When the Estelon X Diamond Mk II loudspeakers ($78,000 USD per pair in standard finishes) arrived at my home, they were in two flight cases stacked atop each other and sitting on a plastic skid. Although the plastic skid had minor damage (most wooden ones do after a transatlantic flight from Estonia in northern Europe and truck delivery after landing in the US), the speakers’ flight cases and the plastic wrap surrounding them were perfect. Once I removed the wrap, I noticed a couple of interesting details.

The War to End All Wars, finally, is over. The world breathes a sigh of relief. But what if, impossibly, there is another war? What if that new form of warfare, aerial warfare, is again unleashed against Britain? Surely we must prepare a defense against it. A sonic defense.

When I reviewed the original NAD Masters M17 surround-sound processor six years ago, I admired its exceptional sound and high quality of construction, but I found that the Audyssey MultEQ XT room correction was good with movies but just okay for music. It also didn’t support the recently announced Dolby Atmos object-based surround-sound format, so I thought it offered good but not outstanding value at the time. However, a couple of years ago, NAD introduced the M17 V2. I didn’t take much notice at the time, but I should have. Not only did the V2 version include Dolby Atmos and DTS:X object-based surround decoding, but it also featured Dirac Live room correction and support for the BluOS streaming system. And best of all, for those who had previously purchased the original M17, it was upgradable to V2 status simply by replacing two of its MDC modules, a refreshing change from the usual obsolescence of most surround-sound components after just a few years.

Denafrips is a noteworthy audio electronics manufacturer based in Guangzhou, China, with a service center in the Washington state and South Carolina. They have a range of products but have built their reputation mainly with a line of DACs utilizing R-2R resistor ladder technology, which is both a bit old school and also a currently [...]

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hccbestbuybadgev3Humax teams up with Google to re-invent its Freeview Play PVR. Steve May investigates

Humax is hardly the most profligate of PVR makers. When it launches a set-top box, it tends to stick around, quietly serving its audience. Its new model, the Aura, is the company's first hardware overhaul in three years, assuming flagship status from its 2017-era FVP-5000T.

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