Struggled to stay on top of all the latest hi-fi and home cinema news during last week’s heatwave?
Don’t sweat it, as our experts have penned a fresh entry in our weekly hi-fi and home cinema news digest, Rewind, summing up all the salient points of which serious music and movie fans should be apprised.
Goldmund unveiled its “most advanced amplifier yet”
Last week, high-end hi-fi specialist Goldmund unveiled its new Telos 9800 stereo amplifier, openly describing it as the most advanced it has ever made.
We haven’t had a chance to listen to it, so we can’t verify those claims. But there’s no denying it has some impressive hardware.
The unit delivers 1560 watts of power into 8 ohms and is built around an entirely new amplification platform that physically separates the power supply and amplification stages – a first for Goldmund.
This apparently lets the two operate under more optimal conditions, thus preserving the powerhouse amp’s mechanical and electrical integrity.
The unit is set to retail for £370,000 / €430,000 / $500,000, so we’re hoping the company’s bold performance claims ring true. There’s no room for anything less at this end of the market, after all.
Read the full story: Goldmund's "most advanced amplifier ever" is packed with cutting-edge tech and costs more than a Ferrari
Are listening bars forgetting their purpose?
Regular readers will know that our intrepid staff writer, Robyn Quick, has been covering the invasion of Japanese-style Kissa bars into our native London for the past few months – and for the most part, has been incredibly positive about the experience.
After all, what’s not to like about a bar dedicated to listening to music on a decent sound system, with like-minded aficionados? But after continuing her quest to find the ultimate Kissa bar in which to enjoy listening to music, she noticed a disturbing trend last week – people seem to have forgotten it's the music, not their latest gossip, we’re interested in hearing when visiting a Kissa bar.
Read the full story: This listening bar experience made me question whether the trend has gone too far
We reviewed Philips' new boombox
Wired headphones, CDs, tape players and, of course, vinyl; lots of retro audio tech is in vogue with young people right now. Which is why we weren’t at all surprised when Philips decided to give the iconic boombox a Gen-Z-focused revival.
The new Philips Roller is a Bluetooth speaker designed to look like the firm’s iconic portable boombox of yesteryear. And while our testers found there are more sonically sophisticated alternatives on the market, it was hard not to fall in love with its quirky retro design when they reviewed it last week.
Read our full Philips The Roller review
It looks like new Sonos headphones are on the horizon
It’s no secret that Sonos’ first headphones, the Ace, didn’t wow our reviewers. While there was a lot going for the Sonos Ace, ultimately middling audio quality was their undoing, leading to a mediocre three-star rating.
Which is why we were surprised to see reports break, suggesting the firm is on the verge of releasing another pair of wearable noise-makers last week. The reports stemmed from an FCC filing first spotted by Lowpass. The filing includes diagrams of the alleged new unit, which most believe is the Ace Ultra people have been speculating about for the past year.
All of this is unofficial at the moment, but if true, the IFA tech tradeshow, where the firm has unveiled hardware in the past, is just around the corner. Watch this space…
Read the full story: Sonos will launch new wireless headphones next month, official filing suggests
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