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!
As a new Naim dealer in summer 2013, we first encountered Naim NAC A5 speaker cable quite recently.
It is highly regarded by Naim audiophiles and recommended for use with Naim Audio systems, as it provides the perfect combination of electrical resistance, capacitance and inductance to get the most musically satisfying result from Naim products, be it a Nait 5Si, Naim Uniti Nova or even the mighty NAP 250 power amp.
In a world where digital audio seems to dominate almost everyone's Hi-Fi system, it is no surprise that a few of us are now bucking the trend by including older components within our systems for both nostalgia, but more importantly, for the potential that they still have lurking inside them.
Which Cartridge is Right for Me?
A Guide That Looks at The best Cartridge for Your
Record Deck on a Budget
The traditional vinyl record is making a huge come back! Although, some may argue that it never really went away. However, if you are keen on building a collection and want to take advantage of that warm tone, an essential tune-up of your turntable is certainly worth considering!
Many audiophiles will change their tone arms, cartridges and they will alter their decks to perform better than they did coming out of the factory. In one way, it’s like tuning a classic car – throwing on some twin carbs, changing the cam shaft and exchanging the exhaust system will certainly make a considerable boost in performance. Just like car tuners, audiophiles strive to get more performance out of their ‘stock’ turntable by a series of modifications.
As we are looking at turntable cartridges for beginners and those with a tighter budget in mind, we will be looking at the great ranges available to you – all costing below £100.
The most important place to start is the join between the vinyl record and the player’s needle – the cartridge system:
Some turntables do come with a cartridge fitted. However, these often prove to be weak in terms of performance and can often lead to damaging the records if they weren’t fitted correctly prior to operation. What is suggested is that the existing cartridge, which is usually un-branded, should be replaced by a cartridge that has greater stamina and accuracy than that of the original.
A new cartridge will lead to the following benefits:
So, by upgrading, you can get a much better stereo-image, boost or reduce a certain sound characteristic and prolong the record’s life for longer lasting playing pleasure. Listed below are the cartridges that can help dramatically in boosting playback performance:
£17 - £50:
How to Build a Hi-Fi System on a Budget
In this edition of Hifi Gear’s ‘How to’ Guides, we are going to look at building a superb Hi-Fi system on a budget that doesn’t cost you the earth. This edition focuses on the critical combination of speakers and amplifiers.
At Hifi Gear, we do believe that everyone is entitled to a superb Hi-Fi system. And, especially in this economic climate, we realise that not everyone can afford the best of the best. So, for those who are just getting into Hi-Fi, or looking to build a good system with a set budget in mind and those who appreciate a system that’s a cut above the rest, this guide aims to help you by looking at what we have on offer in terms of our range of system components, exceptional and relevant advice, as well as information and support after your purchase.
So, let’s start with the basics…
Digital Radio Explored…
Digital radio formats are rapidly becoming more and more popular. It could be because of the fact that there have been rumours about the traditional FM analogue bandwidth being phased out for other purposes. Although we will miss FM, digital alternatives offer a greater choice of topics and musical genres through both DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) and internet radio. Also, a good quality DAB and internet radio provider with limited compression can rival the analogue bandwidths on smaller systems where specific details may not be as precise as that of a larger, audiophile built system. We will look in this article as to what digital radio alternatives have to offer, as well as getting the best out of the main digital alternatives.
DAB:
Getting the best out of
Analogue Tuners…
We all love the radio. It is a great, effective format that can do so many things. News, entertainment, music and topical programmes all have their home upon the waves of the radio. However, radio, as a format, has dramatically changed over the last decade. DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) became a new sensation which offered more choice from independent stations and the mainstream broadcasters of whom could now be heard in hiss-free digital quality. However, even more of advancement in radio is the recent technology which allows for internet radio to be listened to on Hi-Fi and even portable players, just like the iPod for example.
Radio’s face is changing as the technology in the world grows. Rumours have spread
Phono Cartridges
Vinyl is something that everyone loves at heart. It’s warm and deliciously refined and really shows the studio mix in an entertaining light – don’t we just love it?
Great sound, bar none…
Surround sound has become one of the best experiences for home entertainment since its mainstream availability in the early 1990s.As years progressed the systems available became both more affordable and much more technologically advanced with surround sound encoding from the likes of DTS and Dolby; all with their large array of formats and various codec specifications. Some of the earliest surround formats were placed onto some VHS tapes with ‘Dolby Surround’. Naturally DVD carried the most surround formats due to it being able to carry various surround modes and audio. These days Blu-ray can carry a lot of surround sound options because of the huge data capacity that a Blu-ray can contain – it’s all uncompressed data which means maximum quality is available instead of it being lost.
Blu-ray Players…
How to Choose
“How to Choose “is our latest blog series at Hifi Gear. We hope to help you make the right decisions when purchasing Hi-Fi and Home Cinema products. There are so many choices of components available, all seemingly containing great reviews, it is often hard to determine whether or not your existing components may mix with the newer additions, or if your brand new set-up is really suited to your needs and ideal requirements. We hope to help you with these blog entries by looking and delving deeper into what every component does, as well as being able to determine a suitable choice for you.
