Hopefully you’ve been enjoying our quizzes over the past few weeks. We’ve had quite a few testing brain teasers, ranging from ‘name that cable’ to ‘can you name these hi-fi firsts’, but this week we’re switching topics to the world of TV, and TV tech in particular.
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!
“We know the home, we know audio, we know music” – those are the particularly bullish words of Sonos's vice president of software, Sid Patel, whom we recently spoke to about Sonos’s new operating system rebrand (we were also given the lowdown on its new Ace Ultra headphonesand Beam Ultra soundbar).
In case you’re catching up, last week the company announced Sonos 27, a new overarching name for the company’s audio operating system which covers the entire Sonos ecosystem. It’s promising better integration between Sonos products and various ways to control them, but without completely excluding other brands.
The company plans to update it annually, just like Apple’s iOS, so we’ll see Sonos 28, 29, etc.
But getting back to the quote, we wouldn’t be surprised if those words might have raised an eyebrow or two among current or ex-Sonos customers, especially given the brand’s tricky timeline over the past couple of years.
The last tweaks to its operating system didn’t go down too well. An ill-fated Sonos app update back in 2024 resulted in what was once a robust, rock-solid and intuitive way of interacting with Sonos products turning into a bit of a mess. Not only was it affected by bugs and glitches, but key features were omitted, much to the disdain of numerous Sonos customers.
Such was the fallout from this event that the then Sonos CEO Patrick Spence was forced to step down eight months later, in January 2025. At the time, the Sonos board even went as far as to say it would not take a bonus "unless the company succeeds in improving the quality of the app experience and rebuilding customer trust".
Despite this botched app release happening more than two years ago, it’s probably fair to say there are still many existing and potential Sonos customers who are still sitting on the fence and requiring a bit more reassurance from the brand.
(Image credit: Sonos)
Of course, the proof will be in the experience. If Sonos does what it’s promising and there aren’t any hiccups with either its new software or hardware, then it might be back in the good books of those disappointed by its recent efforts.
But what do you think? Have you been convinced by the statements coming from Sonos?
If you were disappointed by app-gate, have you been convinced to come back into the fold, or are you happy to watch from the sidelines to see what happens before you commit to any new products? Sonos has many music and movie fans in its midst and surely won’t make the same mistake twice?
Let us know by voting in our poll above and commenting below. We’re interested to hear your thoughts!
Dubbed the Sonos Ace Ultra, they’re successors to the original Ace, which launched back in 2024 and promise not only new features and a raft of changes inside and out, but improved sound quality too.
But what exactly has Sonos done to try and elevate its new headphones above the old model? We’ll go through all of that and more below.
Sonos Ace Ultra vs Sonos Ace - Price
(Image credit: Sonos)
They might be Sonos’s flagship wireless headphones, but the good news is there hasn’t been a price hike for the new model.
In fact, if you live in the UK, the Ace Ultra are actually cheaper than their predecessors were at launch. The Ultras go on sale on the 29th September and cost £399 / $449 / AU$699 compared to the £449 / $449 / AU$699 of the original model.
Of course, the Ace have been around for a couple of years now, which means you can find regular discounts closer to the £299 / $299 / AU$449 mark if you shop around online.
We’ve been told both pairs will continue to coexist for some time, so we’d expect there could be potential for further price drops for the original over time, especially around peak sales periods such as Black Friday.
Sonos Ace Ultra vs Sonos Ace - Design and build
(Image credit: Future)
We haven’t had the opportunity to go hands-on with a pair yet, but on the design and build front, it doesn’t appear that too much has changed from the Sonos Ace.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing as we were fans of the the way the headphones looked and felt in situ.
Looking at pictures of the Ace Ultra, the earcup and headband plastics look the same as before but the new model does use “new rebound foam ear cushions” so it’ll be interesting to see if the pads feel any different when you’re wearing them.
A quick spec comparison does actually show that the new model weighs ten grams more (322g versus 312g) but whether you’ll be able to actually feel the difference remains to be seen.
Sonos is offering two new finishes (sand and agave) to choose from, in addition to the standard black and white options you had with the original Ace.
The multi-function button/slider (also known as the 'control key') makes a return and is your main way of interacting with the headphones and controlling things such as volume, ANC, playback and switching between the headphones and your Sonos wireless speaker.
The big design news is that the Ace Ultra get a brand new Sonos-designed 40mm driver. Sonos hasn’t provided any information on the materials used or how it is improved over ots predecessor but this is obviously huge news as the sound quality on offer will largely be dicteated by how this performs.
Sonos Ace Ultra vs Sonos Ace - Features
(Image credit: Sonos)
While the exterior design and build quality of the Ace Ultra might look familiar, there have been significant changes under the hood.
The key change is the introduction of Sonos’s new “Headphone Engine 2" which is a next-gen wi-fi hardware and software system that lets you link the headphones directly to your existing Sonos system.
It’s a feature that was missing from the originals at launch and will be the first time you can connect the headphones to other compatible Sonos wireless speakers, as well as its current line of soundbars, including the recently announced Beam Ultra. It’s done at the press of a button on either the headphones or app.
Sonos is promising big things on the noise-cancelling front, claiming that the ANC for the Ace Ultra is twice as powerful as that on the Ace.
It’s an adaptive system which should be able to change intensity as you change your surroundings, while it can also take into account any gaps in the seal due to headphones, hair etc. An Aware mode allows for transparency so you can hear the environment around you.
Presumably this is partly down to the fact that the new model boasts ten mics compared to eight used on the Ace.
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
This should also mean that calls are quieter and that background noise should be easier for the headphones to filter out. Their Sidetone feature should mean you’re able to hear yourself speak naturally while ANC is turned on.
Ace Ultra also get a boost in battery life, up from 30 hours in the old Ace to 35 hours in the new model with ANC activated. There’s a low power mode withing the Sonos app which claims to extend battery life by up to 30% but it isn’t clear whether this can work with ANC on or if you have to sacrifice some features to achieve it.
AptX Lossless is supported once again as the ability to listen over a wired USB-C connection although it’s a shame that sample rate support hasn’t increased from the 16-bit/48kHz of the original Ace.
Sonos Ace Ultra vs Sonos Ace - Sound quality
(Image credit: Sonos)
Although we’re going to have to wait until we get the Ace Ultra in our test rooms and use them out in public to see how they fare in the sound quality stakes, we are at least hoping for a much improved audio performance compared to the original.
In our Sonos Ace review we said the headphones delivered “a simplistic and safe sound – not one we would call exciting or enthralling”. We found them perfectly fine but at no stage did they come close to matching the class leading Bose and Sony rivals for entertainment, dynamics or detail.
The new model comes with a new custom-built driver in tow, which Sonos claims delivers “deep bass, clear detail, and balanced sound with no distortion”. The company has even called upon “award-winning audio engineers” to help tune the sound. Will Sonos be able to deliver? We have our fingers well and truly crossed.
Sonos Ace Ultra vs Sonos Ace - Initial verdict
With the Ace Ultra, Sonos has obviously gone to great lengths to try to produce a sequel that goes above and beyond what it served up with the Sonos Ace.
On paper, it certainly looks like most bases have been covered, and if they can deliver all the features and functionality that Sonos has promised in an intuitive, easy-to-use package, then that will go a long way to winning our test team over.
However, to really make a name for itself in the crowded wireless headphones market, not only will the Ultra Ace need to offer standout features that work, it will need to perform well across the board, whether we’re talking about ANC, call quality or sound quality.
Happy Monday and welcome to another retrospective on all the big news over the past seven days in the worlds of hi-fi, TV and home cinema, plus our pick of the review headlines from our test team.
We’ve had a bit of everything this week, from Apple’s big annual announcement to a talented tablet from Samsung.
Here’s everything you need to know…
Naim launched Uniti Star Lite
(Image credit: Naim Audio)
We’ve been huge fans of Naim’s Uniti Star streaming system since it launched way back in 2016. And Naim took the wraps off a new version last week, but with one major change.
The new Lite model doesn’t have the built-in CD player and ripper of the original. Unfortunately, this is due to supply issues, but Naim does claim to have upped the audio performance from the machine. Even with the lack of CD-spinner, we can’t wait to get it in our test rooms.
Yes, it’s that time of year again. Everyone in the world of tech has been waiting for that one email to go around announcing Apple’s intention to unleash its latest generation iPhone on the buying public.
But will it just be iPhones that we see this year? Rumour has it a new pair of AirPods could be on the way together with refreshed tablets and, if we’re lucky, maybe even a new Apple TV 4K. All will hopefully be revealed on the big date…
Both cinephiles and gamers were disappointed when Sony announced that its next-generation PlayStation console was going to ditch physical discs, so imagine our surprise (and glee) when Xbox announced a new initiative which looks like it could keep the disc format ticking over for a little while yet.
Our test team had a great time getting to grips with Samsung’s huge Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra tablet this week.
Okay, so we realise a 14.6in tablet isn’t going to be for everyone, but if you’re a movie fan who can’t live without their fix of the big screen on the move, we think the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra has iPad Pro-rivalling credentials that need to be taken seriously.
Our experts were also excited to get Bose’s new Lifestyle Ultra Soundbar into our test rooms, but we weren’t exactly blown away by what this flagship Dolby Atmos ‘bar has to offer.
We felt it was a good-looking unit boasting premium build quality and an intuitive control app, but it was ultimately an unsatisfying and undynamic listen, and the Sonos Arc Ultra continues to be our recommendation at this premium level.
FiiO loves retro-looking hi-fi components, and this week, it announced a product which “takes inspiration from the 'golden era of 1950s tube amplifiers". At £769 / $769 / €665 the EA13 is a relatively affordable full-size vacuum tube amplifier, but with a solid feature set and design.
This week we got a glimpse of the wonderful blue lights of McIntosh’s VU meters, this time sat on the front of the company’s new CS7500 streaming preamplifier.
Dressed in McIntosh’s trademark black, green and blue colours, the CS7500 promises a wide assortment of connectivity options and all the streaming smarts you’d expect from a product costing over $12,000.
The Sonos Ace wireless headphones launched back in 2024.
And they were big news for a brand more used to wrestling with multiroom audio than headband and earpad materials.
However, during rigorous testing, we were left underwhelmed for several reasons, all of which added up to a lukewarm three-star rating. (Here's our original Sonos Ace review.)
But, instead of packing it in after its first attempt, if online reports (and an official FCC filing) are to be believed, it looks like Sonos will be giving wireless headphones another go. And I’m all here for it.
Irrespective of who you believe, the new headphones model is allegedly going to be called the Sonos Ace Ultra. What the word ‘Ultra’ alludes to is anyone’s guess, but you’d automatically think a more premium pair of wireless headphones with advancements in sound quality and onboard tech.
Having reviewed the current Sonos Ace, I can think of at least three things that I’m desperate for Sonos to get right so it can really rival best-in-class models from the likes of Sony and Bose.
Read on for more and let me know if you agree in the comments below!
Improved sound quality
(Image credit: Future)
My top wish is quite simple. I want better sound quality. There isn’t anything particularly offensive about the way the Ace sound, but there isn’t anything memorable about them either.
In our Sonos Ace review, we described it as “a simplistic and safe sound – not one we would call exciting or enthralling”. And, in all my twenty-plus years of testing headphones, I can confirm there’s nothing worse than a “safe” sound from a product that fails to pull you in for a closer listen.
At the time, we compared Ace to their main rivals such as the Sony WH-1000XM5 and Bose QuietComfort Ultra, which sounded much more rhythmic and entertaining. You see, ultimately, if a product doesn’t get my feet tapping, I’m tapping out.
It's worth noting that both Sony and Bose have moved on with new iterations of their flagship wireless headphones since then, and the benchmark for performance has also moved up a notch – will Sonos be able to keep up?
More robust software
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
When we tested the Sonos Ace, they gave off a vibe that they weren’t quite ready for market. We came across a few bugs in the system, including distortion and crackling while switching from the company’s Arc soundbar to the headphones. We also suffered from a couple of lip-sync issues.
Sonos has released new software update since launch to improve functionality, but a product as big as Ace should really work straight off the bat.
I would hope that any new headphones come with more robust software in tow. I’d also want them to be ready to use with Sonos’ complete wireless speaker ecosystem.
At launch, the only product that worked with Ace was the Arc, until a later firmware update also added the Beam Gen 2, Beam Gen 1 and Ray to the list of compatible products
Being able to hand off the audio from one speaker (or soundbar) to the headphones for a more private listening experience is a unique trick which needs to be properly executed.
Wi-fi connectivity for hi-fi sound
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
One of the big initial rumours about the Ace headphones was that they might be networked home headphones with Wi-Fi, allowing users to stream high-quality, lossless hi-res audio wirelessly.
What we got was CD-quality audio via Bluetooth thanks to the inclusion of aptX Lossless. However, this only works with compatible source devices (i.e. smartphones and laptops), and because Bluetooth doesn't have the required bandwidth, hi-res levels of sound quality are out of reach.
This feature wouldn't be without issues, though, as joining other networks while you're out and about could be quite tricky, but from a home audio perspective, it could really help a pair of headphones stand out in this ultra-crowded market.
Any other business?
(Image credit: Sonos)
Elsewhere, there are a few extra features I think could make a new Ace model even better.
Besides support for a more advanced Bluetooth protocol (the original Ace supports Bluetooth 4), I’d like any USB-C connection to support more than just 16-bit/48kHz sample rates, given that modern streaming services can offer much higher resolution files.
I also think ANC and call quality will need to be better. All of Sonos’ competitors have moved the game along since we originally tested them, so Sonos needs to take this seriously.
And finally, there's pricing. The Ace launched at £449 / $449 / AU$699 and struggled to live up to their premium price tag. If a new model is just around the corner, it's going to need to offer a lot more at this price point to be competitive.
Of course, everything is pure speculation at the moment, but the rumour mill continues to turn at pace, and we’ll continue to keep a keen eye on any developments as we roll into September!
High-performance preamplifiers that pack streaming smarts have become a bit of a burgeoning hi-fi category in recent years.
And McIntosh has a new offering which not only delivers both but also packages them using the company’s trademark design cues.
The CS7500 features a signature black glass front panel, illuminated logo and precision rotary knobs, plus an elevated chassis and custom-machined brushed end caps.
It’s also an amplifier of two halves, boasting a mirror-polished stainless steel lower chassis, partnered with a hairline-brushed black titanium stainless steel upper chassis.
And it wouldn’t be a McIntosh without a splash of colour from its iconic blue meters, which peer out of the front of the amplifier like a pair of demonic eyes.
The CS7500 offers a broad range of connections as you’d expect and includes six analogue inputs, including two balanced, three unbalanced, and a dedicated phono stage for connecting a turntable.
(Image credit: McIntosh)
You also have seven digital audio inputs, which all take advantage of the CS7500’s Quad Balanced, 8-channel, 32-bit digital-to-analogue converter (DAC). The USB Type-B socket on the rear of the preamp supports native DSD512 files and DXD up to 384kHz, while its coaxial and optical inputs support playback up to 24-bit/192kHz.
You can also extract audio from your TV thanks to its HDMI ARC socket.
On the output front, you have two pairs of balanced and unbalanced variable outputs, plus a fixed unbalanced output for connecting different power amp configurations.
The second set of balanced and unbalanced outputs can also be dedicated to a single subwoofer or pair of stereo subwoofers should your room require a bit more boom.
Streaming support extends to Qobuz Connect, Spotify Connect with Spotify Lossless, TIDAL Connect with TIDAL Max, AirPlay, Google Cast, and Roon. There’s also Apple AirPlay and Google Cast for playing music stored on local devices plus Bluetooth aptX HD and aptX Adaptive.
As you’d expect, the McIntosh CS7500 will have a suitably premium price tag of $12,500 / $17,750 CAD when it goes on sale on the 28th August through authorised McIntosh dealers.
Ever heard of gallium nitride (GaN)? It sounds like a material from a galaxy far, far away or a dietary supplement used by Wolverine, but it’s actually a type of semiconductor material and an alternative to conventional silicon.
Going for it is the fact that it allows for higher switching frequencies and it can handle power and heat more efficiently. It can also be packaged much smaller too.
The material is already used in some home hi-fi electronics, but the Burmester and Porsche application is claimed to be the first use of the tech in an in-car environment.
Working together with the University of Stuttgart, Porsche has adapted GaN tech for use in the Burmester 3D High-End Surround Sound System.
Here, it uses a chip based on the material to take care of the voltage conversion needed for the 400W subwoofer amplifier.
(Image credit: Porsche/Burmester)
Because less energy is required and less heat is generated, you don’t need as much cooling, which means you can use smaller heat sinks – Porsche claims it can make them 20 per cent lighter and also make passive components smaller, thus reducing the size and weight of your amplifier.
One of the biggest challenges for car audio engineers is always the system packaging and being able to make the most of the available space in the car, and this seems to be a convenient way of adding extra versatility without sacrificing performance.
Because less aluminium is used, less heat is generated during the manufacturing process, which has the knock-on effect of reducing CO₂ emissions during amplifier production, so it’s good news from an eco perspective, too.
There's no word on which cars will be the first to feature the tech, but Porsche has confirmed that gallium nitride for Burmester High-End Sound will enter series production and make its debut "in a future Porsche vehicle in 2027".
Another week, another chance to flex your hi-fi and home cinema muscles with a quiz on a topic close to all our hearts.
This time it’s turntables, but we’ve gone down the crossword route – all you need to do is use our playful clues to help fill the squares on the board.
Think you’ve got the knowledge required to complete the challenge? Click play and take it for a spin, and the fastest time will sit proudly on top of our leaderboard!
Powered by its excellent StreamMagic streaming platform, Cambridge Audio has done a fine job with its Evo range of just-add-speakers streaming amplifiers in recent years.
They’ve delivered convenience and quality in pretty much equal measure, which isn’t always a given when you’re asking a single product to perform multiple functions.
The Evo 300 is the brand’s fourth such system and sits above the Evo 150 SE in Cambridge Audio’s current line-up.
The new model boasts double the power of the 150 SE (300W vs 150W), and the company has gone to great lengths to highlight the fact that it is its most powerful streaming amplifier ever.
But this increase in power comes with an increase in price, which not only makes it Cambridge Audio’s most expensive streaming amplifier ever, but also moves the Evo into new territory, and into the sights of new rivals.
Cambridge Audio has cooked up a solid recipe for its streaming systems so far, but does the Evo 300 have the ingredients needed to impress?
Price
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
The Evo 300 costs £3499 / $3999 / AU$6399, which places it slightly above our current favourite around that price, the Award-winning Arcam SA35. The Arcam costs £2999 / $3300 / AU$6495 and launched back in May 2024. Despite its comparative age, we haven’t seen much in the way of online discounts on the Arcam.
To give you some extra context, the Cambridge Audio Evo 75 and Evo 150 launched in 2021 for £1799 / $2250 / AU$3299 and £2249 / $3000 / AU$4299, respectively, while the current Evo 150 SE arrived in 2025 with a price tag of £1999 / $3299 / AU$5795. As you can see, that’s quite a jump in price to the new model.
Design & build
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
If you’re familiar with any previous Evo models, you’ll know what to expect from the Evo 300 on the design front. And it’s overwhelmingly positive.
Cambridge Audio has really nailed the design language – the Evo 300 is a good-looking unit, with styling that should look at home in a wide range of listening environments.
Cambridge Audio Evo 300 tech specs
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
Streaming features UPnP, AirPlay 2, Google Cast, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, Qobuz Connect, Amazon Music, Deezer, internet radio, Bluetooth aptX HD, Roon Ready
Power output 300 watts per channel (into 8 ohms)
Network Wi-fi and ethernet
Inputs MM phono, RCA line level, balanced XLR, coaxial, optical x 2, HDMI eARC, USB type B
Outputs 3.5mm, preamp, subwoofer, speakers (x 2)
Headphone output 3.5mm
Max file resolution 32-bit/384kHz PCM, DSD256
Dimensions (hwd) 8.9 x 38.7 x 35.2cm
Weight 7.2kg
Finishes x 1 (black)
It has a premium-looking and feeling black aluminium cabinet which boasts the Evo’s party piece – interchangeable, magnetic side panels. You get two options in the box: a real wood veneer or a black slatted option, should you want a traditional or more modern aesthetic.
On the front of the amp is a large 7.8-inch display, which is the biggest Cambridge Audio has used to date. It’s an inch bigger than the screen on the Evo 150 SE, and it really helps the system stand out.
It’s bright, crisp and punchy when it comes to showing album artwork and track information. The way it makes use of that real estate means you shouldn’t have any problems reading it from your sofa.
You have several display options to cycle through, whether you want one packed with track information or simple album artwork – there’s even a VU meter for those wanting something a little different. Whichever you pick, it’s always legible. The fonts used are clean and crisp and the sizes well-judged.
A small strip of control buttons runs down the right side of the screen – these relate to system set-up, playback and power. At the far right of the screen is Cambridge Audio’s trademark volume dial/control wheel combination.
The outer wheel has a knurled pattern running around it, which makes it relatively easy to grip, although some members of the team thought the edge could be a touch wider. As it turns, the Evo 300 responds with a confident click. The volume dial turns smoothly.
Bonus points, too, for the supplied remote. The neat design makes a refreshing change from some of the dull, generic-looking wands we’ve come across at this and even higher levels. The shape and positioning of the buttons make it simple to grip and easy to navigate.
But it's Cambridge Audio’s StreamMagic app which will be your main point of interaction with the Evo 300. And it's as intuitive and impressive as ever.
The way it integrates all the various features of the system with a plethora of streaming services, and presents them all in a way which is satisfying to navigate, means it’s ideal for beginners and more advanced streamers alike.
Features
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
Besides 300 watts per channel (into 8 ohms) courtesy of Hypex NCOREx power modules, the Evo 300 has a broad range of features at its disposal.
On the rear of the streaming amp are two sets of speaker terminals should you want to power an extra pair in a different room.
Want to add a subwoofer to your hi-fi set-up? An adjustable sub output is included and, using the StreamMagic app, you can control crossover, level and phase to make integration as smooth as possible.
In the Evo’s audio settings, you have a seven-band equaliser to play with, plus a number of EQ presets for shifting the sonic balance.
We’d also suggest you experiment with the product’s room compensation feature, which allows you to tweak the sound to match the “reflectiveness” of your room. Move the slider across the screen to the corresponding image, and you’ll hear the Evo 300 change its tonal balance to suit either a damped room or a minimalist one full of glass and hard surfaces..
Beneath the unit’s aluminium chassis you’ll find a dual-mono layout, a balanced pre-amplifier stage and an ESS Sabre ES9038Q2M DAC which supports up to 32-bit/768kHz PCM and DSD 512 files, plus the likes of ALAC, WAV, FLAC, AIFF, WMA, MP3, AAC and OGG Vorbis.
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
As has been the case with previous Evo models, Cambridge Audio has been more than generous on the connectivity front. You have a choice between balanced XLR inputs and the standard RCA line-level variety. There are optical and coaxial digital inputs and a USB-Type B socket for connecting external digital sources.
HDMI connectivity is all the rage on products like this, and the Evo 300 duly obliges with an eARC-compatible socket. You also have a moving magnet phono stage for connecting a turntable.
Last, but by no means least, anyone after a more private listening experience can plug a pair of headphones into the 6.35mm headphone input on the front of the unit.
Sound
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
It really is a case of so far, so good for the Cambridge Audio Evo 300.
During testing, we use the streaming amp with our reference ATC SMC50 speakers, the five-star Epos ES14N and multi-Award-winning KEF LS50 Meta to get a feel for the breadth of the Cambridge Audio’s abilities.
And in isolation, the Evo 300 is a confident, capable performer. We start with a blast of Starstruck by Lady Gaga and the Evo 300 dispatches several meaty, solid-sounding bass notes and crisp-sounding claps before it opens up a spacious, welcoming stereo image.
There's real power and weight behind the streaming amp’s delivery – you’re left in no doubt that the Cambridge has big muscles, and it’s not afraid to flex them given half an opportunity.
There’s good depth and height to the image too, with a decent amount of space around her vocal and the electropoppy, synthy highs that prod around at the top of the frequency range.
Similarly, the switch to Jupiter from Holst's The Planets shows the regimented delivery of the Evo 300. The tightly controlled string sections are neatly arranged alongside percussion and wind, and it’s a pleasant, straightforward enough listen with no hidden surprises.
Highs and lows are nicely balanced – the strings don’t exhibit any uncomfortable, harsh edges and low frequencies don’t overplay their hand and remain well controlled at all times even when pushed to antisocial levels.
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
But there’s something missing. The track lacks energy. The strings lack sparkle. The Orchestra Symphonique de Montreal sounds like it’s slumped in its chairs instead of standing to attention.
Dynamically, the whole ensemble just struggles to connect with us. Yes, it’s a powerful, robust sound, but the Evo 300 struggles to convey the sense of life with each instrument. Instead of sounding energetic and rising and falling as the orchestra stretches itself across the frequency range, it just sounds a little flat and lacks drama.
We unbox the Arcam SA35, the Evo 300’s closest rival (it’s actually £500 cheaper) and try the same track. Immediately there's a different feel.
The Arcam breathes instant life into the music, aided by a wonderfully quiet background which allows more detail to shine through, more texture for your ears to unravel and, most importantly, it turns the song into a proper orchestral performance with feeling.
Switching back to the Lady Gaga track, the Arcam’s dynamism hits you as soon as that first bass note kicks in. Set against a super-quiet background, the track’s energy and drive shine through.
Not only does the SA35 reveal more detail and texture in the bass notes and synthy highs, but the whole presentation is more infectious, encouraging you to tap along in time. It communicates with you much more clearly than the Cambridge Audio; Gaga’s vocal sounds more expressive and emotive.
The Evo 300 struggles to strike up a real connection across its other inputs too. We reach for a pair of Austrian Audio The Composer over-ears and the headphone output mirrors that of the speaker terminals. It’s a solid enough performance, but we are looking for more at this level.
The Cambridge’s moving magnet phono stage isn’t at the same level as the SA35, either – plugged into our reference Technics SL-1000R/Nagaoka MP-200 record deck, the Arcam produces a more balanced and more convincing sound.
Verdict
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
As a proposition, the Cambridge Audio Evo 300 ticks several boxes. It’s a smart-looking, well-built, feature-packed unit that comes with a streaming platform and control app which many brands could only dream about creating.
It also produces a weighty, powerful sound with a decent amount of detail. However, in our opinion, despite all that power, the sound it produces falls flat.
Music should take you on an emotional journey where you feel it just as much as you can hear it, but the Evo 300's lack of dynamism and expression leaves you feeling distant. By contrast, Arcam SA35 draws you into the music and keeps you there, and it’s quite a bit cheaper, too.
We had big hopes for the Evo 300, but in that search for more power it feels like something has been lost along the way.
Another week, another opportunity to take part in a quiz designed by the team at What Hi-Fi? Towers.
This week we've put our hi-fi hat on and designed a wordsearch inspired by our love of the turntable.
We’ve hidden several key components from a record player in our grid and sprinkled in a handful of brands associated with the product category to keep your brain spinning.
See how quickly you can complete the search, and let us know your time in the comments below!
If you believe the latest rumours, Sony is preparing to revive a classic pair of noise-cancelling headphones.
According to a leak from French retail publication Dealabs, the tech giant is set to unveil the WH-1000XM4C, a new version of its five-star WH-1000XM4 wireless headphones, which originally launched back in 2020.
The rumours point to a new Lavender finish (to add to the Platinum Silver, Black and Midnight Blue options that Sony used to offer for the originals) and a reduction in battery life from 38 hours to 34 hours, presumably with noise-cancelling turned off.
That’s right, a reduction in battery life. Now the obvious question to me is why would this happen? Is Sony using a new, smaller-capacity battery, or – and I’d like to think this was more likely – is it because the ‘C’ version offers something that the older model doesn’t?
The WH-1000XM5 design was very different to the its predecessor (Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
If battery life takes a hit with ANC off, it follows that it will also be reduced with ANC turned on. Which leads me to wonder: has Sony added more power-hungry features? If it has, what could they be? A new processor? New usability features?
Both the original WH-1000XM4 and its successor, the WH-1000XM5, use Sony's HD Noise Cancelling Processor QN1 and Integrated Processor V1.
The more recent WH-1000XM6 flagship uses the QN3 processor – so could there be room for a QN2 processor in the XM4C? I may well be barking up the wrong tree, but it would be interesting to see, should these headphones arrive on the scene.
The original XM4 also had Sony’s Adaptive Sound Control tech; XM5 introduced a more advanced version which could automatically adjust the sound output depending on your listening environment. Could the more advanced version migrate over to a potential new model?
When it comes to call quality, the WH-1000XM5 has Sony’s Precise Voice Pickup technology, with four beam-forming mics and AI-powered noise-reduction, plus wind-noise reduction. Would the lower number of mics on the XM4 (five against eight) make this impossible?
The old colour variations for the original WH-1000X4 - Platinum Silver, Black and Midnight Blue (left to right) (Image credit: Sony)
If Sony is preparing a new WH1000 model, probably the biggest question is how much would they cost?
The Sony WH-1000XM5 currently sit at around £229/$200 – which makes a new version of the XM4 even more intriguing. Assuming a new model comes in under the XM5 (the XM4 dropped to around £177/£199 towards the end of their life), how much breathing space will there be between them? Would a new model too close in price kill sales of the WH-1000XM5?
Dealabs is reporting the retail price will be around £219.99, which, if true, would leave a major question mark hanging over the future of the WH-1000XM5.
What appealed so much about the original WH-1000XM4 and gave them cult status was the premium build and feel and the fact that they folded properly for extra portability. We felt the WH-1000XM5 felt less premium, and they only folded flat, so I can see why Sony fans would be excited about a potential revival.
And it’s why I have everything crossed that the rumoured WH-1000XM4C aren’t simply a relaunch with a new colour and shorter battery life. I have no doubt people will be pleased to see them back, but I’m hoping for a bit more. Don't let me down, Sony.
Just like What Hi-Fi?, the worlds of TV and home cinema have managed to cram in a huge amount over the past 50 years.
TV technology and picture quality have changed dramatically: we have moved from small colour CRT (cathode-ray tube) sets, to huge high-tech flatscreens capable of showing millions of pixels and amazing 4K images.
On the home cinema side, we’ve seen format wars, and a move from stereo to surround sound with newfound levels of immersion; while the age of streaming has introduced a dizzying amount of content for us all to experience.
As part of our own 50th Anniversary celebrations, we reached out to some of the industry’s veterans for their perspectives on how the TV and home cinema markets have changed over the past five decades. Has it all been positive and plain sailing, or have there been challenges along the way?
This is what they had to say.
TV’s transformation
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
You can’t get away from the fact that the good ol’ TV has changed dramatically since 1976. It’s something that isn’t lost on John Archer, a hugely experienced freelance TV reviewer with more than 30 years of box-watching and box-moving under his belt…
“Everything about them has changed radically over the past 50 years, from their basic shape and size to the types of technology making their pictures, the resolutions and vividness of the pictures they show, the immersiveness of the sound accompanying their pictures, and their profound shift from being totally passive entertainment devices to becoming the smartest product in the room.
Not that this rate of TV change was particularly obvious in 1976. We were in the midst of a Cathode Ray Tube TV run then, that stretched all the way from the 1930s through to the early 2000s - a length of reign that is hard to imagine in today’s ever-changing TV market.
As someone who found himself, early on in his TV reviewing career, having to get a massive Sony Trinitron CRT TV weighing 90kg up two flights of stairs to a flat that felt smaller than the TV, the shift to much slimmer LCD TVs in the late 1990s has to stand out as one of the TV world’s most welcome watershed moments - even though the picture quality of those early ‘flat’ TVs actually left a lot to be desired compared with the best CRTs they superseded.
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
These early flat TV performance-concerns meant that, even though reviewing TVs had become much less wearing on my back, it wasn’t until plasma screens started to hit their stride in the early 2000s that the flat TV generation really came of age. Using self-emissive pixels enabled these TVs to deliver the sort of contrast, at last, that home cinema fans had craved since CRT left the scene.
The significance of plasma screens grew significantly - literally - as brands found ways of making them at screen sizes that would have been unthinkable in CRT’s day.
I had enjoyed hanging out with rear-projection TVs for a while as brands looked for ways to turn living rooms into home cinemas, but big-screen plasma TVs were just so much more generally manageable than any rear-projection option. Though, having said that, it did take four men and a crane to get a 103-inch Panasonic plasma TV into my test room back in the day…
Ironically, one of the biggest reasons for plasma’s ultimate demise came from the final TV innovation that stands out to me as genuinely revolutionary: High Dynamic Range.
Plasma TVs just couldn’t deliver the sort of brightness and colour intensity the colossally expanded light ranges and colour gamuts associated with HDR without using huge amounts of power or suffering from the dreaded screen burn effect.
OLED TVs came along to pick up the self-emissive TV baton - though it has actually really been only over the past four or five years that OLED TVs have really got to grips with what HDR can truly bring to the picture quality table.
HDR hasn’t been without its problems. It’s still challenging for budget TVs to deliver HDR effectively, for instance, and content creators have been frustratingly slow to truly embrace it. But once you have experienced HDR delivered well, going back to SDR feels like going back to the dark ages.”
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
Arcam co-founder John Dawson agrees and also notes that changes to TV technology have been mirrored in improvements to the methods and techniques actually employed to help production: “The picture quality of TV has improved beyond the wildest dreams of the 1976 consumer.
Back then, colour TV broadcasting in the UK was less than 10 years old. We only had the cathode ray tube in diagonal sizes of up to about 26 inches, using the shadow mask and, later, Sony's Trinitron technology, to generate a colour image in our living rooms.
Professional archiving was possible only on film or on videotape; the home versions of the latter (VCRs) had picture noise and very poor resolution, about 200 lines compared with the theoretical 576 active lines of standard broadcast TV.
Since then, the advances in TV cameras in resolution, geometry, colour depth and accuracy have been profound, largely driven by the revolution in computing and microelectronics fabrication. This has been mirrored in display performance (think 4K, 10-bit flat panels of all sizes), delivery (over the air, satellite and streaming video) and storage options (DVD, Blu-ray, hard drives etc).”
Dawson also makes the point that there hasn’t been a huge increase in cost for the consumer: “When colour TVs were first sold in the UK in 1968, the average price of a 20 inch set was about £300.
That would also have bought you more than half of an Austin/Morris Mini! Prices remained comparable in 1976, but with larger tube sizes and improved reliability. Interestingly, most sets were rented rather than purchased outright. Miraculously, one can still buy a reasonable flatscreen TV today for the same amount of money!”
Bringing the cinema home
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
Obviously, picture is only one half of the TV/AV equation. Where does sound fit in? And how has the journey brought us to the immersive formats we have now?
Roger Batchelor is a freelance consultant who has worked with Denon for the best part of 35 years.
“1976 was early days for colour TV in the UK, and for high-quality audio from TV for most people. It always fascinated me, though, that Saul Marantz included a “TV” input on his original Audio Consolette pre-amplifier in 1952!
During the 1980’s, I was branch manager for a UK Hi-Fi/TV retailer. In those days our TV showroom was at the front of the store with a separate Hi-Fi demo room at the rear. Not until the BBC “NICAM” stereo TV sound test broadcasts in the mid-’80s did we consider putting a TV and VCR in the Hi-Fi demo room.
By the early 1990s, AV amplifiers were gaining ground in the UK, and this was the first opportunity for people to experience just how good TV sound could be. These were exciting times and, by 1995, the first Laser Discs with Dolby AC-3 encoded soundtracks were released, providing AV companies with a significant uplift in sound quality for their demonstrations at shows and in retailer demo rooms.
When the DVD format arrived a couple of years later, “Home Cinema” really took off, helped by the rapid development of TVs, from rear-projection sets to plasma screens and eventually LCD and beyond. In addition, front projectors were becoming more affordable for those prepared to dedicate the space to accommodate a large screen.
Around the same time, Lucasfilm THX certification provided a boost to AV products at the high-end for both electronics and loudspeakers. THX also started to provide training courses for AV industry personnel, swiftly followed by associations such as the Home Acoustics Alliance (HAA) and the Imaging Science Foundation (ISF). Along with training from AV manufacturers and distributors, these helped considerably to drive the industry forward in terms of knowledge and expertise.
This period also saw the rapid growth in custom installation, which had a profound effect on the industry with new companies being established to specialise in this market. More training courses and seminars became available from CEDIA and the UK’s Clarity Alliance, and all these organisations continue to offer education for professionals.
On the other hand, AV amplifiers and processors were becoming too complex for customers who wanted a straightforward set-up that they could install themselves.
Manufacturers began to realise this and eventually made it much easier to install an AV amplifier by developing a concise on-screen setup guide to talk the user through each stage of installing an amplifier and multi-channel speaker system.
As TV streaming has become dominant due to its convenience there is the downside of the reduction in sound quality compared to that available from Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray discs.
For the very best sound, you can’t beat a disc with a Dolby True HD or DTS-HD Master Audio encoded soundtrack playing through an AV amplifier connected to a dedicated speaker package. Furthermore, Dolby Atmos is even more effective from a disc than it is from streaming, provided suitable speakers are installed.”
(Image credit: Future)
Eric Kingdon, is a technical marketing consultant for Sony and has had a hand in a number of the brand’s Award-winning AV (and hi-fi) products over the years. He thinks a combination of factors have helped get us to where we are today…
“I guess the biggest benefit is the shift to a greater cinematic experience, particularly in terms of quality and sheer size, which applies to both displays and delivery systems. Thanks to 4K, improved internet, superior compression and lossless coding systems, it’s a far cry from a simple Dolby surround add-on processor, with a matrixed mono rear sound.
In a way the industry worked together from recording to delivery, apart from the inevitable competing formats along the way. It’s also interesting how different aspects of technology fed off each other – hi-fi sound on analogue video recorders made people realise the possibilities for home theatre.
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
Even with optical discs, initially LP-sized, it began with analogue, then digital when more discrete channels brought the experience home. Digital technology has been responsible for the proliferation of content and devices.
The consumer has gained from systems that can integrate into almost any space, both personal and in the home.
DSP with greater power and computation has enabled virtual processing for height and additional channels simply not possible before – technology like 360 Spatial Sound Mapping has added more speakers without the need for further enclosures.
Manufacturers like Sony and stalwarts such as Dolby have all played their part. We’ve gained choice through quality streaming services and fuss-free connection thanks to the use of wireless systems. I also believe the media helped in highlighting the need to bring high-quality music and AV reproduction to a similar level of quality.
The past 50 years have been an exciting story, and we have gained so much – this whole area of entertainment drove innovation.”
The technology has improved, but it’s not perfect
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
As always seems to be the case with the evolution of technology, it hasn’t been a completely smooth ride. Rob Hay, Director of Marketing at AudioQuest, notes how important it has been to understand the shifts from a technical point of view, so the end user can enjoy the claimed benefits to their fullest.
“Every advance in cameras, microphones, production formats and content delivery has placed greater demands on the connections carrying the signal. From AudioQuest’s perspective, our role has remained remarkably consistent: to understand the technical requirements of each connection and do everything possible to avoid introducing distortion, corruption or disruption.
Even a seemingly simple aerial or coaxial cable deserves attention to its impedance, dielectric and termination. In the analogue era, shortcomings might have produced a slightly fuzzy picture; with digital, they are more likely to cause pixelation, dropouts or no picture at all.
HDMI promised to be the single cable that did everything, but its evolution has not always made life easier for consumers. Successive specifications, confusing “speed” claims, EDID communication problems and HDCP have all added complexity.
Gaming, meanwhile, has progressed from the simple electronic tennis of the Magnavox Odyssey to a vast range of consoles and games with their own demanding video and audio requirements; technology such as Unreal Engine now even helps to create some of our favourite films and television programmes.
Yet confusion is hardly new. From Betamax versus VHS and HD DVD versus Blu-ray to Dolby Digital, DTS and today’s Dolby Atmos systems, we have sometimes made progress feel more bewildering than exciting – and kept consumers reliant on specialist retailers and press to make sense of it all.”
As someone who has seen it change during my near two decades at What Hi-Fi?, these words from Rob ring especially true:
“The experience is unquestionably better than it was in 1976. But as an industry we should remember that innovation only really succeeds when it is reliable, understandable and practical in a family living room.”
Another week, another carefully curated quiz to test your hi-fi and AV knowledge. This week, we are going to find out how good you are at unravelling audio formats.
We’ll provide the acronyms, but after that, it’s up to you to tell us exactly what each letter stands for. Do you know your WAV from your WMA? Let’s find out…
Anyone who has read my Sony WF-1000XM6 review will know I’m a big fan of these premium wireless earbuds.
However, as I’ve also written about previously, I don’t think they’re perfect. Put simply, I’m not the biggest fan of the eartips that come supplied with them.
If you’re new to my moaning (or what I like to think of as constructive criticism), I don’t find them particularly pliable, or super comfortable when in place.
If there was only one thing I could change about these five-star earbuds, it would be the material used and possibly the shape/sizing of the replaceable tips. After all, I think the buds’ sound quality, call quality and noise-cancelling skills are second-to-none.
So, in the name of journalism (and comfort), I’ve been on the hunt for alternatives.
I have been using the WF-1000XM6 since launch, and now I think my pair are in need of some attention, especially as the tips currently attached to them are starting to break up, which can be the case with foam designs. It’s like your favourite slippers when the soles have lost their grip and your heels start to wear through the furry surface.
My WF-1000XM6 are starting to look a little tired and weary (Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
The world of aftermarket eartips won’t be a surprise to many, but as someone who tends to believe that the manufacturer knows best when it comes to product R&D, it’s not something I’ve really looked into until now.
Hop on Amazon, and your choices are seemingly endless, whether you want memory foam or silicone, domed or flanged. Shapes and styles vary, as do prices. (Special mention to whathifi.com reader cyclonaut for bringing my attention to a couple of the popular brands in the eartip world)
I settled on four different options, one of which, Comply, actually reached out after reading one of my articles on a different pair of earbuds. Here’s what I picked and what I thought of them…
Comply Truegrip Pro £20 (L/L/L)
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
The Comply memory foam tips are a tiny bit shallower and more domed than the Sonys, with more of a pronounced tip. Their opening is larger, and like the Sonys, they have a mesh in the middle to protect from any debris.
I didn’t find them as comfortable as the silicone designs, and when it came to music, although they allow for an open, expressive and powerful delivery, I think they sacrifice subtlety, and there was less space between the different elements of tracks.
These were my favourite silicone tips. They feel premium and smooth to the touch and are easy to slide onto the tubes of the XM6 buds. There’s a nice balance between the flexible silicone dome and the more robust silicone nozzle.
I didn’t have any issues with fit or comfort, and I also like the fact that they have a built-in mesh guard. However, they don’t isolate as well as the Sony or Comply tips. They promote a balance which sounds more open but lacks the solidity and focus of the memory foam alternatives.
These looked and felt the most interesting tips. Their diameter was slightly smaller than the Comply and Sony alternatives. It was more of a struggle getting these onto the Sony tubes, but the tight fit means they won’t be slipping off any time soon.
The lack of any mesh in the tip would make me nervous that debris could make its way into the Sony tubes and potentially impact sound quality. Like the AZLA tips, they promote an open, airy sound, but it’s still a leaner balance, and the isolation wasn’t great.
The design includes a patented ‘spinnable core’ which claims to improve comfort. The silicon used here feels tackier than on the other pairs, which gives the impression it’s going to help with the seal. I didn’t have any issues with comfort or fit.
I found the sound quality of both SpinFit models to be very similar – there’s good detail and edges of notes sound crisp and precise. But, as has been the case with all the silicone tips I tried, music just doesn’t have the natural warmth or solidity as it does when heard through either of the memory-foam pairs.
The Neo tips were easier to fit than the Omni, requiring less force to slide them on. Comfort levels were very good, but once again, there’s no mesh protector in the nozzle to protect from wax.
So, what did my eartip encounters tell me? The main conclusion I took away was that the Sony tips performed the best.
Is that a surprise, though? Sony must have spent a lot of time and money on research, learning about ear shapes, trying different materials, sizes, and fits. For me the WF-1000XM6 just sound better balanced, more subtle, and more natural when using their own tips.
But I can certainly see the appeal of trying something different. I don’t love the tips that currently come with the XM6, so if there was something more comfortable out there that didn’t sacrifice sound quality, then it would be foolish not to try to track them down.
I can see why some people might like a silicone alternative – there is something a bit more open and forward about the sound, giving the impression it’s more exciting – but for me, you are shifting the sound away from what Sony intended and what makes them arguably the best wireless earbuds on the market right now.
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
Not only does sound quality take a hit, but the switch to any of the silicone tips has a major effect on isolation and therefore noise cancelling. This is a big problem, because the eartips and earbuds will have been designed to work together.
Not only will the extra density of the memory foam give you more isolation just through the choice of material, but one would assume Sony will also have factored in which frequencies its tips are isolating and formulated its ANC to take this into account.
During testing, I found a track of ambient cafe noises, and the amount of information the silicone tips were letting through would seriously put me off using them long-term, especially in crowded environments or on places like the London Underground.
In conclusion it looks like I’m going to have to stick with a like-for-like replacement for my eartips for now, but that still won’t stop me asking for a slightly comfier design from an WF-1000XM6 successor.
If the electronics are the beating heart of a hi-fi or home cinema system, the cables are the veins, transporting the vital picture and sound between the various components. If you didn’t run the odd cable or two between your kit, you’d be sitting there listening in silence or watching a blank screen.
But how good is your cable knowledge? Can you tell your HDMI from your USB? (There you are, we’ve given you a couple of clues already.)
We have put together images of 13 types of cable which we would like you to identify. Some are pretty straightforward, but we have dropped a couple of tougher ones in there to really put you to the test.
There’s no prize for full marks, we’re afraid, but hopefully you’ll be able to sleep more easily at night knowing that your cable-spotting skills are up to scratch. Good luck – and let us know how you did in the comments!
While there still seems to be a modicum of choice when it comes to buying a new pair of entry-level stereo speakers, when it comes to budget hi-fi electronics, your options have shrunk considerably over the years.
This is especially the case when it comes to CD players. More and more people have moved to streaming as their source of music, with others opting to spin vinyl records instead of CDs. Not that we are complaining about any of these forms, of course.
Thankfully, Marantz is one brand that continues to fly the flag for that shiny silver disc. Over the years, it has produced some hugely respected budget CD players, so its latest machine, the CD 70, comes with plenty of attention and a huge dollop of expectation.
It replaces Marantz’s own CD6007, a six-time What Hi-Fi? Award winner, so it has some huge shoes to fill, to put it lightly. Can it keep Marantz’s enviable track record going at this level?
Price
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
The CD 70 is Marantz’s entry-level CD player now and costs £499 / $750 / AU$1000 (excl. VAT). Given the state of the market, there aren’t many rivals, but the model it’s succeeding is the CD6007, which is still available at the time of writing for £399 / $650 / AU$999, and you can find it regularly discounted too. It won’t be around forever, though.
The only other five-star CD player we’ve tested remotely anywhere near the Marantz is the Award-winning Arcam CD5, but at £699 / $699 / AUS$1495 it’s a significant step above (both in terms of price and performance), and we haven’t seen much in the way of discounts, and don’t really expect to.
Design & build
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
The CD 70 is the first entry-level Marantz CD player to feature the company’s newer design language.
Gone is the purposeful, industrial look of the CD6007; in its place is a more modern aesthetic with added elements of texture on the fascia, either side of the unit’s chunky mid-section of the front panel.
Marantz CD 70 tech specs
(Image credit: Marantz)
Type Integrated
SACD? No
Outputs RCA line level
Inputs Coaxial, optical, USB Type A
Dimensions 10.9 x 44.2 x 35.1 cm
Weight 6.5kg
Finishes x 2 (black, silver)
When the light catches the pattern (the closest thing we can equate it to is the dimples on a golf ball, but much shallower), it’s an attractive look, especially in the silver and gold finish of our review sample, although we still think there’s a certain charm to the way the older model looks.
Build quality feels solid enough for the money. And, although its dimensions are a fraction larger than the CD6007 you’d be hard-pressed to tell from a distance – you certainly don’t need to measure for a new hi-fi rack.
(Image credit: Marantz)
Beneath the CD 70’s lid are a number of new components which Marantz has introduced to improve sound quality. These include an updated power supply, which claims help to reduce noise, and an upgraded digital clock to reduce jitter (digital timing errors).
The big news, though, is that the CD 70 uses a new ES9020Q DAC chip to do all the number-crunching, which is an upgrade over the older ES9010K2M chip used in the CD6007.
You also get a remote control which looks pretty similar to the one that came with the CD6007, but its colour is slightly different, as is the labelling and positioning of some of the buttons. You’re not going to get lost navigating your way around, though.
Features
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
The back of the CD 70 shows an identical feature set to the outgoing model, with the same sockets in roughly the same positions. There’s an analogue output plus optical and coaxial digital outputs. There aren’t any digital inputs, but that’s hardly unexpected at this level.
Around the front of the unit, you’ve got a horizontal row of controls either side of the dot-matrix display, which, once again, appears virtually identical to the display used in its predecessor.
It can show CD text and track information, and you can also use it to navigate the player’s settings when you bring them up using the remote control. The player supports normal CDs, and can handle CD-R and CD-RW discs too, but not SACDs.
You’ll find skip controls, and one button combining play/pause on the right of the display, with input selection (CD/USB), stop and eject buttons on the left.
To the bottom left of the display is the USB-Type A input, which supports WAV, FLAC, ALAC, AIFF and DSD files should you have them stored on an external hard drive. Resolution compatibility is up to 24-bit/192kHz PCM and DSD 5.6 (DSD128).
To the bottom right is a volume control for the built-in headphone amplifier section – scan a bit further right, and you’ll see the relevant 6.3mm headphone socket. The volume control is noticeably chunkier than that on the older model, which does make it easier to get to grips with.
The Marantz also gives you the option to adjust gain to increase compatibility with different pairs of headphones, which is handy.
Sound
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
Before we give you the complete picture of how the CD 70 sounds, you should be aware of a couple of things.
As was the case with CD6007, the display can be turned off on the CD 70. Marantz recommends you do this in the manual and claims it improves sound quality… and we have to concur.
The most noticeable effect we find during testing is that it reduces background noise ever so slightly, allowing for a clearer presentation.
You also get a choice of two digital filters to play with (Filter 1 and Filter 2). We found that using Filter 1 delivered the best sound quality – we felt the general rhythm and timing of the music sounded a little off when using the second filter.
We find that the improvement gained from turning off the display is the most immediate and obvious, though; the filter effect is a bit more subtle.
Even without those tweaks, the Marantz CD 70 is an impressive performer for the money. It sounds clear, and punchy, and produces a focused, precise sound.
It’s a slight change in character compared with the CD6007. We find the older model sounds a touch more relaxed, while the newcomer favours a slightly more upfront and forward approach. It’s not shouty or distracting by any means, but it is a noticeable shift in balance.
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
Play Lupe Fiasco’s Superstar and there’s plenty of sparkle up at the top end; there’s an impressive amount of detail extracted from the screams of the crowd before they fade out of shot, and it has no problem highlighting subtle details either, such as the camera flashes going off in the background. The different layers are picked out and placed on a quiet background where they are given room to shine.
Piano and percussion work harmoniously together as the CD player uncovers an impressive amount of texture.
Lupe’s vocals are solid and expressive and sit over the top of simple, yet taut and hefty bass notes. It’s a nicely controlled bottom end that displays the Marantz’s ability to deliver both quantity and quality.
Switch over to the London Regency Orchestra’s take on Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah and the wonderfully quiet background once again comes to the fore. The track's slow build-up, first with strings, then with woodwind, as the percussion rings in the background, is organised accurately with tightly defined borders throughout.
The track takes its time to stretch out dynamically, but the Marantz builds up nicely to deliver a fine crescendo of strings before fading away. The older CD6007 might paint the dynamic shifts with a bit more delicacy, but you can’t argue with the CD 70’s newfound sense of precision and power.
Verdict
New Marantz CD 70 (top) and outgoing CD6007 (bottom). (Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
The lack of any real competition at this level really leaves the Marantz CD 70 in a class of one.
Well, we can call it a class of two until the stock of the CD6007 runs out. But that time will come, and the CD 70 delivers a clear step up in terms of clarity, punch and solidity.
It might not be the most relaxed-sounding player Marantz has ever built, but it’s still a serious performer for the money, and if you’ve got a stack of CDs that need playing, you can be confident the CD 70 will be more than up to the task.
With decades of experience under our collective belts, the What Hi-Fi? reviews team has an exhaustive list of movie scenes on tap for testing all things AV, from simple soundbars to AV receivers, to full-blown Dolby Atmos surround sound systems.
Rows of Blu-ray discs (including the 4K variety) adorn our test rooms and are on standby for when we want to push a subwoofer to breaking point or stretch the processing skills of an AVR.
But what about the people behind the actual products that we test? As we did in 2025, we’ve once again reached out to major players in home cinema to find out which movies and scenes they use to benchmark their products. You’ll find them listed below.
What do you think of their choices? What are your favourite clips for showcasing your home cinema kit? Let us know in the comments below!
This scene has all the classic elements for a great demonstration. It features cars, bikes, trains and giant gorillas – what more could you want? Visually it’s fast and detailed, and the soundtrack matches the images, being big and bold with a massive amount of immersive sound too. But listen carefully, and behind those huge dynamics you can hear the crystal clarity of the token coins bouncing into the distance.
A Star Is Born – Shallow
This film has an outstanding soundtrack. But the standout demo track is the Shallow scene. You can feel the tension between the artists as the song builds, and the vocals and musicians on this track are just tremendous. The entire soundtrack – either Dolby Atmos or DTS HD – has been mixed so well that you really feel that you are part of the performance, and this is totally engaging.
Hans Zimmer and Friends, Diamond in the Desert – Gladiator
This disc is a real favourite of ours and works brilliantly to demonstrate our soundbars or our high-end multichannel systems. The Gladiator track just shimmers with a wide and sweeping performance of this movie soundtrack classic.
The audio mix is both striking, accurate and at times breath-taking, and places you directly in the middle of the performance – immersing you completely. It’s a compelling argument that all soundtracks like this should only be listened to with a home cinema system.
Harry Jones, Sound Experience Engineer, Sonos
Sinners (2025) – 00:55:50
What an incredible film this is; the performances, the music, the cinematography. I’m a huge fan of how this movie sounds, and we are proud to have worked with one of the re-recording mixers, Brandon Proctor, on previous tuning sessions for our products.
A standout moment for me, and many others, has to be the music scene in the juke joint. It’s also been coined ‘THAT’ scene from Sinners - understandably. The scene offers many styles of music, starting with blues and ending with a huge score from Ludwig Göransson, via West Coast hip-hop.
Along with the music, there’s some really interesting perspective panning, especially with the instruments, as the camera weaves through the dancers and onto the stage. There’s a lot of movement of the ‘full range’ elements, so for me it’s a great test of how a system gels together, and the overall integration of the fronts and the surrounds.
Joker (2019) – 00:40:05
Another film with incredible dialogue timbre throughout is Joker from 2019. The social worker scene is a stand-out in terms of tonality, and I use this scene often to understand how a centre channel is sounding.
It is a great test to be able to tell whether it’s too boomy, or indeed too bright. The dialogue is mixed with this rich and chesty quality, and there’s plenty of warm 400/500Hz present. The clip itself is fairly sparse in terms of anything else going on, but I find it to be the yardstick on centre channel performance.
28 Years Later (2025) – 00:35:15
I love the very abstract imagery in this scene, but for me it’s all about the thundering low end throughout. I’m a big fan of using big low end in cinematic presentations, so if this feels slightly on the edge of ‘too much’, it’s probably about right.
John Bagby - Managing Director of PML Sound (Paradigm, Anthem, MartinLogan and GoldenEar)
Project Hail Mary – 1:44:10, Time Go Fishing
This sequence is an absolute torture test for your subwoofer and amplifier. It layers two extremes at the exact same time.
On the low end, you have the heavy, continuous, room-shaking rumble of the spaceship’s engines humming between 20Hz and 60Hz. This demands massive, sustained power. Meanwhile, the mix sprinkles tiny, high-frequency details right on top, like clinking chains and high-pitched spacesuit beeps.
On a lesser system, the heavy bass will swallow these delicate details, leaving you with a muddy, vibrating mess. A great system keeps them perfectly separated. You’ll feel the deep, physical engine rumble in your chest while still hearing those crisp, metallic clinks cut through with absolute clarity.
Venom – 50:30:00, Eddie’s Apartment Fight
This scene is a killer test for texture and midrange control. It flips instantly from Eddie arguing with himself to an absolute mess of close-quarters chaos.
The star of the show here is that deep, layering Venom voice. On the right system, it has this rumbling, dual-tone texture that feels like it’s vibrating inside your own skull and sends chills down your spine. At the same time, you have these wet, gooey, ripping sounds whenever the symbiote shoots out a tentacle.
On a weaker set-up, the voice loses its menacing weight and gets completely buried under the generic thuds of furniture shattering and bodies crashing into drywall. A good system keeps that creepy alien voice front and centre, sounding thick and terrifying while the apartment gets torn apart around it.
Midway – 1:34:55, Attack on the Carriers
If you want to push your surround sound or Dolby Atmos set-up to its absolute limit, play this scene. It is pure, chaotic adrenaline. Fighter planes scream overhead, anti-aircraft guns thump, and debris flies in every direction. The sound design is incredibly fast, panning audio aggressively in a full 360-degree circle around your room.
This is a test of spatial precision and amplifier recovery speed. You want to hear a plane zoom seamlessly from front-left, over your head, and out the back-right without any gaps in the sound.
Because the explosions are so rapid-fire, your system has to recover instantly to deliver the next hit. If your gear is too slow, the chaos turns into a muddy blur; if it’s fast, it feels terrifyingly real.
Eric Kingdon, Technical Marketing Consultant, Sony
James Bond No Time to Die – Chapter 4, 20.00, Car Ambush
In this scene, the dialogue/music should remain clear despite the chaos! Gunfire travels precisely around the soundstage. Car engine and sound ‘impacts’ deliver controlled, but powerful low-frequency bass. The church bells, with great height, separation and detail, create a strong vertical position in the soundfield.
Ready Player One – Chapter 2 , 12.00, Car Race
The scene delivers a wide soundstage, with objects rapidly moving around the listener. It’s also a great test of dynamics and imaging, with a strong sense of height and lateral movement. It delivers a good immersive experience, with excellent smaller details such as when the coins ‘float’ into the car!
Sinners – Chapter 7, 55.45, Music Awakening
The guitar playing has detail plus presence, while the vocals remain focused and natural. Musically, it’s a fine test. Actually, it’s a good test for virtual speaker processing too. As the camera rotates, the soundstage opens up, enveloping the listener. You get the excellent room ambience, with the crowd reactions and musical ‘layers’ demonstrating a feeling of atmosphere, space and immersion. It’s quite immersive in both a musical and visual sense.
Olivier Semenoux, EU head of GTM & Product Management, TCL
6 Underground
For checking Atmos detailed sound, we use movies on Netflix and we typically use 6 Underground as this is one of the best scenes for testing a Dolby Atmos system, which will “detail” and “separate” sound objects clearly into the space.
In the opening Florence car chase scene, cars whip from front to rear, helicopters pass overhead and tyre screeches, ricochets and debris all move convincingly around and above you. It's a proper stress test for how clearly a system can separate and place individual sound objects in space, rather than just throwing noise at you.
Roma
This is the opposite kind of test, and in some ways the harder one. It's subtle rather than spectacular. In the scene just before the fire starts around half way into the movie, we can hear creaking doors, a dog barking from different distances, insects, church bells, all placed with real precision before the flames slowly wrap around you.
Atmos systems that sound impressive with action scenes don't always handle ambience this well, so it's a good way to hear how honest a system is.
Costa Rica (YouTube, Jacob & Katie Schwarz)
This is one of the clips we go back to most for judging genuine 4K HDR performance. It has everything we look for from bright highlights in the sun and the reflections off the water at the beach, deep blacks that still hold detail rather than crushing and fine texture in things like the skin of the snake.
The colours are rich without tipping into oversaturation and there's a real range of detail from the bright clouds right down into the dark shadows. It's a genuinely demanding real-world test that shows the best quality for a display.
The CD 70 and Model 70 go on sale on the 15th August for £499 | €600 | $750 | AU$1100 (exc VAT) and £749 | €850 | AU$1600 (exc VAT) respectively.
At the time of the announcement, there was no US pricing for the Model 70, and Marantz confirmed to What Hi-Fi? that this was because the stereo amplifier wouldn’t be available there at launch.
We asked Marantz to comment further, and it has replied with a full explanation for the decision:
“MODEL 70 will not be available in North America at this time. Following careful evaluation, we determined that anticipated market demand in the region would not support the minimum production volumes required for a local launch. As a result, we have made the decision to focus availability for the initial launch in markets where consumer demand can be more effectively met.
"We are confident that we already have other products in our current portfolio that can meet our customer needs for stereo components in North America, including the acclaimed STEREO 70s Stereo Receiver and the compact MODEL M1 Streaming Amplifier. We remain committed to bringing innovative products to North America and will continue to introduce new models that align well with the needs of the region.”
While it might come as a surprise to hear the amplifier isn’t launching in the US, this isn’t the first time a manufacturer has targeted specific markets with specific products and product ranges, nor will it be the last.
Different international markets might have different demands and requirements for products, so it makes sense not to launch something that might muddy the waters. Having said that, undoubtedly there will be some prospective buyers who might be looking forward to experiencing the new integrated amp and disappointed that it won't be making the journey.
The statement does use the words “initial launch”, though, so who knows if Marantz might change its plans further down the line.
We have both the CD 70 and Model 70 in for testing at the moment and will be reporting back with the official What Hi-Fi? verdict soon.
If we’re talking about the best CD players we have tested in the past decade, pound for pound, the Marantz CD6007 has to be in the conversation.
Not only is it a fantastic five-star performer, it has walked away with multiple What Hi-Fi? Awards over the years, too.
But the truth is, it’s a little long in the tooth. It launched back in August 2020 and, following a refresh of Marantz’s other hi-fi and home cinema electronics, it has always been a matter of when not if it would be replaced.
Following the recent unveiling of the CD 70, that time has come. That’s right, when current stock runs out, the CD6007 will be no more.
So what does its replacement have to offer? Should you be looking to swap old for new? We’ll cover all this and more below.
Marantz CD 70 vs CD6007 - Price
Given current market conditions, you won’t be surprised to hear that the CD 70 costs more than the CD6007 did when it launched back in August 2020. The size of the jump really depends on where you buy it.
The new model will set you back £499 | €600 | $750 | AU$1000 (exc VAT), compared with the £399 | €449 | $650 | AU$999 that you have to pay at the time of writing for its predecessor.
The CD6007 can regularly be found discounted across various territories now, though, and it’s unlikely we’ll see anything off the CD 70 for a while. So if you want a saving on a mighty fine Marantz CD player, the old model is the way to go for now.
Marantz CD 70 vs CD6007 - Design and build
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
The shift to Marantz’s more recent design language is quite obvious, but which you prefer the look of can only come down to personal taste.
Each player offers something different and although the CD 70 might appear the more modern of the two, there’s still a lot to be said for the more industrial and workmanlike appearance of the CD6007.
The CD70 has a chunky front panel with a main section that protrudes from the rest of the fascia and is flanked by textured surfaces on either side.
The CD6007 appears a bit more straightforward and uncompromising in its stance, but there’s still enough character in its appearance to give it presence on your hi-fi rack.
The CD 70 is the slightly larger of the two units, but the difference in dimensions isn’t massive – 10.9 x 44.2 x 35.1cm next to 10.5 x 44 x 34.1cm (hwd).
Inside, the CD 70 uses an upgraded power supply, which Marantz claims helps to reduce noise. The headline news, though, is that the CD 70 gets a new ES9020Q DAC chip compared with the older ES9010K2M chip found in the CD6007. The new model also gets an upgraded digital clock to reduce jitter (digital timing errors).
Marantz CD 70 vs CD6007 - Features
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
The dot-matrix display on both appears virtually identical, as do the buttons on the front – although the eagle-eyed among you will notice that their positions and functions have changed a little.
The CD6007 has its controls positioned vertically, with individual buttons for play, pause, and stop on the right of the unit, and eject, skip forwards, skip backwards and a button for switching to the USB input on the left.
The CD 70, by contrast, has its buttons positioned horizontally, on either side of its ‘porthole’. Skip forwards, backwards and one button combining play and pause sit on the right; input selection, stop and eject on the left.
Both offer a USB Type-A input to the left of the display and a 6.3mm headphone socket, complete with a volume-control knob positioned on the right.
A remote control comes with the CD 70 and looks very similar to the remote you get with the CD6007, but with a new finish. Look a little closer and you’ll see some of the labelling has changed, together with some of the icons used.
The rear layout of both machines is identical. There is an analogue output, plus optical and coaxial digital outputs.
File compatibility remains the same with both machines able to play CD, CD-R and CD-RW discs, while the USB input that features on each machine supports the same file formats: WAV, FLAC, ALAC, AIFF and DSD.
The CD 70 offers a choice of two digital filters for sound quality, similar to the CD6007, and also the option to turn off the digital outputs and the display if you’re not using them, both of which, Marantz claims, will help improve sound quality.
Marantz CD 70 vs CD6007 - Sound
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
We are about to put the new Marantz through its paces, so we’ll reserve final judgement on sound quality for when our review team has completed their testing.
On paper, however, Marantz has attempted to improve sound quality for the CD 70 through a number of design improvements, including the use of a new DAC and upgraded power supply.
If it can build on all the qualities of its predecessor then this could be a very special CD player indeed. In our Marantz CD6007 review, we called it a “crisp, open performer” and said ”larger-scale dynamics are delivered with verve and punch”.
Let's hope it doesn't stray too far from a winning formula.
Marantz CD 70 vs CD6007 - Initial verdict
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
Marantz has introduced a few new components for the CD 70, so we have high hopes for its new-generation disc-spinner. This area of the CD player market has shrunk considerably over the years and rivals are few and far between.
Of course, nothing is guaranteed, and we all know how much of a formidable performer the CD6007 has been over the years.
Will the new model be worth upgrading to if you're an existing CD6007 owner? As soon as we have spent enough time with the CD 70 and done all the relevant comparisons, you’ll be the first to know!
Any new product launch from Marantz is sure to grab headlines, and this is one of its biggest yet. The Japanese hi-fi giant has finally unveiled replacements for both its all-conquering and Award-winning PM6007 stereo amplifier and CD6007 CD player…
The Model 70 and CD 70 enter the separates arena with a new look, which brings them in line with the rest of the company’s hi-fi and home cinema electronics.
This means design touches such as textured surfaces on the front of both units and the inclusion of Marantz’s trademark circular ‘porthole’ on the Model 70 amp.
These are not just pretty new faces, either. Marantz has promised multiple internal upgrades, all of which are designed to extract the best sound quality possible.
These include “optimised circuit layouts, carefully selected components and vibration-resistant chassis structures.”
(Image credit: Marantz)
We’ll start with the Model 70 amplifier, which is a Class A/B design delivering 50 Watts of power per channel. It uses an upgraded power supply and preamplifier circuit, plus a larger power transformer than its predecessor.
It also features an electronic volume control as opposed to the analogue design used on the PM6007.
There’s a high-performance DAC on board, a high-quality MM phono stage, aptX HD and aptX Adaptive Bluetooth (including the ability to transmit and receive) and an HDMI ARC connection.
There are also your standard suite of analogue and digital connections, plus preamplifier and subwoofer preouts. The Model 70 includes a new low-phase noise clock to reduce the effects of jitter, i.e. digital timing errors, and deliver more accurate playback of your CDs.
The CD 70 uses the same DAC as the Model 70 and offers a USB (Type-A) input on the front that allows you to connect an external hard drive. It supports a range of file types, including WAV, FLAC, AIFF and DSD.
Also on the front is a 6.3mm headphone socket which connects to the fully discrete headphone amplifier contained within the unit. To help with headphone compatibility, Marantz includes adjustable gain control, which you access through the player’s on-screen menus.
It also features an upgraded power supply, plus a double-layered chassis and rigid isolation feet to keep outside interference to a minimum.
The CD 70 costs £499 | €600 | $750 | AU$1100 (exc VAT), which, given its predecessor launched at £399 / AU$999 back in 2020, isn’t really a huge increase.
The Model 70, on the other hand, costs £749 | €850 | AU$1600 (exc VAT), which represents a larger jump from the £499 / AU$1199 launch price of the outgoing PM6007. Both are available in either black or silver and gold.
One thing you might have noticed is that there is no US price for the Model 70 amplifier. It won’t be available in North America when the products officially go on sale on the 15th August. We have reached out to Marantz for a comment about this and will report back as soon as possible.
It’s fair to say Marantz’s CD6007 and PM6007 have had a great innings – almost six years to be precise – so while it’s obviously sad to see these repeat What Hi-Fi? Award-winners replaced, it’s a change that has been coming, and we are excited to hear what the new models offer.
We currently have both models in our dedicated test rooms and will be reporting back with our official verdicts in the very near future. Keep your eyes peeled!
In case you hadn’t realised, vinyl is making a bit of a comeback. Who would have guessed that a plastic disc which first arrived on the scene in 1931 would still be bringing so much joy 95 years later?
Although a lot has changed in the world over that time, the format itself and the techniques used to create it haven’t evolved massively. So, is vinyl currently as good as it gets, or could it be improved upon?
We reached out to some of the best turntable engineers in the business to see what they think about the state of the format in 2026.
Our last experience of Burmester in a Porsche was the excellent audio system offered on the all-electric Taycan. We found it to be a big jump up in quality – indeed, a “night and day difference” was how we described it in our review.
Does the optional Burmester system have a similar impact on our ears in Porsche’s best-selling model, the Macan? We plugged in the newest all-electric variant and pressed play to find out.
Price
Your first rung on the optional sound-system ladder for the Macan is the Bose Surround Sound System, which costs £963.
If you want to step up to the more expensive Burmester 3D High-End Surround Sound System tested here, you are looking at a higher price tag of £2916.
System
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
For the money you get 21 speakers, 21 channels of amplification and 1470 Watts of power. In the front of the cabin you’ll find a trio of Air Motion Transformer (AMT) tweeters, which use ribbon diaphragms.
These are positioned on the top of the dashboard, with one tucked in each corner, and the third partnered with a midrange driver in the middle.
There’s a midrange driver and woofer in each front door and a full-range 3D speaker in the front A-pillars.
Each rear door gets a normal dome-tweeter, midrange driver and woofer, with a pair of surround tweeters and midrange drivers also positioned in the back, towards the rear parcel shelf.
In the boot, under the pull-up floor, is a 400W subwoofer which uses 400 watts of Class D amplification.
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
The processing modes you get with the system include Sound Enhancer which is designed to improve the sound of compressed music, while Auro 3D processing is there to help with immersiveness.
We would recommend having the sound enhancer turned on – we noticed a small, subtle lift in quality. When it comes to the 3D processing, we wouldn’t stray too far from the first couple of rungs on the ladder when you’re playing with the intensity.
We found it ok having some information coming out of those A-pillar speakers, but any more and it can result in a very messy and confused sound – the speakers start making their presence felt and not in a good way.
There is also an ‘Eco’ mode which crosses over from the Bose system and which we found delivered results that weren’t ideal for sound quality. To summarise, we found using the mode resulted in "a shrinking of scale, diminished dynamics and a more laid-back and less expressive sound".
While some car systems offer a one-size fits all approach to the sound, with this Burmester option, you choose how to focus the sound in the car. Here you have the option of either ‘symmetrical’ or ‘driver’.
There’s nothing groundbreaking to see here; the former gives you more of an even spread of sound (which is going to be better when you have a car full of passengers) or you can create more of a focused stereo image for the driver, more akin to sitting in front of a pair of speakers.
If you’re the only person in the car, then it’s going to come down to a matter of taste as to which you prefer. Symmetrical gives you a fuller soundstage, pushes the soundfield back towards the windscreen and encourages a greater spread of sound. It sounds a bit more relaxed in its delivery.
Switch to the driver-focused setting and things tighten up. You are aware there is a shift of information from the far left of the cabin to a position much closer to your left ear.
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
This setting promotes a more up-front, focused sound, and places you more in your own private soundstage. It feels more as though you’re sitting in the sweet spot between a pair of speakers.
Your sound profile choices are Pure, Smooth and Live. Having experienced all three, we think there’s only really one choice. Pure delivers the best sound possible, and doesn't manipulate the signal in any way.
Smooth softens everything, to the point where music becomes less entertaining and more dull and subdued. There’s a real lack of clarity with frequencies at either end of the spectrum sounding rolled off.
Live boosts the top end, and makes music pop more than in Pure mode, but it uspets the balance and highs now sound splashy.
You also have bass and treble adjustment but no mid-range. We left both of these at '0' and left the fade/balance adjustment alone too.
Sound quality
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
Stick with the Pure setting and you’ll be treated to a hugely entertaining and lively sound. We start with a blast of Orpheus by Ash and the Burmester system gets off to a rock-infused, rhythm-driven start.
The track kicks off with a flurry of drum play and immediately gets you in the mood. The kick drum has impressive impact, and overall, there’s a real sense of energy that springs from the percussion.
Each thwack sounds precise and deliberate, and really helps to convey a sense of pace and speed.
There’s a real sense of drive to the track as it rolls along. Lyrics are delivered with vigour and verve, and there’s plenty of detail extracted.
We switch genres to some old-school soul in the shape of Sam and Dave’s Hold On, I’m Comin’ and the Burmester system does a great job of capturing the song’s funky delivery.
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
The vibe, detail and texture of the sax as it punches through the sound stage is impressive and showcases the system’s great dynamics. It’s backed up by the solid drum beat, and enthusiastic, expressive vocals which dip and soar in all the right places.
For a quick bass test, we move on to another classic test track of ours: Black Eyed Peas Let’s Get It Started, and the system throws an impressive amount of weight behind the track’s bassline. It’s punchy, powerful and agile. There’s no thick, treacle-like texture here – each note sounds clean and clear but not insubstantial.
During testing, we were fortunate to test it against the standard Bose Surround Sound System, and the Burmester was clearly better all-round. Yes it costs more, but we don’t think you should be in any doubt that opting for the Burmester will get you significantly better sound quality.
There’s much more of a spark to the sound. Music is more invigorating and the step-up system gets your foot tapping from the off. The Bose set-up lacks detail, definition and dynamics when compared with the Burmester, which is more capable and also more configurable.
Verdict
(Image credit: Future)
In our experience it can be very hard for a car sound system to sound fun to listen to. It sounds like a relatively simple requirement, but you might be surprised at how many we’ve tested that just fall flat; but not the Burmester 3D High-End Surround Sound System for the Porsche Macan.
Whatever you throw its way, this set-up takes it in its stride. It’s a hugely enjoyable listen worth all five of our stars.
We don’t know about you, but it feels like no month passes without a music or video-streaming service announcing a price hike for those wishing to access its wares.
This month it’s Tidal on the agenda. The service has sent out an e-mail to subscribers which says, “Starting on your first billing date on or after August 3rd, the price for Tidal will increase to £12.99 per month”.
It appears US pricing is going up to $11.99, and for Australian users it will go up to AU$15.99. Previously, it was £10.99/$10.99/AU$12.99.
While this shift in pricing brings it into line with Spotify Premium and Qobuz, that’s not great news when you consider it is now more expensive than Amazon Music Unlimited (£11.99/$11.99 per month or £10.99/$10.99 for Prime members) and Deezer (£11.99/$11.99).
It also leaves Apple Music as the cheapest music streaming service if you want high quality, with £10.99 giving you access to Apple Music Lossless.
If you're a new user starting from scratch, you can get 30 days free before you have to pay the new pricing, which is already on Tidal's website.
So, why the change? According to the e-mail, and Tidal, “This is the first time we’ve adjusted our base plan pricing in three years. The change goes toward fairly supporting the artists and rightsholders behind the music you love, and continuing to build a better experience for you.”
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
There isn’t a music-streaming system that hasn’t undergone pricing changes in recent years. And Tidal has gone through more than its fair share, mainly because until a couple of years ago it used to be the priciest way to enjoy hi-res streams.
24-bit hi-res tracks were locked in a monthly £19.99/$19.99 ‘HiFi Plus’ tier until April 2024, when it scrapped its multi-tier system in favour of a streamlined and cheaper £10.99/$10.99 offering.
Rumours have been rumbling along for some time that all might not be well at Tidal Towers, so it will be interesting to see whether or not this price change affects its current user base.
If you’re a Tidal user, how do you feel about the price hike? Let us know in the poll below.
There are various ways to put a flatscreen TV through its paces. You might fire up a streaming service and watch a medley of Marvel films packed with 4K CGI.
You might reach for a Blu-ray from your collection and feed it a 1080p signal. Or, you could play a few games on a PlayStation 5 if that’s more your scene.
However, there’s another way to challenge your TV this summer, and it doesn’t include watching Tom Cruise hanging off the side of an aeroplane.
How about watching 90 minutes of England playing in and (hopefully) winning this year’s World Cup?
Irrespective of whether we walk away with the World Cup trophy, there lies a serious point here: football (or soccer to our friends across the pond) can be a serious test of your TV’s picture quality. Here’s why.
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
There’s so much happening, from the action on the pitch to the analysis in the studio; there are multiple opportunities for a TV either to excel or tear a metaphorical ACL.
We’ll start on the pitch, and the most obvious reason why football is a great test for a TV: motion.
If your TV’s ability to handle horizontal and vertical movement on the screen isn’t up to scratch, you’re likely to see a colourful, smeary mess as your TV’s processing struggles to keep up.
This applies not only to the players running around the pitch, but the ball as well, as it moves across the screen with cameras delivering either a wide-angle shot from a distance or a close-up shot of the ball flying through the air towards the goal.
If your TV’s motion processing is too aggressive, the picture will look unnatural, and you’ll get the dreaded soap opera effect as it adds extra frames between the original ones to try to deliver a smoother image.
The good news is that the pictures from modern TVs have become much better out of the box, although you always tend to have a range of adjustment options for picture settings as backup.
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
Football is also a great test for your TV’s sharpness. There are details to be highlighted everywhere, from blades of grass on the pitch to the laces and studs on the players’ boots to the names and sponsor logos on shirts.
Switch to the studio, and your TV can turn its attention to the presenters’ outfits, the furniture used to help frame the shot, and the cityscape backdrop, should the presenters be lucky enough to be sitting in an outdoor studio.
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
Opportunities to show off brightness and contrast are everywhere.
When you look at the kits being worn by the players, pay attention to whether the contrast is overcooked. If it is, whites will be blown out to the point where you can’t see any detail on shirts, shorts or socks, or the lines painted on the grass.
Going the other way, is the black of the manager’s tracksuit crushed to the point of it being just a textureless blob of black with a vague outline?
If so, consider experimenting with both settings, as altering one will affect the other. Ideally, you want a TV to balance the contrast and sharpness so it’s not so dark that it crushes low-level detail, but also that it’s not so bright that it loses any sense of subtlety.
You’ll notice that even the cameras filming the action will struggle to get the perfect shot for your TV.
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
If large areas of the pitch are in blistering sunshine and other areas are in the shadows caused by the stands around the pitch, you’ll often see the picture being fed to your TV switching as the camera tries to work out what it should be prioritising.
If you do think your TV’s struggling, just make sure it’s not the channel that you’re watching that’s actually the problem.
Depending on how the feed is handled and the channel's bitrate, some matches might appear fuzzier and less defined on one channel than on another. In my experience, for example, ITV’s pictures tend to look lower quality than the BBC's.
(Image credit: What Hi-Fi?)
Some TVs love to push the limits of their colour palettes, and bold colours can be handled reasonably well if they aren’t
It’s when it comes to more subtle shades required for, say, skin tones that need to be processed. The best TVs will be able to present them in a more realistic manner.
Some of those high temperatures in the US are delivering a few flushed faces, but do they look naturally all hot and bothered, or would you say they are overblown?
Use this year’s tournament or any football match as a way of helping to fine-tune your TV’s performance, and you might be surprised by what you discover.
I couldn’t really say that Prime Day has been overly generous with dedicated hi-fi deals this year, but that hasn’t stopped me hunting around for hidden bargains.
And, I have managed to piece together a very capable (and discounted) system using electronics from just one manufacturer. After all, who doesn’t like having kit that matches in their hi-fi rack?
That makes a combined discount of £200, which I think is pretty attractive in the current economic climate.
The Cambridge Audio AXA35 stereo amplifier has a confident sound with a particularly expressive midrange. Its minimalist front panel and petite proportions lend a strikingly elegant look, and can be yours with a £50 discount.
A capable, minimalist CD player that is great value for anyone looking to start on their separates journey, the AXC35 has a clear and detailed sound with “pleasing musical cohesion”.
The Dali Oberon 1 are small but mighty, capable of producing a bold, articulate sound with particularly excellent voices. An excellent choice if you’re looking for a high-quality compact speaker with an unfussy nature.View Deal
Many of us will have CDs at home, but also want to enjoy the wealth of choice that a music streaming service has to offer, which is why I have added both options to this system.
The AXC35 does a solid job of spinning your CD collection. Budget players such as this are becoming increasingly rare, and this model hits the spot, producing a clear and detailed sound for the money.
The MXN10 streamer is a brilliant box of tricks. A delight to use, it offers a wide array of streaming features and sounds absolutely fantastic for the money.
It offers AirPlay 2, Google Chromecast, Spotify Connect, Tidal, Deezer, Qobuz, Internet Radio. There’s also Bluetooth 5.0 on board, which will come in handy as that’s the only major omission from the amplifier.
Speaking of which, the AXA35 oozes both sonic and all-round appeal. It boasts an even-handed approach to music and delivers dynamics in an impressive, entertaining manner for the money.
The amp also features a headphone output and a moving-magnet phono stage, should you want to add wired headphones or a turntable further down the line.
The only thing missing is a pair of speakers to complete the package – but don’t worry, I have you covered.
As the icing on the cake, I would look to add a five-star pair of speakers such as the Dali Oberon 1. Their unfussy nature and high-quality sound will help allow the electronics to shine. And the best news is that they are discounted from £399 to £299 at Peter Tyson.
If you’re looking to build your first hi-fi system, then I honestly think this combination will serve you well for years to come!
Remember when everyone had a micro system? When one box that did it all, with a couple of speakers thrown in to provide the sound, was all the rage. I had my fair share in my youth, including an Aiwa, JVC and Sony to name but three.
While these kinds of systems might have traded places with wireless speakers over the years, there’s been one brand and one model in particular which continues to hang on in our consciousness. The Denon D-M41DAB is a multi-Award-winning micro with bags of talent that continues to fly the flag for the form factor to this very day.
This five-star micro system might be a slight blast from the past, but the D-M41DAB is still a very convenient and affordable way to get into the world of hi-fi. DAB, CD playback, Bluetooth streaming, and a remote control are all included and sound quality remains superb for the money.View Deal
The D-M41DAB has been as low as £270 before, but that was way back in 2024. Last November, it was around the £300 mark, and while I think it could return there for Black Friday 2026, if you don’t want to wait, I still think £323 is a solid enough price, especially when it normally retails for £399.
The system comes with Denon’s own SC-M41 speakers, which, when we tested them, were superb partners for the Denon electronics. You are treated to a large soundstage and loads of detail. And getting them as part of this deal means you don’t have to worry about system matching and using a pair from a different brand.
In our Denon D-M41DAB review, we said the system was “impressive proof that great pound-for-pound hi-fi sound need not always mean several separate components” and that “the combination of low-end stability and dynamic sensibilities leaves us with a remarkably human performance for a hi-fi system at this price.” You can see why it’s won multiple back-to-back What Hi-Fi? Awards.
In terms of features, there’s CD playback, DAB radio, Bluetooth connectivity and a headphone output, so everything you’d reasonably expect for the money. You also get a remote control included.
And the Denon is good enough to be your main system in a living room or a secondary set-up in a bedroom. The world really is your oyster with this talented package, which can be yours for £323 at Amazon.
Prime Day is in full swing, and our deal experts are still trawling through all the savings to bring you our top recommendations.
While the options aren’t as plentiful as they would be around Black Friday, with any big sales event, you’re always guaranteed some brands will lead the way in certain categories.
And one of those names is Sony, who is one of the biggest players in the wireless headphones space. It’s a position that’s reflected in the impressive range of deals we’ve seen so far during Prime Day.
I’ve highlighted my favourite picks so far below and also included one heavily discounted pair I would urge you to avoid…
Sony
WH-CH720N
Sony
WF-C710N
Sony
WH-1000XM6
Sony
WF-1000XM6
Sony
WH-1000XM5
Sony
ULT Wear
The Sony WH-CH720N headphones are an easy recommendation for me because they're so affordable and sound so good. Build quality is robust, and they deliver impressive active noise cancellation for the money, too. Add a very decent 35 hours of battery life into the equation, and you can't go wrong, especially for £60 for the black finish.
Another affordable recommendation, the Sony WF-C710N are brilliant budget wireless earbuds. They are attractive, comfortable in-ears that give a fun yet mature performance for an amazing price. And that Glass Blue finish is an absolute stunner, in my eyes at least.
If you want the very best wireless headphones Sony has to offer, you have to go for the WH-1000XM6 this Prime Day. With stunning sound quality, excellent comfort, great portability, and brilliant noise-cancelling skills, these are the flagship wireless headphones to beat, especially at their discounted price
Alternatively, the best wireless earbuds currently in Sony’s stable are the magnificent WF-1000XM6, which have their first major price drop this Prime Day. In our five-star review, we praised their “breathtaking all-round performance”, which includes awesome noise-cancelling and super-clear call quality.
The Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones are five-star cans that won themselves a coveted What Hi-Fi? Award in 2024. This stunning pair offers great sonic clarity, a punchy delivery and precise, agile bass. Yes, the WH-1000XM6 are newer and perform better across the board, but they are much more expensive.
Proof that Sony doesn’t always get it right are the ULT Wear noise-cancelling headphones. Yes, they boast a less-than-half-price saving, but I wouldn’t rush out to snap them up. I don't really think the Sony ULT Wear are worth your cash – there are far finer alternatives available at this level (like the WH-CH720N) that offer a much more balanced and entertaining sound for the money.
I’m not going to lie, price-busting speaker deals are thin on the ground this Prime Day. That’s hardly a surprise, though, as we tend to see the biggest selection of price drops and discounts around Black Friday.
However, that hasn’t stopped me from using my two decades of experience in the world of hi-fi (and AV) to find a small selection of speaker deals worth investigating while the Prime Day sales continue.
I’ve lined them up for you below, and I’ve also mentioned a few highlights to give you a taste of their abilities.
Q Acoustics
5050 floorstanding speakers
Bowers & Wilkins
603 S3 floorstanding speakers
Focal
Aria Evo X N°3 floorstanding speakers
KEF
LSX II wireless speaker system
Dali
Oberon 5 floorstanding speakers
Wharfedale
Elysian 3 floorstanding speakers
The Dali Oberon 5 might be retiring, thanks to the Dali Sonik 5 arriving on the scene, but they’re still sensational-sounding speakers well worth considering.
They’re a great step-up model for anyone wanting to make the move from entry-level speakers and will fit into most rooms without issue, thanks to their unfussy dimensions. A musical marvel with £200 off.
We’ve given the Q Acoustics 5050 a What Hi-Fi Award? in recent years, and they’re an even more attractive proposition now thanks to a £300 discount which also includes speaker cable thrown in at Richer Sounds.
They are capable of producing a superbly insightful, engaging and entertaining sound provided you partner them with electronics that don’t sound too bright or aggressive. They boast excellent clarity and insight, expressive dynamics, and a slick build and finish.
The Bowers & Wilkins 603 S3 floorstanders are large, well-made speakers that are solid performers that will fill a room with ease. The 25mm titanium dome tweeter, 15cm midrange cone, and 16.5cm paper bass drivers combine to produce a weighty, full sound with plenty of punch.
This huge £500 saving sees them drop to their lowest price to date, and the deal is available across all three finishes (black, oak and white).
Focal’s attractive-looking Aria Evo X No3 floorstanders are superbly constructed and finished to a very high standard.
These tall towers deliver a wholesome, full-bodied sound which is both refined and enjoyable. And they sound that little bit sweeter with a mighty £810 discount.
KEF’s wonderful LSX II wireless speaker system continues to be one of our favourites, thanks to a fantastic blend of top-drawer performance, excellent features and awesome design and execution.
Powered by KEF’s W2 streaming platform, you can access all manner of features and services, from Amazon Music to Tidal. There’s also hi-res support and HDMI ARC, too. Expect awesome stereo imaging and sensational dynamics from this stylish package.
Wharfedale's high-end Elysian 4 floorstanders impressed us with huge sonic scale, astounding bass depth and agility, and immaculate build quality. This Elysian 3 model is a "baby" version of their five-star siblings, which aims to deliver the same sonic scale for (slightly) smaller rooms.
This model has the same tweeter and midrange, but smaller woofers, and although we've not tested this specific model, we imagine they won't be too far off their bigger brothers in terms of performance. And that £3000 saving is quite something!
As someone who has spent the best part of two decades testing hi-fi products, I don’t need anyone to sell me the benefits of having a system made up of hi-fi separates.
Having one box dedicated to each specific job in the audio chain is, in an ideal world, the best way to maximise sound quality.
But I’m also a realist. And I have heard many all-in-one systems in my time that do a spectacular job of delivering convenience and excellent sound quality.
And one of those systems, the sensational Sonus Faber Omnia, is currently heavily discounted, with a whopping £600 off at Peter Tyson.
The excellent Sonus Faber Omnia mixes sound and style quite effortlessly. Build quality is sensational for the money, and the system serves up a wonderfully spacious and clear sound. Support for all the popular streaming services is included, and there’s even HDMI ARC connectivity so you can link it to your TV. Now with £600 off.View Deal
Sonus Faber has been responsible for some beautifully finished speakers over the years, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Omnia oozes style.
Its elongated, curvaceous shape gives it serious room presence, as does that classy walnut top panel. The panel is also decorated with four light strips that illuminate it and act as a display.
The strip closest to the front changes colour depending on the input being used; it is flanked by two dots which you can tap to change volume. It sounds simple, but it makes for an enjoyable user experience.
Omnia means ‘everything’ in Latin, and the name hints at the features on offer. This is an extremely versatile box of tricks and supports AirPlay 2 for transmission from Apple devices, Google Cast for one-tap playback from several services such as Deezer, YouTube Music, Apple Music, and Amazon Music on an Android device. You also have Spotify Connect and Tidal Connect on board.
It can help boost your TV’s sound via HDMI ARC and can accommodate other audio sources through its dongle-like MiniDin switchable phono/line-input adapter. There’s also Bluetooth aptX HD for quick and easy music playback from a smartphone.
Give Omnia a little room to breathe (Sonus Faber recommends leaving at least 10cm of clearance between it and a rear wall) and you’ll hear it performing at its best.
The speakers (two, 44mm side-firing cellulose pulp drivers, two 19mm silk-dome tweeters, a pair of 75mm paper-pulp cone midrange drivers and a 165mm long-throw aluminium-cone woofer) are all integrated beautifully and are driven by a 490 watt amplifier.
In our Sonus Faber Omnia review, we say it is “one of the biggest and most open sounding examples of its type we’ve heard. Close your eyes, and you don't need to stretch your imagination to believe the sound is coming out of a pair of standmounters.”
It doesn’t distort or sound hard when pushed, and it delivers plenty of quality bass at the other end of the frequency spectrum too. In fact, it’s the potent mix of substance and subtlety, especially the sense of pureness you get from the midrange, which many rivals simply struggle to match.
If you want one box that looks sensational and does it all brilliantly for a very attractive price, I think Omnia is well worth the £600 saving over at Peter Tyson.
Sometimes, when it comes to deal-hunting, the obvious choice is the best. It might not be the most glamorous or most inventive, but when it comes to finding the best discounted product for your particular needs, there’s no need to pick something out of left field just for the sake of it.
Take the AirPods Pro 3 as an example. These have been our favourite Apple in-ears since we tested them back in January.
This means that, in my eyes at least, they are the obvious choice for anyone who wants a pair of the best wireless earbuds you can buy, who is into music and who also happens to be part of the Apple ecosystem – whether you own just an iPhone or you’re a fully fledged member of the Apple-appreciation society.
And, this Prime Day, I think the AirPods Pro 3 are making a pretty convincing case for themselves – because they are currently sitting at £175 over at Amazon. This isn’t quite their lowest-ever price – they have briefly hit £170 before – so you could wait a little longer, but I still think now is a great time to buy.
You can’t argue with the AirPods Pro 3 and their all-round abilities: they sound great, offer excellent ANC, quality levels of comfort and the user experience is second-to-none. Don’t hesitate at this price.View Deal
Yes, we feel they are an evolution rather than revolution when compared with their excellent predecessors, the AirPods Pro 2. But all the improvements made added up to a glowing five-star rating.
In our AirPods Pro 3 review, we say, “there is no doubt that they are a step forward in nearly every way that counts – the sound quality is more powerful, dynamic and spacious, while noise-cancelling is further improved.”
They deliver an “exciting and confident performance, and allow songs to breathe in an airy soundscape.” We also describe their sound as “impressively natural and engaging”.
In addition to excellent sound quality, their noise-cancelling is a step above what has come before, and is comparable with many of the top performers at the money.
They are designed to fit a wider range of ear shapes and sizes than before, with a new foam-induced eartip material and slightly angled body, allowing for more effective positioning. We had no problems fitting them comfortably during testing.
Battery life is eight hours from a single charge with ANC on, with a total battery life of 24 hours including the case.
You also get a heart-rate monitor to track health and workout stats and a Live Translation feature to take advantage of too.
There isn’t much the AirPods Pro 3 can’t do, then, and I think they are a cracking buy at £175 over at Amazon.
The only downside of recommending products for people to buy during Prime Day is that you start to sound like a broken record.
When one product I know well is the perfect fit for most people, I can’t help but keep blurting it out, and that’s exactly the case when it comes to one particular pair of ridiculously affordable wireless headphones.
The Sony WH-CH720N have become part of the furniture at the What Hi-Fi? Awards in recent years, such has been their domination of the sub-£100 area of the market.
They're consistently among the best wireless headphones we've tested.They continue to dominate all rivals at the money, and I’m pleased to say that they are back to just £60 at Amazon (which is pretty much their lowest price ever) in the Prime Day sales.
The affordable Sony WH-CH720N headphones sound great, boast solid build quality and deliver impressive active noise cancellation for the money. Add 35 hours of battery life into the equation, and you can't go wrong, especially for £60.
The WH-CH720N are fabulous all-rounders. The way they deliver your favourite tunes with conviction and enthusiasm is to be applauded, and their outgoing nature and wonderful sense of musicality keep you coming back for more.
Rival headphones at this price can only dream of sounding as entertaining.
In our Sony WH-CH720N review, we said their “punchy presentational style feels tailor-made for the genres that can get the best use from it, namely rock, hip-hop, big orchestral numbers and peppy, energetic pop hits”.
Some might feel the bass can be a little boisterous at times, but we found you can quickly dial this down a notch on the headphones’ companion app.
The build quality reflects the price tag, so don’t expect too much in the way of luxurious materials, but the Sonys still feel solid and durable. They’re ideal for daily use – you can just fling them into a rucksack and forget about them when not in use.
The built-in noise-cancelling is great for the money, and you don’t feel shortchanged. As we said in our review, “these affordable Sonys do an effective job of dampening, if not silencing completely, the rumble and swoosh of each passing car as it whizzes its way past on a busy nearby road”.
They deliver a ridiculous level of performance for the money, which is the reason why I recommend them so much – for just £60 at Amazon, you really can’t go wrong.
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