INSIDER TOP FIVE

Five of the best new hi-fi products launched this month

1 JBL Charge 5

£160 There are a few rare product lines in consumer electronics that have consistently impressed, time and time again and without fail – and JBL’S Charge Bluetooth speaker range is one of those. The JBL Charge 5 promises to be even more rugged and better sounding than the four models that have come before it. As well as being able to survive a dunking in 1.5m of water, it is now also fully dustproof. A battery life of 20 hours, JBL’S Partyboost multi-room functionality and USB device charging complete the spec sheet. whf.cm/charge5

2 Elipson Heritage XLS15

£1790 At first glance, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’re looking at a set of 1970s monitor speakers from the vaults. However, French audio specialist Elipson’s new Heritage XLS15 speakers, while vintage in design, promise contemporary versatility in function. For starters, they’re supplied with two different bases and one optional Norstone stand. There’s a newly engineered 30cm cellulose-coated bass unit, paired with a 55mm treated-dome midrange driver (covering nearly three octaves) and a 22mm silk-dome tweeter, taken from the firm’s flagship Prestige Facet series. whf.cm/elipsonheritage

3 Pro-ject Phono Box RS2

£1299 The Phono Box RS2 is a fully balanced and discrete phono preamplifier that’s nothing if not versatile. It features plenty of knobs, dials and buttons that offer adjustments of capacitance, load impedance, gain and balance – and help this ‘no expense spared’ model slip nicely into any turntable system. The Austrian audio brand has also split passive equalisation for both of the RS2’S RIAA and DECCA curves, too, to allow for more accurate EQ curve representation and improved impedance matching. whf.cm/phonoboxrs2

4 Denon Home Sound Bar 550

£599 Looking for a compact soundbar to level up your TV’S sound? Denon’s latest offering promises to do that with its six-driver array and Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support. Not just for bingeing TV show or films either, it has Airplay 2 and access to the company’s HEOS wireless multi-room platform. And Denon’s Home wireless speakers can all be connected to work as rear-channel surrounds, too. What’s more, Alexa voice assistant is coming via a firmware update this spring. whf.cm/soundbar550

5 Sennheiser IE 300

£259 There’s no wireless functionality or noise-cancelling tech; Sennheiser’s latest earbuds focus on sound quality. Inspired by pro audio design, the IE 300 are powered by a refined version of the company’s 7mm Extra Wide Band (XWB) transducer. Every component has been carefully tuned, from the optimised membrane foil (designed to minimise vibrations and distortion) to the resonator chamber, which removes masking resonances in the ear to enhance high frequencies. whf.cm/ie300