''What Hi-Fi?'' is a magazine published thirteen times a year by

Future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...

. It is a buying guide for consumer electronics, featuring news, reviews and features on hi-fi,

home cinema Home cinema, also called home theaters or theater rooms, are home entertainment audio-visual systems that seek to reproduce a movie theater experience and mood using consumer electronics-grade video and audio equipment that is set up in a roo ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

and

home audio Home audio systems are audio electronics intended for home entertainment use, such as shelf stereos, music centres and surround sound receivers. Home audio generally does not include standard equipment such as built-in television speakers, but ra ...

. The brand also has a website
whathifi.com
These product categories include stereo speakers, TVs, amplifiers, headphones, soundbars, projectors, tablets and turntables. Brands features on the website and magazine cover include

Bowers & Wilkins Bowers & Wilkins, commonly known as B&W, is a British company that produces consumer and professional loudspeakers and headphones. B&W was founded in 1966 by John Bowers in Worthing, West Sussex, England. In October 2020, B&W was acquired by ...

KEF Kef may refer to: Places *El Kef (also transliterated as ''Al-Kāf'' or ''Le Kef''), a city in northwestern Tunisia *Kef Governorate, Tunisia Others *''Aram Bajakian's Kef'', a 2011 album by guitarist Aram Bajakian * ISO 639:kef or Ewe language ...

Naim Naim (also spelled Na'im, Nayeem, Naeem, Naiem, Nahim, Naheem, Nyhiem, Nihiem, Nyheim, Niheem, or Nahiem) ( ar, نعیم, he, נעים) is a male given name and surname. Notable persons with the name include: *Naim ibn Hammad (died 843 AD), H ...

, LG and

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

. Reviews are written in-house at dedicated testing facilities, currently found in London, Reading and Bath. The magazine has nine international editions, and its publisher claims that its total readership is in excess of one million per issue. The ''What Hi-Fi?'' website has a consistently updated library of audio and video hardware reviews, plus news, features, advice and opinion from the editorial team. In the course of 2017, the website reached over 24 million unique users. ''What Hi-Fi?'' was sold to

Future Publishing Future plc is an international multimedia company established in the United Kingdom in 1985. The company has over 220 brands that span magazines, newsletters, websites, and events in fields such as video games, technology, films, music, photogr ...

by Haymarket in multi-brand deal for £14m.

History

The first issue of ''What Hi-Fi?'' magazine was published by

Haymarket Media Group Haymarket Media Group is a privately held media company headquartered in London. It has publications in the consumer, business and customer sectors, both print and online. It operates exhibitions allied to its own publications, and previously o ...

in the UK in 1976, costing 35p and promising to be “the only magazine to list and price every available hi-fi unit”. The magazine was focused on hi-fi equipment for a mainstream audience, recommending turntables and cartridges for people to use at home, but also covered “Sound & Vision” products, including the first Video Recorder machines.

Brand extensions

What Hi-Fi? Awards

The What Hi-Fi? Awards began in 1983 and have announced the brand's favourite products of the year with a special issue of the magazine, the Awards issue. The What Hi-Fi? Awards are also announced and hosted on the website. In 2022, the What Hi-Fi? Awards featured 109 winners across 26 product categories.

Hall of Fame

A selection of the brand's favourite products of all time are also presented in the What Hi-Fi? Hall of Fame, which includes products launched in 1976 and right up until the present day. Notable products include the Linn LP12 turntable, the Sony

Walkman Walkman, stylised as , is a brand of portable audio players manufactured and marketed by Japanese technology company Sony since 1979. The original Walkman was a portable cassette player and its popularity made "walkman" an unofficial term for ...

, Acoustic Energy AE1 speakers, Mission Cyrus One amplifier, Sennheiser HD600 headphones,

Sky+ The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In th ...

Sonos SONOS, short for "silicon–oxide–nitride–oxide–silicon", more precisely, " polycrystalline silicon"—"silicon dioxide"—"silicon nitride"—"silicon dioxide"—"silicon", is a cross sectional structure of MOSFET (metal-oxide-semiconduc ...

, the Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin wireless speaker, the Apple iPhone,

Pioneer Kuro Kuro was the brand name that Pioneer Corporation used for its line of high-definition plasma televisions. "Kuro" means black in Japanese. History At the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show, Pioneer unveiled its "Ultimate Black" Kuro. The Kuro's plasm ...

plasma TVs, the Naim Mu-so, KEF LS50 Wireless speaker system and the Sony WH-1000XM4 wireless headphones.

Australian hi-fi magazines

In 2020, the website began hosting reviews and features written by ''Australian Hi-Fi'' and ''Sound+Image'' magazines, following their acquisition by Future.

References

External links

* {{Future plc Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom Music magazines published in the United Kingdom Science and technology magazines published in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 1976 2018 mergers and acquisitions