Archives: Features

Anachrophile Special: Acoustic Research – A Day In the Life

Hi-Fi News and posted in Hi-Fi, Features

Frank Sinatra and Frank Bruno have had comebacks, so why not a hi-fi company? Witness the return to form of one of the industry’s original leaders. by Ken Kessler Euthanasia has been the preferred practice when it comes to dealing … Continue reading →

The Rise of Headphones

Brummell and posted in Hi-Fi, Reviews - Accessories, Features

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?

Bremont Magazine and posted in Hi-Fi, Features

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 →

High-End Sound Systems … With Looks To Match

How To Spend It and posted in Hi-Fi, Features

  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 →

Extreme Audio

Brummell and posted in Hi-Fi, Features

  Most people have no idea how good music can sound in the home. Too many down-market purveyors of junk have succeeded in promoting features over performance, while all that the iPod and its ilk have given us is convenience … Continue reading →

Extreme Sound Systems

Brummell and posted in Features

Most people have no idea how good music can sound in the home. Too many down-market purveyors of junk have succeeded in promoting features over performance, while all that the iPod and its ilk have given us is convenience at … Continue reading →

Format Wars

Previously unpublished feature for BBC proposed-magazine 4/2007 and posted in Hi-Fi, Features

(Intended for dummy issue of proposed BBC MAGAZINE) Blu-ray vs HD-DVD “Format Wars” – two words that strike fear in the hearts of consumers, manufacturers and retailers alike. Is there a single gadget fanatic alive over the age of 35 who … Continue reading →

Highlights Of 1997

Perfect Pitch 1/1998 and posted in Hi-Fi, Features

While non-audio events made 1997 a year one wants to forget – the deaths of the Princess of Wales and Mother Theresa, the collapse of various Asian economies, the arrival of a Labour government in the UK, ad tedium – … Continue reading →

The Roots Of High-End Audio

Hi-Fi Choice - The Collection (2007) and posted in Hi-Fi, Features

Ken Kessler takes us on a wholly biased, subjective and prejudiced wander down Memory Lane   ‘High-end’ has always been with us. A generic term that means anything more expensive than the norm, it has been applied to restaurants, watches, … Continue reading →