Capital Audiofest 2025 lobby marketplace walk through day one

Lucca Chesky Introduces the LC2 Loudspeaker at Capital Audiofest 2025

Capital Audiofest 2025 Gary Gill interview

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CES 2016

In the Beginning...

Jason Victor Serinus Jan 13, 2016

Good sound was a notable achievement given that the new Genesis Forte loudspeakers ($140,000/pair) had been shipped to Las Vegas a mere two days after assembly, and had only three days of break-in on them.

CES 2016

Music Hall: Long Live Black Discs!

Herb Reichert Jan 13, 2016

More than a decade ago, I reviewed Music Hall's first turntable, and not only did it play way better than it should for its price; but it felt distinctly like what would surely become the forefather of long bloodline of musical, high-value record players; and it did. The newest, youngest, and most attractive of them all, the MMF 7.3 looks like a new stud breeding horse and a super value for it $1595 price.

CES 2016

Epos and Creek

Herb Reichert Jan 13, 2016

Roy Hall, the master of the "wee dram" (of single-malt Scotch) was demonstrating all this Creek wonderfulness with the Epos K3, three-way, floorstanding loudspeakers ($2395/pair) which, like the Creek gear that he distributes in the US, showcased beauty, charm, fine detail, and of course: a wee bit of drunken revelry.

CES 2016

Moon by Simaudio

Herb Reichert Jan 13, 2016

Moon by Simaudio's new Neo ACE ($3500, left) looks and sounds and feels like a 21st-century version of a classic Marantz receiver. It is a 50Wpc, class-A/B integrated amp featuring Simaudio's MiND (Moon intelligent Network Device) digital library interface, and a high-resolution DAC with DSD decoding up to DSD256 and 32-bit/384kHz PCM.

CES 2016

Adcom: another happening scheme

Herb Reichert Jan 13, 2016

Adcom introduced two new products at CES 2016: The 250Wpc, GFA-565se stereo amplifier ($1499, rear) and the Luna wireless music system ($599, front). Like the Naim Mu-so, Adcom's version of "industrial design awesomeness"the Luna also connects in the most happening ways: WiFi, aptX Bluetooth, USB, UPNP/DLNA, 3.5mm analog input and headphone jack.

CES 2016

Naim's New Mu-so Qb

Herb Reichert Jan 13, 2016

Naim Audio's beautiful Mu-so ($1495)introduced a year agodelivered on both counts, and like its predecessor, Naim's new Mu-so "Qb" ($995) is a 5-driver, stereo 3-way design (300W total power) that plays music with grace and acuity but with a smaller footprint and a lower price. The Qb's cubic volume accented by its beautiful bulging grills just screams Museum of Modernity and Wholesome Futurism.

CES 2016

The Earphone Evolution is Now!

Herb Reichert Jan 13, 2016

George Cardas has been making fine-quality interconnects and loudspeaker cables since 1987. But, in 2009, he saw the future and started experimentinglooking for a technology to create a truly audiophile-quality in-the-ear loudspeaker. I went to the Cardas room at CES with the hope of experiencing his new prototypes; in-ear phones where the tiny earspeaker driver is positioned deeeeeep into the listener's ear. However, George was not there and neither were the deep-ear drivers. But! I was able to audition the brand new A8 earspeakers ($299).

CES 2016 Graham Nash CES 2016

Graham Nash's Second Stop: dCS/Wilson Audio/Dan D'Agostino Suite at the Mirage

Jon Iverson Jan 12, 2016

We were clearly off to a good start, so I was wondering what Graham Nash's reaction would be to an all out audiophile assault.

I explained to Nash that the Vivid speakers and Luxman system we just heard were relatively compact, by audiophile standards (though by no means modest), and that the next room would be more typical of the cost-no-object approach. Judged by Graham's "impact of the music" criteria, would bigger necessarily be better, or might it detract from the musical intent he was looking for?

CES 2016

AVM MP 3.2 and 6.2 Media/CD Player

Jon Iverson Jan 12, 2016

AVM has three lines of products ascending in quality and price: Inspiration, Evolution, and Ovation. Pictured above is the Evolution MP3.2 Media Player with built-in Teac CD transport that handles PCM up to 24/192 and DSD64. There are six digital inputs, digital volume control, iOS and Android apps and Tidal integration.

CES 2016

Mark Levinson No. 519 Audio Player Digital Streamer/Player/CD/DAC/Preamp

Jon Iverson, Larry Greenhill Jan 12, 2016

The new No. 519 is intended to be an all-encompassing source for digital playback and will include not only a CD transport, but also Bluetooth, streaming, network playback, DAC, digital volume control and headphone amp. On the back are AES/EBU, SPDIF, optical and USB inputs as well as ethernet networking jacks. There are both balanced and unbalanced analog outputs as well AES/EBU, SPDIF and optical digital outputs.