The remarkable resurrection of vinyl over the past decade or so shows no sign of abating. Quite the contrary, in fact. Indeed, there are plenty of people, apparently, who are getting into record collecting even before they own a turntable!

That is a situation that we at What Hi-Fi? feel obliged to address. In this issue, then, we have some excellent suggestions for turntables that will make living with a record deck and enjoying your vinyl collection as easy and fuss-free as possible. Whether it’s fully automatic functioning, an incorporated phono stage or Bluetooth capabilities so you can link in with your wireless system, it’s all there for you.

We also have a remarkable Group Test of floorstanding speakers from £900-£1200, where Dali takes on established favourites from Acoustic Energy, Fyne Audio and Monitor Audio. And we round-up premium standalone soundbars, showing that a single unit can get much of the way towards delivering a full surround-system’s sound.

Turntables that make vinyl replay a doddle

Perhaps you’re just considering dipping your toes into vinyl waters for the first time, but don’t necessarily want the fuss of a purist approach, where manual speed control – physically changing the belt over between 45 and 33⅓rpm – is just the tip of the audiophile iceberg. Or, maybe you’re an old hand with vinyl, but are pining for the simple life.

What you may be looking for is the tactility and fantastic, warm sound of vinyl that you’ve heard about, but with a little more simplicity and convenience. And for that, any of the turntables we are recommending over the following pages will suit you very nicely.

The decks we round up this month are designed to be as fuss-free as possible. Automatic speed control is, thankfully, present on all these turntables. Some have auto start/stop functionality, some even have Bluetooth so you can beam your vinyl music wirelessly to your chosen set-up.

Make no mistake though, every record player here, regardless of convenience, feature set and ease of use, sounds great – as you should expect from some of the world’s foremost turntable manufacturers. There’s a brace each from Sony and Audio-Technica, and Dual, Pro-Ject and Technics also make our list of seven.

What each of these turntables aims to do is get you playing your vinyl quickly and easily – whether it is your first deck, you’re dusting off your record collection for the first time in years, or you’re somewhere in between.

Premium soundbars round-up

The very best soundbars will take your home-cinema sound to the next level, without the need for multiple speakers.

Their compact nature makes them the ideal solution for those without the space for a full surround-sound set-up, with fronts, surrounds, subs, AVRs and the whole shebang. While there really is no substitute for such a set-up, it’s just not always practical.

But, if truly immersive cinematic sound is a priority, and your budget allows, a premium soundbar such as those featured here will mean less of a compromise, while still avoiding the trailing wires and need for placement of multiple boxes.

We have four premium soundbars for your consideration this month, from KEF, Sennheiser, Canvas Hi-Fi and Focal. None of these audio systems is cheap, of course, but each is a viable option for rivalling a full surround-sound system with a smaller footprint.

See if your next home cinema sound update could be found in this quartet of rather impressive soundbar solutions, only in this month's What Hi-Fi?

Budget stereo amplifier head-to-head

The sub-£1000 integrated stereo amplifier market is a tough nut to crack. Such amplifiers need to be forgiving enough to work well with budget sources and speakers, while having the sonic stretch to shine with higher-quality partners. Arcam’s A5 has been the dominant force in this sector since its introduction in late 2023, and the revised, current Award-winning A5+ version has simply reinforced that superiority.

The arrival of the Marantz Model 70 could be a problem for Arcam, though. Marantz is a recognised master of entry-level stereo amplification, and make no mistake, the company has been aggressive here, pitching the Model 70 directly at the class champion. We’ve tested both amplifiers against each other to find out.

Floorstanders group test

When it comes to floorstanding speakers, those in the £1000 ballpark face a difficult challenge: maintaining a mid-range price tag while matching the performance of higher-end separates. They should shine in use alongside premium gear, while giving budget options their best shot at success.

The Fyne Audio F501E are our current Award-winners in this bracket, with a powerful sound that justifies their significant proportions. However, they have recently come up against aggressive competition from the Dali Sonik 5, which, for speakers of their relatively modest size, bring with them a host of competing talents.

The priciest of our quartet of floorstanders, the Acoustic Energy AE309 Mk2 are hotly pursued by the Monitor Audio Bronze 300 7G, which land dead centre of our price range at £1000.

Which of these pairs of towers is our top recommendation at this level? Find out in this month's mag.

First with reviews

As always, our First Tests section is where you'll find What Hi-Fi?'s considered verdicts on the very latest hi-fi and AV gear.

A new affordable stereo amplifier is always interesting, and this month past masters Marantz return with the Model 70. Will it impress as much as the outgoing Marantz PM6007 has?

The Model 70 isn't the only Marantz separate to have entered our test rooms this month. The CD 70 is, as you might guess, a CD player – with CD sales reportedly on the rise, this could be a timely move for Marantz in a market that hasn't exactly been awash with players in the last few years.

Elsewhere we have reviews of the KEF LS Luxe active speakers, Denon AVR-X2900H home cinema amplifier, Grado SR325 Classic headphones, Q Acoustics 3050c 5.1 speaker package, Hisense XR10 projector, Samsung S85H OLED TV and Acoustic Energy AE Active speakers.

Find all these reviews in October's What Hi-Fi? – out now!

High-end and mightily tempting

Our Temptations section of the magazine is where you'll find the highest of the high-end of hi-fi and AV products.

The Roksan Caspian 4G Streaming Pre-Amplifier and 4G Power Amplifier combination "bristles with energy, balancing excitement with control superbly". Our reviewers also note that the units "render an expansive soundstage". Tempted? Deep pockets? Find out more this month!

Marten has named its latest standmount speakers after jazz legend Charlie Parker, and indeed the Marten Parker Duo Diamond edition are musically rather special. "These speakers sound neutral while still displaying natural warmth and richness," we say in our review. Find out more about these classy speakers in this month's What Hi-Fi?.

Finally, don't forget to check out our Buyer’s Guide, featuring a definitive and freshly updated list of all the best home entertainment kit you can buy – including winners of 2025's What Hi-Fi? Awards. If you’re looking to purchase anything from a pair of the best wireless headphones to a home cinema speaker system, this section will tell you where to spend your money wisely.

Whatever you do, don't miss the October 2026 issue of What Hi-Fi?. Grab a copy today, or simply download it onto your tablet or smartphone. Enjoy!

You can subscribe or buy the latest issue here, or buy the digital edition on iPhone, iPad, Android devices or Kindle edition

The What Hi-Fi? audio team are used to jetting out each year in June to the High End show, to see what fresh new products we might expect to see and hear in our test rooms in the near future.

This year, though, rather than heading off to Munich, where the show had been held for many years, they turned their attention a touch further east to its new host, Austria’s capital city Vienna.

This year’s festival of hi-fi proved to be exciting and worthwhile for more than just the new location, however. There were a remarkable amount of product launches to attend, which meant our intrepid crew could bring a number of hands-on reviews highlighting some of the delights to come.

If you’re in the market for some premium headphones, you won’t want to miss our round-up of the very best examples available. And, talking of premium, we spoke to the designer of Audio-Technica’s new £10,000 cartridge about his thought processes in creating such a top-level component.

Happiness is a High End show

The High End hi-fi showcase is one of the year’s highlights for hi-fi fans and audiophiles, with the European show perennially revealing new top-end kit from the world’s biggest and most lauded manufacturers.

This year, the action moved from the show’s previous home of Munich to Vienna, and we were on the ground to identify the best of this year’s new high-end product launches.

The Austrian capital hosted the show very nicely indeed, with the massive, sprawling halls of the Austria Center Vienna chock full of the best new high-end hi-fi, including speakers, streaming amplifiers, turntables and more from the cream of the hi-fi industry.

This issue you’ll find our hands-on impressions of a handful of the most exciting products unveiled at the show, from JBL, Bowers & Wilkins, Dali, Cambridge Audio, Ruark and Moon.

Headphones that are ahead of the noise-cancelling pack

Back in 2020, paying over £500 for a pair of over-ear headphones raised quite a few eyebrows. But that year, Apple launched its AirPods Max at £549 – at that time, a price tag massively elevated above the majority of wireless noise-cancelling headphones from the likes of Sony, Bose and Sennheiser. But those questioning their price were quickly silenced as the AirPods Max crossed the line from wireless audio into wireless hi-fi, and consequently kickstarted a whole market sector of decidedly premium over-ears.

Six years on, brands such as the aforementioned Bose, Sony and Sennheiser, as well as the likes of Bowers & Wilkins, Dali and Focal, now have their own takes on premium, noise-cancelling cans – and this month we’ve rounded up ten such Apple-rivalling models for your consideration.

Battle for the Atmos

If you are looking for a way to upgrade your TV’s subpar audio without taking up a lot of space in your home, a soundbar is a great way to go.

There are a range of options on the market, from budget bars to more premium models. The Sonos Arc Ultra is an example of the latter, and it has snagged a What Hi-Fi? Award for its excellent performance.

Since its release in 2024, the Arc Ultra has been relatively unchallenged. But the new Sony Bravia Theatre Bar 7 + S has stepped into the ring. Boasting both a subwoofer and a soundbar as opposed to the Arc Ultra’s all-in-one design, the Sony is a slightly different beast. But which will come out on top?

Meet the man behind a £10K turntable cartridge

Yosuke Koizumi is Audio-Technica’s Cartridge Global Product Manager, and the man responsible for the new range-topping £1K AT-MCD1 moving-coil cartridge.

We sat down with Koizumi at the High End Vienna show to find out more about the technology behind the AT-MCD1, and just what goes into designing a top-end MC cartridge.

First with reviews

As always, our First Tests section is where you'll find What Hi-Fi?'s considered verdicts on the very latest hi-fi and AV gear.

A collaboration between lauded high-end manufacturers Focal and Naim was always going to turn our heads, and the Mu-so Hekla is a soundbar with both pedigree, style and a degree of uniqueness in its proposition. But how does it sound? Check out our review in this month's What Hi-Fi?

Elsewhere this issue we have expert, in-depth reviews of the Sony Bravia 7 II RGB Mini LED TV, Soundcore Nebula X1 Pro projector, Fyne Audio Cubitt 5 active speakers and a new soundbar system from Sony, the Bravia Theatre Trio.

And that's not all, we also had the Bose Lifestyle Ultra Speaker, Roberts Stream 219, JBL Live 780NC headphones and Audio-Technica AT-VM740xML moving magnet cartridge under the microscope.

Find all these reviews in September's What Hi-Fi? – out now!

More high-end hi-fi heaven

Our Temptations section of the magazine is where you'll find the highest of the high-end of hi-fi and AV products.

Gryphon's beast of a CD player, the Ethos, ticks all the boxes when it comes to impressing us. It looks great, in a groovy sci-fi kind of way, and most importantly sounds brilliant. At a cool £37,500, it's not just the price that's remarkable.

TAD's ME1TX are standmount speakers that we found impressively detailed. "We think of these speakers as an audio microscope," reads our review. "They allow us to hear low-level detail with class leading clarity."

Find out more in this month's What Hi-Fi?

Finally, don't forget to check out our Buyer’s Guide, featuring a definitive and freshly updated list of all the best home entertainment kit you can buy – including winners of 2025's What Hi-Fi? Awards. If you’re looking to purchase anything from a pair of the best wireless headphones to a home cinema speaker system, this section will tell you where to spend your money wisely.

Whatever you do, don't miss the September 2026 issue of What Hi-Fi?. Grab a copy today, or simply download it onto your tablet or smartphone. Enjoy!

You can subscribe or buy the latest issue here, or buy the digital edition on iPhone, iPad, Android devices or Kindle edition