LATEST ADDITIONS

Transparent Audio has added to its line the Opus power cord ($5750/2m) and Opus Power Isolator ($15,950 including an Opus power cord). Claimed to use all-new technology that improves vibration control and hence lowers the noise floor, these are the company's new top-of-the-line products in their respective categories.

Winner of a coveted CTA Innovation Award, Wilson Benesch's A.C.T. One Evolution loudspeaker, here shown in the P1 version with eye-catching blue carbon-fiber composite cabinet ($38,800/pair, or $36,500/pair with standard cabinet), maintains the company's use of carbon-fiber technology.

"Jake Shimabukuro uses my cabling, and hangs out in our booth at NAMM," said Mark Markel of Analysis Plus. Having just whistled two pieces with Jake, and had the opportunity to marvel at his musicianship and openness to collaboration, I consider that quite an endorsement.

Jewelers Philippe and Mathieu Tournaire add 18-karat bands of gold at each end of the Utopia's headband, and each is set with three 1-karat diamonds in square, triangular, and round shapes, representing the three stages of life: the past, the present, and the future.

First, let's list what is in the photo (left stack first, top to bottom): EVO PhonoDAC Two ($1,600), EVO Clock Two ($640), HiFace EVO Two ($640), EVO Supply Two ($500), EVO Plus DAC Two ($890), and the EVO DAC Two ($630). Common to the DAC products: 32/384 PCM and DSD 256 processing, while the EVO Plus DAC Two has an additional clock input. Go to their website to check all the other little differences, but with pricing like this, I think listeners are in for a treat. I loved the pricier M2Tech Young DAC when I reviewed it a couple years back, so I trust their ears are in the right place with these new lower priced products.

It's bad enough that CES makes us advertise for Sony everywhere we go with those bright yellow lanyards. Now they've added a new "feature" to our badges: how long you've been going to CES.

In addition to having an awesome sounding setup in a smallish room, Simaudio's Lionel Goodfield was putting the final polish on the new Neo MiND. The Neo is a network streamer and music player that supports most PCM formats up to 24/192 and has a variety of output jacks for connection to your DAC. For networking, Bluetooth, ethernet and WiFi is included in addition to a SimLink in and out. Track sample rate and input choice are indicated on the front panel.