breaking news
The T&T NORA floorstanding speaker becomes NORA Evo
Like the compact JOY and the NEL 2-way floorsdanding speakers before it, the NORA now benefits from significant improvements, drawn from developments in the PF2 Signature. While the French brand's largest speaker retained its 2-way architecture, which allowed its...
Focal reinforces its ties with Naim by releasing the Mu-so Hekla
Previously branded Naim, the Mu-so all-in-one connected speaker is now part of the catalogue of its parent company Focal, with a brand-new Hekla version. Featuring the same control knob as the Naim Mu-so and Mu-so QB, the Focal Mu-so Hekla is designed with home cinema...
Report: Provence Audio Show in Aix, 15 & 16 November 2025
Three weekends after the Paris Audio Video Show, the Provence Audio Show was held on the other side of France. Like last year at the Mariott Renaissance Hotel in Aix-en-Provence, the second edition of this show allowed more than a thousand enthusiasts and...
NEWS
JPLAY now available with Apple CarPlay
One of the most user-friendly and well-designed apps on the market, JPLAY is evolving with significant modularity by becoming available on CarPlay. Thanks to this development, JPLAY users who enjoy sharing their favorite sounds on streaming, playlists and local music...
The Mojo 2 adds USB-C charging and a 4.4 mm jack
While retaining the name Mojo 2, Chord Electronics' high-performance mini DAC has evolved in two major keys. Listening to its customers' needs, Chord Electronics has upgraded its Mojo 2 by replacing one of the 3.5 mm unbalanced inputs with a 4.4 mm balanced...
New NU-VISTA Vinyl S phono stage
Adapted from the Vinyl 2, the Nu-Vista Vinyl S uses the same Nuvistor 7586 tubes (per 8), with slight revisions to the circuitry and, above all, the chassis of the previous model. Now designed to match the front panels of the 600.2 and 800.2 integrated amplifiers, the...
DECCA announces a PURE ANALOGUE vinyl series
Particularly rich in analogue reissues, 2025 saw the launch of the new Verve Vault and Muse Master Edition series, reissues from the Strata East catalogue, and the excellent Rhino High Fidelity and Rhino Reserve series. No doubt motivated by the success of the...
Rega adds Mercury & Solis to its REF range
Going even further than the Osiris integrated amplifier, British manufacturer Rega has added the Solis power amplifier and Mercury preamplifier to its Reference series. MERCURY A modern preamplifier, the Mercury not only has a significant number of analogue inputs (1...
The new Hegel H150 integrated amplifier arrives in Europe
Unveiled in September, the Hegel H150 is now available throughout Europe. Positioned between the H120 and the H190v, it features the triangular angle seen on the front panels of the Viking CD player (VU57 FR review) and the D50 DAC (VU60 FR review). However, while it...
TESTS
SOULNOTE A1
Priority to hearing is the motto of Japanese designer of high-end audiophile equipment SoulNote. Prioritising ‘feel’ and musicality over raw, indisputable but cold figures has always been its guiding principle. Its SoulNote A1 integrated amplifier, which caught our attention, is no exception to this rule and benefits from the years of research and development that SoulNote has devoted to developing systems capable of fully exploiting and expressing the liveliness of a sound source.
CHORD CO PowerARAY Professional
A little black box, admittedly very heavy, priced at over €6,000 can be a real eye-opener for anyone who loves sound reproduction. However, after several months of intensive and varied testing, we can testify that British manufacturer Chord Co has not gone over to the dark side… On the contrary, with the Chord Co PowerARAY Professional, it delivers the quintessence of its ARAY philosophy. And with this atypical product, we are not at the end of our surprises…
SOLEN HELIOS
Founded in 1988, Solen is a company based in Grenoble that has long specialised in amplifiers, notably the Tigre hybrid integrated amplifiers, which are sold more widely abroad under the Ensemble brand than in France under their original name. Entering a new era a decade ago, the Alpine manufacturer recently began manufacturing loudspeakers, with two models already available in its catalogue, both based on HEL bass diffusion technology. Rather than the smaller metal HELya, we chose to start by exploring the more imposing the Solen HELios, a large 48 cm tall bookshelf speaker, whose Scan-Speak drivers are complemented by attractive cherry wood side panels and a dual-filter system.
MERASON REUSS
Two years after the excellent DAC 1, Swiss manufacturer Niedal Audio Lab is offering a new version of its flagship converter with the Merason Reuss. Far from following the latest trends, this unconventional device adopts principles that have long proven their worth in delivering timeless musicality.
ACCUPHASE E5000 vs E800: An Impressive Pair
Following our article on the brand’s new E4000 amplifier (VUmètre 46), some people asked us why choose a class A/B amplifier from this range when the famous Japanese brand has a pure class A E650 in its catalogue. So we came up with the idea of producing a comparison – to our knowledge unavailable in any other magazine at the moment – between the manufacturer’s two biggest integrated amplifiers, the Accuphase E5000, rated at 240W under 8 ohms in class A/B, and the Accuphase E800, capable of reaching 50W under 8 ohms in class A.
LUPHONIC H2
Newcomer to the hi-fi market, German brand Luphonic Labs offers a range of turntables that stand out for their original design and ease of use, combined with meticulous, rigorous manufacturing in pursuit of great musicality. Presented at High End Munich in 2022, these turntables caught our attention and piqued our curiosity, until we were finally able to test the H2 model in this issue, equipped with the cartridge with which it is available as a package, the Audio Technica VM760SLC. Let’s discover the Luphonic H2.
INTERVIEWS
MATTHEW WEBSTER – YG ACOUSTICS
Present in Munich with most of his staff, Matthew Webster, YG Acoustic CEO, answered our questions about the launch of a new Ultimate range, which includes the Gemini project. Definitively named Titan for its commercial release, the new pair of ultimate speakers was recently heard again in excellent acoustic conditions in Tokyo and will also be presented in France at the Paris Audio Video Show at the end of October.
ACCUPHASE INTERVIEW 2023
After attending the High End trade show in Munich, Accuphase’s management team headed for Paris, where they visited Music Hall, one of the most important resellers for the company in France. On this occasion, we had the privilege of meeting one of the brand’s founders, Jim S. Saito, surrounded by his team of engineers and sales staff.
BEGÜM TOMRUK – MARANTZ
As the new design director in charge of the Horizon project upon her arrival in 2023, Begüm Tomruk tells us how and why she chose a position in hi-fi, then explains where she wants to take Marantz to continue to interest audiophiles, while also reaching other audiences attracted by music.
MOLÉCULE, The Sound Adventurer
Romain De La Haye-Serafini – aka Molécule – is a pioneer of nomadic electro music, as well as being a producer and DJ. After recording and composing on the high seas and on the Greenland ice floe, Molécule is back with a tribute to reggae and house, recorded in sunny Jamaica.
MARC CERRONE: “I’M STILL THAT RAMBUNCTIOUS KID“
Considered one of the popes of disco, drummer Marc Cerrone invented the sound in the 70s that overwhelmed nightclubs the world over. He has continued to make music over the decades, and his hits have been remixed by DJs everywhere. Now that he’s crisscrossing the globe as a DJ, he looks back at sound and half a century of music.
Jean Hiraga talks about tubes – How to choose them
From the 1970s onwards, tube audio products and associated components experienced a huge revival. A thousand or so brands on the world market were enriched by the revival of a whole range of old tubes. This opportunity has given vintage equipment a new lease of life....
MUSICS
DAVID HELBOCK & JULIA HOFER – FACES OF NIGHT
David Helbock and Julia Hofer both like to distance their respective instruments from the academicism of their classical training. With Faces Of Night, they blend jazz, avant-garde and pop lightness.
CMAT – EURO-COUNTRY
CMAT offers us a sound that is more pop than country on her album Euro-Country, but her lyrics have lost none of their irony in denouncing capitalism and male domination.
CLAIRE DITERZI – FILLE DE
Giving as much space to the staging as to the music in her shows, Claire Diterzi delicately blends French chanson, electronic music and Eastern traditions on her latest album, Fille De.
