Though the company calls the N100 a server in one of their press releases (not in the brochure luckily), I tend to think of these types of products as network players, since it does not have a built-in drive for storing music and relies on NAS drives on a network. Nonetheless, the N100, which retails for $2,499, looks very promising and will be available this month. Another version called the N100S with 1TB internal storage (thus making it truly a server) was also announced, though there was no price at press time.

Confusingly, the N10 is listed in the company's product brochure as a Network Music Player, but also has a 1TB SSD inside, so I'm calling this one a server. Some details such as pricing were not available at the show, but the N10 will have more caching (240GB - though in one spot the literature says 120GB) for playback than the N100 and more of a full size case.

Also features the linear power supply, Tidal-readiness and app. Projected release date is March.

My CES encounter with Hegel featured the 75Wpc H80 integrated amp ($2000) driving (are you ready?) the Magico S-1 loudspeakers ($12,900/pair).

Every CES show reporter I bumped into would start the conversation with, "So, Herb what have you seen that you liked?" Or, "What's the coolest new product?" The second I walked it the Naim room, I knew the answer to both questions.

The new Audeze EL-8s ($699) are not just moderately-priced alternatives to the reference quality LCD-Xs—they offer their own special brand of reference quality and new technologies.

To me, the most important issue surrounding the digital vs analog debate is not sound quality (each has their virtues). It is always the user interface: Must I use a keyboard, a remote, or a tonearm finger-lift? I love turntables, tonearms, and cartridges. I especially love them when they are inexpensive, beautiful, easy to use, come with a mounted and aligned Audio Technica cartridge and, amazingly, a uni-pivot tonearm like the new $999 Thorens TD-203 does. Fit and finish looked superb.

I had heard she was talented pianist. I had seen her in photos before, but I never expected the beautiful and statuesque director of Panasonic Technics, Michiko Ogawa, to greet me in person at the door of Technics' CES showroom.

There's been some back and forth on AudioStream.com and other forums about how to best play back DSD and PCM, with some finding that having a single digital section converting both formats is less than optimal.

T+A decided that in order to do both formats justice in a single product, they would have to create completely independent decoding and analog output sections (including two sets of analog output jacks on the back!). The result is a design that the company believes is a unique and "fully optimized approach to the decoding of both PCM and DSD."

They were still playing with name ideas when I spotted the prototype media server, here shown from behind with the top off. MSB says there will be up to 3TB of storage inside (which is expandable with external NAS drives) along with an "industrial-grade" CPU with 7 year guarantee. Also included is the company's legendary Femto clock, and MSB Pro I2S output. Control will be via web browser and the server should be available in around 6 months for approx $29k.

MSB is now shipping new casework for both the UMT ($6,995) and Diamond DAC V ($29,995), which I think better reflect the company's dedication to digital audio perfection. The DAC is shown above and the UMT below.