The Digital Cable

Over the last year or so the USB cable has received a fair bit of attention from our brands Shunyata and Tara Labs. The performance ceiling of this cable and associated technological know how, the best that is currently available, has been shifting upwards dramatically and this has underlined more than ever before something that we already knew but that now needs spelling out very clearly to customers: The USB cable (or digital cable) might be the most important cable, probably equal in influence and importance to the speaker cables. I talk to new customers regularly who are using say [...]

19th March 2021|
Read More

Optimising the Network – a HUGE source of noise

Most of our systems are plugged into the home network these days. Our streamers and servers are attached to the network to be controlled from our Ipads and if we are not playing files directly from a network attached hard drive, we are using streaming services like Tidal and Qobuz, pulling music from the deep recesses of the web. The problem is the home network is a large and very complex source of noise. There are many noise factors with USB and ethernet cables, phase noise from consumer grade network clocks, noise from cheap router/dataswitch power supplies and even [...]

25th November 2020|
Read More

Unchartered waters – the Tidal Prisma

If you’ve ever spent any reasonable amount of time with me, either on the phone or in person, you will have no doubt detected to some degree my profound love of Tidal Audio. Back up a moment though because I actually have tremendous passion for all the brands and products I sell. I hand pick pretty much every item in my shop window right to the level of the range of a particular product of a particular manufacturer. If something is a dud in the range or does not quite mate with the Lotus way of system building then I [...]

26th May 2020|
Read More

NAIM TO VITUS – IN 2020

It has been almost 5 years since I wrote my original Naim to Vitus article and 7 years since I started this whole paradigm. It feels like a lifetime ago, so much has happened since. In that time we have moved probably over 100 Naim owners out of their green boxes and into Danish Highend. It is such a well-trodden and proven pathway now and it happens here every single month. I pioneered this philosophy and methodology and evangelised its success and ease far and wide, not just in the UK but across Europe and even in the US [...]

21st May 2020|
Read More

AVALON PM2

Avalon was the first brand of speakers I ever stocked. In point of fact, the Avalon ASCENDANT floorstander was the single piece of equipment that inspired me to become a hifi retailer. You see I used to own a pair and their performance was so unlike anything else I had ever housed that it instilled in me the desire to bring the knowledge of this and other similarly special products to a wider audience. "Why don't other people know about these speakers" I surmised. Like many Brits I had grown up on Heybrook, Ruark, Monitor Audio, Linn, B&W, Epos, Keff, [...]

29th April 2020|
Read More

VITUS SIA-030 vs SIA-025 vs RI-101

In a year replete with hot products say hello to quite possibly the biggest star of 2019. My apologies for the late publication of this investigation but the truth is I have just been too busy selling these things to find the time to write about them. Five to be precise placed in the UK in just a few months and one in the USA to boot. Stepping up to the canvas, Achilles, Orpheus and Hercules. Let's take this opportunity to afford ourselves a good look at how these three illustrious Gods of Highend Hifi all compare to one another. [...]

28th November 2019|
Read More

NEW VITUS MASTERPIECE DAC

Say hello to the new flagship digital source from Hans Ole Vitus. The team over in Herning Denmark have been working on this one for some time now and here at Lotus we have had plenty of time with it and a chance to compare back to other machines of similar pedigree. Any discussion of a heavily reworked Masterpiece DAC might start with some notes on the previous model. I wrote about this unit extensively back in 2014 but this summer an example passed through my classifieds so I recently was able to freshly reacquaint myself with its abilities and [...]

3rd September 2019|
Read More

Introducing the Vimberg Mino

For those of you who don't know yet, Vimberg is the sub brand of Tidal Audio in Koln Germany, available exclusively at Lotus Hifi here in the UK. Vimberg is the result of Tidal CEO Jorn Janczak's vision to offer a Tidal-like zero compromise product with Tidal sound and credentials but for half or a third of the price and hence to a much wider audience. If you've not been keeping up with the worldwide audio shows the past year or so then take a quick glance at some of my links below. When the Vimbergs [...]

16th May 2019|
Read More

Life after the Linn LP12 SE ?

Like my original Naim to Vitus writings, the LP12SE to Brinkmann Bardo upgrade path has become so commonplace here at Lotus that I felt it was finally time to sit down and explain it all in detail. Many LP12 owners with the Keel and Radikal have been stuck at an upgrade dead end for some years now. Whilst having fun with small additions like the various third party top plates, counterweights and bearing modifications does bring about additional worthy improvements within the performance sphere of the Linn, the truth is that moving into the very cheapest deck we sell here [...]

13th April 2019|
Read More

VITUS RD-101 DAC/STREAMER

Somewhat belatedly the new £10,800 Vitus RD-101 DAC/Streamer has arrived at Lotus and this new year I have had some time to really put it through its paces. Some of you may remember the RD-100 which this new 101 replaces. The RD-100 was a superb Dac and sold well here in the UK but had it's own linestage as well. This new model ditches the linestage and is just a pure DAC with a plethora of regular inputs and crucially its own streaming board for use with an additional ethernet input.  Without a linestage it makes it a perfect partner [...]

11th January 2019|
Read More
© Copyright 2016 Lotus Hifi | Parabolique LTD, Registered in England & Wales 2008, Company no. O6593893, VAT 936854286, Registered Address 124 City Road, London, EC1V 2NX
Toggle Sliding Bar Area

Call us today

+44 788 785 2513

email: sales@lotushifi.co.uk

Lotus Hifi
Walton on Thames
Surrey

RECENT NEWS/BLOGS

Go to Top