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CES 2014

Marvelous Unison Research

Jason Victor Serinus Jan 16, 2014

Once again, Unison Research scored a 10. Distributed by Colleen Cardas and Marc Phillips of Colleen Cardas Imports, the new Unison Research Triode 25 integrated amplifier ($3495) exhibited beautiful sweetness and marvelous delicacy in a Handel piano recording by Murray Perahia (whom I’m going to hear live on February 20, yippee). The amp is switchable between 22Wpc in triode mode and 45Wpc in pentode, and sounds equally fine in both.

CES 2014

Dynaudio Updates Excite Series

John Atkinson Jan 16, 2014

Shown in Tom Norton’s photo are the Platinum versions of Dynaudio’s Confidence C2 floorstander ($15,000, left) and C1 stand-mount (middle)loudspeakers in the new Platinum trim, which I had seen and heard at 2013 shows. But I was more interested in the news that the Excite 12 loudspeaker, which has been a reference for Bob Reina since he reviewed it in March 2010, has been replaced by the Excite X14 ($1500/pair). My photo wasn’t usable, unfortunately, but I auditioned the X14s in a system comprising the Octave V40 SE 45Wpc, tube integrated amplifier ($5300), T+A DAC S8 ($3250), with Amarra running on a MacBook, Dynaudio Stand 3X stands ($350/pair), and in-akustik Reference interconnects and speaker cables, and was impressed by what I heard.

CES 2014

Dynaudio Drops XEO Prices

Kalman Rubinson Jan 16, 2014

I was getting bored with my own opening question asking exhibitors do you have anything that's new for under $2000. For two days, I was getting either a gleeful "Yes!" or a slow "No but . . ." Mike Manousselis, Director of Marketing for Dynaudio USA, surprised me with a new answer: "Well, we have something that is not new but it's price is new and it is now under $2000."

CES 2014

AURALiC Aries Music Streamer

Kalman Rubinson Jan 16, 2014

I know this is a lousy picture but it doesn't matter because the important product in it, the new AURALiC Aries Music Streamer (second from the top) is a prototype and it is housed in an enclosure borrowed from the AURALiC Vega DAC (top of the stack) recently praised by JA in the February issue. The Aries ($999) is the link between the NAS where you store your music files and your USB DAC. It is the first implementation of AURALiC's Lightning streaming protocol, based on 802.11ac Gigabit WiFi and capable of gapless play of all current formats, in stereo, up to 32/384, DXD, and DSD128 as well as all common lossy and lossless formats. The Aires has built-in Internet radio and is compatible with all major platforms and many other streaming protocols, including UPnP and DLNA.

CES 2014

Genesis Muse Music Source (G-Source)

Jon Iverson Jan 15, 2014

"It's a black box. It's a music source, it plays everything. Forget about converters and other technologies." So stated Genesis' Gary Koh when I asked him to explain the new Genesis Muse. Koh noted that they've been running a home-brew server in their rooms at CES since 2006, so it seemed only logical to turn it into a product.

However, there are specifications: the Linux-based system comes configured with 1TB SSD, has 2 USB 3.0 inputs for adding storage, has ethernet for network connectivity and streaming, and includes both balanced and unbalanced analog outputs. You can also add an optional CD ROM drive to rip CDs, backup via a cloud-based approach, and control it with any app compatible with the Squeezebox protocol.

One cool feature is that it will stream to your iPad for headphone listening if you like. Price will be around $15,000 when it appears "probably in spring this year."

CES 2014

Audio Research CD6 Transport/DAC

Jon Iverson Jan 15, 2014

Replacing the venerable CD5, Audio Research has released the new CD6 which includes asynchronous USB, and the other usual digital inputs. Inside are quad DACs running a balanced configuration that doubles/upsamples whatever comes in over USB and quadruples 44k and 48k digital sources.

Pricing is $9,000 and users will also be able to choose between two filters. AR stated that they see the CD6 as a bridge between discs collections and computer audio.

CES 2014

Bel Canto Black ASC1 Preamp/DAC

Jon Iverson Jan 15, 2014

Bel Canto is moving decidedly upmarket with the new Black system. Jason will cover the amps, so I'll stick to the pre/DAC here. The ASC1 will interface specifically with the MPS1 monobloc amps via custom LightLink ST fiber interfaces and cables. There are nine inputs, and capabilities include analog sources, AES, SPDIF, Toslink and UPnP/DLNA streaming up to 24/384 PCM as well as DSD64 and 128.

The ASC1 retails for $20,000. When you add the amps, the entire system is $50k.

CES 2014

Project DAC BOX RS

Jon Iverson Jan 15, 2014

Project is adding some more midi-size products to its line. In addition to the STREAM BOX noted by Kal, a new product this year is the Class-A tube balanced output DAC BOX RS (pictured at the bottom right), which should be available now for around $1,000 or so. Users can switch between tube and solid state output and the DAC accepts all the usual inputs at PCM rates up to 24/192. Digital processing is built around two BurrBrown 1792 chips.

Above the DAC is the new PRE BOX RS Digital preamp/DAC also available shortly for $1,500. This one also had a headphone amp built in with switchable impedance and damping factor from the front panel.

CES 2014

Cambridge Audio 851D DAC/Preamp

Jon Iverson Jan 15, 2014

Kalman Rubinson mentions the big news from Cambridge Audio earlier in this report: the Minx Xi streaming device. Also worth mentioning is that the company announced the $1,649 851D DAC/Pre, which in addition to normal DAC functions, can accept a stream from your phone or other Bluetooth device. Available now.

CES 2014

Sim Audio Neo 2600 CD Transport/DAC

Jon Iverson Jan 15, 2014

Sim Audio's Lionel Goodfield notes that CDs are still major parts of most audiophile music collections, so he wanted to develop a player to maximize the format's potential while keeping costs under control. The result is the Neo 2600 for $2,000 that features a floating transport and borrows much of its technology from the company's more expensive 650D from the Evolution Series.

The 2600 also has SPDIF and AES/EBU inputs and can be upgraded for $1,000 with an internal 32 bit DAC that also adds a USB input. Available in black, silver and 2-tone.