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Vandersteen room; unbelievable sound from the beautiful new 7s.
Another Consumer Electronics Show has come and gone with thousands of new audio products announced. What stood out for you at the 2009 CES?
Zu audio lost their sex and look like they are willing to get married to a nice, stable & reliable gal. High-end manufacturers where caught cold by the crisis and will have to dump their five and six figure "audio" components into the pond at the Venetian.
I was a CES virgin. This was my first-ever trip. With the exception of the massiveness and the usual eye candy and toys, I guess the whole "green" electronics thing really stood out for me. The majority of the industry seems to all of a sudden gotten a conscience. Well, that and Friday nights trip to Rick's Cabaret. Don't get me started.
Easy. The Peachtree Audio Nova integrated amplifier. High-current amp section for driving those cool but not particularly efficient mini-monitors, a class A tube preamp section, a HT bypass, a port for a Sonos wireless hub, and a spectacular, 11 regulated power supplies to keep noise down, and world class DAC. All for $1199.
Lots of cables circulating all around the show report. As there is a big economical crisis, people will prefer not to make frequent changes which are costly and will try to continue tuning by cables which are mostly fed by pure (at least 99.9999% pure) snake oil. Lets see how many 9s will be added to the decimal part this year to have further enjoyment. I decided to check cable manufacturers websites for enjoyment to read funny claims for the proof of unbeliveably high prices. I recommend revolutionary cable manufacturers (in other words snake oil sellers) to transfer some of the money to mental clinics as funds and announce it in their websites (which will provide benefits for the customer victims during warranty period). 1 hour of free psychologist appointment provided with each cable purchase (which are exceeding 1000-USD sales price) which will be provided by aggreed local psychologists.
I guess high-end audio is just a mature product, but what always strikes me about these shows is how little innovation so many of the manufacturers actually demonstrate. Most of these over-priced products represent only slight tweaks on decades-old designs, and for this, the manufacturers expect to charge super premium prices. And no, adding an iPod dock to your product line does not make you innovative.
I guess it doesn't have any impact or bearing on audiophiles unless used in conjunction with a music server, but the bendable OLED screens were just too neat. Can't really think of a needed application, but coolness factor was off the charts!
Ohh, those new Clarity Audio Pillows. No one should do without a couple of pairs! I wonder what's going through some manufacturers minds? Do they think they can fools us? And the answer is: they do and they can. Silly us. Now, seriously, where's the Consumer Rights Police?
The Magico V2 with CAT JL2 amp was the most engaging sound I heard, I found it very difficult to leave the room! Honorable mention also goes to the new Avalon Aspect with ARC components and to the Mark and Daniel speakers over at THE Show