Network Media Players

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Network Media Players
Arcam ST60
Hi-Fi Choice  |  Mar 25, 2024  |  0 comments
It might be late to the party, but Arcam’s first standalone streamer aims to make up for lost time
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Network Media Players
Astell & Kern AK240 - £2,200
 |  Jan 26, 2015  |  0 comments
No sooner had A&K started selling its flagship AK240 portable hi-res audio player than it announcedit had also upgraded its two original portables, the AK100 and AK120 – reviewed issues 370 and 375 respectively. While the junior members of the AK club have been given new finishes and received a raft of performance enhancing measures (including Cirrus Logic CS4398 DACs) the AK240 remains the out and out leader of the gang. The defining feature of the flagship model is the presence of an extra XMOS processor, which provides native DSD support at both 2. 8MHz and 5.
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Network Media Players
Astell&Kern A&norma SR15
Hi-Fi Choice  |  Feb 03, 2019  |  0 comments
Since the demise of the iPod Classic and the rise of the smartphone as the portable audio device of choice for the majority of users, the digital audio player market has struggled to flourish. This hasn’t stopped some specialists from carving out a niche, though, and Astell&Kern has been offering a considerable range of high-end players for some time. With an eye on keeping things in the real world, the A&norma SR15 is at A&K’s more affordable end of its extensive product range and is £100 more than the AK70 (HFC 428) that’s more recently been updated to mkII. The specification of the SR15 improves on the AK70 mkII and it’s fitted with 64GB of internal memory, which is supplemented by the inclusion of a microSD card slot for a card up to 400GB.
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Network Media Players
Astell&Kern introduces A&ultima SP3000 DAP and Odyssey in-ears
Hi-Fi Choice  |  Nov 14, 2022  |  0 comments
New portable player and in-ears from A&K
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Network Media Players
Audiolab 6000N Play
Hi-Fi Choice  |  Mar 19, 2020  |  0 comments
As Audiolab joins the stream age, HFC discovers whether its off-the-peg platform and audio prowess are a recipe for success
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Network Media Players
Auralic Altair G1
Hi-Fi Choice  |  Aug 11, 2020  |  0 comments
Compared with Auralic’s more specialist models the Altair G1 is a workhorse, but it’s still a pure thoroughbred
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Network Media Players
Auralic Aries G1
Hi-Fi Choice  |  Nov 19, 2018  |  0 comments
Eagle-eyed readers will recognise the form of the Auralic Aries G1 from our review in the January issue of its high-end Aries G2 sibling at £3,899. Understandably the G1 sacrifices some of the features of the flagship model to come in at less than half the price. The principle is the same, though, and this is a streaming transport that focuses on the business of accessing your digital music files on a home or external server and presenting them to an outboard DAC via its digital output connectivity.
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Network Media Players
Auralic Aries G2
Hi-Fi Choice  |  Aug 19, 2018  |  1 comments
Network audio has become a big part of our hi-fi listening habit as more of us get more comfortable with the prospect of streaming music from pay services like Tidal and Qobuz or from a networked server containing a music library at home. It’s an area that’s seen considerable expansion in the last decade, but is still pretty much dominated by a few familiar names. For any company to make inroads into this sector, it needs to have a front end that goes the extra mile at a competitive price. Auralic has been impressive in this regard and first began to carve itself a reputation for well thought-out and capable products at competitive price points with the likes of its Aries Mini music streamer (HFC 425) and the Altair DAC/preamp with music streaming (HFC 428).
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Network Media Players
Auralic Aries G2.1
Hi-Fi Choice  |  Sep 25, 2023  |  0 comments
Auralic’s ‘Wireless Streaming Transporter’ combines a slick interface with wide-ranging functionality
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Network Media Players
Auralic Vega G1
Hi-Fi Choice  |  Jun 14, 2019  |  0 comments
Auralic’s Vega G1 streaming DAC builds on the success of its Aries transport series, but there’s a twist
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Network Media Players
Auralic Vega G2.1
Hi-Fi Choice  |  Mar 07, 2024  |  0 comments
A highly capable single-box streaming DAC preamp
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Network Media Players
Bluesound launches Powernode Edge,
Hi-Fi Choice  |  Nov 16, 2022  |  0 comments
New compact streamer from Canada
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Network Media Players
Bryston BDP-1 £2,200
Ed Selley  |  Mar 28, 2011  |  0 comments
Island in the stream A music file player that doesn’t stream, what’s going on? Jason Kennedy examines the first in a new breed of transports The engineers at Brystson have made the radical decision to build a digital music player that doesn’t stream music from a computer. Their angle is that streaming is bad, but digital music files are not. Is this then a brief diversion from the tidal onslaught of streamed music over solid software, or it could signal a new angle that brings us music files without the complications of streaming. Bryston’s approach is to let you access music files stored on USB drives, be they thumb drives or hard drives which you stock up with music on the computer and then plug into the player.
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Network Media Players
Cambridge Audio CXN V2
Hi-Fi Choice  |  Oct 08, 2018  |  0 comments
Looking at the latest CXN network streamer/digital preamp/DAC, nothing has changed cosmetically from the original and between us and the barcode label on the carton, no one else will have a clue that this is the updated version. In matters of hiding your brighter light under the same bushel, the CXN V2, with its enhanced usability and slicker streaming properties, looks very Cambridge Audio and pretty much foolproof.
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Network Media Players
Cambridge Audio Minx XI - £600
Hi-Fi Choice  |  Jan 14, 2015  |  0 comments
By combining hi-fi sound quality with real world convenience, all-in-one digital music players signify a step-change for the hi-fi industry. Their allure is like that ofCD in the eighties, appealing to both audiophiles and music lovers alike who simply want a fuss-free way to hear music, which in the modern age could be stored on a smartphone, laptop or sophisticated NAS drive. Cambridge Audio clearly gets this and its Minx Xi combines features cherry picked from its affordable separates range, packed into an even more affordable do-it-all single box. So what you get is a 40W (claimed) Class AB amplifier derived from the company’s 351A integrated amp, dual Wolfson WM8728 DACs lifted from the 351C CD player, the streaming functionality of CA’s NP30 network player and Bluetooth connectivity courtesy of the company’s BT100 apt-X receiver.
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