Three plus

Buy Three Classic Albums Plus (Peter Gunn/Son of Gunn/Bells Are Ringing/Lil Abner) (CD) for R151.00

Buy Three Classic Albums Plus (Junior/The Soulful Piano/At the Village Vanguard/Big Chief) (CD) for R152.00

Buy Three Classic Albums Plus (Meets Kid Ory/Plays King Oliver/Weve Got Rhythm/...) (CD) for R151.00

Buy Three Classic Albums Plus (Hi-fi Salute to Bunny/East Now/Youre Getting to Be a Habit...) (CD) for R152.00

Buy Three Classic Albums Plus (Southern Scene/In Europe/Dave Figs Disney/Jazz Impressions of USA) (CD) for R137.00

Buy Three Classic Albums Plus (Patterns of Jazz/Performing Charlie Parker Music/Connection/...) (CD) for R143.00

Buy Three Classic Albums Plus (Hamps Big Band/Lionel Plays Drums, Vibes, Piano/Just Jazz/...) (CD) for R137.00

Buy Three Classic Albums Plus (Lionel Hampton & His Giants/1954 Apollo Hall Concert/...) (CD) for R50.00

Buy Three Classic Albums Plus (52nd St. Scene/The Touch of Tony Scott/Tony Scott in Hi-fi/...) (CD) for R137.00

Buy Three Classic Albums Plus (The Young Bloods/Bird Feathers/Birds Night/...) (CD) for R151.00

Buy Three Classic Albums Plus (All Night Session! 1, 2 & 3/Hampton Hawes Trio (9 Tracks)) (CD) for R143.00

Buy Three Classic Albums Plus (Back to Black/Side By Side/Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins) (CD) for R158.00

Buy Three Classic Albums Plus (On the Town/Plays Count Basie/Very Tall/At the Stratford (Canada)) (CD) for R158.00

Buy Three Classic Albums Plus (Peter Gunn/Son of Gunn/Bells Are Ringing/Lil Abner) (CD) for R165.00

Buy Three Classic Albums Plus (Dexter Blows Hot and Cool/The Resurgence of Dexter Gordon/...) (CD) for R166.00

Buy Viboton I8 Plus 2.4G Wireless Three Color Backlit English Mini Keyboard Touchpa for R479.00

Buy Viboton I8 Plus 2.4G Wireless Three Color Backlit English Mini Keyboard Touchpa for R464.02

Buy Gerry Mulligan - All Star Groups - Three Classic Albums Plus (Mulligan Meets Monk / Gerry Mulliga... for R199.00

Buy Dave Brubeck - Three Classic Albums Plus (Jazz Red Hot b'&' Cool / Newport 1958 / Jazz Goes To Junio... for R199.00

Buy Barney Kessel - Three Classic Albums Plus (Some Like It Hot / The Poll Winners / Carmen) (CD) for R199.00

Buy Helen Humes - Three Classic Albums Plus (Songs I Like To Sing! / Swingin With Humes / Helen Humes... for R199.00

Buy Tubby Hayes - Three Classic Albums Plus (The Jazz Couriers - In Concert / The Couriers Of Jazz /... for R199.00

Buy Don Ellis - Three Classic Albums Plus (How Time Passes / New Ideas / Essence) (CD) for R199.00

Buy Johnny Hodges - Three Classic Albums Plus (The Blues / In A Tender Mood / Johnny Hodges And His S... for R199.00

Buy Dizzy Gillespie - All Star Sessions - Three Classic Albums Plus (With Sonny Rollins b'&' Sonny Stitt... for R199.00

Buy Charlie Mingus (Charles Mingus) - Four Classic Albums Plus (Blues And Roots / Mingus Three: Trio... for R199.00

What’s not to like about this cute little bit of kit? iFi’s new ZEN Stream is a small streamer designed to be partnered with any USB DAC – such as the company’s own ZEN DAC V2, more of which later. It is uniquely flexible for its £399 price, allowing direct connection to services such as Spotify Connect, Qobuz and Tidal Connect (with decoding of MQA mastered material), UPnP, AirPlay, and Roon, via the matching app. It is compatible with a wide range of audio formats up to 384kHz PCM and DSD256, and its open-source architecture means that more functionality is promised via future firmware updates. A series of coloured LEDs indicate the sampling rate and format in use, but lack of space precludes visual display of your album artwork. It’s powered by an external plug-top 9V DC power supply, and there are dual USB sockets plus a S/PDIF coaxial RCA output. If partnered with a ZEN DAC V2, it powers the latter via its USB socket, and iFi supplies the correct USB cable. The ZEN Stream is designed to work with any USB DAC, which is great because you don’t have to commit to another DAC when you buy this streamer. For example, many people have their specific favourites that they’ve built their systems around and don’t want to change them. b'/xc2/xa0' I also tried iFi’s matching £299 ZEN DAC V2 (pictured directly above and below) running its latest firmware during this review. It’s a compact 32-bit desktop design, built to partner USB sources, so there is no S/PIDF coaxial or optical TOSLINK optical input. Although usable as part of a hi-fi system, it’s very much aimed at headphone users wanting a high-quality DAC/headphone amp at a keen price. Both 6.3mm unbalanced and 4.4mm balanced Pentaconn headphone sockets can be found on the front panel, plus a balanced 4.4mm line output round the back. A standard set of unbalanced RCA audio outputs is fitted, with a switch to toggle between fixed and variable operation. The former seems to sound slightly better than the variable and is around 3dB louder too. There’s a Power Match option for headphone users to optimise output for IEM and over-ear headphones, plus a TrueBass feature to boost the bass performance for a more even response between high and low frequencies. TrueBass only affects the headphone outputs. b'/xc2/xa0' I found a small but noticeable difference in sound quality between the high and low Power Match options, by the way. The higher gain option sounds sharper and more immediate. When I increased the volume level on the lower gain setting, it sounded smoother and less immediate. Headphone power output is claimed to be 280mW (unbalanced) or 380mW (balanced) into headphones with an impedance of 120 to 600 ohms. Even using some old low-efficiency AKG K340s, I could achieve fairly high volume levels with the volume around the 2 o’clock setting. Both these iFi products run fairly cool. The streamer gets mildly warm to the touch after an hour or so, but the DAC doesn’t, even when powering headphones at fairly high volume levels. There’s no on/off switch, which suggests the items might be meant to be left powered-up. The ZEN DAC V2 is powered from 5V DC, obtained from a USB socket. A power socket is provided, but no external power supply unit is included. Compared to iFi’s original ZEN DAC, the latest V2 features an XMOS 16-core chip rather than an 8-core type; this boosts audio processing power and increases clock speed and memory, the company says. The V2 also has an updated crystal clock offering reduced jitter, it is claimed, plus MQA decoding. Build quality is impressive for the price. The all-metal construction of these units feels solid, and the buttons and controls have a smooth positive feel. The level of finish is good, and the tapered wing-like shape looks attractive and stylish. Top marks here! THE LISTENING My daily streamer is an Auralic Altair G2, which is many times the cost of iFi’s ZEN Stream – but not many times as good. I found the Auralic sounded more subtly delineated, but the improvement in no way reflected the price difference, showing what fine value the iFi is. The Auralic’s sonic superiority was quite noticeable when I first switched between the two, but as is so often the case with hi-fi, this seemed to grow less significant once I’d listened for half an hour or so. To my ears, the ZEN Stream punches way above its weight. b'/xc2/xa0' For example, playing a recent MQA title on TIDAL – an album called Bach; A Strange Beauty – with pianist Simone Dinnerstein – I was impressed by the sheer power and sonority of the recording when streamed through the iFi, which sounded impressively rich. It really was good. Solo piano tracks sounded lucid yet refined and natural. The concerto was marvellous to hear, with full-bodied, weighty strings that had a lovely richness and warmth. Only intending to sample a few minutes, I listened to the end, so involving was the result. On TIDAL, MQA titles generally sounded best. The Decca Solti recording of Wagner ‘s opera Parsifal was wonderfully vibrant. Non-MQA titles sounded good but usually a tad flatter. I then tried the Kubelik Mahler 7 on TIDAL MQA, and it sounded very good – albeit not quite as impressive as the ripped CD. The recording had a tad less depth and fractionally reduced dynamic contrast when streamed, though the results were still close. It’s interesting that a 16-bit, 44.1kHz ripped CD can still stand its ground against hi-res formats, and that happens with pretty much every streamer I’ve heard, not just the ZEN Stream. Bringing the ZEN DAC V2 into the proceedings, and of course, I found it to be no match for the onboard digital converter built into Auralic’s Altair G2. As the latter is way more expensive, so this hardly came as a complete surprise. The Altair G2 offered greater refinement and effortlessness, as you would expect. Streaming Beethoven ‘s Sonata for Violin and Piano Op 96 on ECM with Yuko Shiokawa and Andras Schiff, it had a smooth unforced naturalness that was highly beguiling. The ECM recording is beautifully open and unexaggerated yet detailed and clear. Still, with the iFi pairing, the balance between violin and piano was nicely managed, and both instruments were reproduced superbly. It wasn’t that far behind; you could still listen to it, having heard the Auralic, all the same. b'/xc2/xa0' Trying a quick blast of Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus on headphones through the ZEN DAC V2 and its TrueBass option gave the sound a bit more weight and low-frequency power without sounding boomy or thick. If I were using headphones, I’d engage TrueBass all the time. Some users have complained that the volume control becomes unbalanced at very low settings. I found evidence of this – the left channel cuts out before the right with the control close to zero. But it’s very slight and would only be an issue with very efficient headphones. I usually partner my laptop with a 2014 Shanling H1.1 DAC, but – having been seduced by the choices offered with streaming – I’d largely neglected to listen to my ripped CDs over the last two or three years. Too much to listen to! But, using the laptop with the ZEN DAC V2, I was forcibly reminded how impressive properly ripped CDs could sound. I like to engage the acoustic equalisation option in iTunes, feeling this improves the reproduction of many recordings. The effect is subtle but beneficial. THE VERDICT IFi’s little ZEN Stream streamer is a seriously impressive new streamer, offering great functionality and fine sound in a small package at a low price. Its genius is that it will work with any DAC with a USB connection, which is most these days. Yet it’s also a very pretty picture together with iFi’s own ZEN DAC V2, both visually and sonically. Together they give an engaging and entertaining sound with more detail than you’d expect, plus a lot of operational flexibility in terms of driving headphones. I became rather taken with both of them and reckon they’re both something of a steal – whether you’re looking to use them in your main system or as a desktop or office companion.

Furutech Daytona 303 / 303E: High-end performance multi-mode electronic power filter and surge protection unit Item Codes: – Daytona 303 – US version – Daytona 303E – European version Features: The Daytona: 24 Hour Protection for Pro A/V and High Performance Enthusiasts All enthusiasts are looking for the same qualities: Verisimilitude to the original event, a sense of engagement promoting suspension of disbelief, an immersion in audio and video experience. To engage without effort requires meticulous preparation of the entire playback chain especially including the AC mains supply. The Daytona is a sophisticated, luxuriously made single-chassis power distributor and filtering unit that eliminates many common problems caused by massively contaminated electrical power lines. The AC mains waveform is heavily distorted by ground noise, voltage spikes and sags, high frequency power supply noise from other components in your own system, plus high frequency digital noise radiating from processors and digital interconnects. There are also distortion products at the top and bottom of the AC waveform created by switch-mode power supplies in small electronics and charging devices on the same circuit. Additionally, you’re never alone; your residential AC supply is shared with other apartments, homes, and businesses on the same utility transformer. That’s why many audio and video enthusiasts notice their systems are more enjoyable late at night or on weekends! Under the Hood Like a Daytona GT racer, the Furutech Daytona is purpose-made to comprehensively protect your audio and video system with 5250 joules of surge protection plus 3 types of filtering that dramatically reduces induced, radiated and ground-borne noise. Micro-circuits monitor line voltage and disconnects instantly if dangerous over- or under-voltages occurs, then reconnects once the power returns to safe levels. The Daytona also features three ultra-advanced isolating filter sections including two analog, two digital, plus another pair of ultra-high-current audio filters. The Daytona also sports 10 surge-protected AC outlets, 6 Digital filtered outlets (Filter 1, 2 and 3), plus 2 ultra-high-current, 4 unfiltered outlets (Direct 1 and 2). Also 3 pair of protected coaxial connections and 1-in/2-out fully-protected phone line connections. On the Track The Daytona relieves your system of flat, hard, and grainy high frequencies, a thick and bloated midrange over woolly bass, a loss of air, detail and soundstage instability. On video displays the picture resolution is sharper, with no ghosting, color shift, snow, or vertical and horizontal lines to spoil the view. If this sounds familiar, you need a Furutech Daytona!

OVERVIEW Big Knob for two sets of monitors with three selectable sources. Mackie Big Knob Studio combines premium 192kHz/24-bit recording with the proven performance of the world's bestselling monitor controller. Capture world-class recordings via dual Onyx™ preamps and professional studio features like zero-latency overdubbing and built-in talkback for artist communication. Easily select from three sources, including USB playback from your DAW and switch between two pairs of studio monitors. Big Knob Studio ensures balanced listening levels, offering independent gain trim on all inputs and outputs. Two separate headphone outs are available, each with separate level control. Plus, there's even a handy front-panel input for your smartphone. Big Knob Studio is the ultimate compact studio solution. FEATURES Choose between 3 sources and 2 monitor pairs Classic Big Knob volume control Independent trim on all sources and monitor outs Mono, mute and dim functions Two boutique-quality Onyx mic preamps including phantom power High-resolution 192kHz / 24-bit recording and playback Cue mix allows controlled blending of direct inputs with other signals for zero-latency recording Choice of recording paths provide flexibility for applications like podcasting Comprehensive feature set for professional studios Flexible source connections including convenient 1/8" input for your smartphone Dual headphone outs with independent level control Built-in talkback mic for easy communication with artists 16-segment high-resolution input source metering Compatible with all major DAWs on both Mac and Windows Includes Tracktion recording software

HUAWEI 4G Router 3 Pro B535-932 What's in the box 1 x Router 2 x Quick Start Guide 1 x AC adapter 1 x Lan Cable Once set up, there's a lot to like here. The B535 WebBox can get up to 64 devices online at once, which is more than most people should need. It’s also notably double what the Huawei HomeFi can manage, though it only matches the Huawei AI Cube. If your priority for a 4G router is a fast, reliable connection - which it should be - then the Huawei B535 (also known as the HomeFi Plus) is easily one of the best options available. It’s fast too, supporting download speeds of up to 300Mbps (37.5MB/sec) and upload speeds of up to 100Mbps (12.5MB/sec). Those maximum download speeds match the Huawei AI Cube but the upload speeds here are double the 50Mbps offered by that device. That’s because the Huawei B535 WebBox supports Category 7 LTE, while the AI Cube only supports Cat 6. Currently, on Three you can expect maximum download speeds of around 100Mbps (12.5MB/sec). That's significantly below the B535's theoretical maximum speeds, but it's future-proofed for when speeds increase in the coming months. It’s also far faster for both uploads and downloads than the Cat 4 Huawei HomeFi. So in other words, if speed is all you care about then this is the best 4G home broadband option from Three. But there’s more than just speed here, as it supports both 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi bands. This is another fairly standard thing in routers, but not always found in 4G ones with the HomeFi only supporting single band 2.4GHz WiFi. Dimensions (mm): 219 x 138 Modem: 4G Colours: White Ethernet ports: 4 ethernet ports Download speeds: Cat 7, up to 300Mbps Upload speeds: Cat 7, up to 100Mbps Wi-Fi specs: Dual-band 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz and 5GHz) External Antenna: 2 x SMA Antennas Power: Mains powered Specifications: Form Factor: Size: 219*138*35mm Features: LTE Cat7 DL/UL 2CC FDD-LTE: 300Mbps(DL), 100Mbps(UL) TDD-LTE: 220Mbps(DL), 20Mbps(UL) Band: LTE: B1/3/8/20/28/38/40/41 (B41 full band 2496~2690MHz) UMTS: B1/8 No GSM UL: 3C/38C/40C/41C DL: 3C/38C/40C/41C/38A-38A/41A-41A/1A-3A/1A-8A/1A-20A/1A-28A/3A-8A/3A-20A/3A-28A/3A-38A/3A-41A/8A-41A/28A-40A Interface: 4xRJ-45 for data, GE(1 LAN/WAN+3 LAN) 1xRJ11 for voice, Voice: CS&VoIP&VoLTE, VoLTE need to customized. 2xSMA external antenna interface for LTE. 1xSIM card slot (3FF), 1x power interface. 1*Hi(WPS) KEY/1*Reset KEY/1*Power KEY. WiFi: 802.11 b/g/n 2*2 MIMO 2.4GHz & 802.11a/n/ac 2*2 MIMO 5GHz 2.4GHz &5GHz DBDC Power: AC/DC：AC: 100 V ~ 240 V; DC: 12 V, 1 A