High End Hi-Fi

High End audio is usually synonymous with expensive equipment. We take a different view. Although it is almost impossible to make truly exceptional equipment within a modest budget, it is possible to endow products with High End exclusivity purely on price.

Although it may be attractive for a shop to boast a long list of well reviewed expensive equipment, there are relatively few products that we think perform at the highest levels. We do not choose equipment because it has been well reviewed, we choose equipment that we know works, full stop.

An example of our almost pathological determination to offer the best at the expense of commercial interest is illustrated by our offering of Spectral product. Whilst in the USA it is true that Spectral have an almost mystical status, in the UK the company has a very low profile. In fact the distributor, and Spectral themselves discourage product reviews, and do no advertising. Despite Spectral offering exceptional, state of the art music making products at half to one tenth of the price of much inferior competition, this will not make them a household name. But if you want music making of the highest order, you owe it to yourself to audition this and other fine equipment that we offer.

The latest High End news:

dCS Scarlatti News

The dCS Scarlatti system has been provided the ultimate reference point for us since it's launch. The system, well in particular the Scarlatti DAC, has just received a step change improvement in performance. The latest Scarlatti DACs when supplied with a DSD signal, either from upsampled DSD or SACD, gives a significantly improved performance over the previous Scarlatti DAC.

Upsampled CD (or computer audio upsampled by a dCS upsampler) sounds very significantly better in terms of dynamic range and timing, SACD if anything seems to have benefitted even more!

If you were contemplating a Scarlatti system, or were considering upgrading your old dCS DAC, then now is the time to do it. Note, great dCS trade in offers are still available for owners of older kit.

Customers who have an older Scarlatti DAC, fret not! This change has been implemented through a software update. Contact us for more details.

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Posted at: 09:58 on 04-09-2010

dCS Puccini CD (SACD) / U-Clock

Very rarely does a product offer such superiority over its competition that to hear it is to know that you are in the presence of something remarkable. Even more rarely does this product get the universal acclamation it deserves from the Hi Fi press.

Well, the dCS Puccini with it's associated master clock (U-clock with patented asynchronous USB input) has just received yet another adulatory (and accurate) review courtesy of the current issue of Hi Fi Plus magazine.

If you buy a top flight integrated player without hearing the dCS Puccini, then, I guess you get what you deserve.

Upsampling CD/SACD Player with built-in dCS Ring DAC and 2 digital inputs
Designed to drive a power amplifier directly.

Specification:

Mechanism: Dual laser, 2 channel, CD/SACD compatible

Converter Type: dCS Ring DAC, oversampling to 5 bits / 2.822 or 3.07MS/s. CD data may be upsampled to DSD before oversampling.

Clock generation: Precision VCXO

Analogue Outputs: 1 x Balanced pair on XLR, 1 x Unbalanced pair on RCA, 2V or 6V rms for full scale input, switchable

PCM Digital Outputs: 2x SPDIF on RCA, output CD data when playing CDs only.

PCM Digital Inputs: 2x SPDIF on RCA, will accept data at 32, 44.1, 48, 88.2 or
96kS/s and process up to 24 bits, not upsampled.

Word Clock I/O: 1x BNC input, locks to 44.1kHz when playing discs only. 1x BNC output generates 44.1kHz when playing discs.

Remote Control: IR remote or RS232

Power Consumption: 30 Watts typical, 40 Watts maximum.

Supply Voltage: 100-120 or 200-240V 50/60Hz A.C.

Weight: 12.1kg (26.6lbs.)

Size: 460 x 420 x 113mm (18.0” x 16.5” x 4.4”).
Allow extra depth for cable connectors.

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Posted at: 08:29 on 16-07-2010

David Berning Amplifiers

We are delighted to announce that we have been appointed one of the only two dealers in the UK olffering the remarkable David Berning amplifiers. If you have been keeping an eye on the goings on in High End audio, you will know that these products are creating a mighty stir.

This was of academic interest to most people when only the Quadrature Z monoblocks were available (at £22,000 / pair) . Now, however, the new ZOTL Pre One and ZH230 stereo power amplifier are available for £7,500 each. This makes owning a David Berning amplifier a more realistic prospect for a lot of people.

These new products are now on demonstration.

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Posted at: 18:08 on 24-06-2010

MIT Oracle MA-X Has Landed

It may not (quite!) be the world's most expensive speaker cable, but it has a very good claim on being the best. We now have this remarkable speaker cable on demonstration - by appointment only, please.

MIT Oracle MA-X

We had the pleasure of running it in at the recent Northern Sound & Vision Show in Manchester, where, even under reasonably adverse circumstances, it was showing us some things that we have never heard before.

For Robert Harley's take (The Absolute Sound Magazine) on the Oracle MA cable:Click HereMIT Cables' Oracle MA-X Speaker Cable, with Adjustable Articulation Response Module (A.A.R.M), gives you total control of articulation between your amplifier and loudspeaker. It is engineered to optimally transport the harmonic structure of a musical piece between the source and the load throughout the entire audio bandwidth.

What does it do?

In order to understand the new MA-X technology inside the Oracle MA-X Speaker cable, we need to understand music theory.

Before any performance, members of an ensemble fine tune their instruments in a specific key, eliminating dissonance. When completed, one notices that each instrument resonates perfectly in pitch with the other instruments in the group, creating consonance, or a pleasing listening experience. It is the goal of these musicians to find instruments which possess the ability to vibrate with sets of harmonic frequencies which are musically sounding pleasing, (i.e. mathematically related).

Measuring Harmonics
An octave contains 1200 cents. A musical interval is the relationship between the pitches of two notes. The interval between two adjacent piano keys is a half tone and is equal to 100 cents. Expressing the musical intervals between successive harmonics given in cents helps to show the relationship between each harmonic within a given musical scale. Most people can easily hear a five cent change between musical intervals, while experienced musicians and audiophiles can hear a change much smaller than that.

Harmonics are always separated by whole numbers; inharmonics and overtones are not, and are therefore not equally spaced from one another. Additionally, harmonics, inharmonics and overtones are all ascending in nature. Mathematically the harmonic series is an arithmetic series (2xf, 3xf, 4xf, etc.), while the octave series is a geometric progression (2xf, 4xf, 8xf, etc.), and where f is the fundamental frequency given in Hertz, e.g., 1 Hertz = 1 vibration per second.

Application of Harmonics
Until MA Technology, speaker cables couldn't maintain complex and consonant tones between their input and output because simple cable, or poorly designed 'black box' networked cables, scramble the harmonics. These types of cables dynamically discriminate against the magnitudes of the harmonics while simultaneously changing the intervals/pitch between notes of the music. The harmonics then are no longer equidistant between themselves (think of the 100 cent interval between the two piano keys) or to the fundamental/tonic of the music. When this occurs within a cable, consonant intervals that were pleasing to listen to, become dissonant, or unpleasant to listen to.

MA Technology, released in 2007, was the first cable that was engineered around the criteria of maintaining harmonic integrity when transporting music between the input and output of a system's components. The new Oracle MA-X speaker cable with A.A.R.M. now takes this another step further. The MA-X not only contains 105 poles of articulation, but also gives the audiophile a means of "fine tuning" articulation, thereby helping to maintain equidistance between the music's harmonics, preserving pitch, and insuring the consonance of the music.

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Posted at: 17:15 on 26-01-2010

Focal Utopia 3 (Objet d'Art? 2)

Scala Utopia

I wouldn't be surprised if speakers from the new Focal Utopia range are bought for their looks alone. Truly sculptural in appearance, they could be snook (snuck?) into Tate Modern and it would be months before anyone realized that they shouldn't be there - after all, they are a little too beautiful to be a true work of modern art.

Anyway, despite appearances, it really is the sound that's the thing. Focal have taken the previous ground breaking Utopia Be range, and improved everything.

If you are after one of the world's great speakers that happens to be a work of art (or vice versa) you need to audition this remarkable new range.

The Diablo and Scala Utopia are on demonstration.

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Posted at: 10:04 on 18-11-2008

dCS Paganini System

The new Paganini CD / SACD player has arrived and is now on demonstration. This system can be configured in 2 box (Paganini transport + DAC) or 3 box (adding the wordclock) packages in a similar fashion to the Scarlatti system. The difference is that the Paganini is substantially less expensive than the Scarlatti.

First things first, if Scarlatti did not exist, then the Paganini system would be, by far, the best CD playing system that we have heard!

Now, the million dollar question, how does Paganini fit in with respect to the Scarlatti, the one box Puccini, and the old 3 box Verdi La Scala (Encore) with Elgar Plus?

dCS Paganini System

All opinions expressed here are our own, and have been reached in conjunction with the equipment we sell, so others may have different experiences.

Firstly, Puccini vs Verdi/Elgar:

While the Puccini offers slightly higher resolution, the Verdi/Elgar combination is still a great CD playing system with more authority, and conviction than the Puccini can muster.

The Paganini system offers a substantial performance improvement on the Verdi/Elgar Plus system. The gap in performance between these two systems is very large indeed, with the Paganini being temporally, spatially, harmonically, and dynamically superior to its predecessor. Given that the two systems comprise separate Transports (with upsampling) and DACs, it was interesting to compare the relative performances, and to establish a potential upgrade path for existing Verdi/Elgar users. Our findings are that the Paganini transport provides the largest improvement in performance if one component is to be changed, with the DAC a close second.

The Paganini system still lacks the absolute levels of resolution, scale and authority of the much more expensive Scarlatti system, and for those that require the very best available, only the Scarlatti will do.

So, to conclude. If you have a Verdi/Elgar system, this continues to represent a very potent combination. If you wish for more, then there is a clear and cost effective upgrade path.

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Posted at: 11:18 on 20-06-2008

CD Clock Cables

Calling all dCS owners, and other owners of CD transports and DACs with clock links or external clocking.

We have been experimenting with new digital cables from MIT as clock cables, and the difference they can make is profound. We are not saying that this is so in every case, but in our trials with dCS kit, the results are remarkable!

MIT Oracle MA Digital Interconnect

A new clock cable needn't cost a fortune, we get very good results with the MIT AVt1 at £130. However, the differences made by the better cables need to be heard to be believed. The MIT Shotgun digital cable at £599 is a significant improvement on the AVt1, and Oracles (starting at £1,500) are absolutely stunning.

This may be a difficult concept to accept, but no one so far who has heard what these cables do in this context have been anything other than bowled over.

Call for more details.

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Posted at: 18:04 on 22-05-2008

Avalon Acoustics Ascendants

We are delighted to announce the addition of our third loudspeaker from the Avalon Acoustics range, the Avalon Ascendant.

Whilst this loudspeaker is priced at a not inconsequential £9,000 it is, in fact, the entry level loudspeaker of Avalon's full performance range. What you are getting from this loudspeaker, and it's larger and more expensive brethren, is a level of transparency and coherence that we have not heard bettered. As you move up the range to the Indra (also on demonstration) this is refined, whilst dynamic and frequency ranges are expanded.

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Posted at: 15:25 on 07-01-2008

New Spectral DMC 30 SS Preamplifier

With a justifiable claim to be the best preamplifier available, and certainly the best we have heard, the new Spectral 30SS is now on demonstration.

Spectral have re designed the power supply, to provide further isolation from the effects of noise. A new, custom designed volume control radically reduces the distortions associated with this unavoidable necessity. (Interestingly, Accuphase have tackled the same problem with a different approach)

The latest development of the Spectral DMC 30S premaplifier, really amounts to a major redesign. The DMC-30SS Studio Standard combines new technology advances from state-of-the-art recording with extreme precision componentry and micro-detailed layout to again redefine the art of preamplifier design.

The new floating power supply, developed for their CD processor, gives battery like isolation from noise.

The Spectral 'Super Fader' combines mechanical precision, advanced materials science and unrestricted use of exotic materials to create a level control that behaves like an infinite number of theoretically ideal resistors.

Price £10,850 inc VAT

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Posted at: 14:39 on 13-11-2007

New MA Cables from MIT

We now have on demonstration some of the new MA (Maximum Articulation) cables from MIT. On a sympathetic system, these cables can bring a degree of focus that we have never experienced before. A second interesting aspect of these cables, actually their claimed unique selling point, is that they maintain dynamic range and clarity across the the whole frequency spectrum in a way that other cables simply don't do.

Warning: early indications are that these cables will only do their thing in a very well set up, wide bandwidth, time coherent system. However in such a system, magic may well occur!

This new range of interconnect and speaker cables are the latest versions of cables that have been around for some time. However the MA technology seems to have had a very profound effect on the overall performance of the cables.

MIT cables are de rigeur in a Spectral system, and consequently we have been using their cables with great success for some time. The MIT / Spectral speaker cable has been our reference for all our top systems. Now the performance bar has been raised significantly both for speaker cable and interconnect.

In the past we have recognized that cables are often used by people as tone controls - boosting bass power, or gaining clarity by boosting treble. This observation, and our experience with certain high end cables that sound impressive initially, but then show a very unsatisfactory musical performance with time, leads us to think that MIT are definitely on to something here.

What is MA Technology?

MIT claim that ordinary cable (ie without their filter box technology) has a characteristic that will favour one small portion of the audible bandwidth, and lose rapidly 'articulation' outside this region. With MA technology, the articulation bandwidth is multiplied by superimposing what may be thought of as many virtual cables, each with overlapping articulation bands.

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Posted at: 10:01 on 14-10-2007