It's only three days till Christmas Day, and while we've no doubt that plenty of you have already downed tools, clocked off, and started digging into that big box of Maltesers, you probably still want to know the big stories that happened in the world of hi-fi and home cinema, don't you?
We have plenty of features still going live on whathifi.com in the coming days, even as our team logs off for the holidays – so you'll still get your AV fix, no matter the season.
We celebrate the secret MVP of 2025: the subwoofer
It's natural to look back at the highlights (and some lowlights) of the year when we reach December, and our senior staff writer Lewis Empson has been celebrating one of the unsung home cinema products of the year that wowed him the most: the subwoofer.
Whether as incorporated in a Dolby Atmos soundbar package or as part of a full 5.1 surround sound system, the humble sub has been the key component in many AV systems this year, and Lewis talks through three of his favourite subwoofers that delighted him the most during testing.
Read the full story: Subwoofers have been the MVPs of 2025; here are three examples of subs that wowed us this year
And we also heap praise on small speakers...
Our technical editor, Ketan Bharadia, is also in a reflective mood.
He has been musing about the advantages of small speakers, and how this format's limitations pose a tricky engineering problem for its designers – but can also deliver surprisingly enjoyable results that evade its larger siblings.
Read the full story: In praise of small speakers: how their inherent design limitations can work to their benefit
Pro-Ject's new flagship CD player incorporates tube tech
We've had a surprising influx of new CD players and transports in the last weeks of 2025, and Pro-Ject has joined the fray with its CD Box RS2 Tube. Versatility is the aim here, along with "extracting every bit of data from your CD cleanly and reliably."
It features a fully balanced tube output stage, XLR and RCA analogue outputs, optical and coax digital outputs, and can be used with its built-in DAC, or you can bypass it entirely and use it as a CD transport only. Available in black or silver for £1749 (around $2300 / AU$3500).
Read the full story: Pro-Ject's new flagship CD transport has a built-in DAC and plenty of versatility
Elac celebrates turning 100 with its first portable Bluetooth speaker
The world of portable Bluetooth speakers just got busier. German speaker brand Elac aims to bring 100 years of audio heritage into a contemporary, compact design with its first-ever Bluetooth speaker.
The Elac NAVA100 features a full-range driver and dual passive radiators, Bluetooth 5.3 and 15 hours of battery life. You can pair two units together for stereo mode, while it sports a minimal, aluminium-clad design in two finishes. Will it be able to square up against the likes of the Award-winning JBL Charge 6? We're excited to get a review sample in to find out.
Read the full story: Elac’s first portable speaker aims to deliver dynamic audio from a surprising design
LG and Samsung have already teased their 2026 TVs
It's not even CES 2026 yet, and LG and Samsung have lifted the lid off their next-gen TVs already.
LG kicked things off with the new MRGB95 TV – also termed by the brand as its "Micro RGB Evo" TV. It will sit alongside its new OLEDs for 2026, and feature LG's Alpha 11 Gen 3 processor, which "uses OLED precision to control each of the RGB LED backlights, bringing 13 years of LG OLED’s technical excellence to the RGB category."
Not to be confused with Micro LED TVs, this Micro RGB Evo is LG's take on the RGB Mini LED tech that has been demoed by Sony, Samsung and TCL – and launched by the Hisense 116UX – over the past year.
Meanwhile, Samsung's premium TV range for 2026 will also involve RGB Mini LED – with 55, 65, 75, 85, and 100-inch screen sizes joining the mammoth 115-inch Micro RGB TV that we saw at IFA a few months ago.
Samsung is promising the new TVs will deliver "exceptional colour accuracy with sub-100-micrometre LEDs", will use its new Micro RGB AI Engine Pro chipset, and feature Dolby Atmos (but not Dolby Vision).
Stay tuned for the more details, price and availability from the CES 2026 showcase in January.
Read the full story: LG has unveiled a Micro RGB Evo TV for 2026 – but it's not quite what the name suggests
Read the full story: Samsung has revealed one of its most important TVs for 2026 early, and it could be a sign of things to come
We compared two premium turntables to find out which one is best
Rega's five-star Planar 3 RS Edition started 2025 off with a bang, and it ended 2025 on an even bigger high by nabbing the Product of the Year gong for turntables at the What Hi-Fi? Awards this year.
Could it have met its match in the shape of Clearaudio's new 'entry-level' turntable, the Compass? These two belt-driven turntables occupy the same price range, but the performance they deliver couldn't be more different. We put these two decks in a head-to-head to find out which one is the best option overall.
Read the full story: Rega Planar 3 RS Edition vs Clearaudio Compass: which turntable reigns supreme?
MORE:
The 5 best films we used to test our AV kit this year
Goodbye, 2025! Check out 7 of our favourite test tracks of the year
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