Welcome
Welcome to Newsletter #45, the beginning of an exciting new year here at Hifiandmusicsource and the anticipation that comes with new beginnings. This Newsletter focuses on this month’s new reviews and music and looks forward to the coming period. We have also concluded the Awards Season, where the Best of 2024 was revealed, and the Outstanding Product of 2024 was given to the Kudos Audio Sigao Drive Crossover. Combined with a pair of Moor Amps Angel 6s, this has revealed an outstanding HiFi system with the Titan 505 loudspeakers.
New Website
In the new year, Hifiandmusicsource will launch a new website with a fresh look that will be a little quicker for all who use it. If you have any thoughts on what you would like to see with the new website, drop a Comment below, and we will see what we can include.
New Reviews
This month has been quieter on the review side, with the holiday period in full swing and the need to recharge and refocus on wellbeing. However, a new writer has joined the site. The well-regarded Chris Baillie has written a review of the Piega Coax Gen2 611 loudspeakers for Hifiandmusicsource, where he concluded;
… the Piega Coax Gen2 611 is an end-game speaker that I find hard to criticise
Chris’s only conclusion had to be an ‘Outstanding’ badge, and we look forward to further reviews from him and other writers in the new year.
As we noted, the Awards Season concluded. A summary of the awards is here, with awards given to Naim Audio, Kudos Audio, iFi Audio, Auralic, ADMM, and Atlas Cables.
Coming Soon
Although we have been quiet on the review front this month, there has been much listening this festive month. We will soon review the McIntosh C2800 tube preamplifier and the fabulous (plot spoiler) Astell&Kern portable SP3000M music player. The SP3000M is part of the A&ultima series and represents the very best of on-the-go music listening. Also coming this month will be a review of the Tellurium Q Ultra Silver II loudspeaker cables, which celebrate their 15 years of cable design.
We hope to receive the latest Nuprime DAC 9X. We are seriously impressed with the now-discontinued DAC 9SE in the Kudos Audio Active setup.
We have also just received a new Phono stage from distribution experts Henley Audio, the EAT E-Glo Petit II, which has just been slotted into the Naim Audio amplified system that has had a significant step up in performance with the introduction of an Avondale Audio NAP 250. This project has come on the back of the New Classic NAP 250 review and the pursuit of this performance upgrade with the older Classic NAP 250 that we have here.
New Music
This month, we continue to enjoy the Album of the Year from The Cure and the New releases from Echo and the Bunnymen, Juanita Stein and St Etienne. This chillout album, The Night, is perfect for those tired afternoons over the festive period.