CES 2011

My beat is digital, but I'm particularly on the lookout for music server products. So I was pleased to see that Cary had their MS-1 server on display and fully loaded.

The spartan front panel has a single power indicator and disc drawer for ripping CDs directly to the internal 1 Terabyte SATA drive. On the rear are two USB connectors and an ethernet port to connect to your network. One USB jack operates as the digital out sending the data stream to your DAC and the other is for an external mirror drive or for sourcing files from USB sticks or other drives connected to the MS-1.

Cary has created apps (available for free in Apple's App Store) specific for your iPad or iPhone/Touch to control the system and music library.

The MS-1 is available now for $2,495 with a power supply upgrade to be released shortly for an additional $450. Cary says it is also looking to increase future storage capacity (the current drive can hold about 2,600-2,800 albums as FLAC files).

Stacked on top is the company's new $1,495 Xciter DAC which can handle anything up to 32bit/192kHz with 4 selectable inputs and a complete bevy of connectors on back.