Going head-to-head this month are a couple of two grand home cinema amplifiers from Arcam and Yamaha, each vying for their place in your home cinema setup.
The competition is always fierce at this price point, with manufacturers trying to squeeze as much performance as possible from their products.
Since a good surround sound amp is vital to putting together any home cinema system, we want to ensure that you’re investing your cash in the right product. After a thorough thrashing in our test rooms, which one comes out top? All will be revealed.
Power and portability
A good wireless speaker needs to be proficient in a number of ways: it should have enough punch to keep the party going, while being sturdy enough to safely endure the outdoors and have sufficient battery life to keep going for hours on end.
Will it be the KEF, the Onkyo, or the Dali that brings the best audio to the party?
Lightning strikes five times
With the iPhone 7 dropping the 3.5mm headphone jack, many people are going to want to pivot away from the standard Apple headphones that come in the box.
If you’re one of those people, then we’ve rounded up the five best Lightning headphones that are on the market – from over-ear to in-ear, sweatproof to high sound quality. We'll help you find something that matches your style and budget.
Six amps enter, one amp leaves
An amplifier is no longer just an amplifier – today, Bluetooth connectivity, digital-to-analogue conversion and hi-res support are all strings to a good amp’s bow.
The race is on between Audiolab, Cyrus, Heed, NAD, Rotel, and the resident Award-winning Rega Elex-R - but will all those extra features ultimately trump the most important thing, sound quality?
Shockingly expensive headphones
If you’re the type that can resist anything but temptation, then Shure’s in-ear headphones will certainly get your ears twitching. These headphones use electrostatic technology to transmit your music, and took the company eight years to develop into the product you see before you.
Harnessing this complex tech should deliver top-notch performance, but the £2500 question is much this: do these headphones justify their price?
And there's more!
And these are just the highlights! We’ve got a flurry of five-star First Tests, from Mission's LX-2 stereo speakers which see the company return to form, to the sharp and striking Astell and Kern AK70 hi-re portable music player.
There’s also a review of Samsung’s stunning £1400 television, which has impressively squeezed 4K quality into a 49in screen, our first listen to B&W's impressive P7 Wireless headphones and an introduction to Marantz’s latest low-cost CD player.
If paper’s not your thing, you can download the digital edition of the magazine to your smartphone or tablet. Happy reading!
