If we were to sum up 2025 in terms of the hifi we’ve heard and experienced, our overriding word would be epic. We’ve had so many great products, releases and experiences to savour that 2026 has got big boots to fill.
From top flight amps to some seriously good loudspeakers of all shapes and sizes, we’ve welcomed some game-changing gear. And as we saw in 2024, analogue. continues to buck the trend by keeping its place firmly set at hifi’s top table.
Here’s what’s stood out for us the most, as we count down our best hifi of the year.
Categories
Best integrated amplifier
Best pre and power amplifiers
Best turntable
Best cartridge
Best phono stage
Best digital product
Best active loudspeaker
Best affordable standmount loudspeaker
Best standmount loudspeaker
Best affordable floorstanding loudspeaker
Best floorstanding loudspeaker
Best hi-end floorstanding loudspeaker
Best subwoofer
Best headphones
Best interconnect cable
Best loudspeaker cable
Best classic hifi
Outstanding product of 2025
Best integrated amplifier
AVID Accent
AVID’s Accent is analogue only, and proudly so, because to quote company head honcho Conrad Mas “we don’t build in obsolescence”.
And speaking of build, this thing makes most tanks feel flimsy, while sporting only the features you actually need. It also happens to sound wonderful (especially via its internal phono stage), in an understated hi-end package. Refreshingly simple and reassuringly excellent.
Best pre and power amplifiers
Primare PRE35 Prisma and A35.2
If you want a no holds barred amplifier pairing then look no further than Primare’s finest. Oodles of proprietary power, a raft of features that’ll last well into the future and the ability to drive partnering gear at any price. And if you double up the power amps to mono mode, then things get even better.
Best turntable
MoFi MasterDeck
Master of analogue audio MoFi just keeps finding the sweet spot of retro inspired audio gear with serious hi-end pedigree, and the MasterDeck epitomises this.
Designed by vinyl guru Allen Perkins and combining an intelligent speed control system with cutting edge tonearm and cartridge, it sounds as good as it looks.
Best cartridge
AVID Ionic
Last year it was AVID’s excellent Nexus tonearm that captivated our ears, and going back for more led us to its excellent Ionic moving-coil cartridge.
One of the best built and sounding MCs we’ve heard, regardless of price, and truly deserving of our top spot.
Best phono stage
MoFi MasterPhono
You can’t have one without the other, because MoFi’s MasterPhono deserves to be thoroughly celebrated in its own right.
Not only does it look a million bucks like it’s partnering vinyl spinner, it’s also highly accomplished, boasting a dizzying range of settings and enough inputs to service three decks at once. Did we mention it sounds sublime?
Best digital product
Rotel Michi Q5
A contender for the best CD player on the market under ten grand and with a DAC can be accessed externally, the Q5 is CD done to the standard we’ve come to expect from Rotel’s Michi range.
There’s no onboard streamer, which means there’s less scope for obsolescence, while also showcasing how good CD can still sound, for which Rotel should be applauded.
Best active loudspeaker
ATC SCM20 ASL
Last year ATC’s big passive standmounts earned one of our annual gongs, and this year the Gloucestershire based expert breathed active life into its demure SCM20 bookshelf model. We were bowled over by how good a compact proposition these this speaker is.
As a space saving near field monitor, it’s without compromise, just add a preamp for a glorious audio experience.
Best affordable standmount loudspeaker
Q Acoustics 3020c
With their curved cabinets and tech laden in-house drivers, these speakers scream great value for money, and pack more style than many brands’ offerings at three times the price. So good Lee photographed them outside, just to impress the neighbours.
Best standmount loudspeaker
Monitor Audio Gold 100 6G
A true three-way design which includes MA’s cutting-edge MPD III diaphragm high frequency unit, the 100 6G delivered one of the most enjoyable and insightful sounds our Contributing Editor had heard in quite some time, and take our standmount top spot for 2025.
Best affordable floorstanding loudspeaker
Acoustic Energy AE320²
Proudly displaying a redesigned front baffle and improved bass response, Acoustic Energy has been making quite an impression across the industry with its new AE320² floorstander, and having heard it, it’s easy to see why.
So good we said it could be the best value floorstander of the year back in October, and it’s more than lived up to that title.
Best floorstanding loudspeaker
MoFi SourcePoint V10 Master Edition
MoFi’s SourcePoint 888 announced itself as quite some floorstander when it came to us back in January, award-winning in fact, and it would have easily made this list. But then the Master Edition V10 arrived and upstaged it.
Because while the 888 sets the standard for big mid to hi-end floorstanders, the V10 whacks the ball out of the park and into the next village. It’s big and bold by loudspeaker standards, and also brilliant.
Best hi-end floorstanding loudspeaker
Perlisten S7t Limited Edition
We could have labelled this category the “We Can But Dream Award”, as few of us can drop £30k on a loudspeaker. But if we could these would be pulling at our wallet’s heartstrings, as we’ve heard few loudspeakers this accomplished, at any price.
Best subwoofer
Monitor Audio Vestra W10
This accolade typically goes to hi-end / low frequency deliverers, but so impressed were we by how much mature bass bang for your buck this pumps out that it’s more than worthy of praise.
If you’ve a budget or compact system and are looking to add more oomph and articulation, then the W10 is an absolute bargain.
Best headphones
Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2
We do wish Bowers & Wilkins would stop doing this. As no sooner had we fallen for its Px7 S3 cans in early summer, it then went on to take its top flight Px8 model to S2 status, with all the goodies of the Px7 S3 and then some.
Both are excellent at their prices (I could quite easily live with the cheaper model day to day), but the Px8 S2 is just that bit better in every respect. How Bowers can better it in a future generation I don’t know…
Best interconnect cable
Kimber PBJ
A welcome return for one of the most highly regarded and most recognisable affordable interconnect cables of modern times. From the looks to the build and the sound, we loved what this cable brought to our midprice system and can’t recommend it enough. Good to have you back!
Best loudspeaker cable
Chord SignatureXL
Reference systems deserve reference cables, and that’s exactly what this is, as a step into Chord’s big league that will get the best from your treasured hifi.
Exquisitely engineered, it also works exceptionally well over long cable runs, which to our ears is a true test of quality
Best classic hifi
Pink Triangle Export GTi
Our Editor needed little excuse to wax lyrical about his treasured PT, and exploring i’s history gave a fascinating window into the decks of decades gone.
An underrated classic which highlights why hifi is as much about the community as it is the hardware.
Outstanding product of 2025
You take five 10″ drivers, an established design approach and let loose one of most accomplished loudspeaker designers of recent times in Andrew Jones and this is the result, MoFi’s SourcePoint V10 Master Edition.
It’ a game changer of a product in our opinion and challenges what’s possible from a loudspeaker for under ten grand (and then some) and should be fully celebrated for bucking the slimline trend. It’s an astounding loudspeaker, making it our outstanding product of 2025. A true reference.
