The two headphones I will be comparing are the Bowers & Wilkins PX and the Sennheiser PXC-550. I will be talking about the Sound Quality, Noise Cancellation, Comfort, Physical Appearance, App Control and any features which I think are worth mentioning.
The PX’s are currently priced at £329 and the PXC-550’s are £249. There has recently been a price reposition on the Sennheisers’ from £329 to £299 - which makes them a great competitive price against the PX's!
At Hifi Gear we have recently relaunched into the world of YouTube.
We have seen a number of newly released products from several of the brands we supply via our Hereford store and our online store. As these new products have been arriving for demo stock in store, we have taken the opportunity to record the unboxing of these products as a few of our customers had made enquiries about this type of content in the past.
We have seen a number of subscribers to the channel already and the videos are gaining quite a number of views which has helped push us to record more content for the channel. You can check out products such as the new
The world of hifi can be a daunting and confusing place at first, especially when looking at different models of speakers and amps and CD players and streamers and the mighty list of technical terms they come with. Hopefully, we can help bust some of that jargon here. Are we missing a word or term you'd like to know the meaning of? Leave us a comment below.
A Moving Magnet phono cartridge is comprised of a tiny magnet, located at the end of the cantilever of the stylus that sits between two coils. One coil caters to the left aspect of the music, while the other is for the right - this allows for the stereo sound. This magnet vibrates between the two coils and induces a small electrical current within them in the process. Because the magnet is so small, it needs less tracking/downward force to correctly manoeuvre between the grooves of a vinyl record. A Moving Iron cartridge makes use of essentially the same construction, but swaps the magnet for a tiny piece of iron or other light-weight and ferrous alloy. The iron is lighter and so reduces the necessary tracking force even further.
Moving Magnet is the most common type of phono cartridge, so many integrated amplifiers now feature a Moving Magnet phono stage and many manufacturers, such as Rega and Ortofon design and construct a wide range of MM cartridges with varying levels of quality.
We're absolutely astounded by the depth and clarity that this little box can push out, although not surprised that Naim were the masterminds behind its conception. We've got ours up and running and have compiled this little step-by-step guide to help make the relatively easy process just that little bit easier. Purchase one here!
We recently had a customer present this faulty Alchemist Forseti integrated amp for repair - I'd guess this dates from the 1990's and has been well looked after. It's a bit of a bruiser as you can see from the extensive heatsinking!
Unfortunately it developed a DC fault on the loudspeaker outputs and destroyed the customers speakers, so it's now in the naughty corner awaiting surgery.
This 2004 vintage Arcam CD73 came into us with the reported fault that it would no longer play CD's, or even read the table of contents. Given that it is over eight years old and had plenty of use in that time, we were not surprised to find that the laser had expired and needed replacing.
* Please note, We are no longer able to carry out repairs on Hifi equipment. This blog is meant as a rough guide and Hifi Gear takes no responsibility for damage to equipment when following this guide. For repair work, we recommend finding a local Hifi repair agent. *
An elderly, but still sought after Marantz CD63SE was bought into the shop last week, with the fault reported that CD's would no longer play. After approximately 15 years of use, this is a common situation, as the laser power will gradually reduce over time to the point where it can no longer focus reliably on the spinning CD disc - however with the easy availability of VAM1202 CD mechanisms for below £20, the repair is a viable option over and above the purchase of a new CD player.
With the B&W Zeppelin Air being such a popular iPod docking station as well as a fantastic AirPlay compatible device we thought it would be a good idea to write a ‘how to’ on setting up your new Zeppelin Air.
Last month a customer presented a nicely preserved Musical Fidelity Elektra E100 integrated amplifier for repair - the fault was that there was considerable mains hum audible from the loudspeakers on all inputs.
