Happy Monday, and welcome to the latest entry to our regular Rewind column, where our team of experts detail the top hi-fi and home cinema developments you need to know about.
It was a particularly hectic time at What Hi-Fi? towers, with the team running a special Vinyl Week event to celebrate Record Store Day 2026 – which brought an especially decent batch of special releases with it this year.
That, plus the discovery of a new diamond-in-the-rough affordable turntable and a new AVR from Denon, gave us plenty of plates (and records) to keep spinning.
Here’s everything you need to know.
Denon has a new AVR
While our staff writer Lewis Empson was in Japan with the iconic AV firm (and visiting one of the world’s coolest record stores), Denon decided last week was a good time to lift the lid on its new AVR-S980H.
Aiming squarely at the same sub-£1000 market as the Award-winning Sony TA-AN1000, the unit has some big competition. But, on paper, it’s a pretty enticing piece of hardware. Offering 90 watts of muscle per channel and able to power 7.2 or 5.2.2 Dolby Atmos speaker arrangements, the firm claims it’s “an easy way to make every day experiences feel more engaging and far more enjoyable”.
As a bonus, it also works with Denon’s new Home 200, 400, and 600 wireless speakers, which is nifty for people looking to cut the cord. Hopefully, we’ll get one into our test rooms soon, so we can see if it cuts the mustard in the real world.
Read the full story: Denon is gunning for Sony's Award-winning AVR with its latest release
Sony’s affordable BT turntable is a great option for buyers on a budget
Finding a good, cheap turntable is tough. That’s why the Pro-Ject Primary E has ruled unchallenged as our main recommendation for many years.
For those that want even greater versatility, we're delighting to find that the Bluetooth-toting, fully automatic Sony PS-LX3BT not only has a compelling price, but it also sounds excellent. The unit is the cheaper sibling to the moderately more expensive, also five-star, Sony PS-LX5BT, which we also tested last week.
Giving it the full review treatment, the built-in phono stage proved surprisingly capable, but it also played nicely with price-compatible amps and speakers. So much so that our reviewers reported:
“For a deck that does a lot on a shoestring, it’s perfectly fair to keep one’s expectations reasonably modest. Even with that in mind, it doesn’t take long before the PS-LX3BT confounds our expectations admirably. A sprinkle of textural insight here, a good dose of punch there – this is a far heartier metaphorical meal than we’d perhaps anticipated.”
Read our full Sony PS-LX3BT review
Dorpo released a new system
Hi-fi systems that can do it all are increasingly common, with many people favouring their simple plug-and-play nature over separates, which can, admittedly, be a little intimidating for newbies.
Which is likely why new brand Dorpo decided to jump on the bandwagon with its shiny new DMP-AQ: a multi-source digital music player, streamer, headphone amplifier, preamp and DAC. With a War And Peace-length specifications list, the unit promises to be a one-stop shop for all your hi-fi needs and is set to launch in the April to June period, costing £1799 (around $2400 / AU$3400).
Read the full story: This digital music player-cum-amp wears many different hats
Guess who’s back? Jamo’s back!
We all love a good comeback story, which is why we were delighted to see Jamo make a surprise return after a long silence.
Two years after being sold to Cinemaster and Rayeligh Lab all the way back in 2024, the new owners have finally confirmed that they will unveil a new range of Jamo products at the Vienna High End Show in June.
The only downside is that they haven’t given any other details, so we’ll have to wait and see what they actually are before we break out the party streamers in earnest.
Read the full story: Danish speaker brand Jamo returns under new ownership, will unveil new range soon
MORE:
These are the best hi-fi systems we've reviewed
We rank the best turntables
Our picks of the best AVRs
