Tech that’s catching our eye this month
1 Linn Urika Ii/lingo £2750/£1450 Linn has marked the 45th anniversary of its LP12 turntable by issuing two new upgrades in the shape of the Urika II phono stage and Lingo power supply. The former benefits from improved digitalsignal processing technology, while the latter has a new motor-speed management system. whf.cm/urika-ii
2 Magico A3 £11,998 At £12k the A3s are Magico’s most affordable speakers. They boast 28mm beryllium tweeters, a new 15cm midrange speaker and dual 18cm woofers. The cabinets are made entirely from aircra-grade aluminium, which we’d like to think helps your music soar even higher. They’re available in the spring. whf.cm/magicoa3
3 Quad Artera Solus £1500 The Artera Solus is a one-box hi-fi system with plenty of tricks up its sleeve. With a CD transport, preamplifier, power amp and an 8-channel DAC that can play PCM tracks up to 32-bit/384khz, it's the first Artera product to feature Bluetooth. If you want wi-fi you’ll have to wait for the beefed-up version in the Autumn. whf.cm/quadarterasolus 4 Acoustic Energy AE300/AE309 £599/£1099 Building on the technological groundwork laid by its 100 Series, Acoustic Energy’s AE300 standmount and AE309 floorstander feature new drivers (a 28mm aluminium-dome tweeter) and MDF cabinets. They also borrow internal-bracing technology from AE’S Reference Series. Look for them in March. whf.cm/ae300series
5 Panasonic DP-UB9000 £TBC Panasonic’s fih UHD player is the company’s flagship effort for 2018 and has an exhaustive list of support that includes HDR10+, Dolby Vision, Alexa and Google Assistant voice control, 7.1 channel audio, 4K upscaling, HDR optimisation and more. It’s expected to go on sale in the second half of 2018. whf.cm/dp-ub90004k