HiFi Lounge - Latest News and Chat for HiFi and Headphones!

[Vipers]

Hi All,

Now as an advertiser on TLF I thought I would start a thread for all things HiFi and Headphones, hopefully some will find it enjoyable.

A bit of car background, My first love was the Lotus Elan M100, I spent a couple of years dreaming of owning one, it really was love at first sight when announced, then in 1992 I took delivery of a brand new red one, that started a love affair with all things Lotus which after a few different Lotus's I have now settled for an Exige LF1, a S2 M100 and a Caterham SuperLight R300 below although I can't stop thinking of adding a Cup 250 Elise :-)

My other love is for all things to do with music, especially live music and hifi, this resulted in shutting down my print business and my wife and I selling our house 4 years ago to free up the equity and following the dream of becoming a hifi dealer, so far it has been a case of so far so good as we are now approaching the completion of our 4th year and we are still here with 2 shops now, HiFi Lounge and Highend Headphones, In fact we are just about to expand into another 2 barns so fingers crossed the EU mess doesn't change things too much.

Anyway I will post news stories here to do with HiFi and Headphones  so please feel free to comment on anything of any interest or ask any questions, below is a link to the HiFi Blog I have been running on TLF for a year or so.

 

Cheers,

Paul.

Just thought I would start with the most recent news regarding a new wireless speaker from Devialet that has 4500 Watts and goes down to 14Hz :-)

Hi All,

This is a bit crazy as the Silver Phantom is pretty epic and I really thought there would be no more performance to be got from such a small form factor but in true Devialet style they have pushed things even further with the announcement of the new Gold Phantom.

Basically it looks the same as the standard Phantom with it’s white bass drivers but has a gorgeous shade of rose gold for its side panels but it is inside where things get really interesting, basically with the silver Phantom you got 3000 Watts each one, with the Gold Phantom Devialet have increased this to 4500 Watts which does sound absolutely crazy, there is also a new version of Devialet’s ADH technology which is basically the amplification they pioneered a few years ago using Class A amplification combined with Class D to give the best sound quality but an efficient and compact design, finally there is a new Titanium tweeter.

I had a listen to the new Gold Phantom a couple of weeks ago and basically you get a more dynamic, faster and powerful sound that goes even lower than the Silver Phantom, going down to 14Hz but for me it is the new tweeter that makes the biggest difference giving a more open and detailed sound taking the Phantom up to another level.

Priced at £2190 at the moment, who knows what is going to happen now we are out of the EU, I would say prices are due to rise at some point, but at the moment it is £2190 and we are taking pre-orders, stock is due during July at some point when we will have our demo models also.

If you would like to discuss further please feel free to give me a call, below are a few details on our website and a few press shots.

http://hifilounge.co.uk/devialet-gold-phantom

Cheers,

Paul

[Vipers]

Musical Fidelity Encore 225 Hands On & 1st Impressions!

Hi All,

I have to say that I am really quite excited by the new Musical Fidelity Encore range, the first product from this new line up will be the Encore 225 which is due in a couple of weeks but when my rep offered to come in and run me through it I jumped at the chance as in the HiFi arena this really is something a little different.

So what is the encore 225? Well first and for most it is a proper piece of HiFi equipment based on Musical fidelity’s M6si amplification, in theory it is the only box you need if you want a one box solution as it is also a CD Player, CD Ripper, Storage Device and DAC, so you basically pop in your CD it is then ripped to lossless and then stored in the device ready for playback, so just hook up a pair of speakers and you are good to go.

The Encore range has really been designed for HiFi enthusiasts and music lovers that want to get into streaming but really don’t want the hassle of getting computers involved so it is very intuitive and can be solely controlled with the large screen on the front with the units buttons or with the remote, alternatively you can log in to it to amend metadata if required.

You can spec your size of Hard Disk, 1TB is standard but for around £60 you can spec it with a 2TB drive to come installed from Musical Fidelity, I can see this becoming the most popular option to be honest, but if you want to swap the drives yourself then it is just a matter of un-screwing to thumb screws on the back and you can hot swap it for a bigger drive.

So it really does look like the perfect product and quite unique in the HiFi Market, but like anything like this for me it is all about the control as based on the M6si amplification we know it is going to sound good, so how good is the control app? Well I am very relieved that it seems excellent, I think it is based on the Squeezebox app and has been MF’d so it is a well proven app that is slick, very quick and easy to use, you can’t ask for more than that really.

2 things I thought was quite good were that if you import a music collection you have already ripped, like mine which is stored on a NAS drive, then the Encore will check every file to make sure it is tagged correctly with the right data so that it is stored as it should be on the Encore as if it had ripped it itself and also when you power down the 225 everything shuts down except the hard disk section so that you can use it as a Server to feed other products on your network like Sonos for example, very clever.

So all in all this really should be a huge success for Musical Fidelity, for me MF make excellent amps but combining their amplification with so many versatile features such as CD ripping and storage all in one solid piece of kit can only be a good idea. The 225 is the first in a new range of Encore products, following shortly after is the Connect which is basically all the above but without the amplification, this interests me more to be honest as it can be used with any system and it also has a pre-amp built in so you could bolt it onto say a MF M8-500s to make a very powerful 2 box system.

As I said the Encore 225 should be with us by the end of the month with the Connect following in July so if you are interested in more information or booking a demo please feel free to give me a call.

Below is a link to a video that MF have just done regarding the Encore 225 + a link to the 225 and Connect on our website.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phf0mBpt7XU

http://hifilounge.co.uk/musical-fidelity-encore

Cheers,

Paul.

[Vipers]

New PMC Twenty5′s Now On Demo!

Hi All,

Well it’s always a big day when we get new speakers through the door from PMC and the great news is that we now have the new Twenty5.21's, 22's, 23's and 24's on demo with the new 26's to follow in August.

Please find a few unboxing pictures below of the twenty5.23′s, they definitely have a feel of a higher end speaker compared to the original twenty’s from the new binding posts to the silver plate on the back, the new drivers and feet, 

Basically with the new range PMC have tried to give a cleaner, better separated and defined sound, more agility with more bass depth whilst retaining the musicality that PMC are known for, and basically they have achieved it, in true PMC style they have created something quite special with the new twenty5 range and these are destined to be a huge hit.

Being a bit of a car nut I am quite ashamed that I never linked the new Laminair technology PMC have developed with a rear diffuser seen on F1 and many sports cars, especially as Ollie Thomas, the lead designer used to work at Red Bull, personally I would never have linked speaker design to Formula 1 technology but both are heavily dependant on air flow and getting the cleanest air over the car and out of the speaker, the pictures below show this very well and for me this seems to be the biggest improvement the new range has, you really do hear how this affects the speed, agility and overall sound of the speaker.

Trade In.

Finally if you are interested in the new range please get in touch regarding trading in any equipment you may have, we’ll give the best price we can.

http://hifilounge.co.uk/pmc-twenty5-series

Cheers,
Paul.

Cheers,

Paul.

[Vipers]

A Summer Of Following The Boss!

I should first explain that the title doesn’t mean that I am going to spend the summer following the wife around but in fact Bruce Springsteen :-)

I guess I may have a small problem as I am pretty much addicted to seeing Springsteen live, from my first Bruce gig on Independence Day 1985 till today I have seen him around 80 times with 10 planned for this year.

So I just thought I would upload some pictures and videos from the various gigs throughout the summer, just done Madrid, Manchester, Coventry, Wembley and Sweden with Zurich and Rome later this month and I have just booked one of my all time Bucket List gigs, to see Bruce and the E-Street band for 3 nights in New Jersey, their home town, should be epic, just a little bit excited by this one :-)

If you have never seen Bruce before it would be worth trying to make one of this years gigs as he and the E-Street band are really on it, doing around 3.5 hours a night covering 35+ songs, for me there is nothing better than going to see Bruce live, it is just so much fun, and if you are going I’ll see you there :-)

Anyway please find a few pics and video clips below from Manchester, Madrid, Coventry and Wembley, it is quite amazing what you can get from an iPhone :-) 

Madrid 21/5/16

The Promise Land Up Close And Personal

 

Spirit In The Night

Waiting On A Sunny Day 

A clip showing it is a real crowd favourite

 

Manchester 25/5/16

Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out

 

Sherry Darling - Jake Clemons on Sax.

 

A Few Photo’s

Coventry 3/6/16

Good to see the Bruce Fans Starting Young :-)

Wembley 5/6/16

Bruce Having A Lot Of fun!

 

 

Cheers,

Paul.

[Vipers]

Devialet Launch the Expert 1000 Pro!

Hi There,

Devialet are on a roll at the moment as a day after announcing the Gold Phantom they have just introduced the new Devialet Expert 1000 Pro, a real flagship product, basically the successor to the multi award winning Expert 800, with the rest of the Expert range to be refreshed soon also.

This is a major over haul with every part that made the Expert range so popular before being taken to the next performance level, please see below a list of all the improvements - 

NEW ADH INTELLIGENCE®

Each element of the ADH core have been carefully rethought in order to design the new version of the ADH Intelligence® which provides significant performance improvements at all power levels.

NEW CLASS A

The design of the Class A has been simplified : the signal crosses two silicon junctions less for reducing the THD. In addition, zero current goes through the Class A in standby mode for reducing the power consumption of the system.

NEW CLASS D

Enhanced with the new Class D introduced exclusively on the Original d’Atelier, Expert 1000 Pro is capable of transmitting more power, without any size variation.

NEW MAGIC WIRE

The pure performance in digital – analog conversion sets a new world record with a THD improved by more than 6dB (THD < 0.0001%) and a noise floor lowered by 2.5dB.

NEW POWER SUPPLY

In addition to reaching 4000W of peak power, the new power supply improves the local decoupling from the mains network by 15dB. Load transients are also handled 2x faster and their restitution on all frequencies reaches new heights to reveal the finest textures of your music.

NEW THERMAL MANAGEMENT

The heat dissipation is 2x faster on Expert 1000 Pro thanks to a heat exchange surface multiplied by a 2.5 factor and a new 2.4kg bottom plate made of pure copper.

Upgrade To latest Specification!

The great news is that is you already own a Devialet Expert then it will be able to go back to Devialet to be updated to the latest spec, I think this is to be run between September and December, please get in touch for more details.

We have ordered our demo 1000 Pro which should be with us around the end of July, we heard it at the Devialet Uncover event a couple of months ago but I can’t wait to try it on some speakers that I know better, it did sound excellent though.

Any questions please feel free to get in touch.

http://hifilounge.co.uk/devialet-expert-1000-pro

Cheers,
Paul.

[Vipers]

Hi All,

I have had a quite a few enquiries now from existing PMC Twenty owners who are thinking of upgrading to the new Twenty5 Range of speakers that have just been launched wondering what the value of their current speakers are, so I thought I would try and make it nice and simple by listing a rough guide to the the trade in values below for the Twenty range, this prices are obviously for excellent condition speakers ideally with the boxes.

Needless to say if you are considering the Twenty5 range and don’t currently have Twenty’s please do get in touch to discuss what we can offer for your speakers.

Twenty Range Trade In Prices - 

Twenty.21 - £900

Twenty.22 - £1300

Twenty.23 - £1400

Twenty.24 - £2000

Twenty.26 - £3500

http://hifilounge.co.uk/pmc-twenty5-series

We almost have the full range of the new Twenty5 speakers here, just waiting on the twenty.5.26′s to be released soon to complete the line up so please feel free to get in touch to arrange a demo.

Any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Cheers,

Paul.

[Chillidoggy]

Great post, Paul!

Pleased to see you're doing well, too.

[Vipers]

Thanks Ian, could do with your number plate for my van :-)

 

[Vipers]

HiFi Lounge Are Now Proud To Be A Naim 500 Dealer!

Hi All,

Just a quick one for a change but probably one of our most important achievements since opening HiFi Lounge in 2012, We are now proud to be a full Naim 500 dealer, this was always something to aspire to but I wasn’t sure if it would really ever happen and as Naim is such an important part of HiFi Lounge it is great that we got there in under 4 years :-)

So at the moment we have the pretty amazing NAC-552 on demo partnered with our NDS/555 combination and this will soon be joined with the mammoth NAP 500 so if you have never heard a Naim 500 system before please feel free to come into experience for yourself.

Naim Statement Next, only joking :-) We have got some interesting plans though for how we are going to present Naim at HFL so please watch this space in the coming months for more news.

http://hifilounge.co.uk/naim-500-series

Cheers,
Paul.

[Dunc]

Whats thew new naim kit like?

Sonically, is there any advance from their kit of the 80's/90's?

[Vipers]

Hi Dunc,

Yes it is quite different nowadays, more refined really, not quite as forward but still with that Naim musicality running through it and as ever great PRaT :-)

Cheers,

Paul.

[Chillidoggy]

On ‎05‎/‎07‎/‎2016 at 07:44, Vipers said:

Thanks Ian, could do with your number plate for my van :-)

 

 

[Vipers]

Graham Audio Open Day @ HFL July 21st!

Hi All,

A little bit different this open day as we are having it on a Thursday as opposed to our normal Saturday open day slot.

So basically between 1pm - 8pm on Thursday 21st we will be showing the full range of speakers from Graham Audio, these BBC licensed speakers comprise of the LS3/5, the LS5/9, the LS5/8 and the brand new and never seen before LS6, we really are privileged to have these as an exclusive, and if that wasn’t enough we will also have the brand new Graham Audio VOTU Speakers that have only been shown once within the UK and which I ma very much looking forward to hearing, so there will be plenty to look forward to.

We will be running these on Bryston electronics with representatives from Synthax, the UK Distributor, as well as the lead designer from Graham Audio and their main speaker builder on hand to help run the day and answer any questions you may have and as ever refreshments will be available.

Graham Audio are a reasonably small company from Devon with all their speakers hand built, please read more information below - 

About Graham Audio

Graham Audio is a family-owned British company based in Newton Abbot, a small market town in Devon, south-west England. We are passionate about high-quality audio and believe that the classic BBC loudspeaker designs offer levels of neutrality, transparency and realism that are hard to find elsewhere today. Using modern components and production techniques we have been able to push the performance while remaining true to the original designs.

They might be small, but they are proud to work with some of the best talent in the industry, including Derek Hughes and Volt Loudspeakers. Their loudspeaker systems are available throughout the world from carefully selected outlets who have full demonstration facilites, and will support you through the selection and setting up process.

All loudspeakers are hand-assembled on-site. One person is responsible for the whole process, including testing and auditioning. A second person double-checks the completed product, repeating the testing as a matter of course and saving the results for future reference. As part of the test procedure, all completed loudspeakers are compared to our master reference samples to ensure complete consistency.

Company History

The company was founded by Paul Graham, who has spent more than 20 years working in all areas of professional audio, including the recording and broadcast industries, and in live sound and performance. Of all the different approaches, Paul has always favoured the “BBC sound” for both professional and personal applications, but feared that many of the classic designs would be lost forever as one by one the surviving examples gradually failed after many decades of operation. A couple of chance meetings and some long conversations later, it was decided that the only way to preserve this legacy was to seek BBC approval to build them himself. Happily, the first product to be released - the BBC LS5/9 - has been warmly received by reviewers and owners alike, and the newly released BBC LS5/8 and upcoming LS3/5 look set to bring the unique BBC sound to an even wider audience.

Hope to see you on July 21st, please feel free to come anytime between 1pm - 8pm and bring along any music you would like to hear on these great speakers, please see below for the current range  - 

http://hifilounge.co.uk/graham-audio-speakers

http://www.grahamaudio.co.uk/

The New VOTU Speakers -

Thanks,
Paul.

[Vipers]

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.

[Vipers]

Spendor D9’s Now On Permanent Demo and Man They Are Good :-)

Hi All,

Well this seems like a speaker that I have been waiting an eternity to come in, after falling in love with the D7’s I was straight onto Spendor to find out when a D9 would be available, well a couple of years later I am really pleased to say that HiFi Lounge have just taken delivery of the first pair to leave Spendor and they have certainly been well worth the wait.

I have just finished un-boxing them and have them running in now and straight out the box they sound really excellent, for me it is the mid range that really stands out but more than that they are just such a well balanced speaker through the whole range, great detail, very revealing but at the same time very musical, can’t wait to get some more hours on them as it is hard to believe they are going to get any better to be honest.

The Pictures below probably don’t do the Premium Rosewood finish that we ordered them in justice but I must say that they look absolutely stunning, this is a £1000 option, making them £7495 but I have to say that it is worth every penny as it is one of the best speaker finishes I have ever seen, absolutely stunning.

So if you fancy listening to the the new D9 please feel free to get in touch anytime to arrange an appointment and if you are interesting in maybe trading in a D7 or any speaker for the D9 please feel free to get in touch to discuss your options.

http://hifilounge.co.uk/spendor-d9-speakers

Below are a few pictures of the un-boxing.

Cheers,

Paul.

[Vipers]

]

Devialet Expert 1000 Pro now on Demo + Unboxing!

Hi all,

I just wanted to make a quick post to let everyone know that we now have the much anticipated new Devialet Expert Pro 1000 on permanent demo, the new Pro range is a development of the previous Expert range with the Expert 1000 Pro being Devialet’s top model and replaces the Devialet Expert 800, there will be new Pro models to replace the 120, 200, 250 & 400 released very shortly and if you are already an Expert owner Devialet will be launching an upgrade scheme shortly so please do get in touch for more details.

Below are a list of all the improvements and Features on the new Pro Range - 

ADH® analogue-digital hybrid amplification, SAM® system for real-time adaptation of the signal transmitted to the speakers, free, regular updates using the EVO® platform, HD audio stream (wired or wireless) via AIR®, DAC Magic Wire®, RAM® Phono stage… The Expert is Pro system an engineering gem.

All Expert Pro systems incorporate all of Devialet’s audiophile technologies. 107 patents. 58 awards. The most award-winning audio system of all time.

In addition to these technologies exclusive to Devialet, Expert Pro benefits from many major innovations developed for this new line :

• New ADH Intelligence®
• New Magic Wire® DAC
• New Class A Amplifier
• New Class D Amplifier
• New Power Supply
• New Thermal Management

I had a listen last night to the D1000 Pro with the new Spendor D9 speakers, a great match I have to say, and straight away you notice how organic and natural the sound is, to be honest compared to the old D800 for me this is what hit me the most, everything sounds so easy and unforced, very analogue but with all the detail and separation but there is a real ease to everything, hard to put into words really but it is definitely a system you could listen to for hours with no chance of fatigue and when you look at how stylish it all is it is not hard to see why Devialet have come form nowhere in such a short space of time to become one of the most respected and popular audio brands out there today, this really is Highend Audio at its finest.

Below are a few Pics and a link to the 1000 Pro on our website, needless to say if you would like to come in for a listen anytime please feel free to get in touch.

http://hifilounge.co.uk/devialet-expert-1000-pro

Thanks,

Paul.

[JayEmm]

That's pornographic right there Paul!

[Vipers]

LOL, it certainly doesn't get any more Stylish in the HiFi World James :-)

[JayEmm]

For sure, they're a classy looking bit of kit.

I'm quite content with my old Ruarks in my lounge

[Vipers]

Hi all,

I think it is far to say that the headphone market and in particular the headphone amplifier market has become a very crowded place recently, in fact we have had a clear out lately selling on some of our headphone amps as there was just too much choice which can become very confusing.

But being a headphone enthusiast I am always on the look out for anything that can add something different to the market and to be fair when Questyle was mentioned to me I really wasn’t that interested as the last thing I needed was another headphone electronics brand but I was curious about their ‘Current Mode Amplification’ and that you can run 2 of their analogue headphone amps in a mono block configuration which as far as I know is a first, but in HiFi running an amp for each speaker makes perfect sense so why not with headphones.

So I started of with the Questyle CMA600i which I now consider the headphone amplifier bargain of the century, basically a DAC & Headphone amplifier that sounds absolutely gorgeous, offers  single ended and balanced outputs and remote control all for £1089 and when you actually see the build quality you really will wonder how they do it for the money, these really are beautifully made, but then they are built by Foxconn who build something called the iPhone for Apple, hence the similar colours of the Questyle kit.

So anyway after being very impressed with the 600i I tried the CMA800R which is Questyle’s analogue headphone amplifier, instantly I was impressed with the full and rich sound it gave, this is thanks to the way the power is delivered with the Current Mode Amplification, it certainly gives a very natural sound, from that moment I was converted, Questyle really do seem to know what they are doing.

As well as their normal range Questyle do their ‘Golden Series’ which are similar products but use hand selected components and ceramic PCB’s to give even better sound quality so I couldn’t resist but to put a full reference system on demo comprising of a 4 Pack Golden Series rack of 2 x CMA800R’s in mono configuration, the CMA800P Pre-amp which was actually commissioned by Stax as a Pre-amp for the SR-009′s and the matching DAC, in total this comes to a value of £10,746 but as far as I am concerned this a truly reference headphone rig that would take some serious beating.

I spent the other night listening to the Abyss AB-1266 headphones on it in full balanced mode and I have never heard these headphones sound this good, full bodied, detailed, layered, controlled but with an over riding analogue sound quality that just oozed effortlessness, for anyone who loves listening on headphones then I strongly recommend you listen to a 4 Pack Golden Rack, saying that the CMA600i still has the same over riding quality but is nearly £10,000 cheaper so Questyle really do cater for most budgets.

Finally I should also mention their portable player, the QP1r which has been getting excellent reviews and is a real challenger to Astell&Kern on both audio and build quality.

I won’t ramble on anymore but needless to say from someone not really interested what Questyle had to offer they have well and truly converted me into a true believer. We have the full range on demo so please feel free to come in for a listen.

Below are a few pictures and a link to the full range on our Highend Headphones website -

http://www.highendheadphones.co.uk/questyle

Questyle CMA600i DAC & Amp

Questyle CMA800R Amplifier

Full Reference Golden Series 4 Pack!

Cheers,

Paul.

[Vipers]

Upcoming Open Days for 2016!

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/events

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.

[Vipers]

Ultrasone Launch The Tribute 7 Headphones!

Hi All,

I just thought I would post that I had a chance yesterday to listen to the new Tribute 7 Headphones from Ultrasone and I have to say the more I listen to Ultrasone headphones the more I like them, they really do offer a presentation that is right up my street.

I am very lucky that I do get to hear a lot of headphones but when I put the Tribute 7′s on I really didn’t want to take them off and that was listening to Guns and Roses, not the best recorded music out there, but on the Tribute 7′s it really did sound amazing, brilliant detail but it was the bass that impressed, very fast, clean and controlled and all from a closed back, I really believe now that the days of closed back being a compromise are long gone, well if done properly that is and when it comes to closed back headphones there is no one better than Ultrasone in my opinion.

The only drawback with the Tribute 7′s is that they are limited to 777 pairs worldwide and there are only 4 pairs in the UK available so if you want a Highend Closed Back Headphone that is neutral, revealing with tight and punchy base then you really do need to act fast as the UK allocation really isn’t going to be around for long, if you would like to hear a pair please feel free to get in touch to arrange a demo, below is a link to more information -

http://www.highendheadphones.co.uk/ultrasone/ultrasone-tribute-7-headphones

Cheers,

Paul.

[Vipers]

Devialet Gold Phantom Now on Demo!

Hi All,

I am a big fan of the original Devialet Phantom, especially the Silver Phantom, for the performance it offers and the ease of use it is the perfect solution for someone who wants a quality sound but without the need for separate amplifiers, source and speakers, so when the Gold Phantom was announced I was really keen to have a listen.

Well we’ve now had our demo models delivered and needless to say they don’t disappoint, I guess it is questionable whether any wireless speaker really needs 4500 watts each on tap but this partnered with the new ADH Amplification, Analogue Digital Hybrid, and the new titanium tweeter certainly give a cleaner and more dynamic sound, with voices revealing an extra level of clarity over the Silver Phantom so it certainly looks like Devialet have certainly created the ultimate wireless speaker with their Gold Phantom.

We now have these and the Phantom and Silver Phantoms on demo so if you would like to come in anytime for a listen please feel free.

Devialet Open Day - 26th November

It’s a little way off yet but if you are interested in Devialet, whether Phantom or the new Expert Pro range we are having a Devialet open day on November 26th showcasing vinyl with Devialet and the Gold Phantom so please feel free to come along, more news nearer the time.

Below is a link to the Gold Phantom on our website and a few un-boxing pictures, sorry there are so many of the box but I do love great packaging and it doesn’t get any better than this :-)

http://hifilounge.co.uk/devialet-gold-phantom

Cheers,

Paul.

[Vipers]

Focal Utopia and Elear Headphone Update!

I just thought I would post a quick update regarding the soon to be released Focal Utopia and Elear headphones as it has been a while since I have seen so much excitement about any new headphones, and rightly so to be honest as I had my first listen to both yesterday and these look very promising indeed and will be a great addition to the headphone market.

Firstly both the Utopia’s and Elear’s are due Mid September, we have managed to secure a small amount of both from the first shipment so if you are keen to get a pair of either asap please feel free to give me a ring with a small deposit to secure them as we are being told that once the first shipment has sold out there could be quite a long wait as there has been such demand for these worldwide Focal are really struggling to meet that demand.

Firstly the Elear’s, all I can say that at £800 these offer excellent value for money as they are extremely well made, comfortable and offer a detailed sound but also very refined and forgiving and if you like solid bass then these could be for you.

As for the Utopia’s, these have really got people excited, especially after the InnerFidelity online review hit a couple of weeks ago describing the Utopia as the ‘World’s Best Headphone’ and coming from Tyll this is really saying something as he is notoriously hard to please, please see the review below, well worth a watch -

https://youtu.be/3FlThEB-JAI

So at £3250 they really do enter at the Higher End of the headphone market but I couldn’t agree with Tyll more, these are a very exciting headphone, again extremely comfortable but it is the placement of instruments and detail that really impresses although the detail isn’t bright, quite the opposite really, it is all there but is presented in quite a natural way, this really is due to the Beryllium used for the drivers which is an extremely expensive material but definately gives a different listening experience, I am really looking forward to spending more time listening to these once our demo pair arrives, maybe a true alternative to the mighty Stax SR-009′s?

Anyway we will have both the Elear’s and Utopia’s here next month on permanent demo and if you would like to secure a pair please feel free to give me a ring.

http://www.highendheadphones.co.uk/focal-headphones

Focal Elear Headphones

http://www.highendheadphones.co.uk/focal-headphones/focal-elear-headphones

Focal Utopia Headphones

http://www.highendheadphones.co.uk/focal-headphones/focal-utopia-headphones

Thanks,

Paul.

[Vipers]

See Us At The National Audio Show Sept 17th-18th For Headzone!

Hi All,

Well it is that time of year again where we turn our thoughts to the National Audio Show, once again for the 3rd year we will be running the Headphone Area ‘Headzone’ at NAS16 which runs from September 17th-18th with all the major headphone brands with their own booths as normal with all their latest products on show and to listen to.

10% Off Purchases at the show!

Again as we have done for the last 2 years we will be offering 10% off any headphone related purchases at the show, so anything from a AudioQuest Jitterbug to Stax SR-009′s and even a Chord DAVE so it is a great time to save a little if you are in the market for any headphone related products.

New Focal Elear and Utopia’s on show!

I wasn’t sure if we would be able to get these in time for the show but Focal confirmed yesterday that we will have both the new Elear and Utopia available to listen to which I have to say is highly recommended.

New MrSpeakers Ether Flow Headphones

The MrSpeakers Ethers have been really popular since launch so news of the new Ether Flow certainly got some interest, I have just found out that we will have these to listen to also, basically they are a similar headphone to the Ether but with a more advanced driver giving better resolution and dynamics, certainly keen to hear these myself.

List of Exhibitors

Below is a list of all the brands that will be represented within Headzone this year + I am sure there are others that will be added nearer the time.

• Grado Headphones
• Atlas Cables
• AudioQuest
• Chord Electronics Ltd
• Astell&Kern
• Audeze
• Focal
• Mr Speakers
• Pioneer
• Oppo
• Fostex
• Ultrasone
• Sennheiser
• Warwick Audio
• Questyle
• McIntosh
• Abyss
• Schiit
• Beyerdynamic
• Copland
• HiFiMan
• Stax
• Trilogy

Last Year

It’s always a great event so really looking forward to seeing some of you there :-)

Thanks

Paul.