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The new $18,000 Pictor preamp is part of Constellation Audio's new Revelation Series, which is one step up from the company's entry-level Inspiration Series. Constellation's Irv Gross explained that the Pictor uses the same basic chassis as the Inspiration version, but has a separate power supply.

For John Atkinson and me, CES began with a trip to the Hi-Res Pavilion in the Las Vegas Convention Center's enormous Central Hall. John must have been a dog in a past lifetime, because his ability to find the booth in the middle of that huge glittering morass, which could be euphemistically characterized as high tech on steroids, smacked of a sixth sense.

It may look like any other smartphone, but LG's V30, shown by Vanessa Marrero, is smart enough to incorporate ESS's Sabre 32-bit Quad DAC…

With Mytek's Michal Jurewicz in the background, the company's Chebon Littlefield showed the new Clef high-resolution, MQA-equipped, Bluetooth-equipped, mobile USB DAC/headphone amplifier ($299).

With Warner, Universal Music Group, and Sony as major shareholders/partners, it's no wonder that MQA figured so prominently in the CES Hi-res pavilion. MQA wasn't everywhere—Qobuz hasn't seen fit to embrace it as yet, and the majority of audio manufacturers have yet to get on board—but it has certainly come to mobile phones and players.

Pennsylvania-based distributor/exporter Dyson Lai proudly presented the gorgeous new TPC-1HP tube preamp from Seattle, Washington-based Increcable Acoustic Lab. Retail will be $6,000 when the preamp is released in the next couple months.

Pro-Ject has launched several new models of turntables this year intended for the budget conscious market. Company president Heinz Lichtenegger explained that after helping to kick-start the analog resurgence, they introduced the new entry level models in response to "analog transitioning to a feature-driven market dominated by Chinese brands" bringing out ever cheaper all-in-one feature-laden products.