You would expect new audio devices to be more environmentally friendly than those that preceded them. But did you know that some companies keep working on their existing product lineup in order to refine their design and make them more sustainable?

Sonos is one such company. When the firm's five-star Arc Ultra soundbar launched, it was made using 5 per cent recycled plastic. Thanks to work from the firm's materials team, that figure will soon rise to 44 per cent.

This will bring it more in line with the firm's other recent devices. Both the Era 300 and Era 100 wireless speakers are made using over 40 per cent recycled plastics, while for the Ace wireless headphones that figure is 31 per cent. The poorly-reviewed Ace also come in kerbside recyclable packaging and have replaceable ear cushions to keep the headphones in use for longer.

A commitment without compromise

The Ace isn't the only Sonos device made with swappable parts. The Era 300 has 93 custom screws to make it easy to disassemble to be repaired, while the Move 2 portable speaker comes with a replaceable battery.

The firm's packaging uses responsibly sourced materials like custom kraft paper and Forest Stewardship Council certified content, leading it to win Dieline Awards in 2023 and 2025.

Sonos' offices and corporate workforce have been carbon neutral for the last seven years. It's aiming for carbon neutrality across its entire value chain by 2030.

Its moves are a response not only to the climate emergency, but to shifting consumer demand.

"It's clear that consumers around the world – especially younger audiences and those making considered tech purchases – are increasingly mindful of their environmental impact and expect brands to do the same," a Sonos spokesperson told us. "We see that consistently from surveys of our customers."

But they were at pains to stress that this shouldn't come at the expense of sound quality.

"Our sound experience will always be core to our category, but there's growing demand for responsible business practices and greater accountability," they added.

"For us, delivering exceptional sound experiences goes hand in hand with our commitment to the planet."

Read Sonos' most recent Listen Better Report (regarding its progress on environmental and social issues) and its Product Environmental Reports (showing its devices' total footprints).

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Like most activities, listening to music has an environmental impact. But how you listen can make a huge difference.

We've looked at the numbers, and it's good news for vinyl fans – listening to physical records is greener than streaming. Or at least it can be, provided you do it right...

A one-off cost

On the face of it, you would think streaming would be far better for the environment than physical records. After all, streaming just involves sending information digitally, which has to be more environmentally friendly than producing, storing and shipping a physical product like vinyl records.

And with each 12-inch piece of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) weighing between 120g and 150g (and some up to 180g), the current vinyl revival surely has a devastating environmental footprint, right?

Not necessarily. Because while it's true that a physical product like vinyl does come with its fair share of emissions, these are a one-off cost.

Each piece of vinyl only has to be produced, stored and transported once, after all. Whereas a piece of digital music brings the same cost each time it's listened to, as it has to be streamed all over again.

This cost can be substantial, in the form of server farms and data connections, not to mention the routers and digital devices like phones or computers on which to play it. A streamed track's carbon footprint is stamped a little bit deeper with each listen.

Swift's immodest proposal

Because there are so many variables at play, it's tricky to crunch the numbers for a precise comparison between vinyl and streaming.

The closest we have is an attempt by The Ecologist in 2018. Digital tech has become more carbon-efficient since then, but the explosion in streaming has more than offset this.

In 2023, people streamed over 4 trillion songs, according to Luminate's Industry Report. Around 120,000 new songs are added to music streaming services worldwide every single day. And with Gen Z being the heaviest users of music streaming services, this trend is only going to continue.

So streaming has a very real environmental cost.

Of course, vinyl isn't faultless. Critics have singled out Taylor Swift for releasing multiple versions of her 2024 album The Tortured Poets Department. At last count, there were 36 different versions, eight of which were released on vinyl.

When you consider the size of Swift's fanbase, you can see the environmental cost of releasing multiple versions of the same album. It might be great for sales, but it's terrible for the planet.

But not all artists are like Swift. Billie Eilish has a whole Sustainabilty section on her website. While she too has released multiple different vinyl versions of the same album, they all contain the same tracks, and all are released on the same day (Swift's were drip fed over a period of months in an attempt to keep the album riding high in the charts).

Eilish's releases are made largely with recycled vinyl, and all the packaging is made from recycled materials. All of which will help minimise the impact.

Let's not forget Tiny Vinyl. This 4-inch vinyl format launched recently, and while it's currently a niche option (sold only at Target in the US and limited to special collectors' editions from established artists), its smaller size and lower weight does make it more environmentally friendly than its 12-inch equivalent.

Each Tiny Vinyl weighs 15g (compared to 120-180g for full size vinyl), and is made from 100 per cent bio-attributed vinyl. It might be tiny vinyl, but it's a big step in the right direction for sustainability

Changing the relationship

But perhaps the strongest argument in vinyl's favour is how people listen to it.

Because an album is more expensive on vinyl, you're likely to listen to it more times. It's human nature – you've spent the money, now you want to get more use out of it. And of course you'll want to enjoy the tactile feel of the vinyl, the gatefold artwork and all the rest.

The more times you listen to a piece of vinyl, the greater value you're getting from its environmental cost. And the more time you spend listening to a record, the less time you're spending listening to other music, creating less demand, which means less production and shipping, less streaming and less harm to the environment.

It's more considered listening, whereas streaming cheapens music, both figuratively and literally. It changes your relationship to the music – with millions of songs at your fingertips, you're more likely to skip 'boring' parts of songs or even entire tracks, albums or artists in search of something else. Which uses more energy.

The difference is even more stark if you're buying second-hand vinyl.

Vinyl does have a secondary impact in travel emissions for records being posted out from retailers and people heading to record shops and vinyl fairs. But I would argue that for at least part of these, the social benefit far outweighs any environmental impact. Meeting up with like-minded people to talk about a passion like music is far better for everyone than sitting at home listening to music on your own.

Vinyl might be more expensive, but when it comes to the environmental and social impact, streaming's cost is much greater.

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LG's C-series OLED TVs are among the best performance-per-pound TVs you can buy. Nothing new there.

But, since 2022, there's been one way in which they trounce their rivals – weight.

The 65-inch version of 2021's LG C1 weighed 32.6kg.

The following year's 65-inch C2, though, was a much fitter 16.5kg.

Weights have crept up a little since then, with this year's 65-inch C5 coming in at 18.8kg, but that's still significantly less than rivals.

The 65-inch Sony Bravia 8, for example, weighs 23.2kg, while the 65-inch Samsung S90F is 22.5kg.

There are obvious practical benefits to this lighter weight – it makes building, moving and wall-mounting the TV much easier – but it's a big deal for sustainability, too.

That's because the lighter a product is, the lower the carbon emissions involved in its transportation.

In fact, LG "expects to lower carbon emissions by 84,000 tons across manufacturing and transportation – equivalent to the CO2 absorbed annually by a 30-year-old pine forest the size of 11,000 football fields".

The lightness of LG's C-series OLEDs is a strong contributing factor to that figure, but so are other initiatives, such as the use of shipping freight over air freight wherever possible.

It's the weight element that really appeals to me, though, because I see it as a real bonus for the buyer as well as one for the environment.

I'd like to see LG's rivals take a similar approach. They all have environmental initiatives of their own, of course, but some weight loss on top would be a bonus for everyone.

Quality has to be maintained, though. The LG C5 is as handsome as it is light, and build quality is very good.

Sound, though, is a weakness, and one wonders how much the thinness and lightness are factors there.

Still, I'd very much likely to see brands such as Sony and Samsung give it a crack.

Here's hoping lightness becomes a TV battleground in the near future.

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This week we asked if you care about the environmental impact hi-fi has on the planet and whether sustainability factors into your buying decisions. And the response we got tells a simple story.

Specifically, that you do – but not in the way we expected. Rather than focussing on supply chains and whether or not the materials used to make the amps or speakers are sustainably sourced, instead, “collectors” that you are, you revealed a very different interest – one that is in line with the people making the products.

It’s all about longevity

We’ve never shied away from the fact that, though we all agree hi-fi is getting better as time marches on, a lot of older, classic products still sound great, even by today’s standards.

We even have an entire column dedicated to older products and how they compare to newer rivals called That Was Then. In it we're constantly finding a treasure trove of old hi-fi screaming for a modern spruce, via the addition of a streamer.

And after wading through your responses, it’s clear a lot of you agree, with nearly every message we received listing longevity as a key concern when it comes to hi-fi’s green credentials.

This started with reader Todd Schuett who opened up the comments by bluntly stating:

“Buy good quality gear and it will last for decades. That’s as sustainable as I’m concerned with.”

Facebook follower Paul Michael expanded on the statement adding that even if the product has “green” credentials, it would still need to be built to last for him to think of it as truly sustainable.

“I would say that I put the quality and performance of whatever I am buying above its environmental credentials. If a product was high quality, performed well and was environmentally friendly without coming with a raised price tag over a non environmentally friendly product I would be happy to buy it,” he said.

“From working in manufacturing where the pressure is increasing to be more sustainable I have seen product prices rise but quality, performance and life expectancy decreasing," he continued. "There is no point in buying a sustainable product that won't last a good amount of time, requiring a replacement product to be manufactured to replace it.”

Fellow Facebook commentator, Jgoldsmid, went on to add “repairability” and reducing the use of single-use materials as two other key concerns he factors in when buying hi-fi.

“Repairability and recyclability of stuff is definitely something I want to hear about in reviews now. Even just talking about how items are packaged,” he wrote.

“Apple [has] demonstrated how its possible to go from using a small mountain of polystyrene and plastic to using ever more minimal (and beautiful) cardboard alternatives which still protect items in transit just as well as the older, non-recyclable versions did. Now if we could only persuade them to make their repair prices a bit less prohibitive.”

And you’re not alone

In a rare moment of unity, your comments align with most of the wider hi-fi industry's.

Nearly all the hi-fi company engineers and executives we’ve spoken to for our Sustainability Week 2025 special event also listed longevity as a key way in which they believe they can make products more sustainable.

Cambridge Audio CTO, Matthew Dore bluntly told us: “Great sound shouldn’t cost us the planet.”

He then went on to argue building products to last decades is a key pillar in the firm’s sustainability strategy.

Founder of hi-fi newbie Fell Audio, Matthew Tyson mirrored the sentiment arguing repairable designs and a focus on longevity are a “non-negotiable” pillar of the company's values, when we spoke to him earlier this week.

IAG Group global sales and marketing director, Jamie O’Callaghan, rounded off the chorus of unified hi-fi industry voices, telling us: “If something is built well enough to be repaired and enjoyed for years – instead of being thrown away – that’s already a huge step.”

Our hot take

The What Hi-Fi? team wholeheartedly supports the use of ethically sourced materials and holistic sustainability initiatives.

A good example is the Cradle-to-Cradle, circular design standard targeted by a select number of Bang & Olufsen products, which factors the company's entire supply chain and whether every employee is on a living wage, as well as the materials used in the manufacturing process.

But, on top of that we generally agree longevity and repairability are key factors that can’t be ignored.

So much so that this week our technical editor, Ketan Bharadia, penned a piece celebrating Sennheiser and its approach to supporting older headphone models, including the HD650 he uses to this day, in a bid to improve their longevity.

As he said in the piece:

“Most hi-fi equipment isn’t cheap, but if it can be designed in a way that encourages a long life and fuss-free repair, then that initial outlay, no matter how high it is, can be more easily justified.

“If the environment, and sustainability in general are important to you, it is worth only buying from manufacturers that support their older products. My Sennheisers are good to go for another decade, and I’m chuffed about that.”

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I have spent the last three days measuring TVs.

That's obviously not unusual for a TV reviewer, but this time I wasn't measuring dimming zones, input lag or peak brightness – I was measuring energy use.

It's something I've wanted to do for a long time, and the plan is to introduce power draw figures to some of our reviews in the future, but our first annual Sustainability Week was the kick up the backside that I needed to actually make a start.

Now, measuring the energy use of something like a TV is a very time-consuming process – you need to connect an energy meter and let it run for a while, and I wanted to test various different aspects – so this is only the start of the research, but it has already produced some results that surprised me.

SDR vs HDR

I first wanted to find out whether different content types affected power draw, so I played seven different 10-minute clips through the 65-inch LG G5 and Sony Bravia 8 II in our test room, and the 65-inch Sony A95L that I use at home.

Those clips were the 4K Blu-ray of the super-bright Pan, which I ran in HDR10; the far-less-bright Blade Runner 2049 on 4K Blu-ray, also in HDR10; Toy Story 4 in 4K and Dolby Vision from the integrated Disney Plus app; the 1080p, SDR Blu-ray of True Grit; an episode of the latest series of QI from BBC iPlayer in HD; the very first episode of the Mr. Bean TV show, in standard-def from Amazon Prime Video; and 10 minutes of Sky Sports News, sent from a Sky Stream puck.

That gave me a lot of data, but I'm not going to go into that in detail now, partly because I'm saving it for a future feature, but mostly because it's only really interesting because of where it sent me next.

You see, the measurements suggest that the source and resolution make little difference to the amount of power the TV uses – the only thing that really makes a difference is whether the content is in HDR or SDR, with HDR content using less power when in the least processed modes, but more power in modes such as Dynamic or Vivid.

That makes sense when you think about it. It's brightness that uses power, and in modes such as Filmmaker (or Professional in the case of Sony), HDR will be brighter than SDR.

But in broadly brighter modes, particularly Standard or Dynamic/Vivid, the TV will bring SDR content up to HDR-like brightness levels, and will employ additional processing for that task (as well as all of the additional processing those modes tend to involve), hence SDR content will then use more power than HDR.

Filmmaker Mode (or equivalent) can save energy (and money)

What I really got obsessed by, though, was the overall power draw of different picture presets.

It was clear that the brighter modes would use more power, but how much more? And how much more would that extra energy cost?

So, I did yet more testing on my Sony A95L at home, as well as some research on how much the average household uses its TV, what the HDR/SDR content split is like, and how much electricity currently costs.

First up, the power draw of the four main presets, which are, from least to most processed, Professional, Cinema, Standard and Vivid:

According to Ofcom, in 2024, the average Brit spent just over 4.5 hours watching TV and video content per day.

Of this 4.5 hours, 84 per cent was through the TV set (as opposed to a smartphone, tablet, etc), so about 3.75 hours (3 hours and 45 mins) of watching content through the TV per day.

So, in a normal year, we're looking at 1369 hours of TV viewing.

Ofcom doesn't produce figures on HDR vs SDR (at least, not that I've seen), but Philips last year told me that its data shows that only 4-8 per cent of viewing through its "high-end" range, which includes all of its OLED models, is in HDR.

Let’s say, because the What Hi-Fi? audience is undoubtedly more passionate than average, that our readers watch 8 per cent HDR content. That would be 110 hours of HDR viewing per year, and 1259 of SDR.

Let's look at the energy use figures for the different modes on an annual basis, then, based on 110 hours of HDR and 1259 hours of SDR:

I don't know about you, but kWh mean very little to me – what I wanted to know is how this translated to monetary cost.

For the purpose of the UK energy price cap, the current average electricity cost is 25.73p per kWh.

So let's turn those above energy figures into pounds and pence by multiplying them by £0.2573:

As you can see, over the course of a year, the Professional preset of my 65-inch Sony A95L (which, again, is very similar to the Filmmaker Mode of other TVs) will cost roughly 25 per cent less than the Standard preset that many people will default to.

But spare a thought for those people who think they need to turn everything up to 11 and choose the Vivid mode: they could save £25 a year by switching to Professional.

As an aside, this testing reminded me just how horrible modes such as Vivid and Dynamic are. Garish, blinding and horribly noisy, you couldn't pay me £25 to use it on my TV for a week, let alone a year.

Professional/Filmmaker is where you get the most cinematically authentic delivery with most TVs. So, to my mind at least, it's better as well as cheaper.

But is your TV cheaper to run than your kettle?

Now, while I know I should be, I'm not someone who really has much idea of how much energy is used by the various appliances around my home, so I was taken aback when Ketan Bharadia (What Hi-Fi?'s Technical Editor) suggested that a TV only uses about as much power as a kettle.

Well, I set about doing another round of testing, and he's broadly correct.

While the data doesn’t seem terribly reliable, it’s suggested that Britons boil the kettle an average of 4 times per day, so that would be 1460 times in a typical year.

Let’s say (optimistically) that they’re boiling just 500ml each time – that’s the minimum for a lot of kettles and generally considered enough for two mugs of tea or coffee.

My kettle (a Kenwood Mesmerine ZJM811OR, if you must know) uses 0.069kWh to boil 500ml of tap water.

Multiplied by 1460 hours, that’s 100.74kWh per year, at a cost of £25.92 using the price cap average.

That's less than running my Sony A95L in Professional mode for a year, but only by £4.

The A95L is a 65-inch, flagship-grade OLED, too, so will use more power than most. There's every chance that many people are spending more each year running their kettle than their TV.

That's something that will require lots more data to prove, though, so expect more energy usage data on our TV reviews in the future.

In the meantime, give Filmmaker Mode (or your TV's equivalent) a go – it might save you some money as well as give you the best, most authentic picture quality.

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Between the epic 2001: A Space Odyssey and the blockbuster entertainment of Star Wars, the 1970s was a golden era of intelligent science fiction.

Starring Bruce Dern and telling a story that remains powerfully timely, Silent Running is one of the most thoughtful and emotionally devastating sci-fi classics.

Silent Running takes place aboard a fleet of giant spaceships which hold Earth's last forests, plucked right off the face of the planet after humanity destroyed the environment.

Bruce Dern stars as Lowell, an unwavering botanist determined to preserve the forests so they can be returned to earth and nature revived once again.

But when the crew are issued with devastating orders, Lowell is pitted against his fellow astronauts, with nature itself at stake.

The film is available to rent or buy online through Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Rakuten TV or Sky Store. You can also pick up the 4K UHD Blu-ray.

Silent Running was the first of only two films directed by Douglas Trumbull. But he remains a titan of cinema history thanks to his groundbreaking visual effects work.

Trumbull pioneered many innovative effects techniques in the sci-fi classics 2001: A Space Odyssey, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Blade Runner.

For Silent Running, he used some ideas he'd conceived that were dropped from 2001, and he did it on a fraction of the budget of Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece.

Even with such a small budget, the film looks great. The vast spaceships glitter amid deep blackness, before the picture jumps to the vibrant colours of the beautiful flowers and plants.

The contrast between the ship's convincingly sterile grey machinery and the lush green gardens is an effective way to visualise the theme of humanity losing our connection with nature.

But best of all are the cute little worker robots who tend the gardens, nicknamed Huey, Dewey and Louie. Despite being trundling little metal boxes, these adorable droids have a surprising amount of personality, and are a clear influence on non-humanoid characters in films such as Star Wars and WALL-E.

Although it wasn't a hit upon its first release - and drew lukewarm reviews - Silent Running more than holds up today. It can be a cliche to say a classic sci-fi film is more relevant than ever, but it's certainly true here.

The film was released three years before the term "global warming" was coined by scientist Wallace Broecker in 1975, and long before most people had heard of the issues in the late 1980s. Silent Running offered a chilling early warning of the danger to our environment if we continued to pollute the world.

It's also remarkably prescient about how we’ve responded to climate change in the decades since.

The spaceship's crew are depicted as complacent and disconnected from nature, but distracted by fake food and inane entertainment. And although we're meant to sympathise with Lowell's devotion to protecting nature, he comes across as preachy and overzealous.

Dern is one of the all-time great character actors, and he wasn't afraid to make Lowell a sympathetic yet prickly character.

Lowell’s convictions and lifestyle make him an outsider from those around him, foreshadowing the stereotypical tree-hugger who may be right about the environment but struggles to win friends with his stern lectures.

Before the climate protest movement even began, Silent Running warned of the danger of alienating the people who most need to hear the message.

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Hi-fi and sustainability aren’t the first things you think of as natural partners.

Audiophiles, in particular, often have an overt focus on sound quality above all else and are willing to pay astronomical amounts of money for Temptation level hardware full of precious, not always sustainably sourced, materials to get it.

But, as we know from the latest UK government poll data, young people do give a monkeys about what happens to, well, the monkeys and our planet in general.

Which is one reason why the What Hi-Fi? team took a step outside its comfort zone and is running a special Sustainability Week event.

As part of this I drew the British hi-fi straw and was tasked with doing a call round to some of the big names in audio to see what efforts the companies are making to protect the planet.

Cambridge Audio CTO, Matthew Dore, was one of the first to get back to me and give a proper update on the firm's sustainability efforts. Here’s what he told me.

It’s all about longevity

Starting off, Dore is bullish when asked if the company and its customers care about the impact hi-fi has on the environment telling me: “Yes [they care], as evidenced in a survey of our customers, where 67% ranked sustainability as important to their product purchases.”

He then adds that this is a key reason the firm is taking proactive steps to use more sustainable materials and sign up to schemes that help reduce our impact on the environment.

These include phasing out single-use plastic, especially with packaging, and incorporating recycled materials, such as FSC-certified wood and neodymium into its products.

Both measures have already been key tenets of recent Cambridge products' designs including the Melomania M100, Melomania P100 and Evo One system, which all passed through our listening rooms recently.

The firm is also one of the founding donors of EarthPercent, a music-industry charity led by Brian Eno, Coldplay and Billie Eilish, designed to help fund “meaningful climate initiatives”.

Despite these efforts, at a consumer level Dore argues the main thing Cambridge Audio is focussed on is building products that can last a lifetime.

"Sustainability and longevity work hand in hand – we aim not just to make products that are up to our high sustainability standards, but that will last beyond expectations and satisfy listeners for many years without replacement. Great sound shouldn’t cost us the planet,” he tells us.

But there are challenges

According to Dore, despite the firm’s focus on using sustainably sourced materials where possible, there are implications for product’s cost and performance that also need to be considered in order for it to remain competitive.

“As with many things in the world of audio products, the biggest challenge is getting the balance right. We have a strong supply base and sourcing sustainable materials is generally not an issue for us – however, they are more expensive,” he says.

He adds that the use of “pure” recycled materials can also impact their longevity as some parts are not robust enough to meet Cambridge’s standards.

“One challenging area that we don’t often see mentioned is the performance of sustainable materials. We are focused on the longevity of our products, and through extensive testing we have found that some recycled materials are not as robust,” he says.

“In some areas where we have intended to use 100 per cent recycled materials, we have had to move to a 50:50 mix to pass our stringent lifetime testing. The same is true for our packaging. While we aim to be 100 per cent plastic-free, and have achieved this with our current headphones, we have had to include some PPE foam in heavier products’ packaging to pass our drop and vibration tests.”

On the question of repairability, Dore confirms that Cambridge Audio does design its products to be serviceable, but he falls short of confirming if the firm plans to sign up to key schemes including the right to repair, or Cradle-to-Cradle targeted by a limited number of Bang & Olufsen products.

Either way, the moves are undeniably welcome and we’ll hopefully hear more audio firms reporting similar initiatives soon.

Until then, make sure to get involved with the conversation and tell us if you factor sustainability into your hi-fi purchases, for a chance to be included in our special edition Ask The Reader column at the end of the week.

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It's our inaugural sustainability week, which means we're highlighting some of the best eco-friendly developments from the world of hi-fi and home cinema.

TVs don't tend to be the most eco-friendly devices in our homes; they're cumbersome and constructed (mostly) of plastic, which makes them hard to recycle. Therefore, when you get a new TV, you'll likely want to hold onto it for as long as possible.

Sounds logical, right? However, that's easier said than done, due to the inclusion of smart operating systems.

These are integral parts of practically every TV on the market right now, as we seldom see a TV that doesn't feature one of the various smart operating systems, such as Tizen (Samsung), webOS (LG), Vidaa (Hisense), FireOS (Panasonic) or Google TV (Sony, Philips and TCL).

The issue is that consumers are at the mercy of TV manufacturers to maintain these smart platforms for the years to come, as otherwise they can slow down and, in some cases, lose support for some key streaming apps.

Before now, TV updates have been sporadic at best. Promised support has never been necessarily guaranteed, rather expected from the biggest TV manufacturers.

However, in the last year or so, a few key players in the TV market have come forward to announce extended support, which should make your TV last longer without having to worry about losing software support.

Leading the pack is Hisense, which is promising up to eight years of software support on its Vidaa-powered TVs, which it announced in July of this year.

Considering studies show that, on average, consumers will replace their TVs every 6.6 years (based on data gathered in the US from Circana), it's great to see Hisense support its TVs for an extended period that exceeds this average.

Next up is Samsung, which promises a similarly impressive seven years of software support for its Tizen software platform, which also covers the average TV lifespan. Samsung gets bonus points for extending this to its smartphones, meaning devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and Z Flip 7 will, in theory, still be supported into 2032.

And following fairly close behind is LG, which offers "over five years" of software updates as part of its Re:New scheme. That's not quite as long as Samsung or Hisense, and it's slightly more vague, but five years of promised upgrades at the very least is decent.

Simply put, if you're looking for a TV that won't be bogged down by outdated software in the coming years, these three brands are your best bet, but what about the others?

Sony, TCL, and Philips haven't committed to a fixed number of years for which their respective TVs will receive software updates. That's likely down to the fact that they don't have their own software systems and instead rely on Google TV for a majority of their respective lineups.

It's a similar case with Amazon's Fire OS platform, which Panasonic has recently adopted and which TCL features on some of its cheaper sets. There's no guaranteed minimum period for which TVs running this operating system will get support, leaving Amazon responsible for ensuring it keeps the platform updated and compatible with older models.

Asking these companies to whip up their own smart platforms out of thin air and promise to keep them supported for seven or eight years is, perhaps, a tall order.

However, it would be good to see Google and Amazon join the likes of Samsung, Hisense and LG to establish some confidence with consumers, so that they know their TV won't be bogged down by outdated, slow and unsupported software in the years to come.

Most importantly, TVs lasting longer reduces the frequency with which people will need to replace them, which is an instant win when it comes to sustainability.

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As well as our picks for the best Mini LED TVs

Whether you're a decades-long hi-fi fan, new to this hobby, or have unearthed a trove of stereo equipment from your attic, the question will inevitably come up: what do you do with old hi-fi products?

Whether you are upgrading your system, the product is no longer working or you simply don't have the space to store it anymore, you might be wondering what your options are: do you list it on eBay, find your nearest electrical waste recycling centre, or are there places you can donate to? Can you get the product repaired, even if it's 20 or 50 years old, to get it playing again?

The good news is, there are plenty of ways to revive an old hi-fi product so it's working again, or even find ways to ensure it or its parts can be useful for someone else. In our more environmentally conscious world, there are also many initiatives that ensure products can be repaired and/or disposed of responsibly and in more sustainable ways.

Of course, there are also plenty of options to sell, donate and trade-in – so your old hi-fi can go to a new home. For those wondering how to deal with your old hi-fi in the best way possible, here is a handy guide to the main options available.

As always, this is a general guide and not an exhaustive list of all the possible options and resources available on what to do with old hi-fi, so if you have found some great tips or avenues, please do share in the comments.

There are also plenty of hi-fi communities online – such as our Forums – where you can ask for advice on specific hi-fi models and for first-hand experience from owners who have gone through any of these processes.

Repair and servicing

When dealing with an old hi-fi product, we would always recommend first assessing if you can repair it or get it serviced so it is in full working order.

There are so many hi-fi products that were (and continue to be) built to last for decades, and you might find that the 30-year-old stereo amplifier that's gathering dust might still be fully functional.

In fact, plenty of us on the What Hi-Fi? team own older amplifiers, turntables, and speakers that are still going strong today. So don't discount old products so easily – it might be cost-effective in the long run to see if you can get it working again.

Analogue products especially tend not to rely on cutting-edge digital technology, so they won't become obsolete that easily. An old pair of speakers, a fully analogue amplifier or manual turntable might still be perfectly usable again, provided it's in good shape.

Many hi-fi brands offer repair and servicing options for their products. It's best to check with the manufacturer directly for specific models – provided the manufacturer still exists, of course.

And don't be deterred if the product is decades old. Good hi-fi products are generally designed with longevity in mind.

Steve Sells, Technical Director at Naim Audio, tells us: "We’re currently still able to service and repair products that are over 40 years old, built not long after the company’s inception. Right from the off, our founder Julian Vereker designed his products with longevity at the fore and that has been a throughline in our design ever since, from the quality of the components used to the technical design of the circuitry."

Pro-Ject states that their products are modular and thus have a greater opportunity for specific parts to be upgraded, repaired and serviced. The brand has a 25-year spare parts availability guarantee for phono/turntable products, and also states: "If we are unable to supply the replacement part or carry out a repair, you can purchase a successor model for the cost of the replacement part or, in the case of repair, for the cost of the repair."

Sticking with turntables, Rega also confirms that it "regularly services older models, some of which are nearly 50 years old". Whether you have the very first Pro-Ject 1 or original Rega Planet turntables, the likelihood is that they can still get repaired today.

Cyrus Audio, meanwhile, has an informative and extensive product servicing programme that can be found on its website, with a flat fee stated for customers in the UK. "Cyrus can offer servicing for most products that we’ve ever manufactured, some of which may have left the factory more than 40 years ago. A service involves not only repairs to correct any faults that may have occurred, but also a complete inspection of the unit and replacement of any parts that show visible degradation that may impact the performance of the product."

Plenty of brands – such as Sony and Marantz – have authorised repair and service centres, while many specialist retailers and distributors also offer repair services for old hi-fi. You can also search for local hi-fi or electronics shops (such as Audio Gold in North London) to see if they can help with repairs or fixes, or point you in the right direction.

If you are keen to keep your old hi-fi going, or get it into good working order to sell or pass it on, then the best policy is simply to ask around and find out if it can be fixed.

The servicing aspect is true even for your existing hi-fi system. I've personally had my mid-1980s Cyrus One amplifier (pictured above) serviced a few years ago, and it's in perfect working order and still sounds fantastic.

Naim emphasises the importance of longevity, too: "We encourage Naim owners to get their products back to us periodically for a service, so we can keep their gear running and sounding perfect for years to come."

Sell and/or donate

If you've decided you simply don't want to keep your old hi-fi anymore, there are two options: donate or sell.

The obvious route is eBay. eBay is a great place to sell (and buy) old hi-fi, and this works both for products that are in full working order as well as products that are no longer working. You can also list parts for sale, in case that is helpful for other hi-fi owners looking to repair their kit.

You'd be surprised at the variety of products and parts that you can list on eBay, so look for similar items to the one you have as a guide to what your listing should entail.

Another route is Facebook Marketplace, where you can also list hi-fi to sell, but it's also worth searching for more dedicated hi-fi groups (of which there are plenty) where you can sell or trade in your product to a fellow enthusiast.

Chris Hutcheson, head of marketing at Cyrus Audio, tells us that the second-hand market is very active with Cyrus products. He says: "As owners upgrade their hi-fi products, platforms such as eBay and Facebook (with the group "Cyrus Audio Listening Room" is an excellent forum for trading with other Cyrus fans) have provided a very easy way for the lifecycle of those products to be extended and enjoyed by music lovers who might otherwise not been able to begin their hi-fi journey. This is one of the key reasons why we continue to service as many legacy products as we possibly can for as long as we can!"

If you're not fussed about making some money out of selling your old hi-fi (and you've already exhausted the kids/family/friends avenues), then you can donate to charities and schools.

Again, your local hi-fi stores might have a donation scheme in place or can help point you in the right direction, while charities such as the British Heart Foundation accept big electricals (anything with a plug).

You can also ask your friends, local schools and any local shops if they might need donations of stereo equipment or know someone who does.

In the UK, Recycle Your Electricals is a great resource that can help you find places where you can donate (or sell) your unwanted electricals, including old speakers, so they can be reused and recycled – rather than simply throwing them away.

There are also specific music-focused charity stores, such as Oxfam Music Shops (five across the UK), that will take old hi-fi equipment. The local Oxfam Music shop in Reading always has a hugely tempting display of old hi-fi in the window – from old Sony tuners to TEAC amps (see picture above).

And finally, you can also check out local 'freecycle' groups to give your old equipment a new home for free. As the Richer Sounds website states, "Reuse is even better for the planet than recycling, and you will make someone very happy!"

Electrical recycling and trade-in schemes

And if all else fails, and you can't fix, sell or donate your old hi-fi, then your local recycling centre is your port of call.

It's important to remember you shouldn't throw away any old hi-fi equipment in the bin! Unwanted electrical equipment is the UK’s fastest-growing type of waste, and if not recycled properly, these can end up in the landfill where hazardous substances will leak out and cause soil and water contamination, and in turn harm wildlife and human health.

Many retailers, such as John Lewis, Currys and Sevenoaks Sound and Vision can help you with recycling your unwanted electricals (for free!), as part of the retailer take-back scheme for electricals. While this is especially useful when you're buying something new and want to recycle your old item, these three retailers don't require you to buy an item to take part.

Sevenoaks helpfully advises: "We are pleased to offer our customers the chance to recycle their old electrical items. To comply with the WEEE Regulations, Sevenoaks Sound and Vision offers to take your old equipment back at our stores. To remind you that old electrical equipment can be recycled, it is now marked with a crossed-out wheeled bin symbol."

Chris Hutcheson, meanwhile, says that Cyrus Audio has long provided trade-in opportunities, and the hi-fi product doesn't always have to be a Cyrus product or even in full working order either, as they can often make use of it.

He says: "We have always taken the old units into our service department and retained any parts/components which are no longer available to buy [this is regarding older CD players]. Only once a product has been stripped down and cannot be used any further, it will then be recycled in line with the UK WEEE directive. We haven’t only accepted our own products when it comes to trade-ins, we have generally accepted any hi-fi product (working or not), which have then been recycled along with our own products to reduce as much electronics as we can going to landfill."

So there you have it: there are plenty of avenues you can explore when dealing with old hi-fi, whether you are looking to repair it or looking for options to find it a new home, or dispose of it responsibly.

As the What Hi-Fi? team is based in the UK, a lot of these links and resources are specific to the regulations and options available in the UK, but this should also provide a helpful guide to finding similar resources and schemes in your country. The advice on checking with your local hi-fi shop and the product's manufacturer for repairs, servicing or donation/recycling options remains the same no matter where you are in the world.

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IAG owns some of the biggest hi-fi brands in the business, with the likes of Audiolab, Quad, Mission and Wharfedale all under its umbrella.

With design, engineering and virtually all manufacturing for all its brands under one roof, sustainability has been on IAG’s radar for some time now.

As part of What Hi-Fi?’s Sustainability Week, we spoke to Jamie O’Callaghan, the IAG Group’s Global Sales & Marketing Director, to hear how the company approaches the topic and evaluates how performance and cost fit into the equation.

“Long before the word ‘sustainability' was everywhere, we were already recycling sawdust into pellets for heating or repurposing into MDF, recycling water on-site, using solar power, and reusing cardboard and paper pulp for drivers and packaging,” says O’Callaghan.

And it continues in today’s manufacturing process. “We design them [products] so they can be repaired: modular parts, replaceable drivers, serviceable amps.

"We manufacture about 95 per cent of what goes into our products in-house. For the rest, we only source from suppliers who meet the strict standards (RoHS, REACH, etc).

"We’ve cut down on plastics in our packaging, and we recycle as much as possible on-site. Our lacquer and paint processes conform to extremely strict environmental regulations – far ahead of many current standards.

"In addition, we have a dedicated project management team working on material considerations – paints, materials, techniques that follow the demands for even less environmental impact and even higher levels of sustainability.”

At this point, it's probably worth remembering that the product turnover in the world of hi-fi isn’t as quick as in other consumer tech, such as smartphones, headphones, and TVs; there’s already a certain degree of sustainability built in.

“We believe sustainability starts with making products that actually last. If something is built well enough to be repaired and enjoyed for years – instead of being thrown away – that’s already a huge step.

"We still support some QUAD models that were released over 50 years ago. We keep spares, we have authorised service centres, and we’ve always believed a hi-fi system is something you maintain rather than discard.”

But does IAG think customers care about sustainability? “More than before, absolutely.

"We’ve had customers contact us asking if our speakers are vegan (which they are!) – ten years ago, it would have sounded odd, but now it’s a fair question. It shows people are thinking more consciously,” says O’Callaghan.

“That said, in hi-fi, sound quality and price are still the main drivers. Sustainability matters – but it’s rarely the number one reason someone buys an amplifier.

"What people do appreciate, though, is honesty. They can tell when a brand is actually making an effort versus just using marketing buzzwords.

"The biggest challenge is trying to balance sustainability with performance and price. In audio (and consumer electronics in general), the enthusiast community – audiophiles, reviewers, users – still expect things to sound exceptional and be affordable.”

And as O’Callaghan explains, what might be good for the environment might not necessarily be the right fit for a product, and even the eco-friendly options that look good on paper might have drawbacks.

“Eco-friendly materials don’t consistently deliver the performance our engineers require, or the cost-efficiency our customers expect. And the ones that do usually cost more – which then affects how competitive the product is.

"Sourcing components with a lower carbon footprint that still meet the quality benchmark is an ongoing challenge. And once costs rise, not all consumers or retailers are willing to absorb that, even if they support the idea of sustainability.”

It is a difficult balance to get right, though, especially in the affordable areas of the market where you’ll find most consumers.

As O’Callaghan puts it, “The inescapable fact is that most people like the idea of super-eco-friendly products and materials, but there is a ceiling as to how much of a premium they are willing to pay.”

Building more sustainable products isn’t as simple as swapping out materials. There are the cost implications on final prices and also knock-on effects on quality and performance.

O’Callaghan explains, “We’re working towards standards where plant-based plastics and bio-resins can be used as alternatives to ABS, recycled wood fibre board can replace traditional MDF and so on. These materials meet the 'sustainability box' but in practice, they often fail during real-world testing – from cabinet resonance and acoustic stability, through to finishing and long-term durability.

Some materials we’ve looked at are fantastic but incredibly expensive, can’t be finished beyond ‘natural colours’, and are extremely difficult to work into forms familiar for loudspeakers.”

When you start to think about adding a new technology there are complex sums to work through, and that, according to O’Callaghan, “isn’t simply a matter of adding X amount to the cost of a loudspeaker.

"It involves detailed calculations of man-hours for engineering work (investigation, testing, modelling, sampling) and that’s before considering production techniques, machinery, tooling, etc.

"The cost chain is long, and the timeline is similarly affected. The work continues, but it’s a process of incremental R&D and concept, not just a quick swap-in.”

Alternative materials can be challenging to machine and achieve a consistent finish and there’s the cost element, plus the question of just how ‘green’ they actually are.

“Carbon fibre is acoustically excellent; stone or mineral composites are extremely inert; and recycled PETs clearly offer environmental benefits.

"However, these materials often cost significantly more than MDF or ABS. And in some cases, their CO₂ footprint during large-scale production is significant – the end product may appear ‘green’, but the production process is less so.”

O’Callaghan uses the five-star, Award-winning Mission 770 stereo speakers as an example of how adding eco-friendly tech could affect pricing. The speakers already use packaging and MDF from recycled materials, a PFAS-free lacquer finish on real-wood veneers (as opposed to vinyl or synthetic materials) and water-based acoustic damping glue.

“If we were to substitute our materials for carbon fibre, 3D printed bio-resins and bring in stone-based composite boards, for example, the 770 would be marginally more ‘sustainable’ as an end product, but significantly more expensive to produce and therefore – as a rough estimate – five times more expensive to the end customer. More Sustainable? Perhaps, yes. Viable for dealers and consumers? Not at all.”

So what does the future hold for IAG and its approach to sustainability?

Could it become carbon neutral? “That is the long-term goal, but we want to be realistic and responsible about it.

"First, we’re mapping out our emissions properly so we actually know where we stand. Then we reduce what we can. Only after that does offsetting make sense,” says O’Callaghan.

Besides working on a public product sustainability policy to show greater transparency, O’Callaghan has good news for fans of IAG brands on the product front.

“We’re exploring new materials for future ranges. One project that Peter Comeau (Director of Acoustic Design) and his team are working on for 2026 is especially exciting, and takes this thinking to a whole new level.

"Our industrial design team is already eliminating materials, processes and design habits that don’t comply with a logical sustainability mindset. Watch this space!”

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Haven’t you heard? CDs are back! They’re not quite enjoying the same renaissance as vinyl, and they still haven’t managed to gain the quirky hipster cachet of cassettes, but the dear old compact disc is once again seeing a resurgence as certain corners of the consumer market turn their attention back towards physical media. Hooray!

This is, broadly, a positive thing, especially for an old chunk of coal such as myself who used compact discs as their primary source of musical enjoyment. First, you’d just have to listen to your CD on a CD player (odd, that), but then came iTunes and the chance to rip your discs into a digital format and have them forever preserved on your computer library or portable iPod. What a time that was. What. A. Time.

CDs may have gone out of fashion in the intervening years since online streaming completely took over, but I never quite lost the love of having a proper physical collection.

Shamefully, I only own one vinyl record (cue the comments), but I do have a reasonably healthy stock of fragile plastic cases to be spun or just admired from afar. There’s even a few knocking around our test rooms. Weezer’s Green Album, anyone?

A sustainable choice?

It was thanks to What Hi-Fi?’s inaugural Sustainability Week that I began thinking about my collection once again, and in particular the means by which I’ve gone about amassing it.

My preferred methodology has always been delving into charity shops – it’s cheaper and you’re helping good causes – but is that an environmentally sustainable way of getting music, especially when contrasted with other physical and non-physical alternatives?

In general, yes, but there are caveats. CDs are generally considered to be a less environmentally damaging format than vinyl, a format which often comes under fire for its inefficient and damaging processes.

According to the Vinyl Alliance, making a PVC record can put out around 1-1.14kg of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, while a CD will, per Julie’s Bicycle, generally put out around 0.2 to 0.6kg depending on factors such as packaging and size.

This does make sense. PVC resin production and the processes involved in making vinyl, including a greater size and even more associated packaging, make it environmentally challenging.

CDs are smaller, with most of the damage coming from production of polycarbonate and aluminium, not to mention the plastic cases themselves. Cardboard cases are far superior, as we all know…

Buying second hand only decreases the potential environmental impact of CDs – by the most basic logic, second-hand purchases negate the need to purchase a brand new item.

It’s not quite as simple as all that, as sometimes you may be buying a product that you wouldn’t have bought first-hand anyway, and transportation costs need to be factored in, but generally, second-hand is best. If not best, then certainly better.

Just make sure that you intend to keep what you buy, as simply chucking it away negates your positive impact somewhat. I’m planning on keeping my collection for the rest of my days, and once they’re done with, passing them on, donating them or even repurposing them for other uses.

Buying CDs second-hand does help front-end damage, but it’s important to factor in the eventual cost of their end-of-life impact. Polycarbonate doesn’t biodegrade for a long while, so most CDs and DVDs end up in landfill – you want to do everything you can to stop that from happening.

Fun for the whole family

If you do manage to get those environmental factors in place, there’s another great reason to go second-hand CD shopping: it’s fun! Quite aside from the good you’re doing helping out the charity section – my local CD store helps a local hospice – charity shops are a great way to find hidden treasures and, more importantly, expose yourself to new music.

Yes, you have the soulless Spotify algorithm to help curate music for you, but after a while, it will just throw up the same tired suggestions with little thought or care. Spotify is obsessed with getting me into Queens Of The Stone Age thanks to my love of ‘90s grunge and post-grunge. I’m just not having it.

Buying a CD is a different beast. First, you’re investing proper money, so there’s an incentive to get something good and to listen to it at its fullest. Second, if you have a decent player, you’re getting solid quality music that outstrips that which Spotify streaming can manage (16-bit/44.1kHz). Third, you’re interacting with people who actually like music.

My most recent purchase – last week, I snapped up Steven Wilson’s Transience – came about from being recommended the compilation by a staff member enquiring if I was into prog. Why not, I thought. I certainly need to get more into prog. It’s a pretty good album, too, albeit slightly tricky to get into upon first listen.

You then have the pleasure of expanding your collection, of watching your stock grow in real, genuine three dimensional space. That’s a feeling that streaming libraries can’t emulate, partly because they live solely online and partly because you never really ‘own’ your Tidal or Spotify collection. It’s just not the same.

Who's a lucky boy, then?

It’s also a great benefit that I have access to some serious gear on which to test my CDs. It wasn’t long ago that I was spinning one of my favourite albums, Soundgarden’s Down On The Upside, on the exceptionally talented Cyrus 40 CD.

That’s a wonderful piece of kit, and besides the great sound it makes, the whole ritual of using both the physical disc, the Cyrus itself and our reference system, is something that iPhone-based Tidal streaming can’t touch. If you’ve got a CD collection, you’ve opened up another product category to enjoy, with a host of potential candidates serving up various spins (pun intended) on that crisp ‘CD sound’.

I’ve got a few new discs that are prime candidates for the test room. We’ve always got some pretty talented CD players knocking around (and who knows, a new one may be around the corner), so it’ll be exciting to see what Supertramp’s Retrospectacle anthology sounds like when I have a few spare moments.

And if I'm not in our test rooms, any excuse to break out my family's twenty-year-old (at least) Sony CMT-EX1 player is more than welcome. Seriously, unless you've used one, you'll never know how satisfying it is to load a CD into that vertical disc tray and watch it spin through the unit's vertical transparent frontage. Amazing.

Done right, second-hand CD collecting is the perfect way to expand your musical horizons, both in terms of music and the products you’ll use, all while keeping one eye on sustainability and your own musical footprint.

Plus, you get the added benefit of experiencing physical media in all its glories, enjoying those rituals and routines – not to mention potentially superior sound – that you just don't get with digital files.

It’s always worth doing your own due diligence on any products you make or stores you patronise, but as an alternative to brand-new and throwaway purchases, second-hand CD shopping shows that sustainability and sonic satisfaction can live happily side by side.

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After just shy of two decades working as a professional shiny things chaser, I have come to terms with the fact that I am the tech support for most of my immediate friends and family.

Whether it’s which new TV to get, why they shouldn’t put their new speakers flush to the wall or the ongoing argument I have with my neighbour about floorstanders vs standmounts, I get asked many questions on a regular basis.

But most recently, either thanks to my age, or the fact many of my friends and relatives have decided 2025 is the year to spring clean their homes, one in particular has been playing on repeat: “What should I do with all this old hi-fi?”

And it is a fair question, especially if you’re inheriting a load of hardware from an old-school hi-fi fanatic, as is the case with one of my old university mates. As we know, and frequent "Reader Rescue" efforts have highlighted, hi-fi is often a hobby that appeals to collectors.

Just the other day our freelance sub editor, Andrew Puddifoot, was quizzing our technical editor, Ketan Bharadia and I about what to do with some old Tannoy speakers he’d found helping clear a friend’s house.

Generally, my first bit of advice is, “don’t throw it away".

Why? There are three reasons. First, because you may have stumbled on audio gold.

At What Hi-Fi? we keep a lot of equipment around to help us properly review products – we always test comparatively, to make sure we can hear products side-by-side rather than relying on memory.

This means we have a lot of products passing through our listening rooms at any given time.

For especially interesting older products we even have a special That Was Then series where Ketan discusses their legacy and even runs them head-to-head with modern rivals.

And thanks to that, we know, while hi-fi is getting better, there are a wealth of old amps and speakers that still sound great, even by today’s standards.

Recent examples covered in our column include the first NAD 3020 and original Cyrus 2, which despite not having all the modern streaming smarts and coming with certain compromises, still deliver where it matters most: audio quality.

Yes, the NAD 3020 isn’t the final word for clarity, dynamic expression and rhythmic precision. But, Ketan still liked it enough to report: “It remains a hugely entertaining proposition with a smooth, big-boned presentation that grips the listener from the first note of a song to the last.”

In the same vein, the Cyrus 2 couldn’t match the firm’s current Cyrus One for sheer muscle and low end heft, but it proved superior when it came to responsiveness and general transparency.

So, just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s bad. In fact, the only features you 100 per cent won't find on older amps are streaming smarts. There's an obvious reason for that. Wi-fi and Bluetooth, let alone Spotify, Apple Music, Qobuz, Tidal Connect and the ilk, simply didn't exist when these classic products were made.

Still, even knowing that, when most of us use streaming as our primary way to access music, their absence is an undeniable pain.

But, that brings me on nicely to my second point – remember, it’s easy to add modern streaming smarts to amps in particular.

I said as much when I first listened to Cambridge Audio's MXN10 streamer – a tiny unit that went on to take the top spot in our best music streamer guide.

Featuring a compact design and the ability to add hi-res streaming capabilities to most amps, the Cambridge Audio MX10N is a quick, easy and eco-friendly way to give old amps a new lease of life.

And there are now plenty of options, from affordable units like the £220 WiiM Pro Plus up to premium packages, such as the £2500 Audiolab 9000N.

Trust me, whether you’re on a budget or lucky enough to be able to afford high-end hi-fi there’s a price appropriate five-star streamer available that we’ve tested and recommend. So, there's no reason to not at least consider upgrading that old amp before going full on scorched Earth and starting all over again. Which is why my top tip is always, have you thought about adding a streamer?

Speaking of scorched Earth, that brings me to my third and in some ways most important piece of advice for anyone who comes across some dusty old hi-fi gear – think of the environment.

E-waste is a serious problem right now. The latest numbers, which are referenced in the UK government’s official waste estimates for 2025, show that we generated 128,000 metric tons of e-waste in Q3 2024.

To make matters worse the same UK government stats report we only have a 44.6 per cent household recycling rate right now.

Go bigger and look at the latest stats from eco consultancy DTP Group and you'll see scary forecasts estimating that global e-waste levels will reach 82 million tons by 2030. Take that number in for a second...

The last thing we should be doing is adding to that pile with old consumer technology devices, particularly with hi-fi products that can perform well for decades.

So if you ever find or inherit some old hi-fi, I’d urge you to consider reviving, upgrading and hopefully enjoying it, before sending it to the big audio farm in the sky.

Not only will you potentially find a hidden gem, you’ll also be actively helping reduce the amount of waste we as enthusiasts, and a wider industry, generate.

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In an ideal world, we would all be able to have our own dedicated home cinema – space and budget be damned. But that’s just not the reality we live in, and sacrifices must be made.

I’m lucky enough to have my own portable projector as part of my home cinema, but my current set-up doesn’t really allow for multiple people to get in on the fun.

So, when the opportunity arose for a few of my friends to get together for a movie night at mine, as the allocated tech expert I knew I had to step up my game.

That would mean getting a projector screen into my flat. But, being short on space in a London flat share, this just isn't realistic for regular use. So why is a projector screen necessary?

Quite simply, it means the projector can perform to the best of its abilities. If you use a plain wall, conventional paint isn’t designed to reflect light in an even way and, no matter how smooth the plaster on the surface, the light will be scattered.

A sheet is just as bad, adding a lack of flatness to that sorry list of failings. With all that in mind, getting a proper screen is the only way to go as it lets the projector show off its best detail, colour and contrast.

However, with our Sustainability Week in my mind, I wasn’t just going to buy a full-blown projector screen for a one-off movie event and spend more than I can afford.

Instead, I turned to a good old community resource. Enter the Library of Things, a London-based service which allows you rent objects for short periods. You can borrow anything from a leaf-blower to a tent, a sewing machine to a projector screen. There's also the option to rent a projector too if you are really in a bind.

For £6 a day, you can rent out the 60-inch screen online and then collect it at your local library. With over 20 locations across the capital, you are bound to have one near you if you live in London. There are also plenty of similar initiatives in other parts of the country and, no doubt, around the world.

Securing the goods

With all that in mind, it was time to get the party going. I headed off to my local library with as a big a bag as I could find clutched in my hands.

After entering my code at the lockers just inside the library's entrance, I heard the satisfying click of the locker popping open to reveal the screen, or rather, 'Leicester the Projector Screen'.

Leicester was much heavier and longer than I expected, so heaving it around on the tube was a bit of a trek and the bag was certainly no use. The website says that even though it weighs 8.1kg, it should be easy to take on public transport. Hmm.

After carrying Leicester five stops on the tube and setting it up in my living room, it worked an absolute treat!

You might be thinking what's the actual benefit of renting instead of just buying the darn thing? Well, for the amount of use I got out of the screen, it worked out a whole lot cheaper. The same model is available to buy for around £115, but this rental with an included membership price of £2.50 cost me under £10 for one day's use.

On top of that, borrowing rather than buying something new is much better for the environment. That's because every time we buy a piece of kit first-hand, we contribute to a system where fossil fuels and rare metals are extracted to make and ship the product.

Of course, there are occasions where buying your own piece of home cinema kit will result in plenty of long-term use. But if you are looking for a piece of tech kit as a one-off where it would otherwise sit unused for the rest of its life, this is a great alternative.

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Projector screens: everything you need to know

Studies suggest that the average consumer tends to upgrade their TV every seven years; that's a considerable amount of time, especially when we take into account the breakneck pace at which TV tech is advancing.

That seven-year upgrade cycle isn't a "one-size-fits-all" statistic, as many people will try to eak out the lifespan of their TVs for a lot longer, and I completely understand why.

TVs aren't often an impulse purchase; they're expensive, cumbersome, and can be rather confusing to purchase, hence we have our numerous best TV lists.

If you don't plan on selling or trading your TV in, then they can also be a pain to dispose of, especially with sustainability in mind, and that's the theme of this week, after all.

More recycling centres are accepting TVs these days, meaning that if you really do have to part ways with your TV, you can do it in an eco-conscious way.

We also recommend considering second-hand selling platforms if your TV is still in good condition, as someone else might find years more value in your old set; plus, more money to go towards a new model is always appreciated.

However, if you're dead set on holding off from buying a new TV, then these three crucial tips can help you extend your TV's lifespan for a little bit longer.

1. TV lost its smarts? Get a streaming stick

If you have an ageing TV, its smart system may be slowing down or no longer receiving updates. Worst-case scenario, your TV's smart platform might not support key streaming apps such as Netflix, Apple TV+ or Disney Plus, which means you're missing out.

You don't need to buy a whole new TV to rectify this issue, thankfully, as a streaming stick or box can restore smart functionality to any TV.

It's a quick, easy and cheap fix that can save you time and money, and it's also a much more sustainable option. If your TV's display is still in good nick, then throwing the whole set out due to outdated software just doesn't make sense.

We have a list of the best streaming devices, which includes the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2nd Generation) for an easy 4K streaming upgrade under £100, as well as the Award-winning Apple TV 4K (2022), which sports a five-star picture and sound experience.

Both are solid options and include support for practically every app you could hope for, so consider one of those if you're looking to regain streaming support without having to replace your entire TV.

2. Take care of your TV's panel

TV displays degrade over time; it's a fact of life. However, you can slow the process down in order to extend your TV's life.

If you have an OLED TV, you're probably conscious of encountering burn-in. The issue that plagued early OLED TVs isn't as prevalent as it used to be; however, extended use causes degradation of the OLED panel and could put you at higher risk of experiencing burn-in.

We'll reiterate, burn-in is significantly less of an issue than it used to be, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Panel degradation is still worth considering, as it can impact the vibrancy of colours.

There is a simple way to defer the onset of burn-in – look after your TV's panel. Refrain from leaving static images on the screen for extended periods of time, and be sure to allow your TV to run its pixel cleaning system when instructed, especially if it's switched on for extended periods throughout the day.

We'd also recommend dialling back the OLED brightness; you'll find this option in your TV's settings menu, and while it might be tempting to pump the brightness up to 100 for a dazzling image, there is some sense in toning this down slightly.

Doing this means you're not constantly pushing your TV's panel to its limit, allowing for a more gradual panel degradation over time.

And it's a similar principle if you have a backlit TV. LED TVs can also encounter issues if you drive them at full power, resulting in reduced brightness and patchy sections to the backlight.

It's worth noting that backlit TVs don't degrade in the same way as OLEDs due to their inorganic nature, but degradation occurs nonetheless.

Regardless, you can fend this off; you can adjust the brightness within your TV's settings menu.

3. Invest in a soundbar

The picture is only half of the viewing experience, which means that sound is equally important. The issue is that TVs don't tend to sound very good, and bad sound could be contributing to your decision to replace your TV.

Before you do that, you could try adding a soundbar to your current TV, as you could see a revitalised performance – with improved sound breathing new life into your current set.

This is the priciest addition in the list, but a worthwhile investment when you consider how much a new TV costs.

Providing your TV is less than 10 years old, it likely supports Dolby Atmos, meaning it's primed to be connected to a Dolby Atmos soundbar. We'd recommend the Sonos Beam Gen 2 in this case, as it's our pick for the best cheap Dolby Atmos soundbar.

If you're looking for a cheaper, yet still very effective audio upgrade, then we'd point you towards the Sony HT-SF150, which sports a price tag under £100 and a surprisingly huge audio payoff.

Either one will most certainly provide more cinematic audio, with a more direct and powerful sound than your TV's built-in sound system.

MORE:

Read our full Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max (2nd Gen) review

As well as our Sonos Beam (Gen 2) review

And check out our list of the best budget soundbars

Can a hi-fi company really produce sustainable products? It’s a question that comes up time and time again, and to answer it there are seemingly endless factors to consider.

But, you might be asking why sustainability actually matters in hi-fi. Well, when a product with electric elements is disposed of without being properly recycled, it more often than not ends up in landfill. That means that over time toxic chemicals, including lead and mercury, leak into the ground.

This causes health issues for those living in the nearby communities and wildlife, affecting their water and land quality dramatically.

To put all that in perspective, the World Health Organisation says that in 2022, an estimated 62 million tonnes of electrical waste (or e-waste) was produced globally with only 22 per cent of it being properly recycled.

All is not lost, however, as we are seeing changes in the way some hi-fi and home cinema products are created – and one company aiming to make a difference is Fell Audio.

Fell is the brainchild of Luke and Matthew Tyson (respectively grandson and son of hi-fi retail giant Peter Tyson).

It’s a company that is still in its infancy, with its doors only opening last November. Based in Carlisle in Cumbria, the hi-fi brand offers amps and CD players at an entry-level price with sustainability at the forefront. There's a streamer in the works as well.

We caught up with Luke Tyson to learn more about Fell Audio’s journey.

Supporting British

For Tyson, using components and materials entirely sourced from British suppliers was incredibly important and sustainability was one of his “non-negotiables.”.

Reducing the air miles of various components for products means there are significantly less carbon emissions created as a result of the process.

“At a certain price point,” he says, “nothing is getting built in the UK.” He clarifies that companies that do make products at Fell’s price point (the CD player will set you back £499) are often using components that are made overseas.

“We realised there wasn't really anyone building something in the hi-fi industry in the UK sustainably at a price a more normal enthusiast can afford,” Tyson adds.

He acknowledges that this wasn’t without its challenges, of course. Instead of sourcing only four or five companies to supply a range of components overseas, for example, Fell Audio uses closer to 40 manufacturers and distributors.

It also meant the company had to get creative about who they were using to build the products. In the amp, for example, Fell Audio uses recycled plastic from a firm that typically produces shower heads in order to keep costs down but still buy British.

Taking this approach appears to be a win-win for Tyson, though: Fell can support British businesses while also massively reducing the company’s air miles.

Because of this, Fell Audio is able to produce all of its PCB boards in the UK. Even the volume knobs and feet are built in-house, which Tyson says is practically unheard of at this price range.

Repairable design

Not being able to repair your own hi-fi products is one of the main reasons customers often find themselves having to dispose of them, but Tyson says Fell Audio provides a five-year warranty with a repairable design.

He says the company has "a big control over the product’s life span”, citing the fact that the majority of the components are easily attainable, and so a product can be fixed by Fell Audio in the same building it was manufactured in.

This is more common with premium British-based brands such as Naim and Rega, but Tyson adds this is usually at a much higher price point.

Fell has only been producing its products for about 12 months, so the company has yet to put this into practice, however.

Down to the ink

On top of that, all of the packaging components are recycled, including the foam, and the cotton tote bag that comes with the product.

Even the ink in the cardboard is fully recyclable. In most cardboard boxes with writing, the chemicals in the ink dye mean there are still pollutants seeping into the earth when it decomposes. So Fell uses non-toxic ink to sidestep that issue.

“I think if we had tried to do completely recycled packaging ten years ago, it would have been very tricky,” Tyson comments. But he says that more and more companies are doing it now, such as supermarkets using recycled paper bags rather than one-use plastic bags.

A representative from Fell says that while the company has not released any carbon neutrality pledges, this is due to the company still being in its infancy.

“The hi-fi industry is a bit slower in following suit,” he notes. However, he thinks Fell’s sustainability ethos will “appeal to a new audience of hi-fi buyers”.

Tyson adds: “If customers want to buy a product that’s been made in this country in a responsible and sustainable way, I think we’re one of the few that can offer that.”

MORE:

These are the best 4K Blu-ray players right now

Check out the best stereo amplifiers on offer

And here are the best TVs under £1000

I own a pair of Sennheiser HD650 headphones. Mine are an early pair, bought around 20 years ago. They don’t see much use these days since What Hi-Fi? tests so many headphones, and there is always something new to listen to. Regardless, I still dig out the Sennheisers every once in a while, just because I like the way they sound.

The last time I did that, I noticed that the earpads and cloth-covered headband pads felt soft and had lost their shape a little. I Googled these things, as you do, and was surprised at the sheer quantity of replacement options available. I could buy the official ones from Sennheiser, of course, but there were a huge number of cheaper alternatives from third-party companies.

Now, I know that the HD600 series of headphones has been a huge success for Sennheiser. They have become touchstone products in the headphone world since the original in the series, the HD600, broke cover in 1998. So, it isn’t all that surprising that spares remain available on the aftermarket, particularly as pretty much all versions of these headphones remain in production to this day. Even so, I still felt a lovely sense of satisfaction that the product I had bought decades ago was still being supported.

This got me thinking about how we have become used to replacing various categories of hi-fi and AV products after just a few years of use. Most in-ears, wired or wireless, tend to be seen as disposable. Once a wire breaks or the Bluetooth stability wavers, that's it, they’re replaced.

Many people don’t think twice about changing their smartphone every year or two. Others may wait longer, but even then, annual operating-system upgrades ultimately force any user to move to a newer model just to enjoy a stutter-free user experience. When it comes to phones and computers, it seems that obsolescence is baked in.

But beyond phones, tablets and computers, I see people throwing away older, though perfectly capable TVs rather than repair them, and the reason is either a lack of spare parts or – you’ve guessed it – progressively worse performance due to software issues. Quite often, the lack of smart features is the reason, but there are usually easy workarounds for this in most cases.

Similarly, CD players are dumped because parts for the transport are hard to get, and I suspect early streamers are likely to go the same way because they’ve been left behind by the incessant march of technology, no longer able to play the latest and greatest source material.

Some hi-fi and AV products aren’t so vulnerable, of course. Record players, being mostly mechanical, fare better, as do all-analogue valve and transistor amplifiers. Usually, any of these things can have a life that’s measured in decades, particularly if they are well-engineered to start with and you buy from a brand that values its existing customers.

There are a number of stand-out brands with highly respected service departments. I’m thinking about the likes of Quad, Naim, Cyrus, Burmester and Audio Research here, and they should be applauded.

Most hi-fi equipment isn’t cheap, but if it can be designed in a way that encourages a long life and fuss-free repair, then that initial outlay, no matter how high it is, can be more easily justified.

If the environment, and sustainability in general, is important to you, it is worth only buying from manufacturers that support their older products. My Sennheisers are good to go for another decade, and I’m chuffed about that.

MORE:

These are the best headphones we have tested

Looking for the best wireless headphones? We've got you covered

And these are the best Sony headphones

What Hi-Fi? has thrown its hat in with the planeteers and is running a special Sustainability Week event until the clock strikes midnight on Sunday.

During that time we will publish a series of features covering everything from how to recycle old hi-fi to big questions about the industry's impact on the planet.

But, alongside all of this, we want to ask one fundamental question: do you, our awesome readers, care about sustainability?

We know this is a broad question, but with the planet heating up and every new report we see suggesting e-waste, including that generated by home cinema and audio hardware, is becoming a growing problem, we want to know what, if any, factors you consider.

Would you prefer to only buy products that are from a certified B Corp, or one that holds an independent environmental accreditation, such as the rare and incredibly stringent, Cradle-to-Cradle badge Bang & Olufsen has recently championed and chased with some of its products?

Or, like we heard from Cambridge Audio a couple of years ago, are you more worried about a company getting the basics right and doing things like using minimalist packaging, avoiding single use plastics and the ilk?

Going a little deeper, do you think sustainability isn’t even about little things like that, and the real battle is ensuring their longevity and that they never spend their final moments buried in a landfill after being retired?

If so, maybe you think the answer lies in the right to repair your hi-fi, or ensuring they have a modular design where they can be upgraded as time goes on? The latter being an idea we’ve seen deployed by Marshall with its new Heston 120 Dolby Atmos soundbar mere months ago.

Or, do you just not care and will buy whatever sounds best or offers the best picture quality, regardless of its sustainability. If so, why? And what would change your mind?

We want to know the answers in this special edition Ask The Reader!

We’ll collate all the, non-abusive / sweary, answers we get on this page as well as those shared on our forum and social media channels to answer this question on the 22nd of August – so make sure to have your say before then!

MORE:

Now that vinyl record sales are on the rise, is there a more sustainable way to manufacture them?

Monitor Audio thinks separates are more sustainable than all-in-ones

“Everyone has some skin in the game, we are all part of the world”: JLab’s CEO on making the tech industry more sustainable

The first-ever edition of our Sustainability Week has now ended – but it's not too late to enjoy all of the special eco-coverage we published.

You will find all of that below. Enjoy, and stay tuned for more content looking at all-things sustainability!

Monday:

Do hi-fi and home cinema fanatics care about sustainability? We want to know!

Tuesday:

What Sennheiser’s legendary HD650 headphones can teach the hi-fi industry about sustainability

“Sustainability was one of our non-negotiables” – how a Cumbria-based hi-fi brand is putting the environment first

Do you really need a new TV? These 3 simple tips are eco-friendly solutions that could also save you money

Wednesday:

Need a projector screen for a one-off? I’ve found a sustainable alternative that saved me almost a hundred quid

Sustainable, affordable and easy – why aren’t more people doing this simple upgrade to save old hi-fi products?

Thursday:

Buying second-hand CDs is my favourite way of discovering new music sustainably

What do you do with your old hi-fi equipment?

“It matters – but it’s rarely the number one reason someone buys an amplifier.” Hi-fi giant IAG talks about sustainability and its impact on performance and price

Friday:

‘Great sound shouldn’t cost us the planet’ – how Cambridge Audio wants to make hi-fi green

I’ve done the measuring, and your TV's Filmmaker Mode isn’t just great for picture quality – it’s great for saving energy, too

The forgotten classic sci-fi film that influenced Star Wars, pioneered special effects – and predicted how we'd respond to climate change

Our readers agree with the hi-fi industry – durability, repairability and sublime sound are the key to sustainability

The LG C5 is much lighter than it’s rivals, and that’s good news for the environment as well as your back

Saturday:

Why vinyl is greener than music streaming

Sunday:

How Sonos is making existing products more sustainable

MORE:

Here are the best wireless speakers right now

Check out the best TVs on offer

And these are the best streaming devices you can get