A month after revealing the 107 Best Buy winners of the What Hi-Fi? Awards 2023, in association with Sevenoaks Sound and Vision, we have today decorated 26 of them – one from each product category – with the even more prestigious Product of the Year accolade at our annual awards ceremony in London.
Product of the Year winners represent the very best products across all the review categories we cover, from TVs to turntables, speakers to streamers, and everything in between.
The full list of 26 Product of the Year winners can be found below, as can the winners of our five special awards: the Readers’ Award, Temptation Award, Innovation of the Year Award, Outstanding Contribution Award and the 2023 addition to the What Hi-Fi? Hall of Fame. And remember, the special Awards issue of the magazine will be on sale from tomorrow (Thursday 16th November), both in shops and online.
Sony was one of the big winners on the night, with the brand collecting no fewer than five Product of the Year Awards.
It started with a three-peat win for its HT-A7000 Dolby Atmos soundbar and followed this up with a gong for its fantastic VPL-XW5000ES 4K projector.
Next up for Sony was the hugely popular wireless headphones category, where the stunning WF-C700N were the pick for Product of the Year thanks to their stunning blend of performance and value.
But Sony wasn’t finished there. It also walked away with the coveted TV Product of the Year Award thanks to its performance per pound champion, the A80L OLED and the Japanese giant still found time for one more trip to the podium for its breathtaking TA-AN1000 home cinema amplifier.
It was also a huge night and return to form for Arcam, who found its recent new range of hi-fi separates responsible for not one but two Product of the Year Award-winners. One trophy went to its wonderful CD5 CD player, while the other recognised the brilliance of its A5 stereo amplifier. Both products were huge hits among our review team in 2023.
And speaking of Arcam, it gave us great pleasure to hand our Outstanding Contribution Award to John Dawson, one of the founding fathers of a brand that had a leading role in bringing DAB to market and was an early entrant into the nascent home-cinema market. John is something of an unsung giant of the industry who, like his company’s products, hides huge technical ability behind a quiet, unassuming exterior.
Cambridge Audio also had a very successful night at the What Hi-Fi? Awards with its music steamers picking up multiple trophies. Not only was MXN10 our music streamer Product of the Year, but it also turned out to be a firm favourite with our audience, taking home the Readers’ Award too.
We also cleared a spot in the What Hi-Fi? Hall of Fame for the company’s much-loved CXN (V2) streamer. It’s the first music streamer to be added and has consistently delivered a level of performance above and beyond its rivals ever since it launched way back in 2017.
A big year for Sonos ended with the company winning Product of the Year for its multi-room offering as a whole and for the Era 300 which made a big impact in the wireless speaker market this year.
In the world of turntables, Pro-Ject repeated 2022’s success with a Product of the Year Award for its excellent Debut Pro, beating off excellent competition from Technics and Vertere.
Røde made quite the splash in 2023 with its first consumer-friendly pair of wired headphones, the brilliant NTH-100, and capped off a spectacular performance by picking up a Product of the Year Award in the wired headphones category, holding off some esteemed competition from the likes of Grado and Shure.
Yamaha’s high-end YH-5000SE headphones blew us away with their desirability and sound quality, making them an easy choice for our special Temptation Award. They are not cheap, but we urge you to take a listen and you’ll hear what all the fuss is about.
One of the biggest Product Of the Year Awards of the night, standmount speakers, went to Bowers & Wilkins for the outstanding 607 S3, which set a new benchmark at their particular price point this year.
Switch from two-channel to multi-channel and the British brand also walked away with an award for its room-shaking 606 & 607 S3 speaker package.
The floorstanding speakers category wasn’t short of quality contenders this year, with Wharfedale, Spendor and PMC all battling it out. But, it was the new Q Acoustics 5040 that blew us away enough to secure Product of the Year.
Hi-fi separates are great, but if convenience is king in your household, then Product of the Year in the all-in-one systems category will be of interest – this year’s winner was once again the flexible and fantastic-sounding Technics SA-C600.
2023 has seen the emergence of a new TV technology that manages to push the limits of OLED. LG Display’s Micro Lens Array adds millions of microscopic lenses over a WOLED panel to direct light towards the viewer and boosts existing light levels to higher levels than we have seen previously. It works brilliantly and as a result, picks up our Innovation of the Year Award.
Apple returns to take three Awards in 2023. It picked up a Product of the Year in the smartphone category thanks to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, but didn’t stop there. The Apple 4K TV did enough to keep it at the top of the video streamer game, while the 10th Gen Apple iPad, delivers a sensational AV experience packed into a slick design, and wins the Product of the Year in the tablet category.
And that’s all, folks – well, nearly. You can see all 26 Product of the Year winners and those who took home our five special awards below. Congratulations to all the winning brands of both Best Buy and Product of the Year trophies, and happy browsing (and, let’s face it, shopping), dear readers!
All 26 What Hi-Fi? 2022 Product of the Year winners
Best TV
Sony A80L
Best soundbar
Sony HT-A7000
Best standmount speaker
Bowers & Wilkins 607 S3
Best floorstanding speaker
Q Acoustics 5040
Best turntable
Pro-Ject Debut Pro
Best wireless speaker
Sonos Era 300
Best wired headphones
Røde NTH-100
Best wireless headphones
Sony WF-C700N
Best Blu-ray player
Panasonic DP-UB820EB
Best projector
Sony VPL-XW5000ES
Best music streamer
Cambridge Audio MXN10
Best CD player
Arcam CD5
Best radio
Ruark Audio R2 Mk4
Best speaker package
Bowers & Wilkins 606 & 607 S3 speaker package
Best tablet
Apple iPad
Best video streamer
Apple TV 4K
Best stereo amplifier
Arcam A5
Best home cinema amplifier
Sony TA-AN1000
Best accessory
Rega Fono MM Mk5
Best set-top box
Sky Q
Best DAC
Chord Mojo 2
Best multi-room system
Sonos
Best smartphone
Apple iPhone 15 Pro Max
Best portable music player
Astell & Kern A&norma SR35
Best system
Technics SA-C600
Best streaming service
Disney+
The five What Hi-Fi? 2023 special awards
Readers’ Award
Cambridge Audio MXN10
Hall of Fame
Cambridge Audio CXN (V2)
Innovation of the Year
LG Display Micro Lens Array
Temptation
Yamaha YH-5000SE
Outstanding Contribution
John Dawson
Laura Adams is a tech enthusiast residing in the UK. Her articles cover the latest technological innovations, from AI to consumer gadgets, providing readers with a glimpse into the future of technology.
