Hi-Fi World, November 2007
AT3500
‘If ever there was any doubt about this ‘Johnny Come Lately’ to the CD player market, it was assuaged after two bars of ‘Riders’ by The Doors. The Astin Trew threw out a massive soundstage, better than all others including the superb Cambridge, and (in the case of the latter) instead of hanging everything around the plane of the speakers, it was cavernous front to back, as well as left to right. The smiles didn’t end there either, as the AT3500 duly went through each other player’s strengths, delivering them a nonchalant cuffing. In some cases, it didn’t so much beat them, as whip them without breaking into a sweat.’
Awarded five Globes by Hi-Fi World magazine.
‘And the winner is… the Astin Trew AT3500. This surprised me frankly – although we all liked its cheaper AT3000 brother here at Hi-Fi World, it’s one thing doing a good £600 machine and another mixing it with this lot. In the AT3500, we have – basically – the best of all worlds. It has the width and sweetness of the Cambridge Audio, the depth of the Cyrus, the rhythmic drive of the Quad, and the wide shouldered bombast of the Marantz. The result is an extremely listenable bit of kit that has virtually no weak points and plenty of strengths. Whatever music you play on it is big hearted yet subtle and sweet too.’