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1 week ago | 
whathifi.com | Harry Mckerrell |Andy Madden
For the money, it's fair to say the Wharfedale Evo 4.4 remain some of the best floorstanding speakers to pass through our test rooms in the last couple of years. We tested these sizeable towers back in 2022, awarding them five stars at their original £1199 asking price. We were so impressed we went one step further, handing them a 2022 What Hi-Fi? Award at the end of the year for their stellar efforts.
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1 week ago | 
whathifi.com | Joe Svetlik |Kashfia Kabir |Harry Mckerrell |Becky Roberts
It must be hard being a musical legend. Sure, your bank balance might be rounding up like a taxi meter, you can fill stadia with adoring fans, and if it all gets a bit much, you can always take a few months off to indulge in your hobby of model railways. But there's a downside. Every time you want to try something new, the fans are in uproar. "Give us the hits!" they scream. "Play us something we know!" It's all a bit Streets of London. But not all of the greats fall into this trap.
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1 week ago | 
whathifi.com | Ketan Bharadia |Kashfia Kabir |Harry Mckerrell
Traditionally, there has usually been an inverse relationship between performance and features in separates hi-fi. Nowhere is this more apparent than with the humble turntable. Look at all the best-sounding options below the £1000 / $1350 / AU$2100 mark, for example, and you’ll invariably find them to be fully manual decks.
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3 weeks ago | 
whathifi.com | Harry Mckerrell
Young British brand Nothing has announced that it will "enter a new product category" on July 1st of this year. Revealed alongside the flagship Nothing Phone (3), the new Nothing Headphone (1) over-ear headphones will be a first for a brand that's only been in the business for around five years. Nothing CEO Carl Pei recently attended the SXSW London showcase to discuss the company's future plans, teasing that the Nothing Headphone (1) will launch on July 1st alongside the Nothing Phone (3).
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3 weeks ago | 
whathifi.com | Harry Mckerrell
Do you know how we would describe the Award-winning Ruark Audio MR1 MK2? Charming. From their effortlessly musical sound to their stylish and compact design, they are a lovely pair of diminutive powered desktop speakers that have all the key bases covered at their price. If you want serious performance for an enticingly small outlay, you could do a lot, lot worse. The MR1 MK3, then, may be small, but our expectations are big.
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3 weeks ago | 
whathifi.com | Harry Mckerrell
Sport-centric audio brand Shokz has announced the launch of two new sets of sporty open-ear headphones: the OpenFit 2 and theOpenFit 2 Plus. Representing two new additions to Shokz's OpenFit 2 series, the new headphones are designed to deliver a "bold sound experience" for your workouts. Both sets are powered by Shokz's 'DualBoost Technology', which harnesses a low-frequency driver and a high-frequency unit which combine for a "deep, resonant bass signature alongside crisp mids and highs".
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3 weeks ago | 
whathifi.com | Harry Mckerrell
The new Bang & Olufsen Beosound A1 (3rd Gen) has sparked some interesting conversations within the What Hi-Fi? offices. It's been five or so years since the previous generation of Beosound A1 model arrived, so the prospect of a successor was a big moment – Bang & Olufsen doesn't exactly pump out products with the machine-like regularity of JBL or Sony. Those conversations have, as we'll see, had me questioning myself, the Beosound A1 (3rd Gen) and, perhaps most importantly, our own test procedures.
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3 weeks ago | 
whathifi.com | Harry Mckerrell |Ketan Bharadia
So much has changed in the world since the last Beosound A1 (2nd Gen) hit the shelves in 2020. The stylish Bluetooth speaker was a big hit with the What Hi-Fi? team, scooping up a five-star review and earning admiring 'oohs' and 'ahhs'from our testers for its entertaining sound and beautiful build. We didn’t expect that it would take five whole years for the third-generation model to arrive.
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3 weeks ago | 
whathifi.com | Harry Mckerrell |Tom Wiggins |Alastair Stevenson |Kashfia Kabir
In last month's edition of Now Playing, we urged you to resist the temptations of the encroaching better weather and stay inside. There's nothing out there for you, we implored, advising instead that you stay in and tinker with your hi-fi system instead. For UK readers at least, you might not need so much encouragement this time around. The weather's taken a bit of a dip, temperatures have dropped, and there's really no reason at all (apart from your mental wellbeing) to go outside.
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3 weeks ago | 
whathifi.com | Harry Mckerrell
Bluetooth: 5.3Codecs: SBC, AAC, LDAC, LC3Noise cancelling? YesBattery Life: 30 hoursFinishes: x 3 (black, blue, silver)Weight: 254gExceptional all-rounders that have honoured the XM series legacy while bringing in some much-desired improvements, the WH-1000XM6 help to set the standard for wireless headphones at this level.
