BBC Focus

INNOVATIONS

WANTED!

GO ONE BETTER

QUAD VA-ONE

Combine the convenience of digital music

withtherich,warmsoundofanalogue with

this new integrated valve ampfrom Quad.

Abuilt-indigital-to-analogue converter(DAC)

turnsdigitalaudiosignalsintoanalogue

beforepassing them on to its high-end, valve-

basedpreamp andtwo 15W power amp stages.

There are coaxial, opticalandUSB as wellas

RCA inputs, andit’llstream musicfrom

digitaldevices using Bluetooth,too.Theprice

tag may lookpretty hefty, but in the bizarre

paralleluniverse of‘truehi-fi’, £1,295 is

actuallyrelativelyaffordable.

£1,295, quad-hifi.co.uk

Dubbed‘the training wheelsfor goodhabits’byitsmakers,

Octopus is a watchandscheduler/personalassistantdesigned

for children aged three to eight. Available in a range of bright,

kid-friendlycolours, thewatchdisplays thetimealongside

relevant,parent-selectedicons(atoothbrushfor 7.30am, a

bowl of cereal for 8am and so on) so that little ’uns don’t just

learn to tellthetime–they get to grips withtheconceptof

time itself.It’salreadysmashedits Indiegogofunding target

15 times over, andwillstart shipping next spring.

$69 (£55 approx), octopus.watch

RIGHT ON TIME

OCTOPUS

Feast

your eyes

on this

4K FOR UNDER £1KRUNDER£1K

HISENSE M7000

While4KUHDoffersfarbetter picture quality than standard

HD, take-up oftheformathasbeen somewhat sluggishdue to

thehighprice of4K sets. Now, though,Chinese manufacturer

Hisense has started selling its 55-inch M7000 ULED TV for

just £799 – an incrediblepricegiventhat thesetalso meets

thenewHDR(highdynamic range)standard,whichwas only

agreedupon earlier this year. There’s also a 65-inch model,

but that’ll set you back a little more at £1,199.

£799/£1,199, hisense.co.uk