As the clocks go back and the nights get colder and darker, this is about the time we wish that we had some Class A amplifiers in for review to keep us toasty and warm.
We sadly don't have a valve amplifier in for testing, but we do have Rotel's high-end CD player that's built like a tank, a new Clearaudio turntable and Sennheiser's new hi-res wireless headphones that aim to please audiophiles – all in our test rooms to get the full review treatment by our experienced test team.
Our winners for the What Hi-Fi? Awards 2025 have been announced across 24 categories, but that doesn't mean all the most exciting products have been covered for the year. Far from it – there are plenty of new hi-fi and home cinema products that are waiting for our review team in our test rooms this November, and you can see our top 5 picks for the month below. Along with the three hi-fi products mentioned, we are also looking forward to testing JBL's affordable Bar 300MK2 soundbar and the high-end BenQ W5850 projector.
If you have any questions about the products we are testing, comment below or email us at whathifi@futurenet.com, and we'll do our best to find the answer during our testing process and get back to you.
Clearaudio Compass
It's been a while since we have had a Clearaudio turntable in our test rooms, and we're curious to find out how the new Clearaudio Compass performs at its £1099 / €1290 price point. The belt-drive turntable is the brand's new entry-level model, and features precision-milled components, a new T1 aluminium tonearm fitted with a new N1 moving magnet cartridge, electronic speed change and a 20mm acrylic platter.
Like the previous five-star Clearaudio Concept model we tested over a decade ago, the new Compass is designed to be fairly plug-and-play; it is handmade in Germany and aims to deliver “accessible performance without compromise”. At this price range, it has the multiple Award-winning Rega Planar 6 to face off against. Let's hope it puts up quite the fight.
Rotel Michi Q5
The Michi Q5 is a beast of a high-end CD player. Weighing 23.5kg in total and just about fitting on to our hi-fi racks, as you can see from the picture above, this is a serious digital player for serious audiophiles.
It costs a hefty £5499 / $6999 / €5999, and every element of the product is meticulously designed for ultimate sound quality: dual toroidal transformers, fully balanced circuity and an eight-channel ESS ES9028PRO DAC split equally between the right and left channels for greater detail, wider soundstage and less distortion. The Michi Q5 plays CDs as well as hi-res PCM, DSD and MQA files, and features RCA and balanced XLR outputs, as well as optical, coaxial and type B USB inputs.
The highlight is the top-loading CD mechanism crafted out of aluminium and mounted on a custom floating spring assembly; taking the lid off to play a CD is an event in itself.
Sennheiser HDB 630
Sennheiser's new pair of wireless headphones aims high: it wants to bring high-res Bluetooth streaming and audiophile-level tuning to the masses.
Building upon the five-star Momentum 4 Wireless headphones' design, this step-up model features the kind of audio tuning normally reserved for the brand's HD 600 wired audiophile headphones, promising twice the detail resolution of the Momentum 4. It also comes with a USB-C Bluetooth transmitter that delivers up to 24-bit/96kHz quality using the aptX Adaptive codec when plugged into any mobile device – including an iPhone.
The accompanying app lets you customise the sound to your heart's content, from in-depth parametric EQ settings to crossfeed options, while battery life is quoted at 45 hours with ANC turned on and with hi-res files playing.
Priced at £399.90 / $499.95 / €499.90, can the new HDB 630 beat our current favourite at this price – the Award-winning Sony WH-1000XM6 – and deliver a whole new standard of quality for Bluetooth headphones?
JBL Bar 300MK2
We’re always on the lookout for great affordable soundbars, and we have a new contender from JBL in our test rooms right now.
This entry-level Dolby Atmos soundbar boasts a claimed 450W of power and HDMI passthrough, and it costs £100 less than a Sonos Beam Gen 2.
The previous model got four stars – can the new one go one star further and dethrone the Beam?
BenQ W5850
The Sony VPL-XW5000ES looms large over the £5000ish projector price category (it’s just won its fourth What Hi-Fi? Award in row), but other brands are still keen to take a shot at it.
First was the Epson EH-QB1000 which, despite its five-star performance, couldn’t quite topple the Sony. Now, it’s the turn of the BenQ W5850, which combines most of the hardware of the five-star W5800, and adds a new shorter-throw lens so you can get a bigger image from a shorter distance.
Has the Sony XW5000ES finally met its match? Stay tuned for our full review to find out!
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