Hi-Fi Essentials
Hardware and treatment for a system you already own: headphones, DACs, amplifiers, streamers, isolation, racks and grounding. The next purchase after the system exists.
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This is the upgrade section rather than the starting point. It assumes you have a system, know roughly what it does well, and want to work out what to change next.
The order that usually works starts with the mechanical foundation. A rack that resonates undermines everything sitting on it, so proper support and isolation come first. Then the source, because nothing downstream can recover what a poor source has already lost. Then the electronics, and last the treatments that sit around the edges of a system, such as grounding.
Some of what is here is uncontested. Speaker stands, isolation feet and a rigid rack do measurable and audible things. Other categories, grounding in particular, divide opinion sharply, and we say so on the pages where that applies. What we will not do is recommend something we have not heard, or call a component essential when your system does not need it. Tell us what you are running and what you want to improve, and we will give you a straight answer.
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£87.50Ex. VATThe B-Tech BT8443 is a pull-out flat screen wall mount from the Elements range, designed to hold TVs up to 75 inches and 35kg. Its extendable arms let the screen pull out from 69mm up to 220mm from the wall and swivel and tilt to the ideal viewing angle, ideal for recess mounting or awkward positions. It supports VESA patterns up to 650 x 400mm and adds lateral adjustment, levelling and safety screws.
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£3,749.17Ex. VATThe iFi iDSD Phantom is a flagship all-in-one streaming DAC and headphone amplifier, combining DSD2048 remastering, switchable tube and solid-state amplification and a 4,676mW output for a complete desktop or head-fi system.
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Atacama
Atacama Apollo Duet 6 600mm High Speaker StandsSKU: Apollo Duet 6 600mm High Speaker Stands
£208.32Ex. VATThe Atacama Apollo Duet 6 is a 600mm high speaker stand, handcrafted in the UK from solid European oak and sold as a matched pair. Designed to raise bookshelf speakers to the ideal listening height, it uses an all-wood construction for a warm, natural look, with isolation gel pads and adjustable M8 spikes supplied for stable, decoupled support. It is available in Natural Oak and Dark Oak finishes and can be upgraded with mass-loading plates and alternative top plates.
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£216.67Ex. VATThe Entreq Micro Kit Tungsten is a grounding kit comprising a Micro Tungsten ground box and a 1.1m ground cable, offering a cost-effective introduction to Entreq system grounding. Connected to a single source or amplifier, it draws accumulated electrical noise into its tungsten-enhanced mineral mix for a lower noise floor and a cleaner, more natural sound. The cable is available with RCA, XLR, USB, RJ45 or Spade termination to suit the component.
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Entreq
Entreq Macro Kit Tungsten - Ground Box and CableSKU: Entreq Macro Kit Tungsten - Ground Box and Cable
£383.33Ex. VATThe Entreq Macro Box Tungsten Kit is a complete single-component grounding solution for a source or amplifier, now built with Entreq's Tungsten Inside technology. It draws accumulated electrical noise out of the connected component and into its mineral-filled cell, lowering the noise floor for a clearer, more natural sound. The kit includes a hand-finished oak ground box, a 1.1m Eartha cable and an RCA click-on adaptor, ready to use straight away. -
Entreq
Entreq Macro Kit Tungsten Twin Kit - Ground Boxes and CablesSKU: Entreq Macro Kit Tungsten Twin Kit - Ground Boxes and Cables
£716.67Ex. VATThe Entreq Macro Box Tungsten Twin Kit provides complete negative speaker terminal grounding for a stereo amplifier, using two independent Macro Box Tungsten units, one per channel. Each box drains accumulated electrical noise from its channel into a tungsten-enhanced mineral mix, lowering the noise floor and opening up the soundstage. The kit includes two hand-finished oak ground boxes and two 1.1m Eartha cables, ready to connect. -
£1,833.33Ex. VATThe Entreq Silver Tellus Tungsten is a two-chamber grounding box, the completely redesigned successor to Entreq's best-selling Silver Tellus. Its two separate chambers give four copper binding posts in total, letting analogue and digital sources be grounded independently rather than sharing a single cell. It uses the tungsten and titanium mineral mix from Entreq's Olympus Tungsten range and includes custom aluminium spikes. -
£216.67Ex. VATThe Entreq Max S is a reference point post that screws onto a Corepoint Signal or Corepoint Power unit, or an Entreq ground box, in place of the standard wooden cap. Built from three active materials, silver, tungsten and mu-metal, in a wooden body, it is designed to influence the electromagnetic behaviour at that connection point. Installation is simple: unscrew the existing cap and screw the Max S on in its place. -
£440.83Ex. VATThe iFi audio iDSD GR 2 is a portable DAC and headphone amplifier, successor to the xDSD Gryphon, built around a Burr Brown PCM1795 chipset with a fully balanced Class A output stage. It handles PCM up to 768kHz and DSD512, delivers up to 1,513mW into balanced headphones, and adds lossless aptX and LDAC Bluetooth, USB-C and S/PDIF inputs. A capacitive OLED touchscreen and iFi Nexis app give direct control without menu diving. -
Entreq
Entreq Max Ti Tungesten and Titanium Ground PostSKU: Entreq Max Ti Tungesten and Titanium Ground Post
£375.00Ex. VATThe Entreq Max Ti is a reference point post that screws onto a Corepoint Signal or Corepoint Power unit, ground box, or Tuss Kit, replacing the standard cap. Building on the tungsten foundation running through the Max range, it adds titanium as its signature material, shifting the balance of energy away from the low frequencies towards the midrange and top end for a more controlled, composed presentation. -
£333.33Ex. VATThe Entreq Max S Tuss Kit is a grounding accessory kit that connects the Entreq Max S post to your system through a spare RCA input. The kit pairs the Max S with two Tuss adapters, one copper based and one silver based, each housed in a waxed oak barrel with a male RCA termination. Together they reduce EMI and RFI for improved tonal balance and finer musical detail. -
£1,500.00Ex. VATThe Entreq Max Supreme is the flagship post in the Entreq Max range, designed to screw onto the threaded post of a Corepoint unit or an Entreq ground box. It combines four materials, Tungsten, Platinum, Palladium and Molybdenum, in a wooden body chosen for its electromagnetic neutrality. Entreq position it as the fullest contribution any passive Max post can make to a system.
