buying guide
Key
W = Sound+Image Award Product of the Year HC = Sound+Image Award Highly Commended
WELCOME
Our buying guide is based on the Sound+Image Awards presented each year, highlighting the very best value products at each price level. We list the latest winners from our recent 2022 Awards, along with the best winners still available from previous awards. For more details, see the full Awards issue.
Projectors
In a dedicated or darkened room, projectors deliver bigscreen images of which even the largest TVs can only dream. There are four ‘ranks’ in the market - portable models of relatively low resolution, full-HD projectors, those which deliver UHD by pixel-shifting, and those with genuine native 4K resolution. Here are our current award-winners.
BENQ GV30
W2022 ∕ $999 ∕ www.benq.com.au
Very neat, very clever, and impressively portable, BenQ’s little GV30 is an excellent way to get your bigscreen entertainment rolling.
BENQ TK700STi
W2022 ∕ $2599 ∕ www.benq.com.au
Built for big-screen gaming, this BenQ projector’s smooth, bright and colourful UHD imagine is also fab for movies and TV viewing.
EPSON EH-TW7100
W2021 ∕ $2899 ∕ www.epson.com.au
An attractive price for a bigscreen Epson delivering the company’s 3LCD colour brightness and ‘4K Pro UHD’ imaging.
EPSON EH-TW9400
W2021 ∕ $4999 ∕ www.epson.com.au
We awarded the early wireless version (the 9400W), but this is the same projector without that connection, using Epson’s ‘4K Pro UHD’ imaging to deliver a 4K signal to the big screen.
SONY VPL-VW590ES
W2022 ∕ $11,999 ∕ www.audioactive.com.au
Native 4K panels (hence the price jump) and excellent TV-style processing combine to make Sony’s top lamp-based 4K projector shine.
SONY VPL-VW790ES
W2021 ∕ $22,995 ∕ www.audioactive.com.au
Native 4K again, and adding laser light sources quoted at 20,000 hours life. For better-than- cinema quality at home, look no further.
Streaming music players
A difficult category to define, since streaming now appears in all manner of product from amps and receivers to DACs and headphone amps. Here we’ve included three award-winners that didn’t slot in anywhere else! They’re not just for Spotify; these streamers handle high resolution files from the internet or your network for the highest of performance.
MATRIX AUDIO ELEMENT i
W2022 ∕ $1699 ∕ addictedtoaudio.com.au
The element i is a super-neat streamer, Roon endpoint, digital preamp and headphone amp with excellent audio quality however you use it.
NAIM UNITI ATOM HE
W2022 ∕ $4299 ∕ www.busisoft.com.au
Catering to headphone lovers while doubling as a top-quality streaming preamp which excels either standalone or at the heart of a system.
LUMIN U1 MINI
W2021 ∕ $3290 ∕ www.audiomagic.com.au
This digital renderer of streaming music is about a third of the price of the non-’Mini’ version, yet the performance is still magical.
Systems & wireless speakers
All-in-one solutions: here are our award picks of portable Bluetooth speakers, home lifestyle wireless systems, also active speakers with a highly hi-fi sound along with
