LATEST ADDITIONS

Virtually identical in appearance to the Niagara 7000—the only outward differences are two little lights and one button—AudioQuest's new 38-lb Niagara 5000 ($4000) "Low-Z Power/Noise-Dissipation System"(shown sitting atop the Niagara 7000) is one-half the price and 50 lbs lighter than its big brother.

Esprit, a French cable company celebrating its 20th anniversary, was represented by Richard Cesari. Now imported by Source Systems Ltd., the cables are all handmade. "It takes 16 hours to make one cable," said Cesari.

There's no connection implied between their position on the floor in the photo above and their status as Stage III Concepts' new entry-level offerings…

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.