Teac AR 300

Advantages: Great Sound, Great Looks, Great Price
Disadvantages: Remotes a bit cheap, no USB port,

...Having been in the market to downsize my old hi fi for something more compact, I've settled on the Teac reference 300 mkIII with DAB tuner. Its a 3 box system as opposed to the other smaller one box systems manufactured by Teac and others such as Denon, Arcam and Onkyo. As such, although being larger, it is more user friendly to use and has more power at 45 wpc RMS. At around £500 rrp it stands up favourably in price to the Arcam Solo Mini and comes in silver or black finish with machined aluminium fronts and a classy blue display on each unit. It actually appears slightly retro in appearance although the remotes are a bit cheap looking. The silver units can be found for as little as £349 without speakers so its quite a bargain. Sound quality for such a small unit is really clear and well defined with a warm bass typical of Teac... Read review

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Advantages: Good Sound and Value
Disadvantages: Won't match anything else in your hifi rack!

...I have owned my Teac for some time. It has been a faithful performer, with a typical high-quality Japanese sound - very smooth, powerful, with fair 'air' and depth to the stereo image if a little bass light. It's a big, heavy old thing (big transformer) and has fan cooling (although I have never heard the fan cut in, even when pushed hard). Construction quality is fine, but the black/gold edge controls are a matter of taste. The remote is hopeless - you need to be directly in front of the sensor - but it drives other Teac components via their 'UR' (Universal Remote) system. By connecting the amp via a single phono cable to the matching Teac TR460 tuner you can use the amps remote to switch stations and the tuners power on/off is slaved to the amps. Neat! It handles two recording devices, including A-B and B-A dubbing. Only... Read review

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Advantages: Great sound clarity, very comfortable
Disadvantages: Higher frequencies not as refined as other earphones

...Listening to music... a great British pastime, and something I enjoy every day. It comes as no surprise, mainly because it has been said many times before, that the earphones bundled with the iPod, or any MP3 player, are not brilliant. The iPod earphones are better then most, but for a small investment you can get a lot more music for your money. Sennheiser are well known for their high quality offerings, but this needn't break the bank. Their CX300 earphones weigh in at under £20 and are available in either black, white or silver. They come supplied nicely packaged with small, medium and large ring adaptors for a comfortable fit. Of the three colours I really like the black, which are accented with silver rings. Being the in-ear type of headphone, comfort is very important. Out of all the earphones I have tried, these win... Read review

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