For those of you who like all of your functions tucked away in a single shiny box, Burmester has a product for you. The main all-in-one 161 Receiver is based on the company's Music Server 151 and the system also includes the B15 speakers (not shown) and the handy empty case that sits below the active electronics. Burmester says the empty case with fold down front door (shown below) is part of the product since their customers don't like clutter and prefer to store extraneous stuff like AppleTV boxes and game consoles out of the way. I realize that probably sounds a bit pretentious to some, but it makes sense to me, since I tend to go out of my way to hide wires and power supplies.

The Acoustique Quality Passion loudspeakers ($20,000/pair) made their way to Las Vegas from the Czech Republic, courtesy of Vladimir Sapara. The flagship loudspeaker in the Acoustique line, it is based on 25 years of loudspeaker design, and features a cabinet by Novague Design.

The Micromega M-One has more features than any of those silver-age contraptions, but to my eye, it is the purest, most high-design-beautiful audio machine on the planet. And, of course, it's made in France.

The most stunning Ypsilon product on display was their MC-26L-SLV silver-wire step-up transformer ($18,500), sitting next to the turntable in the room's live exhibit&#133

Robb Niemann, the CEO of Rutherford Audio, North American distributor for Burmester, had new product and new corporate news to share…

The No.523 features six line-level inputs, a phono preamplifier, and a headphone amplifier (there's a 1/4" jack on the preamp's front panel)…

I visited the VTL room three times, collecting photos and data, and every time Luke was smiling his big Luke-smile: "Herb, how can I help you?" The room was well-lit—and yet I failed to get good pictures.

CES 2017 saw the introduction of the 350Wpc Mark Levinson No.534 stereo amplifier ($20,000). Todd Eichenbaum, Director of Engineering for Harman International's Luxury Audio Group and designer of the No.534, explained that it was developed to fit between Levinson's entry-level No.532H stereo amplifier ($8000) and the $50,000/pair No.53 reference monoblock amplifiers.

Perhaps because of Bent Holter's recent revision of his "distortion-reducing" SoundEngine technology, the elegant Röst drove the desktop-mounted KEF-LS50s with purity, lust, and musical authority…

It looks pro-school Paul Newman racing-driver cool, especially in black. It puts out 300W into 8 ohms and 600W into 4 ohms, and can deliver a peak output current of 27A. Did I mention each amp weighs only 15.4 pounds? (I could carry both channels home on the subway.)