Elac Debut B6

With Andrew Jones at the helm, Elac’s new Debut B6 brings a boldly different sound

As a certain 1980s car ad used to say, ‘it’s tough on the streets’. One of the most obvious, literal reasons for this is that there are lots of people to bump into. Mass-market loudspeaker manufacturers know all about this, figuratively speaking. There are umpteen little boxes – most of which are now surprisingly well styled and finished – competing for the attention of a finite number of buyers.

German speaker brand Elac, however, has not traditionally walked these avenues and alleyways but has typically confined itself to a more select and ostensibly discerning upmarket audience.

Sennheiser HD 800 S

Sennheiser has breathed on its HD 800 and added a balanced connecting lead to produce the 800 S but, unlike some competitors, it has adopted a light-touch strategy

The danger in being a long-established stalwart of any industry is that you become conservative and risk-averse. I have no insight into what happens in the Sennheiser boardroom, of course, but as an outside observer it struck me that this is just what happened to the company in the noughties. Back in 1968 Sennheiser had recast everyone’s notion of the headphone when it introduced the ground-breaking HD 414, a design that was light and compact, sat on the ear rather than around it, was open-back and had gaudily coloured foam earpads.

Audio-Technica AT-HA5050H

What could be more logical than for a famous headphone manufacturer to offer an audiophile headphone amp? Still, the AT-HA5050H offers surprises on various fronts

Hybrid electronics are nothing new in high-end audio, but products which mix valves (tubes) and transistors remain rare enough that this new flagship headphone amp from Audio-Technica is the first hybrid design to have come my way.

And that isn’t all that makes the £4500 AT-HA5050H unusual. For a start, it’s large and it’s heavy – not quite large or heavy enough to be the equivalent of a full-size integrated amplifier, but not far short. Certainly it will fill a shelf in an equipment rack. Also, it has no fewer than eight ¼in jack output sockets on its fascia, grouped into two rows of four, and a pair of VU meters, one for each channel.

Audioengine HD6 Wireless Speaker

In the decade since they launched their first powered speaker, Audioengine has become embedded in my mind as the no-brainer recommendation whenever friends ask about getting better sound on their desktop. Dozens of both audiophile and non-audiophile friends have bought A5 and A2 amplified speakers at my suggestion —and so far, nobody has been disappointed. They’re affordable, easy to buy, and easy to set up, and they look great.

Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 2045 3D LCD Projector

I’ll be the first to admit it: I have become very jaded in my view of home theater projectors. I have always had the privilege of reviewing the upper crop of projectors; rarely do I get to evaluate more value-tier options. This wasn’t always the case, though. There was a time in my life when most of the projectors I used personally or reviewed for other publications were priced for a consumer on a much tighter budget. And so today, I’m intrigued to take a look at a more budget-conscious model.  Enter the Epson PowerLite Home Cinema 2045, a three-LCD 1080p 3D projector that, while low in cost ($850), boasts a feature-rich spec sheet.

Panasonic TC-65CX400U LCD Ultra HDTV

Panasonic pulled big crowds at its CES booth in January with their CZ950 OLED, a 65-inch Ultra HD television that adds advanced processing to an LG-supplied OLED panel, with quite stunning results. Unfortunately, that set is only sold overseas for now (priced at €10,000 or about $11,000, no less), and it remains unclear when or if Panasonic will release it in the States.