A month after revealing the 107 Best Buy winners of the What Hi-Fi? Awards 2023, in affiliation with Sevenoaks Sound and Vision, now we have right this moment adorned 26 of them – one from every product class – with the much more prestigious Product of the Year accolade at our annual awards ceremony in London.
Product of the Year winners characterize the best merchandise throughout all the evaluate classes we cowl, from TVs to turntables, audio system to streamers, and all the pieces in between.
The full listing of 26 Product of the Year winners could be discovered under, as can the winners of our 5 particular awards: the Readers’ Award, Temptation Award, Innovation of the Year Award, Outstanding Contribution Award and the 2023 addition to the What Hi-Fi? Hall of Fame. And bear in mind, the particular Awards problem of the journal might be on sale from tomorrow (Thursday 16th November), each in retailers and on-line.
Sony was one of the large winners on the night time, with the model amassing no fewer than 5 Product of the Year Awards.
It began with a three-peat win for its HT-A7000 Dolby Atmos soundbar and adopted this up with a gong for its incredible VPL-XW5000ES 4K projector.
Next up for Sony was the vastly well-liked wi-fi headphones class, the place the gorgeous WF-C700N had been the decide for Product of the Year due to their gorgeous mix of efficiency and worth.
But Sony wasn’t completed there. It additionally walked away with the coveted TV Product of the Year Award due to its efficiency per pound champion, the A80L OLED and the Japanese large nonetheless discovered time for another journey to the podium for its breathtaking TA-AN1000 dwelling cinema amplifier.
It was additionally an enormous night time and return to kind for Arcam, who discovered its current new vary of hi-fi separates accountable for not one however two Product of the Year Award-winners. One trophy went to its fantastic CD5 CD participant, whereas the different recognised the brilliance of its A5 stereo amplifier. Both merchandise had been big hits amongst our evaluate crew in 2023.
And talking of Arcam, it gave us nice pleasure at hand our Outstanding Contribution Award to John Dawson, one of the founding fathers of a model that had a number one function in bringing DAB to market and was an early entrant into the nascent home-cinema market. John is one thing of an unsung large of the business who, like his firm’s merchandise, hides big technical means behind a quiet, unassuming exterior.
Cambridge Audio additionally had a really profitable night time at the What Hi-Fi? Awards with its music steamers selecting up a number of trophies. Not solely was MXN10 our music streamer Product of the Year, nevertheless it additionally turned out to be a agency favorite with our viewers, taking dwelling the Readers’ Award too.
We additionally cleared a spot in the What Hi-Fi? Hall of Fame for the firm’s much-loved CXN (V2) streamer. It’s the first music streamer to be added and has persistently delivered a stage of efficiency above and past its rivals ever because it launched approach again in 2017.
An enormous 12 months for Sonos ended with the firm profitable Product of the Year for its multi-room providing as an entire and for the Era 300 which made a huge impact in the wi-fi speaker market this 12 months.
In the world of turntables, Pro-Ject repeated 2022’s success with a Product of the Year Award for its wonderful Debut Pro, beating off wonderful competitors from Technics and Vertere.
Røde made fairly the splash in 2023 with its first consumer-friendly pair of wired headphones, the sensible NTH-100, and capped off a spectacular efficiency by selecting up a Product of the Year Award in the wired headphones class, holding off some esteemed competitors from the likes of Grado and Shure.
Yamaha’s high-end YH-5000SE headphones blew us away with their desirability and sound high quality, making them a straightforward alternative for our particular Temptation Award. They should not low-cost, however we urge you to take a hear and also you’ll hear what all the fuss is about.
One of the largest Product Of the Year Awards of the night time, standmount audio system, went to Bowers & Wilkins for the excellent 607 S3, which set a brand new benchmark at their explicit worth level this 12 months.
Switch from two-channel to multi-channel and the British model additionally walked away with an award for its room-shaking 606 & 607 S3 speaker package deal.
The floorstanding audio system class wasn’t quick of high quality contenders this 12 months, with Wharfedale, Spendor and PMC all battling it out. But, it was the new Q Acoustics 5040 that blew us away sufficient to safe Product of the Year.
Hi-fi separates are nice, but when comfort is king in your family, then Product of the Year in the all-in-one programs class might be of curiosity – this 12 months’s winner was as soon as once more the versatile and fantastic-sounding Technics SA-C600.
2023 has seen the emergence of a brand new TV expertise that manages to push the limits of OLED. LG Display’s Micro Lens Array provides tens of millions of microscopic lenses over a WOLED panel to direct gentle in direction of the viewer and boosts current gentle ranges to increased ranges than now we have seen beforehand. It works brilliantly and because of this, picks up our Innovation of the Year Award.
Apple returns to take three Awards in 2023. It picked up a Product of the Year in the smartphone class due to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, however did not cease there. The Apple 4K TV did sufficient to maintain it at the high of the video streamer recreation, whereas the 10th Gen Apple iPad, delivers a sensational AV expertise packed right into a slick design, and wins the Product of the Year in the pill class.
And that is all, people – effectively, practically. You can see all 26 Product of the Year winners and those that took dwelling our 5 particular awards under. Congratulations to all the profitable manufacturers of each Best Buy and Product of the Year trophies, and completely happy searching (and, let’s face it, purchasing), pricey readers!
All 26 What Hi-Fi? 2022 Product of the Year winners
Best TV
Sony A80L
Best soundbar
Sony HT-A7000
Best standmount speaker
Bowers & Wilkins 607 S3
Best floorstanding speaker
Q Acoustics 5040
Best turntable
Pro-Ject Debut Pro
Best wi-fi speaker
Sonos Era 300
Best wired headphones
Røde NTH-100
Best wi-fi headphones
Sony WF-C700N
Best Blu-ray participant
Panasonic DP-UB820EB
Best projector
Sony VPL-XW5000ES
Best music streamer
Cambridge Audio MXN10
Best CD participant
Arcam CD5
Best radio
Ruark Audio R2 Mk4
Best speaker package deal
Bowers & Wilkins 606 & 607 S3 speaker package deal
Best pill
Apple iPad
Best video streamer
Apple TV 4K
Best stereo amplifier
Arcam A5
Best dwelling cinema amplifier
Sony TA-AN1000
Best accent
Rega Fono MM Mk5
Best set-top field
Sky Q
Best DAC
Chord Mojo 2
Best multi-room system
Sonos
Best smartphone
Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max
Best moveable music participant
Astell & Kern A&norma SR35
Best system
Technics SA-C600
Best streaming service
Disney+
The 5 What Hi-Fi? 2023 particular awards
Readers’ Award
Cambridge Audio MXN10
Hall of Fame
Cambridge Audio CXN (V2)
Innovation of the Year
LG Display Micro Lens Array
Temptation
Yamaha YH-5000SE
Outstanding Contribution
John Dawson