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HiFi Lounge - All Our Latest News, PMC, Naim, Bryston, Rega amongst Many others!



Hi Everyone,

Just a quick update to let everyone know that we now have the multi award winning Melco N1A Player / Server on demo.

I have been following the Melco products for some time and after all the positive things I’ve heard I couldn’t resist taking them on to have a play and so far I have nothing but positive things to say.

For those who don’t know, in the most basic terms the Melco units are basically NAS drives built and configured for HiFi Use, but they also double up as a local player to be fed directly into a USB DAC or amp, such as Devialet with a USB input, their other strong point is that you don’t need to use a computer to set them up, it can all be configured using the front screen and buttons.

Melco was formed in 1975 as a turntable manufacturer amongst other HiFi Products but then moved into IT and became Buffalo some years later, but now they are back in HiFi merging the 2 worlds creating Audiophile Storage solutions for HiFi which result in far better sound than the more traditional NAS drive route. This is achieved by Melco using products aimed at music playback, not just Data Retrieval, and also by using quality components and power supplies which has a big impact on sound quality.

Using a NAS drive to feed a streamer has been a great solution until now but a conventional NAS drive is designed with computer usage in mind, not to get the best from your music collection, these are 2 very different things and when it comes to music playback everything has an impact.

Any NAS drive is designed to sit on your network with the music having to be fed through your router, again another device that is built to a price using cheap parts that will add noise to music playback, the real beauty for me with Melco is that you can put it on your HiFi rack and feed your streamer direct meaning it doesn’t feed over long lengths of network cable and keeps away from your router, how this is achieved is that it has 2 ethernet ports, one to the outside world that sits on your network so that you can move music to it but more importantly the 2nd port is a connection direct to your streamer so feeds the streamer directly. I have installed our demo Melco N1A in our demo Naim rig so feeds my Naim NDS, NDX and NAC-N 272 directly and the improvements really are easy to hear.

So if you’d like to maximise your streaming setup or would like to try it as a dedicated player into a USB DAC, such as a Chord Electronics DAC, then please feel free to get in touch to arrange a demo.

http://hifilounge.co.uk/melco





Cheers,
Paul.
 
Hi All,

It’s not very likely you’ll ever see me up a ladder, especially with power tools in my hand, that is normally Wendy’s job :) but every now and again when it is really essential then I’ll do my bit, so this weekend the tools came out.

I really never thought I would ever want to go down the Atmos route but after hearing it at our Arcam open day late last year there was no going back, I have said before that during the Atmos 747 demo it is the first time where I have not been able to pinpoint where the sound is coming from, it was just a huge wall of sound that washes over you, it really is very impressive.

So after a lot more hours than was anticipated we now have 4 Arcam Muso speakers installed as discreetly as possible hanging of the 4 beams in the upstairs demo room, luckily when the building was built in the 1800′s they put the beams in exactly the right place for Atmos, what a result, although I’m sure that wasn’t on the builders mind at the time. So now along with our demo Arcam AVR850, which will be permanently setup, we can now demo a full 5.1.4 Atmos cinema setup, it really does have to be heard to be believed so please feel free to get in touch for a demo.

New JVC Projectors Now on Demo!

In other cinema news we now have 2 of the new Projectors from JVC on demo, the DLA-X5000 and DLA X7000, again these are another refinement on JVC’s D-ILA technology which gives class leading black levels and contrast and with the latest e-Shift everything is upscaled to 4K and for the first time these projectors are 4K ready, I have to say I was watching Ant Man the other night on the X7000 and I was amazed at the picture quality, without doubt the best picture I had ever seen so these projectors are most definitely another level when it comes to picture quality.

http://hifilounge.co.uk/jvc-projectors

Finally we now have the new Arcam AVR550 on permanent demo, the AVR850 has been a huge success in the short time it has been available so if you want all the functionality of the AVR850 but the price is a bit steep please feel free to demo the AVR550 and save £1800.

http://hifilounge.co.uk/arcam-fmj-avr-550

For a laugh below are a few pictures of me getting my hands dirty, you will probably never see this again :)













Cheers,
Paul.
 


Hi All,

We love the Astell&Kern portable players here but when we heard that Astell&Kern were entering the HiFi market we weren’t really sure what they would come up with, well they certainly weren’t mucking around, first they launched the AK500N network player that really is one of the best sounding sources out there with bit perfect cd ripping and SSD Storage which I always finds give the best sound quality, but now they have launched the matching power amp and power supply all in a modular system that really does look quite stunning, it is certainly unique and I am please to say that we now have the full system on permanent demonstration.

We had it running on the PMC Fact.12′s the other day to see just how capable the amplifier section is as 100wpc doesn’t sound much and the Fact.12′s are notoriously hard to drive but the AK500 didn’t even break a sweat, it really did sound excellent, making a very stylish and high performing system.

The specs on the AK500 System really are very impressive, there are too many to go into here but please see below for a link to our site for more information and if you would like to come in for a listen anytime please feel free to get in touch.

http://hifilounge.co.uk/astell-&-kern-ak500-system







Cheers,
Paul.
 
Hi All,

Just a quick bit of Rega news, firstly we have managed to acquire a couple of the Rega Record Store Day limited edition RP1 turntables, there are only going to be 500 of these available worldwide so are extremely special and will make a great addition to any turntable collection and at only £250 you really can’t go wrong.

We only have 2 of these turntables so if you want to bag one please let me know asap, we can take the order now but we are not permitted to release them until Record Store Day on April 16th so not too long to wait.

You can read more information in the link below and here are a couple of pictures of the Pete McKee ‘Club Rega’ Artwork -

http://hifilounge.co.uk/rega-rp1-rsd-2016









The Rega Planar 3 Returns!

There probably is no more iconic deck than the Planar 3 and to follow up on the multi award winning and extremely popular RP3 was never going to be easy but after 2 years of development Rega have made a multitude of improvements to the RP3 for the re-birth of the Planar 3 which can be read in the link below -

http://hifilounge.co.uk/rega-planar-3-turntable

It comes in gloss black or gloss white and costs £550 without a cartridge or £625 with the Elys2 fitted. We are waiting for our demo model to come in anytime soon so please feel free to get in touch to arrange a demo.









Cheers,
Paul.
 
Hi There,

It has been a long while since we have had something new from Martin Logan but building on the success of the original ElectroMotion Electrostatic speakers we now have the new ElectroMotion ESL X Speakers that have just come in and I have just finished unboxing which become the flagship in the Electromotion range.

Personally I love the Electrostatic sound, extremely clean, fast and honest I would say are the quick bullet points of an electrostatic panel speaker and for us the original ElectroMotion have been a very popular speaker as they give an extremely large slice of a highend panel sound for not silly money so I guess it makes sense for Martin Logan to take this series up a notch.

Costing £4498 the new X’s cost £1899 more than the standard ElectroMotion, so what do you get extra for that money? Well basically you get a bigger panel which in turn gives a more open sound with a larger soundstage but also you get 2 x 8″ passive bass drivers giving a more solid and controlled bottom end, when this 2 elements are put together you get a speaker that has a higher power handling and also give a larger soundstage with a more powerful image, I have to say next to the standard speaker they certainly look the part :)

Below are a few un-boxing pictures and a link to the ElectroMotion X’s on our website, if you would like to come in for a demo anytime please feel free to get in touch.

http://hifilounge.co.uk/martin-logan-electromotion-x



















ElectroMotion V ElectroMotion X





Cheers,
Paul.
 
Hi All,

A little bit late this news but we now have Bryston’s new BDA-3 DAC on demo, well we have for a few weeks now, this is Bryston’s most advanced DAC that will decode everything you could possibly want including up to 384kHz / 32 bit PCM music and up to DSDx4 natively, you really can’t ask for more than that.

What is also great about this DAC is that it has 4 HDMI inputs which is very rare for a highend Dac, this means you can hook it up your BD player to the BDA-3 and with something like an OPPO you’ll be able to get the BDA-3 to decode SACD to give a real lift in performance.

As I think everyone knows, like many people I am a big Chord DAC fan but I have always loved Bryston’s DAC’s, personally owning both the BDA-1 and BDA-2 but this really is a clear step up in performance compared to both of these and is a real competitor for Chords Hugo TT as a stand alone Dac, so if you’d like to come in for a listen anytime please feel free -

http://hifilounge.co.uk/bryston-bda-3-dac











Other Bryston News!

Introducing the Bryston Turntable!

Well I certainly didn’t see this one coming, a Bryston Turntable, basically built by GoldNote in Italy to Bryston’s Specification and using a custom outboard power supply to be built by Bryston, all priced at around $4000, more news to follow, certainly keen to have a listen.







New Bryston BDP!



There is no denying that both the BDP-1 and BDP-2 are excellent sounding digital players but Bryston have something new on the horizon, the BDP-π! More Details below taken from Bryston’s digital brochure which can be downloaded below -

http://hifilounge.co.uk/image/attachments/Bryston/Digital Audio 2016.pdf

Little Box Big Sound

Built upon the Raspberry Pi and Hi Berry platform, the new BDP-π is faster and more capable than our classic BDP-1 yet ts in a chassis 1/3rd as wide as our full size gear and costs less than half of a agship BDP-2.

Connect

Virtually any DAC can be connected via the on-board S/PDIF and Toslink connectors. Also, get ultra high resolution by connecting a USB DAC. You can even connect audio through HDMI.

Connect Any DAC

Not only is the BDP-2 compatible with USB DACs like the above model but also DACs with traditional digital inputs. Use our S/PDIF or AES/EBU outputs and enjoy the bene ts of our installed Integrated Audio Device. Measured jitter is so low it’s nearly undetectable even by our state-of-the-art lab.

Your Music

Connect an external USB drive containing your music library, stream your favorite internet radio stations, and enjoy lossless TIDAL streaming all on the BDP-π!

So along with the new ‘Cubed’ amplifiers that really do need to be heard to be appreciated, they are a clear step up in terms of dynamics and a lower noise floor, it seems all go at Bryston at the moment.

Regards,

Paul.
 
Hi All,

I guess the title says it all really but this week we have taken delivery of the new Arcam Solo Music and irDAC II for demo.

Solo Music

The original Solo Music was before my time as a dealer but I have to say I have been listening to the new version and I have been extremely impressed, basically it has 80wpc of Glass G power which really is enough to drive most speakers and as with other Arcam’s Glass G amps you get a really powerful and full sound with excellent bass control and at £1500 it seems like great value for money, especially considering the spec of it being a CD/SACD Player, Network Streamer, FM/DAB Radio + digital inputs including HDMI. I would say Arcam are going to have a big hit on their hands here and I should also mention here that Arcam’s app has also come along way since it was first introduced and works really well pulling music of my NAS to the Solo.

Don’t forget there is also the Solo Movie giving very similar performance but over 5 channels and with the bonus of being able to decode the HD movie formats.

If you would like to come in for a demo anytime please feel free to get in touch and please find a link to it on our website + a few un-boxing pictures -

http://hifilounge.co.uk/Arcam-Solo-Music















Arcam irDAC-II DSD DAC/Headphone Amp

Arcam DAC’s have always been extremely popular and with their latest incarnation that looks to continue with this being Arcam’s best specc’d DAC ever offering full 24 bit support + also now DSD and using the much resected Sabre DAC’s it will have the performance to match and as a bonus now you get a high quality headphone amp, so hook this up to a laptop and a pair of headphones and you have got a small desktop solution that will play everything you can throw at it in the digital domain, all for £495 which can’t be bad.

Again please feel free to come in anytime for a demo -

http://hifilounge.co.uk/arcam-irdac-II





Cheers,
Paul.
 


Martin Logan Renaissance ESL 15A Install!

Hi All,

I don’t normally do a blog regarding an install I have just done but this was rather special so I couldn’t help myself on this occasion, basically one of our customers has been a Martin Logan user for many years and it was time for an upgrade and he was particularly interested in the new Martin Logan Renaissance Electrostatic speakers with active room correction so a home demo was organised.

Firstly these are rather on the large side, I was particularly surprised by the size of the bass unit, it is huge and they weigh a tonne but once in place we started with the room correction, this is extremely easy to setup, basically all you need is a laptop and the Martin Logan Perfect Bass Kit which comprises of some software and a microphone and off you go, it takes a basic reading of your room then takes several readings of each speaker, you then click optimise and all the clever stuff happens and then you upload to the Renaissance speakers and that is it, and the difference is extremely noticeable as with any hybrid design like this the toughest part is getting the panel to integrate with the dynamic bass drivers, Martin Logan have made massive strides in this area over the years so you really do not notice the crossover from the panel to bass and this really helps once again with the integration, really cleaning and tightening the bottom end up, very impressive as you can turn the eq off and compare but it doesn’t take long before you realise that the eq needs to stay on :)

Once done it was a matter of listening and I can say I have never heard anything quite like it, I love the Logan sound, very transparent, great separation and clarity but it was the size of the image that was so impressive thanks to the huge 15″ wide panels, to get an idea of size the Pioneer TV below is a 60″ and it is dwarfed by the Logan’s, just epic :)

http://hifilounge.co.uk/martin-logan-renaissance

I am just waiting for the new model below the Renaissance to come in for demo which shouldn’t be too much longer so if you would like to hear the difference the room correction makes please feel free to get in touch.

Below are a couple of pictures of the Renaissance at the customers, needless to say after trying them at home he ordered a pair.







Cheers,
Paul.
 
Hi All,

This is a real quick one just listing the rest of the open days we have coming up over the next few months, more will probably be added as we head back into the busy season so please keep an eye on our events page below -

http://hifilounge.co.uk/index.php?route=information/even

PMC Twenty25.26 Open Day, September 10th - TBC



As the Twenty5.26’s weren’t available for our recent launch event of the new range of Twenty5 speakers from PMC we thought we would do a mini event for the new 25.26’s once available, this should be sometime around mid September, hopefully September 10th, to be confirmed.

National Audio Show - September 17th - 18th



Once again we will be running the headphone area at the National Audio Show so hope to see you there.

Mystery Open Day - November 10th - 1pm - 8pm



Can’t say much about this one other than one of our brands are launching some exciting new products that I know a lot of people have been waiting for, more news soon.

Devialet Day - November 26th



With the launch of the new Gold Phantom and Expert Pro Range it is the perfect time for another Devialet day, Gold Phantom will be running in Highend Headphones with the Expert Pro running in HiFi Lounge, focusing on Vinyl playback, hopefully we will have vinyl for sale on the day.

Hope to see you at one of the above.

Thanks,

Paul.
 
Hi All,

The title says it all really, it has been a little wait for the twenty5.26′s to join the twenty5 family but the wait is now over as our demo pair arrived yesterday :) The rest of the twenty5 series really are quite something but this is the speaker I have been waiting for as for quite some time I have been running the twenty.26′s at home, it is a speaker I know really well and love listening to, the only problem is that I have had demo’s on the go since un-boxing them so they are still sitting in our downstairs demo room, it would be rude to kick a customer out I guess :) but once 5.30 is here the doors will be locked and I can have a good listen, as a bonus it is my birthday today so thanks for the present PMC :)

I should say that the cabinets look absolutely gorgeous, a really lovely wood grain with the veneer having a slight sheen on them but the overall fit and finish seems to have gone up a level with this range and they feet etc come in a very nice box nowadays, they certainly have a more premium feel.

Twenty5.26 Open Day - October 1st



As the twenty5.26′s weren’t available for our PMC open day a few weeks ago I have decided to hold another PMC open day but this time just focusing on the twenty5.26′s as a lot of our customers have the original twenty.26′s and are keen to hear the twenty5 version so please feel free to come along on October 1st for a listen.

Trade In

Don’t forget if you are interested in any PMC speakers please feel free to get in touch regarding trade in values for your speakers, we will give the best price we can.

http://hifilounge.co.uk/pmc-twenty5.26-loudspeakers

A few Pictures















Hope to see you for the open day.

Thanks,

Paul.
 
Hi All,

I was really pleased to be able to sell and install the worlds first Michell engineering Orbe SE-R recently, thanks Darren :) It really is a stunning turntable and is Michell’s new flagship turntable based on their Orbe SE but the base in now integral into the design, it has the normal stunning Michell look but incorporates a few tweaks to further enhance performance.

The customer also specified a couple of brands that we didn’t stock at the time but happily do now, Whest Audio phono stages and Kiseki cartridges, these will be added to the website shortly, so anyway I just thought I would post a few pictures of the build process as it can be quite involved and takes a fair bit of time to assemble and set everything correctly. For the arm a SME V was used, these really are a joy to work on giving so much adjustment, it really is a beautiful piece if engineering.

Assembling a new design of turntable with a phono stage and cartridge I had never used before had me wondering how it would all come together but I have to say it sounded stunning, a really gorgeous and natural open midrange and top end with a very solid bottom end driving the music on, an extremely natural and organic sound, you just can’t beat vinyl :)

http://hifilounge.co.uk/michell-engineering-se-r-turntable

Anyway onto the pics -

Base with Spider Installed





Platter base with Armboard installed





SMA V Arm Fitted



Starting to come together





Kiseki Blue Unpacking





Cartridge installed with Platter, time to set the arm!





Whest Audio Phono Stage hooked up!





Just needs the adjusting pillar covers installing





Ready to go to the customer for final installation





Cheers,
Paul.
 


Hi All,

Anyone who has been into HFL knows that we love our Atlas Cables here, in fact most of our customers that have bought cables from us are now Atlas cable owners with many expressing how happy they are with this addition to their system.

For me I have always loved the fact that Atlas cables don’t really add anything to the sound, it is not a bright or forward cable, it just gets out of the way and let’s the kit do its thing, if anything I would say Atlas Cables go towards the more natural and organic side of the sound field.

Anyway the point of this blog is that Atlas recently won ‘Cable of the Year’ for its Mavros Ultra interconnect in the HiFi News review of the year edition, so firstly congratulations to Atlas for this well deserved award, and to commemorate this achievement Atlas are producing a limited Edition version of the Mavros Ultra, now I have to say as a big Atlas fan I am very tempted to bag one of these goodies for myself so it is supposed to be limited to 50 pairs but I think you are better of saying 49 pairs :)

Anyway you can find out more below -

Features:

  • Limited production run (Available until 31/12/16 or 50 pairs max)
  • Luxurious Gold plated Ultra RCA plugs
  • Unique sequence of serial numbers
  • Hand signed limited edition authenticity certificate
  • Special Atlas presentation box
  • Prices starting at £1495.00 inc vat (1.0m pair)

Below is the HiFi News Review of Mavros -

http://hifilounge.co.uk/image/attachments/Atlas Cables/HFN_Atlas_Mavros_Ultra_Review.pdf



Kevin Kelly, Managing Director of Atlas Cables had the below to say regarding the launch of the Mavros Ultra SE “We have been overwhelmed by the success of the Mavros range, so it was only fitting for us to highlight this success with a limited run of Special Edition analogue interconnect cables in recognition of the global accolades it has achieved. Mavros epitomises the Atlas DNA – a great-sounding cable created through true scientific research using the very latest materials designed specifically for the job in hand. Hand-built at our dedicated factory in Scotland, we are proud to present this Special Edition version of the Mavros Ultra, which showcases the very best performance we have achieved with copper cable technology to date.”

The reviewers say;

HiFi News - Mavros Ultra

Atlas’s Asimi Ultra had already dispelled the myth that all silver cables sound ‘bright’ but the copper-infused Mavros Ultra succeeds in sounding smoother still. It helps instil a settled quietness to musical backgrounds, the system sounding free of grit and grain and yet not so luxuriant or sweet that the shimmering edge of percussion or brass is polished away.

HiFi world - Mavros Ultra RCA

The ability of the interconnect to combine speed with such composure resulted, time and again, in a stellar musical performance.

Mavros Ultra RCA/XLR

This is a supremely well-balanced cable with a standard of construction and finish to match.

So anyway to wrap up, if you would like to be one of the 49 ;-) remaining people to own this special edition cable please feel free to get in touch.

Please find a link below to the rest of the Atlas range -

http://hifilounge.co.uk/atlas-cables

Thanks,

Paul.
 


Hi All,

I just wanted to mention that after what seems like an eternity of waiting we finally have the Arcam P429 4 channel amplifier on demo and it is now available to buy, I know a lot of people have been waiting for this. In it’s own right it is a great amp to be used in a 2 channel stereo system offering 90 watts per channel which can be bridged to give a pretty potent 270 WPC in stereo mode of pure Glass G power but I know most of our customers have been waiting for this amp to partner with their Arcam AVR850 or AVR550 in an Atmos system to give the potential to run 7.1.4 setup.

This is what we are going to be mainly using the P429 for in our cinema setup for, although we are only running a 5.1.4 setup but it certainly makes a great addition, if you haven’t heard Atmos running I highly recommend it, it really is a game changer for home cinema audio, this partnered with our demo 850′s Dirac room correction really does offer the best home cinema sound I have heard, it really is total immersion, for anyone who wants to know more about Dirac Arcam have recently put a video together that you can watch in the link on our website below -

Anyway if you’d like to experience Atmos + Dirac on an AVR850 partnered with the P429 please feel free to pop in for a listen anytime -

http://hifilounge.co.uk/arcam-fmj-p429



Thanks,
Paul.
 


Hi All,

I have been a Pioneer fan for many years now, I think it is because I had many of their receivers at home long before starting HFL culminating in the mighty Susano which was just epic, that has to be one of the best AV Receivers ever made, shame they don’t make a current model really.

Anyway we have a small selection of Pioneer products here and we have just added the new N-50DAB all in one player to our demo line up, I have to say that this has got to be the HiFi Bargain of the century, if you imagine a Naim Uniti 2 but for £699, in fact it also has a really good phono stage built in so it actually packs more features than the Uniti 2, OK it may not sound quite as good and has as much power but for £699 you really can’t complain.

You can read the full specs below but if you are looking for an all in one player that you just need to add speakers to at a really sensible price then I would suggest that the Pioneer N-50DAB is well worth a look, I have spent a few days playing around with it and there is nothing to fault really, a special mention should also go to the control app as it is very slick and very intuitive and with the internal phono stage you could add something like the Rega Planar 3 and you really would have all the music playback bases covered. This is one of those products where I really can’t see how they can make it for the money, top job Pioneer :)

http://hifilounge.co.uk/pioneer-n50dab-all-in-one-player

So as mentioned we have this on permanent demo so please feel free to get in touch to arrange a demo if you think it could be a product for you.







Thanks,
Paul.
 


Hi all,

Just a quick blog to say that we now have the new Chord Electronics TToby power amplifier on demo, this can be used as a stand alone 2 channel power amplifier delivering 100 watts per channel into 4ohms but its main purpose for existing is to partner with the multi award winning Chord Hugo TT DAC / Headamp / Pre-amp.

Put these 2 products together with a pair of speakers and a source and you have a very compact and highend digital system with one of the best DAC’s in the world at it’s heart, as the TT is also a very accomplished Pre-amp it really does make it an extremely versatile 2 box system. that can also drive any pair of headphones out there as again the headphone sections really is excellent, I have compared it against dedicated headphone amps and it really does hold its own without any compromise or loss of quality.

Anyway if you’d like a demo or even a home demo of TToby please feel free to get in touch.

http://hifilounge.co.uk/chord-electronics-ttoby





Thanks,
Paul.
 


Hi All,

There is no doubting that Wireless speakers are now extremely popular with arguably Sonos leading the way, we actually have quite a few options here starting with Riva then Sonos, then going to the excellent Naim Muso and Muso Qb with the ridiculously good Devialet Phantoms topping the tree which I would say is the first wireless speaker you can sit down and listen to as you would with traditional hifi. Well now we have another addition to our wireless range of speakers, the multi award winning BlueSound.

Now BlueSound has been around for quite some time now but has only been available through Sevenoaks stores but now BlueSound has opened their range up to some independent dealers like us so when I was approached I jumped at the opportunity as it is a brand I have watched for some time as they have a range very much like Sonos but with the added bonus that they can play 24 bit music and are also ready for MQA when hopefully it all kicks of next year.

There are 2 products within the BlueSound range that I think will suit our customers, the Node 2 Streamer and the Vault 2 CD Ripper / Storage / Player. Firstly the Node 2 is a elegant black box that you can plug into your existing hifi and use it to stream from your NAS or from the Vault 2 but it also brings all the internet services to your existing HiFi like Tidal, Deezer and Spotify etc, and this will stream up to 24/192 and is MQA ready. The Vault 2 is a brilliant product that is extremely flexible, firstly it will rip your CD’s and store them internally within its 2TB’s of storage, you can then either stream to other devices on your network or you can use the digital output into a DAC or use the analogue outs into an amp and use it as a player using the excellent BlueSound app, so it is one of those products that really does take all the hassle out of how to get your CD collection ripped so you can enjoy the benefits of streaming, it can even be used with Sonos or the Muso’s.

Also BlueSound have a range of wireless speakers, a Soundbar and a sub which we have access to but for the moment it is the Node 2 and Vault 2 we have on demo as for me these really are products that can really enhance other products we have here from other manufacturer’s.

You can see the range below and if you think the Node 2 or Vault 2 could be of interest please feel free to get in touch to discuss further.

http://hifilounge.co.uk/bluesound







Thanks,
Paul.
 


Hi All,

Happy New Year, let’s hope 2017 is a good one :)

Just a quick blog to say that we now have Piega Speakers on demo, now I have to be honest that Piega was not a speaker brand I was really aware of until the Rep got in touch to see if I would be interested in having a listen, apparently they are a big brand in Europe but have never really ever got a footing in the UK market, I guess we have so many great UK speaker brands that it must be hard for a foreign company to make an impact.

Basically Piega are all hand made in Switzerland and like anything Swiss they do ooze quality and being that they use ribbon tweeters I was curious as we don’t have anything like that in HFL. So as I am always keen to listen to something new the rep brought in a pair of Classic 3.0′s and 5.0′s for me to listen to and in all honesty the last thing I need is more speakers so I thought I would have a listen and politely say many thanks but they are not for me, but in the end it was quite the opposite, I was so impressed with the level of sound for the money I just couldn’t resist so we now have a pair of Classic 3.0′s and 5.0′s on permanent demo and if anyone is interested in anything from the rest of the range we can call them in when required.

What I have since learned with Ribbon tweeters is that you get a very open and natural top end with no harshness or brightness but still getting all the detail, I do think it is quite a tricky component to get right but it does seem worth the effort once you hear it. So if you are looking for new speakers, which to be fair is probably the hardest part of any HiFi to buy then I would strongly suggest you give Piega a try as like me you may be pleasantly surprised.

Other than ribbon tweeters Piega are also known for their Aluminium cabinets for their higher end designs, you can see the full range below -

http://hifilounge.co.uk/piega-speakers

Any questions please feel free to get in touch.

Regards,

Paul.





 
Hi All,

Well it was certainly a big CES this year for Chord Electronics with the announcement of 3 new and very exciting products, just so you know Chord are taking Pre-Orders so if you want to be near the front of the queue please get in touch as these are bound to be as popular as any product Chord has launched recently.

Hugo 2 Headphone Amp / DAC



I think it is fair to say that the original Hugo was a real game changer when launched in 2013, I think it’s success even surprised Chord as it caught everyones imagination, originally designed to be a portable device it ended up finding it’s way into a lot of home highend systems, being that that digital world moves along so quick Hugo 2 really does look to move things along again using the latest DAC technology and Rob Watt’s magic, please see a snippet from Chord’s website below + you can read more on our site -

http://hifilounge.co.uk/chord-hugo-2

‘The legend, remastered. The world’s most advanced transportable DAC/Headphone Amp has undergone a drastic redesign – Welcome to Hugo 2.

Beginning with 26,000 taps back in 2013 with the original Hugo, Hugo 2 now has an incredible 49,152 and uses techniques developed over the past four years to deliver a stunningly clear audio performance, such has never been heard from a mobile DAC/Headphone Amp before.

Hugo doesn’t just deliver better performance and measurements, it’s got all new casework developed by Chief Designer – John Franks, increases PCM support to 768kHz and adds up to DSD512 (Octa-DSD) native playback, now includes four filter options, remote control functionality, increased Bluetooth range, and sports Micro USB charging.’

Blu II Upscaling CD Transport



Personally I am really looking froward to this one as it promises to take CD playback to new levels using a powerful new FPGA core where Rob Watts has developed sophisticated WTA (Watts Transient Alignment) filtering and upscaling algorithms which can output digital data at 705.6kHz (16 x CD’s 44.1kHz native resolution). I know a few people that have heard it and they say CD has never sounded better, there certainly seems to be life left in the old dog yet :)

http://hifilounge.co.uk/chord-blu-2-transport

‘Welcome to Blu Mk. II – CD Without Limits – The Blu Mk. II is our advanced second generation FPGA CD transport. Designed for DAVE it up samples your CD collection (or BNC/S/PDIF input) to a mighty ONE MILLION taps.

At its core lies a giant state of the art Xilinx XC7A200T FPGA loaded with the world’s most advanced filter technology by Rob Watts. This, combined with the legendary precision of the CD Pro 2 mechanism and a Chord Electronics proprietary switch mode power supply, creates an experience never heard before from CD – setting a new standard. Blu Mk. II also sports a stunning revised aesthetic developed by Chord’s Chief Designer – John Franks.’

Poly Wireless Streaming Module for Mojo



This one had been rumoured for some time so it is great to see it finally see the light of day, basically Poly is a plug on module that will turn the award winning Mojo into a Hi-Res wireless network player and SD card player, in reality making the Mojo a portable player, this could be another game changer from Chord.

http://hifilounge.co.uk/chord-poly

‘Mojo just got smarter – Connect. Play Go. with Poly – the Wireless Network SD Playback Module.

Poly allows the award-award wining Mojo DAC/Headphone amplifier to become a high resolution wireless network music player, streamer, and SD card playback device, removing the need for a wired link. It’s based on a condensed high-level PC, with data server, DNLA streamer, Wi-Fi hub, Bluetooth module, and SD card reader/player.’

So 3 really exciting products that we will have available for demo one launched, all are quoted for early 2017 so I would say around late February / March but once Chord are back from CES I will be able to get firmer details but please feel free to get in touch to discuss in more depth.

Regards,

Paul.
 
Hi All,

This is just a quickie to say that on Thursday we installed the new Arcam AV860 Processor in to our cinema setup, once we have the new showrooms opened then the upstairs demo room many of you will know will be mainly used as our cinema room so we decided to kit it out in style with a full Arcam rig with the new AV860 processor at its heart, I can see one of these ending up at home to be honest, as I have had the AV888 and AV950 that proceeded it and with the AV860 having Dirac on board then I don’t think I can resist :)

So for our main cinema setup we now have an Arcam FMJ P349 driving the front 3 speakers and a FMJ P49 driving the rears with a FMJ P429 driving the 4 Atmos speakers as well as the AV860 controlling it all, so a pretty potent system to be honest that really does sound epic, and once again Dirac proves it’s worth.

If you’d like to experience this rig at anytime please feel free to get in touch to arrrange a demo.

http://hifilounge.co.uk/arcam-av-860-processor

















Cheers,
Paul.
 


Hi There,

I just wanted to write a quick blog to say that we now have the dCS Network bridge on demo, personally I have been looking forward to this one as it has the potential to be the perfect device to link your digital music collection to your favourite DAC or digital amp, especially as it is Roon Ready.

So in a nutshell the dCS Network Bridge is a very powerful piece of hardware that links to your network and will see the data on your NAS and using the dCS app or Roon can then be passed onto a DAC of some kind, you can also attached a USB Hard Drive to access your music + it has streaming service like Tidal and Spotify built in and is AirPlay compatible.

One the hardware front it has a powerful FPGA chip at it’s heart and can even have a clock attached like with the Rossini and Vivaldi to reduce jitter and help timing, having seen how effective this is with our demo Rossini this is actually a great feature. It will also play all files up to 24 / 384 as well as DSD 64 and 128 in native or DOP and can also down sample for older Dacs.

What really excites me about the Bridge is that it is ROON ready, now I know a lot of my customers have been using ROON for some time now but I have just started using it when we got our dCS Rossini and I have to say that there is no going back now, basically it is an extremely powerful piece of software that brings all your digital music together into one very metadata rich interface so whether using Tidal, Quboz or Upnp for a Nas you can see it all in one place with links to similar artists, lyrics, a radio station that will play similar music once your playlist has finished, I could go one but once you have experienced Roon everything else does seem quite lacking, and for a life time subscription for around £400 it really is worth every penny.

When I get a chance I am quite keen to compare the dCS Network Bridge against the Aurender X100L, one of my favourite sources, as they are similarly priced but considering dCS used to distribute Aurender they know what they need to beat on the sound quality front so that should be very interesting, but inevitably it is a different solution how to access your digital music Library but one that looks to tick all the boxes.

If this sounds of any interest please feel free to get in touch to arrange a demo or even a home demo if that would be more useful.

Please find some un-boxing pics below and a link to the Network Bridge on our website -

http://hifilounge.co.uk/dcs-network-bridge















Cheers,
Paul.
 
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