Last week was a big one for hi-fi and home cinema announcements, not least because we revealed the What Hi-Fi? Award winners for 2026.
But we also saw some big announcements from key brands too, with Apple, Cambridge Audio, NAD, Naim and Rega all launching products that we can’t wait to get into our test rooms.
Join us for a quick recap of all the key stories that you need to know about…
We announced 111 Award winners
After weeks of blood, sweat and tears, our team of expert reviewers took the wraps off the What Hi-Fi? Awards 2026. We released the names of no fewer than 111 winning products across 24 hand-picked categories.
From turntables to TVs, speaker packages to stereo amplifiers, every single one is a worthy winner. All that’s left now is to announce the very best of the best, i.e. our Product of the Year winners for each category, at our special Awards night on the 12th November…
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The What Hi-Fi? Awards 2026 winners have been revealed!
Apple finally made the announcement we’d been waiting for
After what felt like years of waiting, Apple finally unveiled the latest iteration of its Apple TV 4K streaming box.
It’s promising big upgrades for picture and sound with the addition of a brand new video decoder and the ability to create a wireless four-speaker surround system using HomePod speakers.
Speaking of which, Apple also took the opportunity to announce the HomePod Mini 2. The latest version of its dinky smart speaker comes with a more powerful processor and is available in a range of new colours too.
Read the full story:
It's official! The HomePod Mini 2 has finally landed – and there's good news and bad news
Cambridge Audio dropped a new deck
Turntables haven’t been a huge part of Cambridge Audio’s hi-fi offering in recent years, but last week the company took the wraps off a new £329 / $499 player, Spira.
According to Cambridge Audio, “Spira has everything you need straight out of the box,” including a pre-fitted Audio-Technica cartridge, a built-in phono stage and a Bluetooth transmitter for streaming to wireless headphones or Bluetooth speakers.
It’s available in a range of colourful finishes to match the company’s L/R S active speakers, and we can’t wait to get our hands on one.
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Cambridge Audio’s new Spira turntable is “built to grow alongside” your record collection
Naim unveiled a huge all-in-one system
We’re huge fans of Naim’s Mu-so range of wireless music systems, so we were excited to see its brand new addition, the Mu-so Utopia, in the flesh for the first time last week.
As we said in our news story, “it combines Naim-powered amplification with trickle-down technology taken from Focal’s high-end series of Utopia loudspeakers”. It’s packed with streaming smarts, hi-res audio support and HDMI eARC, and you can read more in our hands-on review.
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Hands on: Naim Mu-so Utopia review
Rega launched a new entry-level record player
Rega knows how to make a decent record player, so we were excited to see it launch a brand new entry-level deck boasting an all-new design. The Replay is a plug-and-play design and is attractively priced at just £259.
It features some of the core elements of its five-star Planar 1, including the platter and tonearm, but with a new minimalist plinth. Needless to say, this is another turntable our review team has its eye on, so stay tuned for our verdict.
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NAD’s new matching hi-fi separates caught our eye
The sight of new electronics from a big hi-fi brand always gets us excited, so we were extremely pleased to see a press release for the C 359S streaming amp (£1099) and C 569 CD player (£749) appear in our inbox.
The C 359S brings streaming smarts to a traditional Class A/B amplifier design via Bluesound’s BluOS platform, while the C 569 uses NAD's Dynamic Digital Headroom (DDH) and QRONO d2a technologies in an attempt to bring out more detail and depth from your CD collection.
Read the full story:
Modern Classics: NAD unveils a new streaming amplifier and CD player in its Classic Series
MORE:
Our pick of the best CD players you can buy
And the best stereo amplifiers
