Welcome to the latest entry to our weekly Rewind, hi-fi and home cinema news digest, where our team of AV experts detail all the top stories you need to know about.
Despite our pleas to the AV powers-that-be, it was another busy one for our team of experts, who had to contend with everything from AVR launches to new portable CD players, all while reviewing the latest hardware to arrive in our test rooms – which included a particularly special treat last week.
Here’s what you need to know.
Yamaha launched two new Dolby Atmos AV receivers
First up, we have Yamaha, which last week unveiled not one, but two new Dolby Atmos-ready AVRs: the 7.2-channel RX500A and 5.2-channel RX300A.
Both models are built on the same core DNA as the firm's higher-end models, coming equipped with Yamaha's Anti-Resonance Technology (A.R.T.). Both also feature four full-speed HDMI 2.1 inputs that support 4K/120Hz (and 8K/60Hz), VRR and ALLM. Passthrough of Dolby Vision and HDR10+ is also on board.
We’re waiting on pricing for the RX500A, but Yamaha has confirmed the entry-level RX300A will retail for a modest £349 (around $475) when it launches in August, making it an enticing prospect for home cinema fans on a budget, at least on paper.
Read the full story: Yamaha's two new Dolby Atmos AV receivers borrow one feature from their high-end siblings
Denon’s new AVR wants to dethrone Sony’s Award-winner
Speaking of AVRs, Denon also got in on the action, unveiling its swish new AVR-X2900H. Aimed squarely at the same step up space as the Award-winning Sony TA-AN1000, the unit comes armed to the teeth with new hardware and features.
The unit offers seven channels of amplification, running at 95W per channel. That means you’ll be able to run multispeaker 5.1.2 Dolby Atmos or 7.1 surround sound arrangements through it.
But the main upgrade Denon’s most excited about is its new 32-bit multi-channel DAC architecture, which it claims will offer “improved imaging, clearer high-frequency detail and more confident low-frequency energy across every channel”.
While it’s too early to deliver our final verdict on its performance, our senior staff writer, Lewis Empson, walked away from his hands-on demo with it in Japan impressed, leaving us eager to get it into our test rooms for the full What Hi-Fi? review treatment.
Read our in-depth Denon AVR-X2900H hands-on preview
Shanling made a portable CD player “for Gen Z”
Wired headphones, dumb phones, vinyl; everywhere you look, there are fresh reports of Gen Z getting into “retro” tech (an idea that makes me feel very old, as most of the stuff mentioned was cutting edge when I was a sprog).
Which is likely why Chinese brand Shanling decided to release a portable CD player that it’s marketing specifically to Gen Z. While we’re not sure what particularly justifies the age bracket it’s put in its marketing, there’s no denying Shanling's EC Play has some impressive hardware.
Highlights include Shanling’s proprietary active magnetic clamp mechanism, which aims to improve stability and reduce skips, a Cirrus Logic CS43198 DAC at its heart, and Bluetooth connectivity – for the young folks yet to copy Zendaya and co by getting a pair of cabled cans.
Read the full story: Forget the vinyl revival, Shanling's latest CD player wants to bring the "Discman" to Gen Z
Our deputy editor visited New York’s House of Sound
Our deputy editor, Andy Madden, has seen many things in his tenure at What Hi-Fi?. Super yachts with Sonus Faber sound systems, KEF’s Music Gallery, super cars equipped with Bowers & Wilkins Dolby Atmos entertainment systems and more.
So when he returned from a wee sojourn to the McIntosh Group’s “House of Sound” high-end demo area in New York, beaming with excitement, we couldn’t help but sit up and take notice.
Specifically, he came back enamoured with the six-story town house’s 29-speaker home cinema theatre system, which he described as a completely reasonable purchase, if you happen to have $550,000 to spare – and that doesn’t even include the projector, or source.
Read the full story: “He told us outside of the mastering studio, this was the best place he’d watched his movie” – listening to the 29-speaker home theatre system that thrilled an Oscar winner
We finished reviewing our first RGB Mini LED TV
Last but not least, last week we finished reviewing our first-ever RGB Mini LED TV, the Hisense UR9.
Pitched as an “OLED-killer”, Hisense has made a lot of noise about the new hardware, promising it will offer palpable brightness increases, better black levels and richer but more accurate colours than competing sets.
During testing, we found a lot to like about it, with the UR9 delivering impressively controlled and consistent backlight performance and a wonderfully bright, punchy picture, especially with HDR content.
But, running head-to-head with our Product of the Year Award-winner, the Sony Bravia 8 II, it didn’t quite fulfil its promise as an OLED-killer.
Side-by-side, the Sony’s picture felt a smidgeon more three-dimensional, offered the perfect blacks only OLED can and significantly better viewing angles. This meant the UR9 earned a positive four-star, rather than a wholehearted five-star recommendation.
Read our full Hisense UR9 review
MORE:
These are the best surround sound systems we’ve tested
Our picks of the best TVs
We rank the best CD players money can buy
