CES 2017

'Twas the night before showtime
And to our delight
Our entry was easy
With nary a fright.

I don't know if there really is a Santa Claus, but perhaps he was responsible for the smooth flights, relative ease of transportation from Las Vegas's McCarran Airport to Stereophile's Treasure Island campground, the ease of hotel check-in, and lack of grinding music during dinner. Even the level of cigarette smoke in the hotels was at an all-time low. If this is an omen of things to come, this is going to be a good show to cover.

First things first, however. Four of our team—Herb Reichert, Jana Dagdagan, I, and Jon Iverson, from left to right in the photo above—gathered at a burger joint in the Mirage for our annual health-food huddle.

JI opted for the veggie burger, and I for the lamb burger. (I muttered something about how lamb is the only red meat I eat, because it's considered the most yang of foods in Chinese medicine and is used for medicinal purposes, but JI was convinced that my patty was fried in snake oil.)

After that, we gathered in front of the holiest place in the Mirage—the Beatles display, of course—to bid our farewells and gear ourselves up, each in our own way, for the show coverage ahead.

Everyone's assignment is relatively clear. Jon Iverson covers digital premieres and takes composer/ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro around the show on Friday. Yours truly covers premieres of cables and power products, above-$20,000 loudspeakers, and the Hi-Rez Pavilion in the Las Vegas Convention Center. Robert Deutsch covers other loudspeaker premieres, Larry Greenhill covers high-priced amps and preamps, and Herb Reichert covers remaining new amps and preamps. Jana Dagdagan videos Jon and Jake together and lots more, and John Atkinson, who arrives late due to magazine obligations, plays catch-up if necessary. Headphones in general will be left for Tyll Hertsens' coverage at InnerFidelity.com, and LP players and cartridges to Michael Fremer's AnalogPlanet.com. Kal Rubinson is also around, preparing a report for his monthly Stereophile column. Our point man is stay-at-home Art Dudley, who will edit and post our photos and blogs.

What is not clear, at this moment, is how many premieres we will actually encounter: Only Santa Claus knows for sure.