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Enjoy the Music.com sponsors salon audio Montréal audiofest 24 - 26 March in Montreal Canada

17/3/2023

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​The Montreal Audiofest brings together thousands of audio enthusiasts and exhibitors worldwide to share their passion and perhaps choose their future pieces of equipment. This luxury home audio/video show will feature over a hundred exhibitors demonstrating some of the world's best sound systems.  Find out more here and here.
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Web controversy over the dCS Bartok - HIFICRITIC's findings

1/1/2022

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Noting some controversy on the web over the sound quality of the dCS Bartok here is a reminder of the HIFICRITIC findings.
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Acoustical Society of America on hearing loss

15/6/2021

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Listening to music on headphones or earbuds at  ’ 50% volume’ for an hour a day can be detrimental to a young person’s hearing ……
​Published this month is a report on young persons aural health, warning of serious long term hearing loss.  Serious, not just because of the hearing impairment itself, but also the consequences, contributing to communication difficulties, social isolation, and in later life, increased risk of accidents and falls, and with several  health complications, including earlier onset dementia.

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NEW ISSUE  NEWS:  HIFICRITIC April-June Volume  15  No 2

14/6/2021

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Wishing our readers good health and relaxed reading for this, our summer edition, our audio scribes have continued their work, ears and pens at hand, to deliver yet more knowledge and opinion on matters audio.
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Brexit is having an impact on audio commerce, delaying imports and exports. Some electronic components are in short supply meaning the production of designs has been delayed or halted. The export red tape has led to some companies setting up depots in the EU at significant cost, to ensure delay-free sales and delivery into Europe. Unquestionably prices have risen over the last year, up to 10% in some cases. Some items are simply unobtainable.

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Reel-to-Reel Recorders

6/4/2021

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by Martin Colloms, First Published HiFi News, June 1978
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The last year or so has seen the emergence of a new generation of high-quality open-reel tape decks, of which four are investigated here. As the price span ranges from £500-£600 for the Sony and Revox models to £850 for the Technics and £950 for the basic Pioneer assembly, these units are not strictly comparable, although their relative performances are nonetheless interesting.
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All four recorders subscribe to the 'professional' format, namely a 26.5cm diameter maximum reel capacity with at least two high speeds (19 and 38cm/sec), and a two-channel half-track format on 6.25mm (¼in) tape. However, strictly speaking they should be called 'semi-professional', as although they are essentially capable of master quality recordings, they do differ from true studio machines in several respects. For example, the input and output connections of professional machines are generally balanced-line with Cannon or similar type sockets. In contrast, the review models are all unbalanced, with phono and DIN-type inputs and outputs, plus lower line levels.

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HIFICRITIC New Issue Preview Jan Mar 2021

13/3/2021

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GILAD TIEFENBRUN
Linn’s MD on the challenges of the ‘new normal’, why the past year has been a great one for interest in turntables, inventing the ultimate wireless speaker, why streaming is the future – and how the only way to keep things stable is to ensure you’re always moving forward.

STAN’S SAFARI
Stan pays tribute to his contemporary, Tim de Paravicini, and recalls time spent together, major bust-ups, and doughnuts on an industrial estate lawn in a Subaru. “Tim could always wear you down by sheer persistence,” he says.

FINKTEAM KIM
Having been mighty impressed with the bog Borg standmount from the Essen-based design-consultancy-turned-manufacturer, Martin Colloms finds himself totally beguiled by its more compact, more affordable standmount model. It may look unusual, but it’s also incredibly involving, he says, in an extensive in-depth review.
Order Vol 15 No 1

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Remembering Jazzman Chris Barber

5/3/2021

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Dick Weindling and Marianne Colloms for HIFICRITIC
It was sad to hear that Chris Barber, the jazz trombonist and band leader, died aged 90, on 2 March 2021. He was very influential in developing a version of New Orleans jazz in the 1950s which led the way to skiffle, British blues, the Beatles and The Rolling Stones. 

A few years ago I had lunch with the late Harold Pendleton and his wife Barbara. Harold was a chartered accountant with a love of jazz, and he told me when he arrived from Southport in 1948 to work in London, the first thing he did was to go to Dobells Record Shop at 77 Charing Cross Road. Harold was thumbing through the jazz racks and got talking to another customer. He was Chris Barber. They became acquainted and Harold became the manager of Chris’ band and a lifelong friend. Harold went on to open the famed Marquee Club in 1958, and with his wife Barbara organised the National Jazz and Blues festivals held in Windsor and later Reading.
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Decca Studios, Broadhurst Gardens, West Hampstead (Dick Weindling, 1979)

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HIFICRITIC New Issue News October to December 2020

14/12/2020

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HIFICRITIC  Volume 14  Number 4  October-December 2020

​Completing another (partial) lock down issue, we have been able to create and sign off the varied content for this, our 60th issue. Magazine production has been held to our customary if somewhat delayed scheduling. And all at HIFICRITIC hope that our readers are in good shape. Flexible planning and keeping going, if you can, is one way of dealing with these strange times.  

​I would be the first to admit it has helped preserve my peace of mind while many thanks are due to our team of home working freelancers working assiduously from their homes. I would also like to thank the audio industry who have generously put themselves out and supplied a host of exceptional products for the HIFICRITIC team to evaluate. My own contributions began with a report on eight interconnect and loudspeaker cables, while a few more turned up in conjunction with another massive audio electronics review. 
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HIFICRITIC  New Issue News July to September 2020

5/9/2020

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HIFICRITIC  Volume 14  Number 3  July-August-September 2020
The HIFICRITIC team of freelance reviewers and journalists has found ways to continue investigations and write ups, with many new review products successfully sourced and delivered for evaluation. I thank all our contributors and those involved in the magazine’s production who are supporting the HIFICRITIC project.

Also, thanks to our readers who have contacted me with comments and suggestions. As our government might well put it, our audio and music examinations, evaluations and judgments have continued at pace!
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Listening to audio network cables and switches

6/5/2020

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Preview: HIFICRITIC Vol 14 No2 April-June 2020 issue 
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I have almost lost count of the 100 or so listening tests recently conducted on network cables and net switches, scrutinised with the aid of an exacting audio system founded on a Naim ND555 streamer with dual PS555DR supplies. With such  a task  you have to be prepared for a proportion of null results, i.e. no change or no discernible difference, and even these results need repeating just to be sure – as sure as you can be, in that set up, with that state of acuity, with that system, and those chosen track(s).

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    Martin Colloms has a passion for audio and music and has written for many of the key hi-fi magazines worldwide.

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