CES 2013

Crystal Cable, headed by Gabi Rijnveld, has just released a new cable line called Absolute Dream. The core is 100% mono-crystal silver, the braid mono-crystal silver-plated copper and gold-plated silver. Rijnveld (right), pictured with her husband Edwin of Siltech, claims that Absolute Dream is some of the fastest cable on the market.

This was one of the few rooms at CES or T.H.E. Show where I was actually able to listen to an entire track of music, in this case soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and George Szell's recording of "Im Frühling" (In Springtime), the first of Richard Strauss' Four Last Songs. It was also one of countless rooms at the Venetian where the room acoustic rendered the sound edgy, especially when it came to operatic voices with complex overtones. This was one of the reasons that I spent most of my time discussing equipment rather than listening to music. In the end, it's a near-miracle when a company is able to produce good sound in a hotel room during a show that places a huge load on the building's electrical set-up.