Displaying items by tag: uk - StereoLife Magazine

Avid has introduced the Ingenium SE, a new turntable that succeeds the Ingenium Plug&Play and brings the company's entry-level analog platform closer to its more advanced designs. The original Ingenium Plug&Play was conceived as a relatively accessible way into Avid's world of vinyl playback, combining straightforward setup with engineering drawn from the company's higher-end turntables. The new Ingenium SE follows the same general idea, but the changes are more than cosmetic. Avid says the model has been refined in response to feedback gathered from customers and retailers throughout the life of its predecessor, with the aim of improving transparency, speed stability, mechanical precision and long-term upgrade potential while keeping the turntable approachable for users who do not want the complexity or cost of the company's flagship models.

Monitor Audio has introduced the Radius Series 4G, a new generation of one of its best-known compact loudspeaker ranges. The idea behind the series is straightforward but still highly relevant - to offer proper hi-fi performance from speakers small enough to work in modern interiors, desktop systems, multi-room installations and discreet home cinema setups. The new line has been redesigned around Monitor Audio's Transparent Design Philosophy, combining the company's familiar driver technologies with slimmer cabinets, matching accessories and a more flexible approach to placement. In other words, Radius 4G is aimed not only at listeners looking for compact stereo speakers, but also at those who want a complete, scalable system that can move from near-field listening to wall-mounted surround sound without looking like conventional hi-fi has simply been squeezed into the room.

Ruark Audio has introduced two new products that fit neatly into the current move toward hi-fi systems combining several once-separate worlds - physical media, streaming, furniture-like design and a more integrated approach to home audio. The British company, which celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2026, has presented the R710 Music Console and the Talisman-R floorstanding speakers. Together, they form a complete stereo system in which the listener gets amplification, streaming, CD playback, turntable support and a pair of passive speakers designed to match the electronics both technically and visually.

Cambridge Audio is expanding its Evo series, a range of all-in-one systems designed for listeners who want a real hi-fi setup without building a traditional stack of separate components. This approach has become one of the most interesting directions in modern home audio. More people now listen through streaming services, connect their systems to a TV, sometimes return to vinyl, and still want to keep passive loudspeakers and full-scale stereo sound. From the beginning, Evo was created for exactly that kind of user - connect speakers, configure the network, and use a single device that combines an amplifier, streamer, DAC, and a broad range of inputs. Now the British manufacturer is taking the concept further with the Evo 300, the most powerful and most advanced streaming amplifier in the history of the series.

Rega has added the Planar 6 RS Edition to its range - a new special version of one of the company's most important turntables. The British manufacturer has spent decades developing designs based on lightweight, rigid plinths, precise belt drive systems and tonearms of its own making, showing that the classic turntable form still has a great deal of potential. This time, Rega has taken the well-known Planar 6 and equipped it with solutions normally associated with higher models in its catalog. The result is a technically advanced turntable that should be ready for serious playback almost straight out of the box, without the immediate need to replace the cartridge, power supply or drive components. With the RB880 tonearm, Neo PSU MK2, Reference EBLT belt and Nd9 cartridge included, the Planar 6 RS Edition looks like a proposition for listeners who want to move to a higher level of analog playback without building the system through a sequence of expensive upgrades. Rega is offering a complete package in which technologies from higher models have been sensibly combined with the familiar Planar 6 format.

Not so long ago, a headphone socket on a smartphone was taken for granted. Today, many users have to choose between wireless headphones, a basic USB-C adapter, or a more serious dongle DAC with its own converter and headphone output stage. Not everyone wants to move entirely to Bluetooth. Good wired headphones still make sense. They do not need charging, they introduce no wireless latency, they do not depend on codec support, and they can often deliver better sound quality than wireless models at the same price. The problem is that more and more devices no longer give users a proper place to plug them in. The iFi Audio GO link 2 Max is designed as an answer to exactly that problem - a small USB-C adapter intended not only to replace the missing headphone socket, but also to improve on the average audio circuitry built into a phone, laptop, or tablet.

Portable listening is no longer just a matter of convenience. For a long time, taking better headphones and high-resolution files outside the home meant accepting a stack of compromises - weak headphone outputs, awkward adapters, short battery life, and small devices that often felt more like emergency solutions than serious audio components. That has changed. Portable DACs and headphone amplifiers have become a mature category of their own, designed not simply to make a phone or laptop usable with wired headphones, but to create a compact listening system that can travel from a desk to a hotel room, from a train seat to a vacation apartment, and still retain a meaningful degree of audio quality. iFi Audio has been one of the companies most closely associated with this shift, and the iDSD GR 2 is one of the most important new products in its portable lineup.

Bowers & Wilkins is introducing a new generation of its flagship loudspeaker line - the 800 Series Diamond D5. This is one of those launches whose significance in the high-end world hardly needs explaining, because the 800 Series has long represented far more than just the top tier of the brand's catalog. It is Bowers & Wilkins' technical statement, a benchmark for its engineering teams and a family of loudspeakers used not only in domestic stereo systems, but also in multichannel installations and professional studios. The new generation arrives as the company celebrates its 60th anniversary, which is why Bowers & Wilkins presents it as the result of six decades of research, measurement, experimentation and steady refinement of a single goal - to reproduce recorded music as faithfully as possible.

REL Acoustics introduced a new line of active subwoofers designed for hi-fi and home theater systems in which a conventional floor-standing box can be awkward both acoustically and visually. The new range consists of two models, the PL-1 and PL-2, both of which can be mounted directly on the wall, much like a decorative panel or framed picture. This is not simply another variation on the familiar subwoofer placed in the corner of a room, but an attempt to rethink where low frequencies can come from in a domestic audio system. REL has built much of its reputation on subwoofers intended not only for home theater, but also for ambitious stereo systems, and Planar is aimed at a very specific set of needs - deeper bass, better integration with interior design, greater installation flexibility and less intrusion into everyday living space.

iFi Audio has refreshed one of its most accessible product families with three new ZEN Air 2 devices, each designed to solve a different and very common problem in everyday music listening. The ZEN Air DAC 2 is a compact digital-to-analog converter with a headphone amplifier, aimed primarily at people who listen from a computer, play games, watch movies or work at a laptop and want a clear upgrade over a standard audio output without building a large system. The ZEN Air Phono 2 is a phono preamplifier for MM and MC cartridges, allowing a turntable to be connected to an amplifier, active speakers or another component that lacks a suitable phono input. The ZEN Air Blue 2 serves a different purpose again. It is a Bluetooth receiver that allows a traditional amplifier, stereo system or pair of active speakers to gain wireless playback from a phone, tablet or computer. Together, the three models form a simple, affordable and compact route to upgrading an existing system without replacing its core components. In other words, iFi is not offering one universal box that tries to do everything, but three specialized tools - one for headphones, one for vinyl and one for Bluetooth streaming - each aimed at one of the most familiar weak points in home audio.