And yes, they do spell it like that.

Funny how the 'critical mass' thing seems to work. We've been aware of a high regard for Chord Sarum cables for a while now but our acquired phobia for high end cables has held us back. This one, we kept being told, is different. The voices enthusing were from respected individuals and it got to the point that we could ignore it no longer.

We have had a listening session and I am sorry to report that it is actually very, very good. For Naim owners, the DIN interconnect is a particular joy, representing (to our ears at least) a dramatic step up from the (much cheaper) Naim Hi-Line.

A week ago we had the dem. This week we have the the arrival of cables that need 200+ hours of run-in. Strangely, they seem pretty impressive straight from the box. Changing the jumper leads on the Kudos Titans from NAC-A5 to Sarum has had a profound effect. When using NAC-A5 to the Titans, the standard Chord Signature seems 'wrong'. Now the boot is on the other foot, so to speak. During last weeks dem the speaker cables struck us as requiring an element of acclimatisation. This week it is so much more straightforward. The mains one seem to work rather well too.

Oh dear, oh dear . . .

Review watchers will have spotted that the new Linn Kiko networked audio system has really hit the spot.

The shocking news is that it actually does sound very fine indeed. Few speakers of this size can manage the combination of scale, bass weight, clarity and refinement that this little package brings together.

The amplifier / streamer / control unit need not even be seen, since all the controlling can be done via an 'app' on PC, iPad or iPhone / touch, even Android. It can be positioned horizontally as shown or vertically, where the whole system can be lost within a shelf of books.

All casework is in anodised extruded aluminium and there is a choice of colours. Read more on the Linn site.

We love it, but ignore what we say.

Read the latest review here.

London based Trilogy have been around, quietly, since 1992. The products are designed by Nic Poulson and they are one of the small band of UK manufacturers who build their products in the United Kingdom.

We were tipped off by an industry insider that their 907 phono stage was something special and, glory be, it actually is. It's a two box affair with a separate PSU unit. It has switchable loadings and it is probably the best two grand (ish) phono stage you can buy.

We bought a demonstration sample of the phono stage and started perusing the rest of the range. The 933 headphone amp has been judged in a recent review to be pretty much as good as it gets. You can tell quite a bit about a company from their low level electronics, so we have now decided to try the a full pre - power amp combo.

It's early days but suffice it to say that this appears to be revalatory stuff. Never been smitten quite this quickly before . . . and it's got tubes in it. Yikes. 909 preamp pictured above.