August 2011 issue on sale now!

Are iPod docks the new breed of compact hi-fi? That's the question we ask ourselves in the August issue of What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision, on sale today.

Are iPod docks the new breed of compact hi-fi? That's the question we ask ourselves in the August issue of What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision, on sale today.

Five premium docks go head-to-head in our Group Test: last year's Award-winning Arcam rDock, B&W's brand-new Zeppelin Air, the Bose SoundDock 10 (which has had a price cut), Geneva's Model M and the Philips Fidelio Primo DS9010.

Has the Arcam rDock finally met its match? All is revealed.

Audio streaming systems
It's not only docks that are reshaping the face of hi-fi: audio streaming is all the rage, and we've got our hands on two all-in-one streaming systems, the new Cyrus Streamline vs Naim's UnitiQute.

And in The Big Question we ask three readers: "Does music streaming sound the death knell for the CD player?"

Watch our August 2011 vidcast

If you need a pair of budget speakers to give your existing hi-fi a boost, we test four budget models (£180-£210) from Acoustic Energy, Boston Acoustics, Dali and Mission.

At the other end of the price spectrum, our Temptation section this month features top-of-the-range speakers from Tannoy, PMC and Analysis Audio.

Premium Blu-ray players
Switching to home cinema (but still with a musical theme), we've finally managed to group together four premium Blu-ray players that promise superb movie and music playback.

So Arcam's BDP100 takes on Cambridge Audio's 751BD, Marantz's UD7006 and Oppo's BDP-95EU. Find out which one gets our vote.

And in this month's Supertest we pit six large, 50-5in smart 3D TVs against each other, with prices starting from just £710. That's amazing value.

Finally, we've got 11-pages of First Tests, packed with the hottest new kit, including Sony's flagship KDL-46HX923 3D internet TV, Cambridge Audio's NP30 network streamer, Samsung's Galaxy S II smartphone, Sony's BDP-S780 Blu-ray player and Panasonic's DMR-BWT700 Blu-ray recorder.

All this and more is in the August issue of What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision, on sale now. And don't forget you can download our digital edition for just £2.99 + VAT.

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Andy Clough

Andy is Global Brand Director of What Hi-Fi? and has been a technology journalist for 30 years. During that time he has covered everything from VHS and Betamax, MiniDisc and DCC to CDi, Laserdisc and 3D TV, and any number of other formats that have come and gone. He loves nothing better than a good old format war. Andy edited several hi-fi and home cinema magazines before relaunching whathifi.com in 2008 and helping turn it into the global success it is today. When not listening to music or watching TV, he spends far too much of his time reading about cars he can't afford to buy.