LATEST ADDITIONS

Friday was Day One of a three-day show, but I'd already picked my best sound—which I'm quite certain will not be exceeded by listening to any collection of electronic/mechanical contrivances. It was provided by soprano Sophie De Cruz, tenor Eric Thériault, accompanied by Dominique Boulianne on the piano. Standing near the entrance to the bar/restaurant at the Hilton Bonaventure, De Cruz and Thériault, sang arias and duets from La Traviata, La Bohème, Tosca, and other pieces of the Italian and French operatic repertoire.

Anne Bisson is a talented vocalist/pianist/composer who often appears at audio shows. She was at SSI 2014 to promote her about-to-be-released CD, entitled Tales from the Treetops (Camilio Records CAM2-4335.) All but one of the songs on this recording are in English (with Percy Bysshe Shelley credited as one of the lyricists). Bisson told me that, listening to the recording, she was surprised to note that her voice sounds different in English and French, a difference she attributes to the fact that French has no diphthongs, only pure vowels.

One of the not-so-secret principles audio design is that no matter how good the design of the basic circuitry, the ultimate sound quality will be a major function of the power supply. Simaudio has taken this to heart with a new product that builds on the already-excellent power supplies of the Moon Evolution series. The new 820S ($8000), pictured here, can serve as power supply for any two products in the Evolution series, providing separate power supplies for digital and analog components.

Bryston's James Tanner, shown here with the Model T external crossover, told me that this crossover also uses special components, and that the improvement in sound quality with the external crossover is quite noticeable.

The family-owned electronics chain Son X Plus sponsored a number of exhibits at SSI, including this active display of Skech wireless headphones, in a rainbow of colors. I gave them a brief try—not the pink ones—and was mildly impressed at the progress being made in Bluetooth audio.

One of the popular exhibits at previous Montreal shows has been the Personal Audio Zone, at which attendees could listen to a wide variety of headphones. This has been retained at SSI 2014, but with the difference that people could actually buy headphones. At least, that was the idea.

What is this replica of the DeLorean used in the Back to the Future movies doing at an audio/video show? It's to advertise a company called Le Studio Secret, which organizes office parties with a cinema theme. But this is obviously not just a business; the Back to the Future DeLorean was a labor of love for Thierry Lacombe, with some extra gadgetry that Doc Brown and Marty McFly would have appreciated. You have to admit that it looks cool.