LATEST ADDITIONS

<object width="450" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/iqlRd7-G448?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/iqlRd7-G448?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US&quot; type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="450" height="385"></embed></object>

Judging by my complete lack of notes on the room occupied by Silver Circle Audio, Sutherland Engineering, and Tyler Acoustics&#151a VPI Scoutmaster turntable was spinning tunes, with amplification from Plinius driving the speakers&#151I would have to say that I didn’t do much listening in here. I mean, I <i>heard</i> music, but I was too busy enjoying my conversation with Silver Circle’s David Stanard, and I was too impressed by the <i>appearance</i> of the gear. From the cabinetry of the Tyler Acoustics Decade D1 loudspeakers to the <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/rmaf2010/hefty_ac_cords/">hefty AC cords</a> coming from the Silver Circle Pure Power One 5.0’s rear panel to the <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/rmaf2010/made_in_the_usa_enjoyed_everywhere… circuitry</a> of the Sutherland Engineering 20/20 phono preamp (review to come from Brian Damkroger), to the equipment rack&#151handmade by Stanard in one afternoon&#151everything was handsome and personal and showed obvious fine craftsmanship.

Check out the throng of thick Silver Circle AC cables, each with heavy-duty connectors from Furutech. Also note the lovely side panels of the Silver Circle Pure Power One 5.0. Who knew a power conditioner could be so pretty? The Pure Power One 5.0 ($5000; reviewed by Michael Fremer in our August 2010 issue) includes a 65-lb, 5kVA, custom-built isolation transformer, a proprietary EMI/RF filter, four double-ganged, gold-plated Furutech AC jacks, and a Vesuvius power cord.

Spend some time with Ravi Rajapakse, President and CEO of Blackfire Research, and you might get the impression that he’s some sort of control freak.

Peak Consult is a new brand for Jay Rein’s Bluebird Music, and the company’s attractive InCognito XII loudspeaker ($22,000/pair) sounded just perfectly at home with Chord Electronics’ Red Reference MkII CD player ($25,900), CPA 5000 preamp ($21, 900), and 500Wpc SPM 1400 monoblocks ($32,900/pair). Cables were Van den Hul’s Nova speaker wire ($3295) and MC Silver interconnects ($7268).

Audio Plus Services' John Bevier was sporting a snazzy bow tie at RMAF, echoing the sartorial sang-froid of another well-known audio distributor. More than one visitor to his room was puzzled by the apparent lack of any source component, yet the Focal 1038Be speakers ($12,000/pair) were playing the Gary Karr transcription for double bass and organ of the Albinoni Adagio and sounding sweet. John pointed to his MacBook, which was running iTunes with the Amarra front-end and sending the data via WiFi to the Micromega Airstream integrated amplifier ($4995), which has a WiFi front-end based on an Apple Airport Express router. This limits playback resolution to 16 bits and 48kHz, but for someone who wants to rip his CDs and play them with minimal fuss'n'muss, the Micromega is a contender. The system was wired with speaker cable from Crystal Cable, for which Audio Plus is now the North American distributor.

I was mightily impressed by the sound of the bus-powered, $399 DACport USB-input headphone amplifier when I reviewed it in June. So when I was looking round the CanJam exhibit, I checked out the Centrance booth. There sat Michael Goodman, the Chicago company's managing director, with a new product with a very familiar form factor. The $795 DacMini headphone amplifier/preamplifier is the size and shape of the Mac mini computer, and offers two line-level inputs as well as USB, Toslink, and S/PDIF electrical digital inputs. Versions are planned with a power amplifier section and an iPod dock.