Hyphn has landed

Unique and unparalleled

Hotly anticipated and finally here, the Hyphn from Monitor Audio are imposing beasts, but the sound from them so far is hard to ignore. Smooth and easy to listen to right out of the box (or travel cases in this case), to say we're impressed is an understatement. 

Unlike anything Monitor Audio has created before, we were perhaps a little unsure about what to expect. But it's safe to say that the fruits of their 'Transparent Design Philosophy' represent a new level in home audio.

At first it's a litte unusual not to be faced with a row of drivers as you'd expect from a traditional speaker design. In fact, avoiding the traditional look was one of the original goals of the Hyphn design team. Hyphn instead uses a unique M-array configuration which is a single transducer surrounded by six dedicated midrange drivers. These drivers appear acoustically as a single source, creating a very detailed sound field, with stereo audio delivered to the best possible capability, with huge depth of sound.

The MPD III high frequency transducer at the centre of the M-array the provides precision and clarity, allowing the listener to enjoy levels of accuracy and detail beyond anything they've experienced before. The MPD III Transducer delivers a larger, clearer, and more consistent sound and was developed by Monitor Audio’s acoustic engineers as part of Monitor Audio’s 50th Anniversary celebrations.

Innovation is continued into the bass frequencies with no fewer than eight, powerful 8-inch bass drivers – four precisely positioned, and rigidly secured within each Hyphn cabinet. In a move that makes perfect sense and makes you wonder why it's not an industry standard, bass drivers are arranged in facing pairs. The reaction force of one will be the same as the other – equal and opposite. This means there is little or no vibration force from the drivers, either within themselves or passed through into the cabinets. Monitor Audio claims the result is a cabinet that is almost vibration free, with all the listener hearing is the sound; pure, clean and detailed. We'd be hard pushed to disagree.

The fit and finish of the Hyphn cabinets is up to Monitor Audio's usual exceptional standard. Constructed of thermoformed mineral and acrylic stone which is then precision milled to leave a totally rigid structure that provides the perfect platform from which the drive units can operate. Our set finished in Pure Satin White looks even more impressive than we'd expected, and we have no doubt the Matte Black or Matte Heritage green options are equally as jaw dropping.