It is the start of the week, which means a fresh entry into our ongoing Rewind hi-fi and home cinema news digest.
In it, our team of experts once again detail the top hi-fi and home cinema stories and developments to happen over the past seven days.
Though it was a fairly quiet week for news, that didn’t mean it wasn’t all hands on deck for the What Hi-Fi? team, with our reviewers delivering their verdict on some key pieces of audio hardware.
Here’s what you need to know.
Rega’s latest no-frills amp is great
Rega’s Brio range has been a repeat top performer for its target audience. Offering a no-frills, utilitarian experience the line is designed with one singular focus – delivering the best performance-per-pound audio experience possible.
This continues with the Brio Mk7 we finished reviewing last week. Though it costs a little more than its predecessor, retailing for £799 / $1095 / AU$1699, the amp makes up for the increase by offering palpable improvements to all the areas we care about.
At a hardware level, the stereo amp is the first Brio to feature an in-built DAC. But most importantly, it improves on its predecessor’s already impressive audio quality.
Pairing the Brio Mk7 with a variety of hardware it consistently delivered a solid, punchy and exciting presentation with noticeably meatier bass than its predecessor.
This makes it any easy recommendation for any buyer looking for a great value stereo amp that, for whatever reason, doesn’t need modern streaming connectivity baked in.
Read our full Rega Brio Mk7 review
Nagaoka celebrated its 85th anniversary with a new cartridge
Last week Japanese hi-fi brand Nagaoka celebrated its 85th anniversary in style, launching its new flagship cartridge, the MP-700.
The new model sits above the Award-winning, mid-range MP-200 and comes with some impressive looking upgrades the firm claims will let it deliver "ever more refined and accurate sound reproduction, bringing listeners closer to the original performance."
Highlights include the use of more premium materials for its specially designed shielded case and cartridge frame and the use of a boron cantilever and a micro-ridge nude diamond stylus.
Read the full story: Nagaoka celebrates its 85th anniversary with a high-end cartridge that promises to deliver "vivid and lifelike listening experience"
We reviewed Cyrus’ premium CD player
The 40 CD is the last item in Cyrus' celebratory 40th birthday line of separates to get the full What Hi-Fi? review treatment.
Following in the footsteps of its five-star siblings, the Cyrus 40 ST and 40 Amp, last week our reviewers were pleased to report it is an excellent performer.
Featuring a similar premium, metal finish to its siblings the CD player is built on the same 32-bit ESS Sabre ES9039Q2M chip and HyperStream IV Dual DAC technology as the other 40 series models. The big difference is that the circuitry has been optimised for the CD playback.
Paired with our reference Burmester 088/911MkIII amplifier and ATC SCM50 speakers it delivered impressive levels of detail, with tracks across every genre we threw at it sounding detailed and holding a wonderful sense of clarity. Hence why we gave it five stars!
Read our full Cyrus 40 CD review
We had an opening look at one of this year’s most interesting projectors
Coffee table and portable projectors are an increasingly vogue item, with nearly every home cinema brand offering at least one option of either category.
Last week our staff writer, Robyn Quick, had an opening looking at the Nebula X1, which falls into both categories and found it to be one of the most interesting projectors they’ve seen in quite some time.
The chunky 4K projector is being marketed as capable of offering a “cinema-grade outdoor entertainment system,” and comes with some unique features to help it deliver on this claim.
These include two optional, battery powered wireless speakers which can be added to it to offer proper surround sound wherever you are and a custom built-in gimbal system to help it quickly optimise its picture, even in difficult environments.
Read our full Nebula X1 hands-on preview
We have a new gold standard phono stage
The Vertere Calon is one of the latest Temptation level bits of hi-fi we reviewed. The £15,500 / $19,995 / AU$31,995 sits firmly in the top end of the phono stage market and comes with a wealth of premium hardware to justify its price.
The big ticket item is its custom dual-mono configuration circuit , which has four layers of gold plating and are rammed with carefully selected high-end components which have been hand picked based on how well they work as a unit.
The end result is an astonishingly capable phono stage that impressed our reviewers so much they described it as “one of the finest phono stages we’ve ever heard.” That’s unique praise we don’t give often.
Read our full Vertere Calon review
Our home cinema team revealed the three big shows they’re loving right now
Our home cinema reviewers are always on the lookout for great new TV shows to watch, and potentially use in their testing.
This week our senior staff writer, Lewis Empson, took the time to pen a feature detailing three new shows he’s loving, both for their story telling and excellent use of HDR and Dolby Atmos.
These include an HBO epic about mushrooms taking over the planet, a satire on Hollywood sleaze and a surprisingly adult story set in the Star Wars universe.
Read the full story: Need something to watch? These 3 incredible TV shows are available to stream in 4K HDR with Dolby Atmos now
MORE:
These are the best phono stages we’ve reviewed
Our picks of the best projectors
We rate the best CD players
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