One of the biggest perks of working at What Hi-Fi? is the opportunity to look and listen to all the latest hi-fi.
But, among our team there’s one special category that always causes a particular buzz around our listening rooms – Temptations. For those of you that are new to What Hi-Fi? these are high-end, premium products that are the hi-fi industry’s version of a super car.
And this year we’ve seen a horde of them race into our test rooms eager to prove their worth to audiophiles with cash to spare. But, having reviewed them with the same comparative testing methodology, and performance-per-pound/dollar ethos we always use, we can safely confirm that, just because it is a Temptation, doesn’t mean it’s good.
Which is why we’ve penned this end of year list celebrating the 10 best Temptations we’ve reviewed this year and wholeheartedly recommend.
1. Audiovector Trapeze Ri speakers
The Trapeze Ri are a pair of stereo, floorstanding speakers from Danish audio-powerhouse Audiovector. The firm describes them as being “45 years in the making” as they aim to offer serious music fans a re-imagining of the company’s first generation Trapeze speakers, which launched all the way back in 1979.
Despite having a wonderfully unique, slightly retro design and squat 87.5cm height, the speakers are jam packed with cutting edge hardware.
Highlights include four completely custom made drivers which are set up in a three-way design. These include an AMT (Air Motion Transformer) tweeter, 13cm paper cone midrange and a forward-facing 30cm bass driver that’s paired with an internal 20cm unit working in an isobaric configuration.
Paired with our reference set-up and price compatible separates, which included a Naim ND555/555 PS DR music streamer, Technics SL-1000R/Kiseki Purpleheart MC and Burmester 088/911MkIII amplifier, the speakers delivered excellent results.
Whether it was booming acid jazz or complex classical arrangements, the Trapeze Ri delivered brilliant audio with excellent dynamics and impressive levels of low-end heft.
Hence our verdict: “The Trapeze Reimagined is retro in inspiration only. This is a thoroughly modern high-end speaker that puts entertainment first.”
Rating: 5/5
Tested at £15,500 / $19,950 / AU$28,700
Read our full Audiovector Trapeze Ri speakers review
2. Austrian Audio The Composer headphones
Austrian Audio may be a fairly new brand, but it’s already making a lot of waves in the industry – and its premium headphones, The Composer, are a great example of why.
The open back wired headphones showcase the pedigree of knowledge at the company, which was founded and is currently run by ex-AKG audio veterans.
Technical highlights include the use of newly-developed 49mm diamond-like carbon-coated drivers. There are also multiple cabled connection options out of the box, including a balanced signal-ready 3m XLR 4-pin lead and a shorter 1.4m alternative with a 4.4mm Pentaconn connector for serious listeners.
Pairing them with everything ranging from a basic MacBook Pro / AudioQuest Dragonfly Cobalt DAC combo to a Naim ND555/555 PS DR music streamer / Burmester 088 preamp combo the headphones delivered an insightful, analytical and balanced presentation.
Hence our conclusion: “The Composer are a frill-free design with as balanced and insightful a sound as we’ve come across at this level.”
Rating: 5/5
Tested at £2249 / $2699 / AU$3999
Read our full Austrian Audio The Composer headphones review
3. Chord Ultima Integrated amplifier
There’s a lot to be said for the old adage “it’s better to do one thing well than 10 things poorly”, and that’s the philosophy Chord’s taken with its Ultima Integrated amplifier.
Rather than adding loads of features and connections, the Ultima comes with just four line-level inputs. These are a balanced XLR, an AV input that bypasses the volume control and a balanced XLR preamp output.
This purist approach continues under the hood. Chord’s engineers worked tirelessly to ensure the Ultima’s Class A/B amplification maintains signal purity throughout. Key measures include everything from buffering and filtering every input to reduce radio frequency interference, to implementing Chord’s latest dual feed-forward error correction circuit, in a bid to boost accuracy.
Pairing the unit with our high end reference set-up the work has clearly paid off, with the Ultima offering a spacious and uncluttered presentation with class leading levels of agility, precision and clarity.
We said as much in our review, where our testers reported: “It is a refreshingly straightforward product to use, and when partnered with a similarly talented system is capable of weaving a wonderfully spellbinding sound.”
Rating: 5/5
Tested at £8500 / $11,250 / AU$18,500 approx
Read our full Chord Ultima Integrated amplifier review
4. Esoteric K-05XD CD player
The Esoteric K-05XD CD player is an especially special Temptation-level product that impressed our reviewers enough to win a 2024 What Hi-Fi? Award.
The player is bespoke designed for serious music fans that want the best audio possible from their CD or SACD collection. As a result the player comes with a wealth of cutting edge hardware, the most interesting of which is the custom Vibration-free Rigid Disc clamping System (VRDS) Atlas 05 transport mechanism at its heart.
This is an incredibly interesting system that clamps the entire top surface of the disc in a bid to reduce wear and tear on it when playing, and eliminate unwanted resonances. Pairing the Esoteric K-05XD with our reference Burmester 088/911 MkIII amplifier and ATC SCM50 speakers there’s no denying its sonic capabilities.
Whether it was basic CDs or higher quality SACDs, the player delivered an impressively pristine sonic presentation which led our reviewers to bluntly report: “Esoteric’s K-05XD is without doubt one of the world’s finest SACD/CD disc spinners.”
If that wasn't enough to tempt you, its metal design looks pretty awesome as well.
Rating: 5/5
Tested at £11,650 / $12,000 / AU$15,000
Read our Esoteric K-05XD CD player review
5. Focal Diva Utopia wireless speakers
The Focal Diva Utopia are an atypical sight at this end of the market and one of the most interesting Temptation-level products to pass through our listening rooms this year as a result.
Unlike most Temptations, which target the separates hi-fi market, the Diva Utopia are an active pair of speakers designed to play audio wirelessly from a NAS or streaming platform.
At a hardware level they offer a 250-watt Class A/B power amplifier which feeds our 16.5cm ‘W’ sandwich cone bass units. Backing this up, dedicated 75-watt modules drive the 16.5cm ‘W’ midrange and 27mm inverted beryllium dome tweeter, giving the Diva Utopia a total 400 watts of muscle per enclosure.
Streaming everything from bopping pop tracks to epic classical pieces the speakers impressed our reviewers, offering excellent clarity and agility as well as impressively powerful but controlled bass.
This quickly made them an easy recommendation, with our reviewers’ reporting: “The Focal Diva Utopia proves that high-end sound quality is possible from a neat and stylish speaker system solution.”
Rating: 5/5
Tested at £29,999 / $39,999 / AU$59,999
Read our full Focal Diva Utopia wireless speakers review
6. Goldmund Telos 690 integrated amplifier
The Telos 690 is the latest high end integrated amplifier from audio giant Goldmund to pass through our listening rooms. The unit made an immediate impression with our reviewers, with one of our younger testers describing it as “looking like it was designed by a Soviet-era Berlin architect”.
In keeping with this, Goldmund has been incredibly secretive about the specific technology housed inside the Telos 690, outside of the fact it uses custom hardware to get the most out of its Class A/B amplification. All we really know is that it can offer 250 watts per channel into an 8-ohm load.
Circuitry secrecy aside, having put the integrated amp through its paces in our listening rooms, we can confirm the unit sounds sublime. Paired with our standard high-end reference hardware the Telos 690 delivered an impeccably clean and precise presentation that will delight audiophiles.
Hence our reviewers’ verdict: “Goldmund’s Telos 690 is one of the finest integrated amplifiers we’ve heard. Its clean, precise and ever-so-detailed sound is a joy.”
Rating: 5/5
Tested at £32,500 / $36,250 / AU$60,000
Read our Goldmund Telos 690 integrated amplifier review
7. Luxman L-509Z integrated amplifier
The Luxman L-509Z is the second Temptation-level integrated amplifier to make it into this list.
And while it may not cost as much as the Goldmund above, trust us when we say it’s still a wonderfully premium unit that’s well worth considering if you’re willing to take the time to match it correctly.
Luxman’s engineers spent oodles of time meticulously designing every part of the integrated amp’s internals in a bid to boost performance. Key measures include proprietary work on its power supply in a bid to lower distortion, to painstaking optimisations to its volume control, which uses a series of precision resistors to boost transparency and ensure consistency in balance.
Pairing the unit with our reference Naim ND555/555 PS DR music streamer and ATC SCM 50 speakers it is undeniable that the work has paid off. Across every genre we threw at it, the Luxman L-509Z delivered a strikingly clean and detailed performance with plenty of power and gusto. Hence our conclusion: “If you are lucky enough to buy at this level, the Luxman L-509Z deserves a high place on your shortlist.”
Rating 5/5
Tested at £10,999 / $12,495 / AU$18,499
Read our full Luxman L-509Z integrated amplifier review
8. Naim NSS 333 music streamer
Naim has a strong track record in the world of top-end music streamers, which continued this year with its latest NS 333 unit.
The streamer is one of many products in the firm’s latest 300-series of separates, which also includes the NAC 332 preamp, NPX 300 outboard power supply and NAP 350 mono power amplifier.
At its heart, the unit is built on the same NP800 streaming platform as its other Naim streamer siblings, including the cheaper Naim NSC 222 streaming pre-amp. But on the inside it features some atypical hardware. The most striking feature is that Naim has loaded it with an older Burr Brown PCM1791A DAC.
The move is particularly interesting as the unit has been customised to bypass the DAC’s digital filters. The signal is instead run through circuits of Naim’s own design. This was apparently done to improve audio quality – and having tested the unit with our standard suite of reference hardware it’s hard to argue this point.
During our tests the NSS 333 delivered a wonderfully engaging and emotionally charged performance that will delight any music fan. As our testers said in our full review: “The Naim NSS 333 is one of the most musically satisfying music streamers we have heard.”
Rating: 5/5
Tested at £8500 / $10,999 / AU$15,500
Read our full Naim NSS 333 music streamer review
9. SME Model 20 Mk2/Series V record player
The SME Model 20 Mk2/Series V record player is the latest addition to a line of turntables that first launched all the way back in 1986.
And having put the new Model 20 Mk2/Series V through its paces in our test rooms we can confirm it is a definite highlight for the series that does true justice to the line’s strong heritage in the hi-fi industry.
Every part of the turntable has been designed with care to optimise its stability and performance. This includes the use of a fluid-damped top to help control unwanted movement and resonances as well as mechanically decoupled, adjustable feet, which further help reduce unwanted vibrations.
Though it requires partnering with equally top-end hardware to shine, in our case a Burmester 088/911 MkIII amplifier (fitted with an MC phono module) and Wilson Benesch’s Discovery 3Zero standmounters, it delivers exemplary performance, based on our tests.
Whether it was booming classic rock or classical music the turntable delivered honest, insightful audio with excellent levels of sonic authority. Hence our testers’ conclusion:
“The Model 20 Mk2/Series V is beautifully made and a pleasure to use. Its performance is as insightful as they come.”
Rating: 5/5
Tested at £25,950 / $35,619 / AU$58,000
Read our full SME Model 20 Mk2/Series V record player review
10. YG Acoustics Carmel 3 speakers
Ever heard the phrase “never judge a book by its cover?” The Carmel 3 are a good example of what the saying means.
Though the metal floorstanding speakers may not have any obvious design features to make their premium, high-end nature obvious, they are an undeniably accomplished set of floorstanders any audiophile with the hardware to back them up would do well to consider buying.
The third generation Carmel speakers from Colorado-based YG Acoustics may have a utilitarian look, but under the hood they house a wealth of cutting edge, proprietary technologies.
Highlights include the use of a custom hybrid lattice tweeter that’s been made by YG Acoustics using an unspecified “specially-selected aerospace alloy”, third-generation Ultracoherent crossovers and Billet Core drivers The former aims to reduce distortion and offer listeners a much wider sweet spot while the latter two technologies aim to further reduce distortion and improve audio quality.
During testing, though we found they are fussy with partnering, when matched well the speakers delivered a bold presentation packed with detail and wonderful low-end heft. Hence our conclusion:
“The Carmel 3 speakers are exceptional in so many ways but need pampering to really shine.”
Rating: 5/5
Tested at £31,900 / $29,800 / AU$52,000
Read our YG Acoustics Carmel 3 speakers review
MORE:
These are the best floorstanding speakers we’ve reviewed
We rate the best stereo amps money can buy
Our picks of the best wired headphones
