Dennis Bonotto, new International Sales Manager for Nordost, joined the company's Michael Taylor to introduce Nordost's new top USB cable, the Valhalla 2 USB ($3500/1m)…

A 2017 CES Innovation Awards honoree, the HiVi Swan MS-10 ($4000 per pair) is a wireless active stereo system that resembles no loudspeaker that I've seen. (I kept thinking that it looks like one of those "ergonomic" office chairs.)

CES 2017 was the occasion for the North American debut of Dynaudio's Contour series of loudspeakers. There are four models in this range, all manufactured at Dynaudio's newly expanded R&D and manufacturing facility in Skanderborg, Denmark.

Based in the Czech Republic, Acoustique Quality is a highly sophisticated loudspeaker design and manufacturing facility that uses the latest technologies, including 3D modeling, five-axis machining, high-precision cutter saws, etc.

The CES 2017 demo of the TAD Micro Evolution One ($12,495/pair)—shown here with Jonathan Derda of MoFi Distribution, the importer—provided convincing proof of the engineering skill of TAD's current Japanese designers. The sound (with all TAD electronics) was simply superb…

In the YG Acoustics-Audionet suite, the sound on playback of Jake Shimabukuro's ukulele wizardry came closer to matching his live performance than in most rooms, perhaps as a result of the excellent match between the Audionet Max monoblock amplifiers and YG Acoustics Sonja XV loudspeakers.

The Heisenberg—Audionet's largest and most powerful monoblock amplifier—was on display in a portion of the suite shared with YG Acoustics…

In the D'Agostino exhibit, pure AC power was fed to the Progressive monoblocks by a Stromtank independent power source ($30,000): a 276-lb enclosure in which a 16-cell Lithium phosphate battery pack stores up to 4000W, ultimately to be converted to pure-sinewave AC.

During visits to the suite, I also heard Jake Shimabukuro's ukulele playing, which was outstanding, and then a recording of his performance played back over the Nagra HD monoblocks…

Mark Levinson's engineers partnered with VPI's Mat Weisfeld (seen above) to develop the Mark Levinson No.515 turntable. The platter is belt-driven and the speed-control electronics are housed in a metal case under the 'table…