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Qualia founder Masanori Fujii was born in France where his father was Japan's former ambassador to the country. Fujii still bridges both cultures by designing his products in Europe, but building them in Japan.

The Qualia DAC with USB is machined out of a single large block of aluminum and features 4 ESS Sabre 9012 DAC chips in a dual mono design. In addition to USB, inputs include AES/EBU, coaxial and optical. The DAC handles all PCM streams up to 24/192 and has both balanced and unbalanced outputs as well as headphone jack.

Available now for $39,000. Fujii adds that he is "not interested in any compromise in quality. The DAC has a very natural analog sound."

First seen last year at CES, the PureDAC has now been released and the company claims to have sold more than 1,000 units since August of 2013. Price is $1,690 and it handles up to 32/384 PCM, both DSD 64&128 and has a separate volume control for room and headphone listening. Designed in Germany, built in China.

Though I was in the Avatar room asking about new digital products, somehow this one was missed, so thanks to Jason Serinus for coming up with a photo for me. There was also a little confusion about the name of the product, but we're going with Scaena Mainframe for now.

The company info says that the new server plays all formats of audio and video and features an aluminum enclosure with liquid cooling, Xenon processor, "error correcting" RAM, and a custom 7" touch tablet to run everything. The Mainframe also runs off of a lithium battery power supply that can go for up to 12 hours on a charge.

No pricing or availability info yet.

Soul Of the Music had their sMS-1000 media server on hand featuring the Vortexbox OS and the ability to handle PCM files up to 32/384 as well as DSD. The front panel has a slot for ripping both CDs or DVDs and pricing is dependent on type of output selected: $3,000 for both balanced and unbalanced analog outputs, $2,700 for coax, toslink, AES/EBU, and $2,500 for just USB 2.0

Creek's new EVO 50CD made its debut at CES and will also include a DAC built around 2 Wolfson 24/192 chips. On the back will be coaxial, toslink and USB inputs as well as coax and toslink as well as analog outputs. The player/DAC with USB will be available in spring this year for $1,495.

Crystal Cable's Gabi Rijnveld assured me that her years of ballet training had prepared her for prolonged kneeling while yours truly struggled to snap the optimal photo. The Dutch company introduced Crystal Cable's 10th Anniversary The Cube compact stereo integrated amplifier (around $15,000). Due out around Munich show time in May, this little baby attempts to incorporate all the advanced technology of Siltech's innovative three-box SAGA amplifier ($75,000) into a single box that is more financially available, designer lifestyle-friendly, and outputs 200Wpc into 4 ohms.

Resolution Audio has yet to name or price its new 100W monoblock amplifiers, due in May, but they may come in around $9000/pair. Their push-pull design is licensed from English engineer Denis Morecroft. Build is distinguished by custom T-network caps and, in the company's words, "crazy careful attention to detail."