This was one of the few rooms at CES or T.H.E. Show where I was actually able to listen to an entire track of music, in this case soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and George Szell's recording of "Im Frühling" (In Springtime), the first of Richard Strauss' Four…
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Crystal Cable, headed by Gabi Rijnveld, has just released a new cable line called Absolute Dream. The core is 100% mono-crystal silver, the braid mono-crystal silver-plated copper and gold-plated silver. Rijnveld (right), pictured with her husband Edwin of Siltech, claims that Absolute Dream is some of the fastest cable on the market.
Given that my assigned "territory" for CES included new cables, power products, and accessories, I was able to indulge in a few of the big system rooms on the Venetian's 34th and 35th floors. These are the systems that many of the sightseers who came to CES for other reasons came up to marvel at. As did I.
I'm so glad that Venture of Belgium and Singapore has a new line of cabling, because it gave me an excuse to hear Reference Recordings' "Pie Jesu" from the Rutter Requiem as I've never heard it before. I was blown away by the huge dynamics, room fixture-shaking bass, mind-boggling…
Revel’s new Rhythm 2 subwoofer ($10,000) contains a pair of 2000W class-D amplifiers (said to offer 4kW on peaks); an 18" driver with a 4” voice-coil; over 114dB maximum acoustic output; high-resolution DSP room equalization; fully configurable electronic crossover; and PC or Mac setup via USB. Kevin Voecks, its designer, described how the subwoofer's highly sophisticated DSP engine can equalize both the subwoofer and the satellite speakers. The DSP-driven room equalization generates adjustments from one set of room measurements, correcting for as many as 10 modes in the frequency range of 20…
Harman International’s High-Performance Group’s exhibit featured a live demonstration of its most expensive equipment, including two Revel Rhythm 2 18" subwoofers ($10,000 each); two Revel Ultima2 Salons ($22,000/pair); a Macintosh MacBook Pro running Amarra software driving a Mark Levinson No.502 Sound Processor; a No.52 preamplifier ($30,000); two No.53 Reference monoblock amplifiers ($25,000 each); and Transparent power conditioners for the digital equipment and for the amplifiers. The rack also included a No.512 SACD player. The Revel Ultima2 Salons were crossed over to the subs at 80Hz…
Rega’s RP3 turntable, seen here in an awesome Union Jack finish, is Stereophile’s 2012 Analog Source of the Year—an especially wonderful honor for a product that sells for just $895. I love it.
In other Rega news, the company’s entry-level RP1 is now shipping standard with their Carbon MM phono cartridge, said to be a significant upgrade over the original Ortofon OM5. The price for the 'table remains the same: $445.
In addition, the RP1 can now be purchased in an extremely cool Union Jack finish, supplied standard with Rega’s “Performance Pack”: Bias 2 MM cartridge, drive…
Arcam’s Solo Neo ($2000), seen here with an iPad source and Grado SR60i headphones, is nothing new—it’s been on the market for a couple of years now—but I mention it for sentimental reasons. I have such fond memories of my time with the original Arcam Solo. The Solo, mated to DeVore Fidelity Gibbon 3 loudspeakers, was the heart of my very first hi-fi, and I can still remember the delicious sound of the very first disc we spun: Calexico and Iron & Wine’s fantastic, In the Reins.
The Solo Neo now has networking capabilities and uses an upgraded disc transport. At $2000,…
I’ve mentioned NAD’s VISO HP50 headphones, but the company was also showing their new, smart-looking D Series digital components. From left: D 1050 USB DAC ($449), D 3020 digital DAC/integrated amp ($399), and D 7050 digital network receiver ($899).
Clearly, NAD’s D Series products represent a radical departure from the company’s traditional look and feel. Greg Stidsen, NAD’s director of product development, explained that these new digital products aren’t merely meant to appeal to younger listeners, but fulfill NAD’s desire to offer a product more in tune with the times. “We’re trying to…
Distributed in the US by April Music, the 50Wpc Aura Vita receiver ($1245) was mated with Aura’s matching Vivid CD player ($995).
The Vita allows the user to program up to 15 AM/FM stations and provides balanced and unbalanced analog inputs, a moving-magnet phono stage, a preamp output, and front-panel headphone jack. It uses a Texas Instruments PCM2704 USB DAC and a Cirrus Logic CS3310 digital volume control. The Vivid CD player offers three digital inputs (two coax and one optical), a coaxial output, balanced and unbalanced analog outputs, and uses a 24-bit/192kHz-compatible Cirrus…
In some rooms, spotting the new product or two can be tough without asking or taking time to carefully look at everything on display. Not the Oracle room. The BRIGHT yellow Paris CD 250 was screaming "look at me" the moment I crossed the threshold. Once my eyes had settled I could see Oracle had also brought the CD player and DAC in a few more color choices: black, white and red.
Using the same chassis design and color options, the CD player or DAC each run $3,500. The DAC features 24/192 SPDIF, Toslink and USB inputs as well as volume control.
Swiss company CH displayed the new $32,975 C1 DAC/controller with optional ethernet board ($5k) and USB board ($4k). The processor handles 24/192 PCM and will soon support DSD/DXD via ethernet.
The C1 is compact and beautifully made (unlike my photo) and has all the standard digital inputs as well as analog options and a variety of output options including balanced and unbalanced analog. The company says that the modular approach to the C1 makes it "future-proof" as they keep coming up with new boards.