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Musical Surroundings' impressive setup included the new entry-level Rockport Atria II loudspeaker ($26,500/pair). More efficient than its predecessor thanks to a new tweeter waveguide—itself trickled down from the top of the line, and intended to create a more uniform dispersion pattern and allow for better driver integration—the speaker has also been re-voiced. "It sounds radically different," said Musical Surroundings' Garth Leerer. Alas, without knowing how many more rooms I had to visit before flying home, I simply had too many unknowns ahead to pause long enough for a decent audition.
In response to requests for a more affordable cable that's truly high end, High Fidelity Cable founder Rick Schultz has introduced the company's entry-level Reveal interconnect ($699/1m pair) and speaker cable ($1399/2m pair). Rick's stepson, Brechen Lawley (pictured), emphasized Schultz's claim that the Reveal interconnect even beats the company's now-discontinued $1600 CT interconnect.
Cocktail had their new brawnier and refined X-50 server/player on hand. And I'm comparing it to the previous X-30 model, which I'd seen at previous shows. The new X-50 feels much heavier and looks built to kill in a solid black case. On the front is a similar layout to the X-30, with a CD slot on the left and a slightly larger color display on the right.
Plenty of formats and services are supported: PCM up to 24/192, up to double DSD, TIDAL, Deezer, Qobuz, Airable, Airplay, FM (yes the old fashioned radio thing) and Spotifiy Connect. There is also UPnP(DLNA) Server/Client/Media Renderer…
I was thinking this was a nice $1,000-2,000 product as Questyle's representative was going over the features: 3 types of headphone jacks (regular unbalanced, 4 pin balanced XLR and 2.5mm balanced), USB/Optical/SPDIF inputs on back, switchable gain via three small switches on the bottom, and AKM AK4490 DAC chip inside.
The rep added that the CMA 400i has also been optimized for In-Ear Monitor (IEM) style headphones and can handle double DSD and up to 32/384 PCM. And then he said it should be available around March this year for between $700 and $800. Now we're talking!
British manufacturer RHA, known primarily for their in-ear headphone models, had the new Dacamp L1 for the first time at CES. Beautifully built and feeling hefty in the hand, the new headphone amp and DAC sports independent processors for each channel. Three knobs along one side control gain (there are three settings), bass and treble, and inside is a 4000mAh lithium ion battery that RHA claims will give you 10 hours of play time.
On the top are the volume control and 3.5mm headphone out and 4-pin mini XLR (balanced) connections and at the bottom, are line in, USB in and line out jacks.…
Dragoslav Colich, designer and founding partner of Audeze headphones, has created a two-way, DSP-controlled planar-magnetic loudspeaker claimed to play flat down to 20Hz. Its working title is the Dark Lord—which will stick if they don't make it into a blood-drenched TV miniseries first—and its projected price is $30,000/pair. A brand name and marketing structure are TBD.
"The Dark Lord has the most advanced planar-magnetic transducer that can be designed and manufactured," claimed Colich, seen with his hand on His Lordship in the photo above. "The transducer's extremely thin film, also…
For the start of its 30th anniversary year, Cardas introduced new cables at both ends of its line. At the more affordable end, and replacing their Twinlink speaker and Microtwin interconnect, lies the new Cardas Iridium speaker cable ($320/1.5m pair), Iridium interconnect ($250/1m pair), and Iridium phono cable ($220/1m). Among the improvements are a new star-quad geometry, upgraded terminations, and a far-more-flexible-than-before rubber housing.
"Far better flexibility is the key," said the company's Brian Von Bork (above), as he held up both the Iridium interconnect and the company's…
Although you may associate Elac solely with Andrew Jones's expanding collection of bargain-priced loudspeakers, the 90-year old German company actually has a wide range of products at various price points. "We're famous for a lot of bass from small cabinets," said Rolf Janke (above), head of research and development, as he discussed Elac's new 90th anniversary Concentro loudspeaker ($70,000/pair).
Available in a few weeks, the speaker has four 10" short-coil, long-gap bass drivers that can output 120dB, and special bass-reflex tuning. The cabinet is a crystal-membrane aluminum sandwich…
Siltech's Triple Crown power cable (approx. $13,683.40/1.5m at the current exchange rate) is a pure, mono-crystal silver design that uses stabilized air-core insulation and Furutech connectors. The company claims "completely silent" backgrounds, and says that the cable's "elimination of harshness, complete lack of induced distortion, and subsequent bass stability create a new ultra-realistic feel to the music."
Since you'll see the same smiling faces in two successive cable-company blogs, let's start by saying that cables from Crystal Cable and Siltech are made in the same factory, but have very different sounds. It gets even more confusing when I say that Crystal Cable is run by Gabi Rijnveld, while Siltech is run by her husband, designer Edwin Rijnveld (not shown).
Here, Gabi and product/industrial designer Lennart Thissen hold Crystal Cable's Ultimate Dream power cable ($12,622.70/1.5m). Constructed of 6-strand coaxial monocrystal, with a 7th strand in the middle for stability, the power…