There was also a "fully equipped" mini-simulation of the famed Capitol Recording Studio, which…
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This year, the Digital Entertainment Group moved its Hi-Resolution Audio exhibit from downstairs in the Sands Convention Center to the greater-trafficked Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. The Pavilion contained four long display tables, each of which held three hi-res playback devices that could be auditioned via headphones. Exhibitors included Astell&Kern, AudioQuest, Autonomic, Bluesound, dCS, DTS, ELAC, Mytek, Onkyo, Samsung Electronics, Sony Electronics, and Westone.
Up at the top of the Mirage hotel in the dCS suite, instead of a flashy new flagship product, the company was formally introducing something of a more practical nature: the dCS Network Bridge. The Network Bridge will allow owners of older dCS products to add networking to their existing systems. Audiophiles with other brand DACs can also use the dCS Network Bridge to add networking to their systems.
According to dCS, the Network Bridge enables you to stream high resolution music files from network attached storage, connected USB drives, online streaming services (such as Tidal and…
With a company name that goes back to Oskar Heil's original Air Motion Transformer, ESS has several speakers using drivers following the AMT design. The one that caught my eye was the ESS AMT 12V ($4400/pair), a floorstanding speaker that has a large compartment for storing LPs. What a great idea! Why waste the space? Rico Caudillo of ESS told me that the stored LPs actually improve the sound. Take that, you vinylphobes!
There's a rumor that Andrew Jones, first with TAD and now with Elac, is incapable of designing a mediocre-sounding speaker. This rumor was confirmed with Jones's latest speaker, the Elac AS 61GB Adante, demonstrated at CES 2017. At $2500 per pair, this speaker is less expensive than the ones that Jones—seen in the photo above—designed for TAD, but more expensive than the bargain-priced offerings that were the first speakers he designed for Elac. Jones asserts that the Adante is still a work in progress; he's still tweaking aspects of the design. Listening to a pair of Adantes, in a system…
Avantgarde Acoustic is known for its hybrid horn loudspeakers, including the Uno/Uno Nano that has been my reference for several years (replaced recently by the Monitor Audio Platinum PL300 II). However, the company has not offered an entry-level speaker like the Uno for some time, meaning that Avantgarde fans have had to choose between one of the company's bigger, more expensive hybrid horns and the Avantgarde Zero, a fully-powered digital loudspeaker. The new Avantgarde Zero TA remedies this omission: it's described as a semiactive horn system, with no crossover in the midrange signal path…
Based in Belgrade, Serbia, Auris Audio's motto is "Back to Nature"—a nod to their extensive use of natural materials such as wood and leather. They offer quite a wide range of products: DACs, preamps, power amps, headphone amps, and speakers. Demonstrated at CES 2017 was Auris Audio's entry-level system (total price about 11,000), featuring the diminutive floorstanding Poison 3 loudspeaker (4,000/pair). The sound was wide-ranging, with surprisingly powerful bass for its size.
The introduction of a new speaker from GoldenEar Technology is always an event, especially so when it's a new flagship speaker. The Triton Reference is intended to "joust with the best," but still maintain the company's "Making High-End Affordable" orientation. At $8,500 per pair, in today's audiophile market, the Triton Reference can be described as affordable—and, from what I heard at this year's CES, the Triton Reference presents a serious challenge to speakers in the multi-$10k range. Sandy Gross has done it again!
I thought audio-show bathroom art had reached its nadir with signs hanging over the men's-room urinals at Munich High End. Then I encountered this in a men's room in the Las Vegas Convention Center. 'Nuf said.
As described enthusiastically by Kevin Voecks, Director of Technology of the Harman Specialty Group, the Revel F208Be loudspeaker ($9000/pair) is intended to answer dealers' demand for a speaker that fills the gap between the Revel F208 ($5000/pair) and the Revel Salon ($22,000/pair). While the model designation might lead one to think that the new entry is a Beryllium-tweetered version of the F208, the F208Be is actually a new design, with new drivers and a higher-end crossover.
Harmonic Resolution Systems (HRS) showed its new top-of-the-line VXR Audio Stand ($25,000-$31,000 for a four-shelf stand). The stand, which sports a new frame system, was shown by company founder/designer Mike Latvis. The VXR allows the user to adjust the amount of space between each component shelf, as well as choice of isolation base. Those choices have now been increased with the release of the new HRS S3 isolation base ($2195).
Mike, a mechanical engineer and specialist in aerospace vibrational control and control systems, says the VXR offers higher stiffness and mass than their MXR…