The Linn Sondek LP12 has been in continuous production since 1973. That alone would make it unusual. What makes it genuinely remarkable is that a turntable bought in 1975 can...
Brian Holden |
And yet the Planar 3 turntable has been in continuous production for nearly fifty years, the Brio amplifier regularly beats rivals costing twice as much, and used Rega equipment holds...
Brian Holden |
The cabinet is the same. The drivers are the same. The crossover components have aged gently. And the sound is essentially identical to what you would have heard in the...
Brian Holden |
The challenge is knowing what to look for. A turntable has more variables than most other hi-fi components, and a few of them are genuinely expensive to fix. The goal...
Brian Holden |
On the other: the technically minded who will produce measurements demonstrating that a good digital source outperforms vinyl on almost every objective metric, and conclude that vinyl is nostalgia dressed...
Brian Holden |
That word keeps appearing. Alive. It is not a technical description. It is an experience, and it is the reason a second-hand Nait holds its value better than almost any...
Brian Holden |
This is understandable, because the phono stage is invisible. It does not have a tonearm to admire or a driver to inspect. It is a small box, or sometimes no...
Brian Holden |
That is not nostalgia. It is physics. Vinyl carries a wider bandwidth of information than standard digital streaming. The groove physically encodes high frequency detail, ultra low bass, spatial information...
Brian Holden |
But knowing what to look for makes all the difference between a great purchase and an expensive disappointment. Here is what we check before an amplifier goes on our shelves,...
Brian Holden |
There is a moment most hi-fi buyers know well. You find something on eBay. Thelisting looks good, the price is right and the photos are decent. But then thequestions start....
Brian Holden |
Neither approach is quite right, and both tend to produce systems that underperform what the money could actually achieve. Here's how to do it properly, at four budget levels, with...
Brian Holden |
But here's what experienced buyers know: every one of those risks is avoidable. They're not inherent to used hi-fi, they're specific to where and how you buy it. Buy correctly...
Brian Holden |
The answer is more nuanced than either side usually admits. Here it is, as honestly as we can put it. The quality per pound argument This is the core of...
Brian Holden |