hi-fi+ Magazine      September 2026

  hi-fi+ is a magazine that is serious about hi-fi. Our articles are intended to help you get the best from your system, rather than simply telling you to buy another one. Our reviews only cover product that we think is worthwhile. You can read more about that by looking at our reviews policy, but lets just say that our attitude to equipment is rather different, and we hope, much more informative. We haven't forgotten that hi-fi is supposed to be fun!

The Science Of Serenity: How Music Lowers Stress, Heart Rate, & Blood Pressure
From Brian Eno to Bill Evans, discover the recordings clinically shown to calm the mind—and why audiophiles may feel it more deeply.
Editorial By Alan Sircom
Although if the choice comes down to 'music' or 'medication', I'll go with the medication every time, there is something to be said for a spot of well-placed music to help keep our blood pressure in check. It's a well-documented fact that listening to slow tempo music of any sort can slow heart rates and reduce blood pressure. Brian Eno might not have been consciously thinking of this when he composed his 1979 album Ambient 1: Music for Airports [Polydor], but the result works extremely well; that slow, contemplative music playing quietly in the background does tend to calm us down. Strangely, if it's played quiet enough to register but not loud enough to focus upon. Alongside ambient music and music made specifically for meditation, there's a rich thread of classical music that helps calm us both inside and out. Pachibel's Canon in D, the Andante second movement of Mozart's Piano Concerto No 12 in A major (K. 414), Bach's Art of Fugue (BWV 1080). There's also a lot of jazz, most notably 'Peace Piece' by Bill Evans [Everybody Digs Bill Evans, Riverside].
---> The Science Of Serenity: How Music Lowers Stress, Heart Rate, & Blood Pressure.

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Equipment Reviews
19 Dan D'Agostino Master Audio Systems Momentum Z
Monaural Power Amplifiers

27 Waversa Systems WAMP2.7 
Monaural Full Digital Integrated Amplifier 

35 Air Tight ATM-1E
Valve Integrated / Power Amplifier

45 Chord Electronics Suzi / Suzi 
Pre Power Amplifier / Preamplifier With Headphone Amp & Phono Stage

51 Hegel H600 
Integrated Amplifier

57 Advance Paris A10 Apex
Integrated Amplifier

63 Rega Aos MC
Moving Coil Phono Stage

69 Musical Fidelity M5xi
Integrated Amplifier

75 Soulnote E-2 ver.2 
Phono Stage

81 NAD M33v2
Integrated Streaming Amplifier

87 Unitra WSH-605
Integrated Amplifier

Features
10 Hong Kong High-End Audio Video Show 2026
We report on the key cost-no-object hi-fi show in Asia!

94 Testing Audio Devices
We visited Graham Audio at the University of Southampton's anechoic chamber

Music
103 Music Reviews
Contemporary, classical, and jazz music

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111 Advertiser Index

112 Next Month
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