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Wadia Need Next?

Wadia's iTransport was a big hit at last year's show, so they are back this year with a pile of new products.

Using the same form factor as the iTransport is the new Series 1 121 DAC/pre. Two versions will be available: $999 for the basic unit and $1,499 for the base unit plus a built-in headphone amp designed by Ray Samuals.

Coupled with the iTransport, this would be a compact way to integrate a music server, disc player or other sources. Both products sport USB, Toslink and Coax inputs as well as stereo balanced XLR and RCA outputs. Don't get too excited yet, however,…

AR CD8 Drawer

To access the drive, a drawer on top slides open.

AR CD8 Transport

With the cover and top plate of the CD8 off, the Philips Pro-2 transport mechanism is revealed along with the damping system coupling the laser and spindle with the aluminum I-beam below.

Audio Research CD8

Audio Research is showing their new replacement for the CD7, the Reference CD8 CD player shipping now at $9,995. They've taken a Philips Pro-2 transport and attached it with isolation pads to a machined aluminum I-beam which in turn is bolted to a machined aluminum bottom plate.

The CD8 is a fully balanced design and features the same power supply regulation used in the Reference 3 and a new 24-bit 192-kHz chipset. On the back are both balanced and single-ended outputs as well as coax AES/EBU.

i Yi Yi

Simaudio's 100Wpc Moon i3.3 ($3300) is a very flexible component. In its stock version, it's an integrated amplifier with five single-ended line-level inputs, an RS 232 communication port, and a headphone jack. However, users can add a phono section module ($300), a balanced input module ($200), and a DAC module ($400) that accepts USB2, S/PDIF, and Toslink. In fact, buy all three modules when you buy the i3.3 and you get the whole package for $4000.

I photographed the innards rather than the faceplate because the i3.3 is just so gorgeously constructed. The phono board is to the…

Spiral Groove's Equinox

Immedia's Allen Perkins was showing his 60Wpc class-A Spiral Groove E60A stereo power amplifier ("around" $15,000). "That's 'e' for Equinox, which is what I call Sonic Groove's spiral logo, "said Perkins. "Sixty, of course, is its output, and A is for class-A." It's a slick unit, hewn from a solid block of aluminum and employing an extremely low-noise fan to keep operating temperatures low. "For a class-A design, it's pretty energy efficient," Perkins added.

Driving a pair of Sonics Animas, it sounded agile and authoritative. The Animas are admittedly not a difficult load, but…

LARS By Lars

Possibly the most visually striking product I've seen at the show so far is the 20Wpc dual-mono integrated the LARS ($100,000). Designed by Lars Engstrom and hand-built in Sweden, the LARS has two separate chassis, one for each channel—with inputs also on each channel. An umbilical transmits control commands from the right channel to the left.

Each channel employs two 300Bs in push/pull configuration, a 6N9P, a pair of 6V6GTs, and two GZ32 rectifiers. The chimney effect at the top of the acrylic cages is quite impressive.

As was the sound of the LARS driving a pair of…

<I>The</I> Lars

Credit where credit is due: Here's the man himself, Lars Engstrom, standing with theLARS.

The Vitus Dance

Is the CD dying? Judging by the flurry of new CD player and transport news at the Venetian it's hard to tell. Or maybe this show is living proof that CD has joined vinyl as a legacy format that will forever inspire technical development.

In any event, the new Vitus SCD-010 looks like a serious attempt to push the format to extremes. The player is built around a highly modified Philips CDPro-2LF drive mechanism that is surrounded in damped aluminum.

The digital conversion is handled by a DSP module from Anagram Technologies acheiving a claimed sample rate of 384KHz. The…

VTL: The Next Generation

Luke Manley was muttering about the problems he was having naming the latest iteration of the VTL TL-5.5 line preamplifier ($6000). "I've already done a signature version and I don't want to confuse people—it really does represent major improvements in sound."

"What about next generation?"

"NG? No good."

"What about TNG—the next generation?"

"Maybe . . . ."

So what's new and improved, you ask? The volume control software and chip, the all-tube gain stage topology, the relays, there's, an improved precision power supply, and space for an internal…