Archives: Hi-Fi

GRAAF GM50 Integrated Amplifier Review

  We all have favourites, even those of us who are supposed to be utterly impartial. Being only human (or so I’m told), I’m not going to hide my affection for GRAAF, a brand yet to disappoint and one of … Continue reading

The Kessler Column

Still don’t believe we have a serious problem on how high-end audio and home entertainment equipment is perceived? Then try this on for size:   From the Daily Mail, 1 Sept 2004, about a report on the alleged spending habits … Continue reading

Halcro DM58 Monoblock Amplifier

  There are two piles of magazines, some 57in tall, sitting in my lounge. They consist mainly of hi-fi magazines I can’t read until they’re ‘out of date’. Why? Because I don’t want to be influenced by the reviews, and … Continue reading

Headroom: Cables

‘Time flies when you’re having fun.’ If that’s true, then trick cables must be an absolute barrel of laughs because – believe it or not – it’s well over a decade since Saburou Egawa in Japan and Jean Hiraga in France introduced to … Continue reading

The Hi-Fi Show Heathrow 1998

Maybe nostalgia is playing too big a part in my feelings about the Hi-Fi Show in London, but there’s no escaping its contribution: this year’s was the last at Heathrow Airport, and for some of us, it marks the passing … Continue reading

The Rise of Headphones

After a decade’s worth of dominance, the “earbud” faces a long-overdue backlash For hardcore music lovers, those fashionable, in-the-ear headphones supplied free with iPods, mobile phones and other portable devices are sorely lacking in most areas. They may look “cool” … Continue reading

Why Hi-Fi?

WHY HI-FI? All of those clichés about music being the food of love, soothing savage breasts, and the rest? They’re true, absolutely true, each and every one of them. And, despite evidence that popular music is flushing itself down the … Continue reading

Kessler Column: The Vinyl Revival

One insight, after visiting a recent spate of analogue-laden hi-fi shows, was enough to turn any Baby Boomer sullen with thoughts of mortality: the current (and huge) revival in interest in the black vinyl record is due in no small … Continue reading

Marantz CD63 KI CD Player

On the surface, it’s just another set of modifications, right? Another way to sell CD-63s, eh? I suppose that a cynic could look at it that way, but – after hearing the ‘K.I. Signature’ – the cynic would have to … Continue reading

High-End Sound Systems … With Looks To Match

  If Aga can produce a lavender cooker, and Sub-Zero can make fridge-freezers sexy, why should any household commodities be ugly? Form follows function, and no-one’s asking Black & Decker to make pretty power-drills, but home electronics have needed their … Continue reading