Excerpted from "Audio Art" In my journey with vinyl, the British brand SME has always held a special significance for me, as the very first tonearm I used was the SME 3010R. I have to say, if I had chosen a different, more budget-friendly entry-level tonearm back then...

For a company not exactly known for ‘product churn’, SME has been uncommonly busy with the release of several new turntables, including the flagship Model 60 [HFN Jul ’22], the Model 35 [HFN Jul ’25] and now the £9999 Model 8. The latter replaces the Model 6 that,...

". . .the sound was energetic and musically engaging, urging me to seek out new listening material." I was discussing the Octave HP 300 SE with a friend, and he said that it seems like "a quiet luxury piece." I wasn’t sure what he meant, but after a quick Internet...

Dutch International Audio Holding (IAH) , a leader in the international high-end audio industry, brings together a family of world-renowned luxury audio brands: Siltech, Crystal Cable, HMS, and the innovative Sphinx Audio Engineering. IAH recently invited the...

Review by: AUDIOGRADE – Andrew Simpson I tend to see choosing hi-end loudspeaker cable as the final piece of a system’s jigsaw. You get the kit you’ve aspired to, ensure the room is as optimised as it can be and then add the final garnish of cables to finesse the...

Way back in the age when Stereophile’s print magazine was the size of a theater playbill, common wisdom declared that the tube preamp was the ideal complement to solid state amplification. That axiom was rooted in two assumptions: (1) Tube equipment produces softer,...

Leading the charge in Exposure's flagship 5510 series is a new integrated amplifier that leverages technology from the 3510 monoblock. But what's this ... an OLED display? By kicking off its new 5510 series with an integrated amplifier, Brit brand Exposure (Malaysian...

One of the most critical interfaces through which the extremely delicate electrical signal generated by an MC cartridge passes is the tonearm and the 5-pin DIN output connector located at its rear. Inside an MC cartridge, there are separate coils wound independently...

As everyone knows, not just guessed, but clearly understood, just like in other areas of human activity, the broader audio field easily finds brands that almost universally emphasize their uniqueness, exclusivity, and high-end status—in layman's terms, those eager for...

One of the most noise-sensitive components in a turntable system is the faint signal from the cartridge. This prompted the Chord Company to develop its PhonoARAY turntable grounding system. Many similar devices operate in parallel to avoid introducing filters into the...

In this review, readers will get to know one of the new top-of-the-line models in SME's supply plan. It was an honor to receive and present this SME Model 35 turntable in our listening room in this way. It felt a bit like being a customer experience manager, guiding a...

Translated from *WHUDAT* Some decisions are made rationally, others intuitively. I was initially quite content with my old turntable. It was dutiful; the records would spin, the music would play, and everything could remain as it was. But there's always a moment when...

Nostalgia is a powerful poison, currently fueling a massive surge in the audio industry. Regardless of product category or price range, brands are digging into their past. These products, born from memory, always evoke a period that was "at least bad to varying...

Founded in Radboud, Netherlands in 1983, Siltech initially built its reputation on experimental silver, copper, platinum, and aluminum conductors. In 1992, Edwin van der Kley Rynveld acquired the company and, leveraging his experience as a senior electronics engineer,...

Chord Company's Tuned ARAY technology originated from the development of their Sarum cable series. The development stemmed from their awareness of numerous high-frequency interference sources in the living environment, including home computers, power supplies, mobile...