LATEST ADDITIONS

Heard at the NYAS with a Leben CS600 integrated amplifier and an Arcam CD73 CD player, the smartly styled desktop loudspeakers from Well Rounded Sound impressed me far more than at previous shows. Their standard Corgi model ($799/pair), used in parallel with a pair of their passive Woof 4 woofers ($399 each) were surprisingly engaging on the Jimmy Cobb Quartet's Jazz in the Key of Blue: explicit without being bright, with decent color and impact. At NYAS 2013, Well Rounded also debuted two new models: the Jack Terrier SE ($349/pair, shown on the left) and the Corgi Mini ($399/pair, shown on the right).

Once hailed as the most expensive amplifier in domestic audio&#151a distinction that has long since passed by the wayside, even when one accounts for inflation&#151the legendary Audio Note (Japan) Ongaku was put through its paces in the Kondo room. Though designed as an integrated amp&#151its stereo pair of 211 tubes, run single-ended, offer 27Wpc&#151this Ongaku was being used as a power amplifier, by means of its direct inputs. Pricing information was unavailable at the time of my visit.

The Audio Note Corporation of Japan&#151which offers products under the surname of that company's founder, the late Hiruyasu Kondo&#151has, in recent years, flown so far under the radar that some feared they were defunct. Now the leaders of Kondo have rededicated themselves to this market, with Rhapsody Music & Cinema as their new US distributor.

“To limit yourself to just vinyl,” says Audioarts’ Gideon Schwartz, “would be ridiculous.”

It’s not that Schwartz doesn’t like vinyl&#151several LPs were scattered about the beautiful demo room, said to have been the office of Leona Helmsley&#151but he simply believes that a good system should work well with all music formats, and more, should sound good in many different rooms.

Woo Audio’s WA7 Firefly headphone amp ($999) uses a pair of 6C45 power tubes in a single-ended, class-A design, and employs a Texas Instruments PSM5102A 32-bit DAC chip. Around back, a USB input is specified to support 32-bit/192kHz playback, while a single set of RCA jacks are switchable for use as analog inputs or D/A outs.

I was pleased to learn that Sennheiser has plans to expand its fashion-conscious Momentum line to include at least two new, lower-priced models.

rrill Wettasingh of Merrill Audio says his class-D Veritas Monoblock amplifiers are "not for tube lovers." The crimson or black chassis is made of a solid 60lb billet of aluminum. Allowing only spade connection for the "best and biggest" sound, these 400 watt (8 ohms) power-houses seek "audio purity" rather than coloration, according to Wettasingh.