editoriolelcome to what would noimally be our

Awards issue. HoweveL this year, we decided

to take a break and come up with something

a little different. The reason for this is simple;

Awards suggest there are products that are

'The Best' in a market where there might be no'best'- how do you

judge whether one preamp is better than another out of the context

of a system and the same applies to any branch of the audio

experience. In other words, what's 'best' in one system may not be

'best' in another. So we have pulled together the finest products

- both from our records and from our sister title The Absolute

Sound in the US - to come up with the longest shortlist around.

Depending on you, we may alternate these concepts every year.

EDITORAlan Sircom

Email: editor@hif plus.com

CONTRIBUTORS THISISSUE INCLUDE:

Dennis D. Davis, Richard S. Foster,Jason Kennedy, Roy Gregory

Chds Martens, Paul Messenger,Mark Prendergast, Malcolm Steward

GRAPHIC DESIGNERLouise Cowburn

Fonthlll Creative, Salisbury

DESIGN DIRECTORRichard Hamshere

Fonth ll Creative, Salsbury

PRODUCTIONAaron Chamberlain, Shelley Lai

PHOTOGRAPHYThe Hi-F Plus Team

ADVERTISING/ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER:

Pete TrewinTel: +44 {0)1425 655699Fax +44 (q1425 655477Emai : pete@hif iplus.conr

PUBLISHERChris Martens

THE EDITORIAL OFFICECAN BE CONTACTED AT:

Hi-Fi Plus EditorialAbsolute Muiimedia (UK) Ltd

Unrt 22, Sandloheath Industial Estate,Sand eheath, Hampshire

SP6 1PAUnited Kingdom

Telr +44 (0)1425 655255F?,<, +44lO)1425 655477

Net: wwwhiiip us.com

Abso ute l\,4ultimedia (ljl9 Ltd ls asubsidiary of Nextscfeen, LLC, lnc.

8868 Research Blvd., Sie. 108Austin, Texas 78758, IJSA

Net: \l,rrwavguide.comCHA BMAN AND CEOThomas B. [4artin, Jr.

AllRights Reserved.Not one word of Hi-FiPlus may be

reproduced without lhe w tten consentof the Ed tor We are perfecUy happyto co-o6erale, but we don't want

quotations to appearout of context,

The fascinating part of compllinga group of components l ike this is just

how many of them there are, in sucha relatively small business like high-end audio. lt's also clear that there areh gh-end products without the high-endprice, which rub shoulders with products

that cost as much as a small cottage nWales. How do you stratify such ihings?The simple answer is... you don't!We'vedeliberately viewed these products

wjthout lhe benefit of their price tags- if something is good, it's good. Yes,there are products that are good 'for themoney' and this is often duly noted, butthere are other products that are just

good. They would be good if they cost10x as much and they would be good ifthey cost half as much.

The other fascinatlng part is thelongevity of audio equipment, and Ireckon this is where audio is increasinglyoul-ol-slep with the modern world, in allthe right ways. We live in a disposableculture and today's technological style

icon is tomorrow's landfill. Good audio

doesn't subscribe to short product

life cycles and that makes it inherently

expensive in the shofi term, bul 10years time when your latest player is

still current, the resale values suggest

otherwise. We've pui a limit on this toproducts reviewed in the last iwo years,

but there are even a couple of products

from issue one of H/-Fl P/us that are stillmade a dozen years laterl

However, companies need to adapt

or die, and that is perhaps why Focal

and Naim Audio announced the two

compan es have joined forces. The two

brands already had a reputation for

highlech high-end; between lhem, theresults could be formidable!

Printed ByAdvent Prnt Group

Anoovet

H-F Plus is published eioht times ayear by Absolute MulUmedia (UK Ltd

rssN 1465 5950Alon Sircom

h$ffi+ | rssu: e:

THE HI.FI+ GUIDE TOTHB CREME Dtr IA CREME

Amplifiers' i , : , . : . . l r : : : , ' , : " i - . ' , '

' , .- ..t,. i .. :

Im|elssue 76Aesthelix Fhea Signature phono stage,

Calypso Slgnature llne stage and Atlas

Signature mono power amps are the thirdgeneration of a product line that has alwaysproved popular. Aestheux ethos has been

to use valves for iheir linearity rather than

as a tone-shaper, and the absence of 'valve

sound'is clear here. These are neutral and

honest, yet powerful, controlled and almost

dry soundlng amplifiers. They get out of the

way of the music like all good amps should,but so few do in rea ity. Nicel

eeeelssue 82The trickle down effect is strong at c-j,and the new ETs ine stage is cleady

a very close relative to the company's

top GAT preamp, b,oth in terms ofperformance and sound quallty. Usjng

a near-hybrid design - which uses botha carefully p aced rriode :n the arnplifierstage with a IVOSFET buffer the FT5

sounds, far more like the harmonicalyrich GAT than il has any right to, given

it's haf the pdce of the flagship. 11 seems

c j has hil its purple patch.

e)a. l

tee||lssue 81King of 'how do they do it for the money?' ampliiers, the full ASR Emitter

ll Exclusive is a super-heawlr'r'eight four-boxer integrated amplifier, with

battery-powered line-level inputs, a healthy 2B0W per channel power output

and an internal architecture that bespeaks very high standards. The amp

takes an age to come on song, but when it does t just gets out of the wa,

so well, you begin to think zen-like thoughts of the sound of no amplifers.

Transparency takes on a new dimenson through this vast four-box, one-box

line-level spectacular. Those who suggest there's a specific 'German' sound

haven't heard just how lree from artifice the full ASF can be.

|ffeelssue B0David Bern ng has long been known for his excellent OTL power amplifiers,

such as the powerful Quadrature-z. Recently though, he has turned his hand topreamp manufacture, and in the process come up wth the sweetest sounding

srnal OTL power amplifier. All tube, deceptively light and aestheiically'interesting' they rnay be, They might eschew even the modern baslcs like

a remote control, but this sma I line-and-phono preamp with the brilliant

rear mounted headphone socket and its matching 30 watl power amp cutaudio to the verv ouick. Handbuilt and wondedull

lhB{fl+ 24 r;..,;:::