried and tested, some as recently as last week. And all of the below have earned at least five stars to get the What Hi-Fi? recommended thumbs-up.

Curious? Take a look for yourself...

The Harman Kardon Luna 2 has a classy design with a ring light that is far more elegant than the garish party lights of other Bluetooth speakers. Sonically, it doesn't quite topple the class leaders, but it has an articulate, clear and spacious presentation with a particularly excellent midrange presence.

The iPhone 17 Pro may be superseded in a matter of weeks, but that just means there's some great discounts available now. At the time of writing, at least, the 17 Pro is the best iPhone yet for movies and music, with a gorgeous but balanced picture and superb sound.

The Beyerdynamic DT 700 Pro X may be studio headphones marketed at content creators, but there's plenty to offer consumers with excellent detail and a musical but articulate sound. If you’ve got a desktop hi-fi system in need of new headphones, these are one of our top recommendations, now at a new lowest price.

The Arcam AVR31 may be getting on a bit, but it's still one of the best AV receivers we've ever tested. It's a sophisticated, premium amplifier that offers both high-class sound and impressive connectivity features, with a healthy seven HDMI 2.1 inputs and three outputs. Now a whopping 57 per cent off.

A former What Hi-Fi? Award winner, the Sonos Era 300 is a wireless smart speaker that comes packing all the goodness and seamlessness of a Sonos system, with a key stand-out feature: spatial audio. However, it performs admirably with any format of music you throw at it, and the vast array of features go a long way toward justifying the price tag.

We've only just reviewed the Hisense PT1, but we were very impressed with the inclusion of a full tri-chroma (RGB) laser projection, built-in Vidaa smarts, a premium design and a potent integrated sound system for a very reasonable price. That price is now a whole lot more reasonable – pay only £1199 with the code RSTV400.

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Our pick of the best wireless headphones you can buy

And the best TVs for all budgets

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And while it may be tempting to wait a few more months, there are some record-low prices to be had already – including a whopping 50 per cent off a pair of multi-Award-winning headphones.

There’s plenty else to consider, though, including our 2025 TV Product of the Year, a new OLED favourite and a saving on Apple’s best AirPods.

Whatever you decide on, every product below has been tried and tested by our expert review team. Each device is compared to the market leaders, and only those with four stars or more get our sought-after recommendation.

So kick back this long weekend and enjoy some of the deals…

The Sony WH-1000XM5 premium noise-canceling headphones are great performers, and this fantastic half-price saving makes them even better value. The newer WH-1000XM6 have taken their place, but the XM5 are still very much recommended.

The LG C6 is one of our favorite TVs of the year so far, with a new processor delivering a brighter, richer and more refined OLED picture than its predecessor. If you’re looking for a mid-range OLED, this is the one to get, and its awesome gaming specs are ideal for GTA 6 in a few months.

If you’re looking to add streaming smarts to your TV or just upgrade its capabilities, then the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2nd Generation) is our video streamer Product of the Year and our top choice at this price range. The stick adds Amazon’s app-packed Fire OS, with a detailed, rich picture and support for all four HDMI formats.

The AirPods Pro 3 have it all, with spacious, powerful and dynamic sound, effective noise-canceling and a comfortable, lightweight design. If you have an iOS device, these are the AirPods we recommend, and you’ll get to enjoy the snappy, seamless synergy between the two.

JBL has been king of the portable Bluetooth speaker game for a while now, and the JBL Flip 7 is no different. With skilful handling of dynamics and rhythms, excellent build quality and a strong feature set that includes Auracast and lossless wired audio, there’s a lot on offer here.

The Sony Bravia 8 II is our current reigning TV champion, scooping the Product of the Year gong in this category thanks to its exceptionally bright, vibrant and three-dimensional picture, excellent shadow detail and cinematically authentic presets. We’ve been singing its praises for some time, so this discount is the perfect time to see what all the fuss is about.

MORE:

These are the best projectors out there

Check out the best TVs we have reviewed

And here are the three best OLED TVs

The new products include the Fitzwilliam trio – which includes the Fitzwilliam CD, Fitzwilliam Amp and Fitzwilliam CD Amp – and the Quadriga Maxi all-in-one system, which combines streaming with a built-in CD player and speakers.

According to Majority, the Fitzwilliam trio has been designed to “let customers choose the right starting point for the equipment they already own, from adding connected sources to an established system, to powering passive speakers”.

First up is the Fitzwilliam CD. This is a slot-loading CD player, which offers support for CD, CD-R and CD-RW formats.

Far from being limited to physical music, the Fitzwilliam CD also features wireless listening and streaming options via Bluetooth 5.2, Spotify Lossless, Amazon Music and Deezer, as well as USB MP3 playback and internet radio. There's even support for DAB, DAB+ and FM radio.

Another analogue source can be connected via stereo RCA inputs, while stereo RCA, optical and coaxial outputs offer a variety of analogue and digital options.

The Fitzwilliam CD’s front panel features an 8cm colour display, showing the station, track and menu information. Users can control the unit wirelessly by remote, through the OKTIV app, or manually using the front-panel buttons.

Alongside the Fitzwilliam CD, the Fitzwilliam Amp provides 100 watts per channel of Class-D power via its Texas Instruments amplifier. Streaming and radio options are built in, with support for Spotify Connect with Spotify Lossless, Amazon Music, Deezer, internet radio and podcasts.

DAB, DAB+ and FM radio are also included, alongside Bluetooth support and MP3 playback from USB drives up to 128GB.

The amplifier has optical and coaxial digital inputs alongside a standard stereo RCA connection. For further listening versatility, outputs include stereo passive speaker outs, stereo RCA pre-amplifier outputs and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

According to Majority, preset EQ modes and customisable ‘My EQ’ controls allow bass, treble and loudness to be adjusted “to suit the room and speakers”.

Last but not least is the Fitzwilliam CD Amp, which pairs a tray-loading CD player with 100 watts per channel of Class D power from a Texas Instruments amplifier.

Like the Fitzwilliam CD, the Fitzwilliam CD Amp supports CD, CD-R and CD-RW, alongside Spotify Lossless, Amazon Music, Deezer, Bluetooth, USB MP3, internet radio, podcasts, DAB/DAB+ and FM.

The Fitzwilliam CD Amp accepts digital and analogue sources thanks to its stereo RCA, optical and coaxial inputs. Outputs include stereo speaker, stereo RCA pre-amplifier, and 3.5mm headphone connections.

The CD Amp has an 8cm colour display screen and can be controlled using built-in physical controls, a remote, or the OKTIV app.

What if you want everything combined in a single box? That's where the Quadriga Maxi comes in. Boasting 200 watts of total power, the 2.1-channel system combines two 7.6cm full-range drivers with a built-in 13cm bass woofer for “room-filling listening without separate equipment”.

The Quadriga Maxi features a slot-loading CD player, with CD, CD-R, CD-RW and MP3 CD support, alongside Spotify Connect, Amazon Music, Deezer, internet radio, podcasts, DAB/DAB+, FM, Bluetooth 5.2 and USB MP3 playback.

The all-in-one system includes optical, stereo RCA and 3.5mm aux inputs. For simple navigation of its extensive feature set, an 11cm colour display is provided, alongside wireless control options via remote and the OKTIV app.

The Fitzwilliam range and Quadriga Maxi are available now. Pricing is as follows:

- Fitzwilliam CD - £180 / €199
- Fitzwilliam Amp - £200 / €229
- Fitzwilliam CD Amp - £230 / €269
- Quadriga Maxi - £350 / €399

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Our pick of the best hi-fi systems tested by our expert reviewers

Here, our reviewers once again look back at all the great products that passed through our test rooms this month.

As you'd expect, these products have all been put through the proverbial wringer by our dedicated testing teams. Only devices that earned five stars are included here, with a whopping seven joining the club this month.

So luckily, we've done the hard work of sorting the wheat from the chaff – so take a look, and we'll explain why we rate them so highly below.

• Quiz! I made a TV tech crossword to test your knowledge - can you get 100%?

The Apple iPhone 17 Pro may have a successor in only a matter of days, but we still highly recommend it, especially now that it's available discounted. It's the best iPhone yet for movies and music, with a gorgeous but balanced picture and superb sound.

The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 is a pricey but brilliant portable movie machine with a bright, punchy and detailed picture and a new content-friendly aspect ratio. If you've been considering a folding phone, this is the most compelling option we've reviewed so far.

The smallest speakers in Dali’s new Sonik range follow in the footsteps of their floorstanding sibling, the five-star Sonik 5, with expressive, well-balanced sound and solid build quality. The Dali Sonik 1 will also forgive less than ideal placement, making them a strong choice for music lovers without a dedicated listening space.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra is as close to cinematic as a tablet can get, with a huge Dynamic AMOLED 2X display screen and a peak brightness of 1600 nits. You'll want to make use of broader performance features and beefy specs for this price, but this is the Android tablet to beat for movies and music on the go.

Amazon's Fire Tablet range has long been incredibly good value, and the Amazon Fire HD 8 is no different. Available for well under £100 when on sale, the Fire HD 8 absolutely nails the basics when it comes to movies and music – and regularly surpasses them.

Yamaha continues one of head-fi's greatest comebacks. The Yamaha YH-C3000 sets a new standard in their high-end class, with a fast, clear, natural sound and fluid, expressive dynamics.

The Roksan Caspian 4G Streaming Pre-Amplifier/Caspian 4G Power Amplifier has some big shoes to fill, but does so effortlessly. The pairing is a refreshingly forward-looking combination with the sonic talent to worry the class leaders, and makes us highly excited for what Roksan does next. You'll have to purchase them separately – the Caspian 4G Power Amplifier is at Richer Sounds for £2999.

MORE:

Our pick of the best wireless headphones you can buy

And the best TVs for all budgets

Interested in the bigger picture? Here are the best projectors we have tested

Keen to get a sneak peek at what our team of experts are working on, including which review units we’re testing, companies we’re visiting and events we’re attending?

Got an opinion to share that you’d like immortalised on What Hi-Fi?, in a new Quote of the Week section?

If the answer is yes to any of these questions, then we have some good news: we’re launching a new Editor’s Cut newsletter that will give you all three.

Editor’s Cut is part of a fresh push on What Hi-Fi? to make it easier for you, our lovely readers, to get to know and interact with our team of experts.

The newsletter will be sent every Saturday and will include a bespoke letter from our editor, plus his musings on the two biggest stories and reviews from the week.

On top of that, subscribers will be treated to a new What’s Next? summary detailing some of the big things coming the week after – including launch events we’re covering, products we’re testing and people we’re interviewing.

As is always the case with the likes of our regular Ask The Reader and Sound Advice columns and our new Substack, we’re open to feedback!

Whether it’s a new section you want added, or a question about one of the items in What’s Next?, or something you want us to raise with a manufacturer we're talking to, we want to hear from you!

If you’ve got a musing or hot take on a topic, we even have a new Quote of the Week section, which is open to readers as well as the people we’re interviewing and our reviewers.

Otherwise, you can subscribe to the Editor’s Cut, alongside our other current newsletters here!

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Check out the What Hi-Fi? Hall of Fame

Get a behind-the-scenes look at What Hi-Fi?’s shenanigans on Substack

Don’t forget to sign up for our forums!

Below, you’ll find all the clues to our crossword, which packs in multiple TV terms to try and bamboozle you. Give it a go and see if you can record the fastest time and beat our own experts at their own game. Enjoy!

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From the fully digital amplification architecture and unusual lossless volume control to its bespoke app interface layout, this Lyngdorf sits a little adjacent to the mainstream alternatives – and it feels every bit a modern hi-fi product.

Build & design

The Lyngdorf TDAI-2210 may sit in between the brand’s existing TDAI-1110 and TDAI-3310 models, but it is no middle child with hand-me-downs. It is completely redesigned from the ground up, with a new PCB layout, a cleaner signal path and better power supply filtering – and is the most advanced product in the range.

The TDAI-2210’s key technical element is in the name: TDAI stands for Total Digital Amplification, Integrated. This is not a common Class D amplifier, but a fully digital amplifier that keeps the incoming music signal digital all the way through, from the digital inputs up to the filtered speaker outputs; even analogue signals are converted to digital before being processed by the amplifier. This technology is Lyngdorf’s own design and is an evolved version of the first digital amplifier – the TacT Millennium – that we reviewed a quarter of a century ago.

The amplifier’s output is rated at 105W per channel into 8 ohms, and it doubles in power (to 210W) as impedance halves to 4 ohms. This means the amp will drive any price-compatible speakers without any issue, in electrical terms at least.

The unit itself is compact and minimal, coming in a matte black finish that looks rather unassuming at first. Lyngdorf says it wanted to prove you can have a high-performing, high-end product even in a small footprint, and the TDA-2210 fits the brief. The build quality is reassuringly solid, and details such as the ridges on the sides of the unit are finished to a high standard.

Lyngdorf has focused its attention on the high-contact points of the streaming amp: the large full-colour touchscreen display, the “lossless” volume control, and the redesigned My Lyngdorf control app.

Let’s start with the glass touchscreen display, which is crisp and clear, with album artwork and the large icons easy to see from a distance. The glass has a smooth feel that is responsive to every tap and, most importantly, leaves no fingerprints.

We also like how the display screen’s background changes colour to match the album artwork being shown. There is a display option that shows a spectrum analyser, but Lyngdorf bucks the current trend by avoiding any retro VU meters.

One of the TDAI-2210’s standout features is the volume control, which changes the gain from the output stage rather than attenuating the incoming signal as is conventional. This avoids distortion or any issues with channel balance that are inherent in potentiometer-based volume controls.

The volume dial software is calibrated beautifully, with every tiny incremental movement on the dial having an instant visual feedback on the large display. Using it feels organic and rewarding. You can make very subtle and specific adjustments to the level, and spinning the dial faster results in quicker volume changes.

Combined with the My Lyngdorf app, the TDAI-2210 is a delight to use. It’s clear that Lyngdorf has put a lot of effort into how the streaming amp feels to use. The interface layout is clean and logical, and it both looks and feels considerably more modern than the usual lines of text and sub-menus we see in rival systems.

The harmonious way the display, app and controls respond to all our interactions throughout testing is very pleasing. There is a traditional remote control included, too.

The app – and by extension the TDAI-2210 itself – is as straightforward or as complex as you want it to be. You can customise the app and display so it only shows the main information you are interested in, or you can delve further into the settings to find ways of fine-tuning the Lyngdorf’s sound to your heart’s content.

There are rather good ‘Voicing’ EQ presets that you can also customise, treble/bass tonal adjustments, and ICC (Intersample Clipping Correction) settings that deal with potential distortion or ‘clipping’ effects when digital music is converted into analogue sound.

Here, Lyngdorf recommends turning off the default ‘subsonic/rumble filter’ for best sound performance, while we would also recommend disabling the ‘speaker limiter’ for a more open and dynamic sound.

Features

On the streaming side, the TDAI-2210 is well appointed with all the popular ways of playing music wirelessly. There’s support for Tidal Connect, Qobuz Connect, Spotify Connect and global internet radio via Airable. Bluetooth and Google Cast are also on the menu, while AirPlay 2 is coming soon via a software update due in late September. Streaming music using any of these methods is swift and stable.

You can also play music from connected NAS drives thanks to UPnP/DLNA compatibility. At the moment, you can’t access your NAS library from within the My Lyngdorf app, although this functionality will be available in the late September software update. Until then, you can use third-party apps such as BubbleUPnP and MConnect, and it worked perfectly fine for us when streaming WAV and FLAC tracks from our Naim Core server.

Hi-res file support is a standard 24-bit/192kHz PCM across most inputs, while higher 32-bit/384kHz files are supported when stored locally on a USB drive. There is no support for DSD files here, and we can imagine some might be put off by the omission at this premium price.

The TDAI-2210 has a good spread of physical connections, including RCA line level inputs and outputs, a pair of balanced XLR outputs, and multiple digital coaxial and optical inputs. An HDMI eARC input is available for seamless audio integration with a TV, and there are two USB inputs (type A and C) for plugging in media hard drives and laptops, respectively.

Lyngdorf offers two optional modules to add even more connectivity. Our review sample is fitted with the “high-end analog” module, which adds a moving-magnet phono stage and three additional analogue inputs, including a balanced XLR pair, which promise better analogue-to-digital conversion thanks to a higher-quality Asahi Kasai DAC.

This module adds over £500 / $500 to the standard price, but is a useful option for those who require the extra connections. Meanwhile, the HDMI 2.1 module adds two more HDMI inputs and one output, with a much steeper additional cost increasing the unit’s price to £4399 / $5499.

More useful is that the TDAI-2210 comes with Lyngdorf’s own RoomPerfect room correction technology. It’s a sophisticated system that tunes the streaming amp’s sound to the room it’s placed in, via multiple readings taken from random positions of the included mic.

The most complicated part of the process is setting up the included mic stand; the app will walk you through the rest of the straightforward calibration process. It’s worth taking the time to do this during set-up, and you can toggle the saved RoomPerfect settings on/off to hear the differences.

Our dedicated listening rooms are already acoustically treated, and we found that the RoomPerfect setting boosted the bass and added more heft to voices and instruments. But it also takes away too much of the Lyngdorf’s spacious, open presentation for our liking, while voices lose some of their natural expressiveness.

Still, it’s a subtler effect than other room calibration software we have used, and we would recommend trying it out.

Sound

To complete the TDAI-2210 system, all you need to do is add a pair of speakers. We use a variety during our testing, from the Epos ES7N standmounters to our reference ATC SCM50 speakers, while models ranging from KEF LS50 Meta to the PMC Prodigy 5 and even the Acoustic Energy AE300 Mk2 would all suit. We would just avoid pairing the Lyngdorf with any lean, bright-sounding speakers.

We start with Dolly Parton’s Jolene streamed over Tidal Connect. The TDAI-2210 delivers a lively, nimble-footed performance, which keeps us tapping along to the catchy tune. The sweeter edges of Parton’s indelible voice and her personality come through with a good dose of detail and clarity.

The Lyngdorf hews true to Parton’s smaller-scale ’70s-era recording, but it also has no issue expanding its wings and giving a grander stage to Massive Attack’s Paradise Circus and Agnes Obel’s The Curse. Instruments are given ample space and breadth, and the leading edges of notes are nicely defined, while voices are placed centre stage and focused in the airy soundstage.

The Lyngdorf sounds wonderfully clean, crisp and sprightly no matter what music we play through it, making it easy to listen to.

Basslines perhaps aren’t as meaty as rivals owing to the Lyngdorf favouring a leaner presentation, but this does add to that agile sense of rhythm that holds our interest. A greater dose of dynamic punch would render the iconic bassline and outro in Fleetwood Mac’s The Chain more dramatic and impactful, while the physicality of orchestral pieces from John Williams and Hans Zimmer could be more tangible and authoritative. Still, the TDAI-2210’s crisp precision and fluid sense of rhythm deliver just enough snap to remain musically satisfying.

The Arcam SA35 (£2999 / $3300 / AU$6495) is the main rival here and, while it’s not as sophisticated as the Lyngdorf in use, it is the better (and cheaper) of the two when it comes to outright sound quality. The Arcam delivers a more powerful and authoritative sound, along with richer layers of texture and detail around every piano note, plucked string and French horn. Better low-level dynamics and a fuller tone add greater expression to voices, too.

Playing around with the Voicing presets and EQ settings helps to add a bit more body and immediacy to the Lyngdorf, but the differences between the two remain.

Despite the Arcam comparison, we still like the Lyngdorf’s amicable presentation and how it gets across the essence of a song. The switch from a brash heavy metal track to the more intimate, gentler tones of Elliott Smith’s Between The Bars is nicely communicated. Musically, it all hangs together pretty well.

The Lyngdorf’s sound is consistent through all the digital inputs, and we find that they sound better than their analogue counterparts. Plugging our Cyrus CDi CD player into the coaxial and RCA stereo inputs, we find that, while subtler, the analogue connection sounds less forthright and powerful. The analogue inputs on the optional module fare better and sound more fluid, but they’re still a touch soft-sounding compared with the standard digital ins.

Listening through the Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro X, the sound is also consistently clean, detailed and nimble through the 3.5mm headphone output. We also plug the Rega Planar 3 RS Edition turntable into the optional module’s phono inputs, and it’s nice enough to listen to, but lacks the Lyngdorf’s lively energy that we like so much.

We'd like to hear more dynamic punch and richness to do justice to our records; if you’re serious about vinyl replay, we would recommend a dedicated phono preamp such as the Graham Slee Reflex M or Rega Fono MM Mk5.

Verdict

There is something inherently likeable about the Lyngdorf TDAI-2210. It may not beat the class leaders, but its digital-first approach is clever and appealing, and the way the TDAI-2210 behaves when we interact with it is hugely rewarding.

With its fresh, modern outlook and lively sound, the TDAI-2210 is a great alternative to the mainstream options at this premium price, and is worth an audition.

Review published: 4th September 2026

SCORES

• Sound 4
• Features 5
• Build 5

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At its heart, the N-01XE incorporates Esoteric's Master Sound Discrete DAC, boasting the brand's second-generation 'G2' architecture for what it teases as a "breathtakingly powerful" and dynamic performance.

The DAC chip itself uses a dual-mono configuration with independent power transformers for left and right channels, contributing to what Esoteric describes as "a smooth, natural, and remarkably analogue-like sound".

The Discrete DAC G2 has been built using high-precision 'MELF' resistors and Esoteric's board-mounting technologies for a more powerful, musical and dynamic audio signature.

Further, Esoteric's own 'Network Engine G4' promises "top-of-the-line" processing power thanks to its powerful CPU and dedicated linear power supply, a configuration that aims to reduce distortion and contribute to the new player's "smooth, richly detailed" character.

The N-01XE is capable of supporting mega-hi-res files up to 48-bit/768kHz PCM alongside DSD512. In pursuit of digital-to-analogue conversion that matches the characteristics of both DSD and PCM files, dedicated digital processing algorithms have been independently developed for each format.

The new unit boasts a wide-ranging connectivity suite, including coaxial, optical and USB-C digital inputs alongside RCA and XLR analogue outputs. The N-01XE is Roon Ready, while wi-fi connectivity grants access to the likes of Tidal Connect, Qobuz Connect and Spotify.

On the outside, the network player's multi-layer chassis is built to prevent interference between the various circuit components, while a semi-floating top panel has been designed to contribute to the streamer's sonic openness. A set of isolation feet provides a stable foundation for the N-01XE's "focused, open soundstage".

The Esoteric N-01XE is available now, priced at £22,999 / $28,000 / €26,500. We've previously tested Esoteric's N-05XE streaming preamp (£13,000 / $13,000 / AU$17,000) and was mightily impressed with its excellent sound quality and superb engineering, so we imagine the new N-01XE sets an even higher bar.

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Indeed, with the recent investments of major labels such as UMG, Warner and Sony in AI music companies, it looks as though the role of AI in the music industry is only likely to expand.

Naturally, opinions are divided. Some users of the text-to-music generation software Suno are reportedly abandoning human-made music altogether, in favour of their AI-generated tracks. Meanwhile, others have taken to the streets in protest against licensing recorded music to generative AI companies.

As a 50-year-old hi-fi publication, music is at the heart of our work. While testing products, our review team listens tirelessly to a broad range of tracks, carefully assessing how human emotions and real-life recordings are conveyed by the equipment at hand. As such, we wanted to find out more about the role AI is playing in the records we listen to.

To do so, we spoke to British sound engineers about the ways that AI is changing their work.

Exposing Flaws

In the view of Jake Murray, director and studio manager at Strongroom Studios, generative AI within music is uncovering pre-existing issues within the industry.

“People try to spin it as this new thing on the horizon,” says Murray, “but what I’m seeing – much like during the Covid-19 pandemic when artists lost all touring revenue and it exposed problems with streaming and digital remuneration – is that this new software is exposing flaws with the commercialisation of music and the behaviour of corporations.

“In the case of recent lawsuits, the record labels aren’t happy because data they could monetise is being scraped on a massive scale,” he says. “But for a massive corporation, AI music is incredible, it is product, through and through. There are no creator rights, no unpredictable behaviours on tour, no ‘I’m tired, I want out of my contract.’ I think anyone who believes that major labels are going to continue fighting generative AI once they’ve got a deal in place is wrong.”

Izzy McPhee, a freelance mastering engineer who has worked with acts such as Dream Wife, Walt Disco and Marla Kether, feels that AI’s encroachment presents artists with new challenges. “The pace at which music is created and released now, definitely puts pressure on artists to prioritise singles and virality over the integrity of their music,” she says. “The instantaneous results of AI affect how quickly everyone expects information, and of course, music.”

Such pressures feed back into the use of AI, as musicians reach for tools that allow them to create faster and more cheaply. The attraction of such tools isn’t hard to appreciate given that nearly half of professional musicians were found to earn less than £14,000 a year in a 2023 census by Help Musicians and the Musicians’ Union.

One of Murray’s friends, who is a dance musician, recently approached him in a crisis about having used Suno to create a vocal topline. “He found himself really conflicted about whether to use it,” says Murray. “It sounded so close to what he had imagined, but it wasn’t sung by a singer, recorded by a sound engineer, mixed, balanced, processed and submitted to the production house. It hadn’t generated those three or four stages of revenue. It had only cost him the comparatively meagre subscription fee.

“It’s vital that we remember we are talking about lives and livelihoods here,” he says. “I think it’s going to be left to the individuals to decide what they think is kosher or not.”

"Human creativity is what makes beautiful music"

AI has seen widespread adoption beyond music. Even at Strongroom, Claude AI has proven handy in aggregating the studio’s vast discography.

“It has been incredibly useful for data management,” says Murray. “And best of all, nobody would have wanted to do that job. Previously, when I’ve sat down with new employees and broken the news that they are going to spend a few weeks sorting through the discography, the look on their faces is like they are about to die.”

Murray adds that, within musical work, there is a “grey area” of audio effects plug-ins that use AI.

“I’m a bit unclear about what people count as AI in the studio,” he says.

Recent software such as Synplant 2, which uses AI-powered features to turn audio samples into editable synthesiser patches, walks a fine line. “Depending on who you talk to, these are either plug-ins or neural networks or AI. But I don’t think anyone really has a problem with any of those [pieces of] software, aside from whether they like the sound or not.”

When it comes to the creative, musical and technical parts of her workflow, McPhee takes a stronger stance on using AI tools: “I have made a conscious decision not to use AI, and not to master songs that have been AI-created. A big part of my ethos is that human connection, collaboration and creativity is what makes beautiful music, and the bottom line is that I don’t think AI can replicate this.”

Charlie Francis, a mastering engineer who has worked with artists such as REM, Del Amitri and Gruff Rhys, says that he hasn’t yet seen a reason to use AI in his work, but acknowledges that some of the software he uses has been developed with machine learning.

“My perception is that my clients value my instincts and experience above anything else, so I would be very wary of allowing AI to make any judgments for me,” says Francis. “Automated systems in rendering and other areas are very useful, but they don't involve any decisions and have no artistic influence.”

"Heaven forbid, we might be able to define an era"

A common trait in almost all conversations around AI is their tendency to focus on the future. As technological advances outpace all but the experts’ comprehension (and sometimes even theirs), many of us are left guessing about the state of things to come.

Speculating on AI’s musical future, Murray says: “The people who want to produce homogeneous rubbish aren’t going to need anyone to do it for them anymore. As a result, I think we could see a new era of Muzak (background music played in public spaces such as elevators, shops and waiting rooms).

“On the flip side, I think the people who care are going to make more human-sounding music. I think music made by people whose priorities are expression, connectivity and interaction is going to become more characterful and less perfect. We might see a broader spread in terms of how music can sound, perhaps a release of the tension around things sounding ‘perfect’. Heaven forbid, we might actually be able to define an era again.”

McPhee echoes Murray’s sentiment: “I think there will be a corner of the music industry where people are consuming AI music, and are happy to follow algorithms and playlists that are AI-generated. However, I also think a lot of people will tire of the rapid turnaround, viral side of music and seek out human-made music and connection – whether through listening or attending gigs and concerts.

“In a world of constant overstimulation, I already find myself trying to find moments where I can sit down and immerse myself in longer form albums that take me on an emotional musical journey,” she says.

Francis adds: “A musician friend of mine thinks songwriters regurgitate iterations of everything they have heard before, which would make them indistinguishable from AI, but I think the human genius for making unseen connections and making distinctive work can't be written off so easily. We discount our own emotional and experiential life at our peril.”

The consensus among the engineers seems to be that, while AI threatens revenue streams and professional opportunities for musicians, its mass-produced genericism could drive creative innovation among those who view music as an essential, communal art form. The question is: will musicians find the time to create on an income yet further reduced?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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