Another Monday, another heatwave to contend with. We can’t help with the soaring temperatures, but as a minor recompense, we can offer updates on all the cool new hi-fi and home cinema hardware to arrive over the past week.
It was another busy one, especially for our reviewers, who popped down to B&W’s R&D lab to have an exclusive listen to the firm’s latest Diamond D5 range, before going on to review the highly anticipated successor to the iconic Dali Oberon 5.
Here’s what you need to know.
We had a listen to the entire 800 Series Diamond D5 range
Our ever-inquisitive global technical editor, Ketan Bharadia, took the time to visit Bowers & Wilkins’ R&D facility to check out the firm’s full range of 800 Series Diamond D5 speakers last week.
During the exclusive listening session, he got a chance to run them directly against their iconic predecessors and chat to the engineers about what improvements and changes they’ve made over the years.
Read the full story: We've had an exclusive listen to every pair of new Bowers & Wilkins 800 Series Diamond D5 speakers – here are our first impressions
A Sonik treat
The Sonik 5 are the successor to the Dali Oberon 5. That automatically gives them some pretty big shoes to fill, with the Oberon 5 winning multiple What Hi-Fi? Awards and remaining a staple recommendation until they went to the hi-fi farm earlier this year.
Do they live up to their predecessors' legacy? After putting them through their paces in our review rooms, we’re pleased to report the answer is a definitive yes. Even in the incredibly competitive, £1000-ish market, the Sonik 5 are a sonic treat – one that manages to give the Award-winning Fyne Audio F501E a run for its money.
As we said in our review: “With a pleasingly compact size and excellent sound, we think the Dali Sonik 5 will make a superb addition to any home set-up, especially if you’re working with small spaces.”
Read our full Dali Sonik 5 review
Good news for Blu-ray fans
Blu-ray fans are having a rough time of it. Every week, despite the format’s benefits, fresh reports break suggesting it’s on the way out. Which is why we were pleased to finally see some good news for physical media fans last week, when Japanese manufacturer Buffalo confirmed it will continue to make Blu-ray disc drives as long as stock of the components it needs lasts.
Read the full story: At last, some good news for Blu-ray fans as one manufacturer U-turns on exiting the market – but there's a catch
We had a chinwag with hi-fi engineers about vinyl
Speaking of physical media, our deputy editor, Andy Madden, did a phone round with all the movers and shakers in the turntable industry last week, hoping to get their thoughts on the vinyl revival and future of the format. And to his surprise, as well as its strengths, they all wanted to discuss one big flaw with the format that really needs fixing.
Read the full story: “Never before in our industry has a format come back from the dead quite like vinyl” – turntable engineers discuss all things record-related, including one major flaw that needs addressing
MORE:
We rank the best turntables for vinyl fans
Our picks of the best floorstanding speakers
These are the best speakers we’ve reviewed
