A solid option if you want to upgrade your sound without spending a small fortune
Network streamer | £549 | whf.cm/700N_Play
Audiolab has an impressive track record with regard to well-priced music streamers, stereo amps and other wallet-friendly hi-fi designed to give musical satisfaction for a sensible price.
The 7000N sits relatively low down on the network-streamer price scale, no bad thing considering how impressed we have been with the refinement and insight of Audiolab’s current entry offering, the 6000N Play. That budget streamer gained a What Hi-Fi? Award a few years ago (tested at £449), so we are hopeful a similar trick can be repeated with the slightly more costly 7000N.
Audiolab’s 7000N Play network streamer arrives as part of the new 7000 range consisting of the 7000A amplifier, the 7000CDT CD transport and the streamer itself. While the brand’s impressive lineage and pedigree give us reason to be hopeful regarding the new model, there is certainly tough competition at this level courtesy of the Award-winning Bluesound Node and the recently introduced Cambridge Audio MXN10.
If you are choosing the 7000N Play music streamer over the 6000N, you will probably want to know what you are getting over the cheaper model. The 6000N comes equipped with optical, coaxial and an RCA line output, and it’s a similar story when you go around the back of the 7000N. The 7000N Play is kitted out with the ESS Sabre ES9038Q2M DAC, a step up on the 6000A’s ES9018K2M.
Aesthetically, the 7000N Play doesn’t exactly take many risks. It’s a broad, rectangular unit without many flourishes or add-ons, although you do get a full-colour display with a Graphical User Interface so that you can control and change things such as brightness, display time-out, 12V trigger function and language.
Portal problems
There is a volume control accessible through the remote which you can use either with an integrated amp or a pre-power, but which can also be plugged directly into a pair of active speakers for a more minimalist set-up. The supplied remote lets you control volume, mute, track skipping, standby and menu access, as well as on-the-fly model selection if you also own the 7000A and 7000CDT CD transport.
As with the older 6000N, this new streamer uses the DTS Play-Fi app to access a variety of sources including Spotify, Deezer, Tidal, Qobuz and SiriusXM, while the addition of AirPlay 2 brings an improvement over the older 6000N model. The app works reasonably well in some respects, but we find it not to be as responsive or likeable as other platforms, while th
