If you're already a customer of ours in store perhaps you're aware of our financing opportunity. What's new is that we now offer -- in cooperation with the Santander Consumer Bank AG, the leading German bank in consumer finance -- the ability to obtain financing for your purchases when shopping in our online store. The monthly rates and the duration can naturally be customised to suit you. So don't let anything stop your from letting your desires quickly and easily come true!*
Stereo Set-Ups: Our Favourites from €2,000 to €10,000
Part two of our thoughts on your stereo investments:
If you're thinking that a compact system may not be enough for you -- perhaps your living room is large or sometimes you need a that extra high volume, or that you simply want everything to sound better -- then let us give you the low down on some current highlights across four price categories.
Fully-equipped package for €1,900
KEF iQ90 (€998), Denon PMA / DCD / DNP 720 together for €890, 2x high quality RCA cable to each €26 (AudioQuest 'Evergreen'), Chord Carnival 2x3m speaker cables ready-to-use at €70.
Our 'Evergreen': As before, a real highlight, especially when in close quaters of the pop /rock music areas The Denon components are in excellent workmanship and are controlled via a very good universal remote control and FM, CD, iPod /iPad, & Streaming Internet Radio. A turntable can be connected directly.
Price to performance ratio: Excellent!
The Source of Good Music Part II: The CD
After we explored local streaming audio in the first part of the series, and hopefully we've unravelled some of the key aspects of this comparitively complicated and relatively new technology bring us to the second episode of our mini-series. A true classic that, contrary to many predictions far from dead: The audio CD.
The Source of Good Music Part I: Streaming
The range of avaliable audio-playback formats has reached an unprecedented diversity. For a long time vinyl, CD and tapes dominated the market, though with the rapid development in computer technology, digital formats and similar transfer technologies are ever establishing themselves attractive alternatives. The development of new technology and innovation is by no means complete and with the increasing diversity and complexity has increased significantly. All this is reason enough for Hifi-und-Friends.de to address the essential premise of better listening by a blog series of the same name, focusing on new and old technologies.
Short on space, on a budget – but high demands on audio?
Buying compact HiFi at a budget-friendly price doesn't preclude getting great value for money! Generally we reccomend smaller units for smaller spaces -- a combination that works very well! However with smaller sets the price/performance ratio is still excellent with selected mini-systems, particularly the electronics of many small models stand out with top-quality processing, operation features and performance. When choosing the set as always, tastes vary. We have some exceptionally well-harmonised combinations here – of course there are further possible combinations which we can gladly discuss on a case-by-case basis with you.
Oppo PM-1 – The new benchmark in headphones?
Oppo is a Chinese company, which to date has produced some of the most superior Bluray players on the market (Oppo 103EU, 103D and 105D) and, along with its range of smart phones, it's really drawing attention to itself. All Oppo products have here an excellent price/performance ratio across all price ranges, exceptional production quality AND reliability.
Sony VPL-HW40ES released
Sony has officially released the Sony VPL-HW40, bringing a smaller version of the VPL-HW55 into the range. This compact mid-range projector from the Japanese brand is an ambitious piece, entering the world-class range of the SXRD projection – it is essentially based on the VPL-HW55, the VPL-HW40 also dominates its competitors with the exclusive Reality Creation resolution technology.
However it still doesn't quite match the HW55 in dark scenes and does not include 3D glasses with less available precision available to calibrate the projector on a specific colour spectrum as you have with the HW55. Although worth a mention is that overall the two machines are comparable because the HW40 uses the exact same chassis as the HW55. So what Sony has done is ease the barrier by creating a machine at an entry-level price point with SXRD, a much higher level of cutting professional projector technology.
So, here we have the VPL-HW40: quiet, sharp, bright and flexible. It has everything exciting in current state-of-the-art visual projection technology. It's a fantastic choice for ambitious beginners and intermediates, especially those with brighter viewing environments and for those who are not in the position to take on the jump in price to the HW55.
Now available in our online shop.
Bluesound – the new streaming und multiroom manufacturer at HiFi im Hinterhof
Not familiar with the terms from the lastest tech-terminology: Node, Powernode, Pulses and Vault? Exciting new streaming components are hiding behind these four terms, all with their own excellent tonal qualities operated via the Streamer app, which supports both Android and IOS in each unit.
Oppo BDP-105D player
