YG Acoustics introduced the second edition of their original 2-way Carmel loudspeaker, the Carmel 2. It is said to bring the sound of the more expensive $72,800/pair Sonja 1.2 at a more reasonable price, $24,500/pair.

Wilson Audio’s Peter McGrath and John Giolas walked me through the design of the new $15,000/pair Sabrina. The loudspeaker has same general form factor and is slightly taller than their original WATT-Puppy, which was also a $15,000/pair speaker when it was first produced more than 20 years ago.

GoldenEar’s Sandy Gross emailed before the show about Golden Ear’s new compact, sealed, self-powered Supersub XXL subwoofer ($1999), which would be premiered at CES 2015. The subwoofer has two inertially-balanced, long-throw 12" woofers in the horizontal plane and two fully inertially-balanced 12.75" by 14.5" passive radiators in the vertical plane.

Kevin Voecks showed me new products from the Mark Levinson line, including the $12,000 No.585 Integrated amplifier (above).

My experience with the new AudioQuest Nighthawk headphones ($599) was one of highest points of my CES adventure.

See that picture of a well-suited handsome man? That's Keith Martin of Washington-State firm, Vana Ltd. Vana distributes cool stuff like Vienna Acoustic loudspeakers, IsoTek AC line voltage products, Dr. Feikert Analogue (maker of one of the finest alignment protractors), and Acoustical Systems (makers of the Axiom tonearm, Archon cartridge, the Arché headshell, and the $799, SMARTractor cartridge alignment tool). What Keith is holding is the new Blue Horizons ProFono MM/MC phono stage ($1249).

It was the sonic flavor of new moving-iron Tracer 10 cartridge ($995) that really captured my attention in Pear Audio's room.

I fell in love with this new, cool, 5mm-thick, two-layer, bi-rubber compound mat . . . Only one problem: It costs $400.

I am a sucker for the new breed of desktop "wireless" loudspeakers—when they look and sound as natural and dynamic as the new Audioengine B2 Premium Bluetooth loudspeaker, I can dance around, sing, dream on Bartok, or play air guitar while streaming Tidal or WFMU. You are invited!

The newly styled Roksan K3 integrated amp ($2500 with aptX streaming), the K3 CD player ($2500, which I am dying to review), and the soon-to-be-released K3 DAC ($2500) are so art-deco cool and artfully streamlined in their appearance that I was both gob-smacked and envious of the person who drew the lines that created these elegant faceplates.