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REVIEW

HI-FI WORLD MARCH 2022 www.hi-fiworld.co.uk

eceivers with glori-

ously illuminated tuning

scales – Rotel did some

beauties – left us long

ago. Or so I thought,

until Blue Aura’s Blue 1

arrived for review. We all have to

be disappointed there is no tuning

scale nor a giant tuning knob to go

with it, but it does have VHF/FM

radio for all those who are happy

to surf the air waves, using mod

ern-fangled buttons and pre-sets.

It has so much more though, as I’ll

explain, in a compact package that

costs – wait for it – just £399.

You may suspect straight

away there must be some serious

compromises but no, there were

not. It may not set the world alight

in some areas, but it was beyond

my expectations. The amplifier

for example delivers a firm 77W,

measuring superbly (see Measured

Performance). No sign of crossover

distortion nor anything like it,

something budget amps suffer from.

Out Of The

Blue

Suddenly a receiver with VHF/FM radio, DAB and much else arrives from Blue Aura.

Noel Keywood tunes in.

HI-FI WORLD

Summary of content (4 pages)

PAGE 1
REVIEW HI-FI WORLD Out Of The Blue Suddenly a receiver with VHF/FM radio, DAB and much else arrives from Blue Aura. Noel Keywood tunes in. R eceivers with gloriously illuminated tuning scales – Rotel did some beauties – left us long ago. Or so I thought, until Blue Aura’s Blue 1 arrived for review.
PAGE 2
REVIEW This one was as clean as a whistle. Although the presence of VHF/FM radio suggests Blue Aura have targeted oldies looking for something that will magically revive the Home Service, that’s not so. If it was so, then there would be a Phono stage for LP replay – but there isn’t. Where a simple MM phono stage has these days become almost obligatory as vinyl sales continue upward, there’s no such option here. Instead vinylistas must plug an external phono preamp into the Aux 1 analogue input.
PAGE 3
REVIEW HI-FI WORLD just not indicating it. The aerial socket is an F connector designed to accept solid-core co-axial cable with a simple clamp; an adaptor is needed to accept co-axial (BellingLee) plugs. With 40 presets it’s best to select a preset rather than manually tune. And the wire aerial supplied is proportioned for DAB, not VHF/FM; a slightly bigger aerial is needed for best reception of the latter.
PAGE 4
REVIEW HI-FI WORLD A master power switch at top left. At top centre an F connector for VHF/FM / DAB aerial. The wire aerial supplied is optimised for DAB. As always, a loft or external aerial is needed for best results. surprises, in this case I was listening to Radio 2 and learned that Hendrix and The Beatles played there (should've known that!). CONCLUSION Blue Aura’s Blue 1 receiver was for me a total success.