If you’re looking for snake oil, Hi-Fi audio companies will happily sell it to you by the gallon. From expensive plugs to cleanse your power supply, to little gizmos to lift your cables off the ground ...

Towards the start of the year we were very pleased with Philips' boffins, who hammered together the MCD908. Not only was it an attractive hi-fi for under £300, but one that had an integrated ...