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CES 2016

Synergistic Baffles Reviewer

John Atkinson Jan 16, 2016

Synergistic Research's Ted Denney always puts on a good show at a show, and the 2016 CES was no exception. The sound in Synergistic's suite at the MirageMagico S7 speakers driven by McIntosh amplification (modified with Synergistic fuses)was superb. Even though I didn't know the cut being played, "Hey Now" from London Grammar, there was an effortless sense of dynamics. Another of my best sounds at CES.

CES 2016

MBL's New Noble Line

John Atkinson Jan 16, 2016

"For Unto Us a Boy is Born" was playing when I looked into MBL’s suite at the Venetian and the soundopen, spacious, uncolored, full-range, musically communicativeon MBL's unique 101E omnidirectional speakers was so appealing, I settled down in the hot set for the rest of the piece from Handel's Messiah. The speakers were being bi-amped by preproduction samplesUS availability is scheduled for Marchof new models from the German company’s Noble line...

CES 2016

Vandersteen’s Latest Model 5A Carbon

John Atkinson Jan 16, 2016

When he visited the Vandersteen room at CES, Graham Nash said that what he really liked “was the midrange of that speaker system, that sounded like my voice. There was plenty of natural detail." Graham was listening to the new version of Vandersteen Audio’s Model 5A speaker, the 5A Carbon, which features the midrange unit from the Mk.II version of Vandersteen Model 7 speaker.

CES 2016

YG Acoustics’ 15th Anniversary Speaker

John Atkinson Jan 16, 2016

In its main room, YG was making great-sounding music with its Sonja 1.3 speakers ($106,800/pair), driven by a Boulder music server and amplification via Kubala-Sosna cables. I had loved the Sonja 1.3 when I reviewed it for our July 2013 issue, but the big news at CES was the Sonja XV, one channel of which was on passive display in a side room. A four-tower system, with the midrange and tweeter tower resembling a '1.3 on steroids and intended to celebrate the Colorado company’s forthcoming 15th anniversary, the 'XV will be priced at a whopping $265,900/system.

CES 2016

The Longest WTA Ever

John Atkinson Jan 16, 2016

Graham Nash auditioned the new gibbon X speakers in the DeVore Fidelity room, which featured an LP player with the longest Well-Tempered Tonearm made, at 18". It was great to see veteran designer William Firebaugh at the 2016 show, 30 years after his unique tonearm made its debut at CES, and still actively involved in high-end audio.

CES 2016

Manley’s High-End Headphone Amplifier

John Atkinson Jan 16, 2016

“Bruno Putzeys designed a switch-mode power supply for our new headphone amplifier,” enthused EveAnna Manley, when I bumped into her in one of the Venetian’s corridors. The tubed amp, which doubles as a line preamplifier, costs $2950 and is drop-dead gorgeous in Champagne & White, Titanium & Bronze, or Copper & Black finishes.

CES 2016

Metronome’s New Music Center

John Atkinson Jan 16, 2016

In our March 2016 issue, Art Dudley loved the sound of Metronome’s CD8 S CD player, which has USB and serial digital inputs, though I found some issues on the test bench. At CES, the French company was showing this elegant server, the Music Center 1 (price tba), which plays CDs, music from a USB stick, a NAS drive, or from its internal RAID3 array (16TB available).

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Graham Nash Finishes Up With Crystal Cable/Siltech and then Vandersteen Audio in the Venetian

Jon Iverson Jan 15, 2016

The day was getting long at this point and we'd already listened to a couple hour's worth of music, but we wanted a little variety from the floor-standing speakers we had heard to far. So we popped into the Crystal Cable/Siltech room to hear This Path Tonight on a dimensionally smaller system.

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Graham Nash Visits DeVore Fidelity in the Venetian

Jon Iverson Jan 15, 2016

We had spent the morning and early afternoon listening to systems in the big suites, and now it was time to downscale the room size and budget just a bit. I promised Graham Nash that we would try to mix up the types of products he heard, so we headed down to Devore Fidelity on the 30th floor of the Venetian.

CES 2016

ELAC DS-S101 Discovery Music Server

Jon Iverson Jan 15, 2016

For some reason I liked this product the moment I saw it. And at $1,099, including a lifetime full Roon license (for $1,000 you get a lifetime limited Roon license), it became even more interesting once I started digging into the features. Essentially, you can run Roon on your tablet and use the DS-S101 as your endpoint without the need for a computer.