For Christmas, my sister, Nerissa, received a set of <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/heartbeats_by_lady_gaga/">Hea…;, Lady Gaga’s flashy in-ear headphones. Nerissa was overjoyed—even moved to dramatic, rock star poses, sporting her latest fashion accessory—mostly because she loves Lady Gaga. I don’t think she expected the sound quality to have a great impact on her life.
I'm fortunate to own some very nice hi-fi gear: Different turntables, tonearms, and pickups for different records. Two pairs of really superb full-range loudspeakers. A choice of mildly exotic amplifiers—my favorite combination of which (a stereo preamplifier and a pair of monoblock power amps) sells for a little over $21,000. The average American consumer would think that's insane.
<B>CARLA BLEY: <I>Carla's Christmas Carols</I></B><BR>
Carla Bley, piano, celeste; Steve Swallow, bass, chimes; Partyka Brass Quintet<BR>
WATT 35 (CD). 2009. Carla Bley, Steve Swallow, prods.; Gerard de Haro, Nicolas Baillard, engs. DDD? TT: 60:36<BR>
Performance ****<BR>
Sonics ****½
Twice this CES, I found rooms that were so striking that I suggested all the <I>Stereophile</I> brothers go take a look/listen. The first one was the Sumiko/Vienna Acoustics suite up on the 34th floor (I still can't get over how great the sound was in that room—you can read Jason's more reserved take on the room <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/ces2010/wien_wien/">here</a>), and the second, for completely different reasons, was the Resolution Audio room.
Close-up of the retro-futuristic display graphics. Yes, they did line up an entire string of alphanumeric LED displays to match the holes carefully machined in the chassis.
A clever USB to Ethernet bridge (Pont Neuf—get it?) to allow your computer USB out to serve the Cantata over long cable runs. In striking case to match the Cantata aesthetics and available in February for $400.
I was surprised at how ambitious the new Maestro from Electrocompaniet looked on paper: Blu-ray drive, both audio and video streaming, internet radio, FM tuner, options including iPod dock and DAB/HD radio, integrated amplifier delivering 120 Watts into three channels, and optional 75 Watts times two amplifier for surround that can be wirelessly driven using a RF link. All this for between $8,000-10,000 depending on options.
Peachtree scored a hit last year with their Decco desktop DAC/Amp combo. They've returned with an updated version of the original Decco called the Decco2 which is available now for $799 and sports a 40 watts per channel tube hybrid integrated amp and ESS Sabre DAC.
I still remember seeing the first two HRT Streamers at CES last year, when Kevin Halverson held them out in his hand, thinking what a great idea to improve the lot of cash-strapped PC Audiophiles. One year and thousands of sales later, version two of the original DACs are out as the $149.95 Music Streamer II and $349.95 Music Streamer II+. Joining them is the Music Streamer Pro at $499.95 which sports balanced +4 voltage outputs and other goodies for the pro-audio set.