The Blu chassis is shaped to fit perfectly on top of the Chord DAVE DAC, and Chord says they had to design these as two separate units since the Blu's Xilinx XC7A200T uses 10 amps (!!!) of current, and needed to be isolated…
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An upscaling CD Transport. Yes you read right, this CD transport upscales your discs using, according to Chord, "the power of the new Xilinx XC7A200T FPGA, which has a standout 740 DSP cores, to develop sophisticated WTA (Watts Transient Alignment) filtering and upscaling algorithms which can output digital data at 705.6kHz (16 x CD’s 44.1kHz native resolution)." Whew!
The palm-sized Chord Mojo DAC/Headphone amp is arguably one of the best portable audio invigoration devices around, so why not add some more super-powers? The Poly is a networking "module" which adds streaming, network and SD card playback to the Mojo. The Poly is about half the size of the Mojo and snaps onto one end (as seen in the photo below). Very clever.
You can stream from your NAS over WiFi, or other sources with Bluetooth and AirPlay. Control is via an app on your smartphone, and according to Chord: "Poly is compatible with the latest high-resolution-audio file types and…
Due to a scheduling conflict I missed the press conference with power point presentation (you can see the slides here), but having spent some time with Chord's Rob Watts in the past, I'm sure the new products are packed with carefully thought out tech. Pictured here is the new Chord Hugo2, which follows on the heels of the successful Hugo DAC launched three years ago.
Available in both silver and black, casework has been sleekinized and the innards upgraded all around. Inside is the company's latest proprietary FPGA technology (which I loved in the pricier Hugo TT reviewed earlier last…
Now this should be interesting. We walk down the hall to the Nagra suite (in a similarly sized room to dCS) and there are the same speakers we just heard at dCS, but this time with completely different electronics. I set up my laptop, with Roon in "Exclusive Mode" as always, and test that we have sound.
Introductions are made, and Jake shakes hands with Nagra's Sales and Marketing Manager, the soft-spoken Rene Laflamme. With us is also recording engineer and Wilson Audio's Director of Sales, Peter McGrath. McGrath helped with set up in the Nagra room (which employ the Wilson Alexx…
The ebullient Irv Gross, Director of Sales at Constellation, greeted me when I walked into the company's exhibit room at CES 2017. He pointed to the back of the room when I asked whether Constellation had introduced a new amplifier: there waited the 185-lb, 500Wpc Centaur II Stereo ($55,000), connected to a pair of Magico M3 loudspeakers ($84,000/pair) via thick MIT speaker cables. Irv explained that its 500Wpc had grown from the 250Wpc Centaur version by using the power supply transformer from their reference Hercules amplifier.
The Swiss manufacturer Soulution introduced the $32,000, 75-lb Soulution 511 stereo amplifier at CES 2017. Rated conservatively at 150Wpc into 8 ohms, it delivers 280Wpc into 4 ohms and 560Wpc into 2 ohms. The 511 can be switched to a bridged configuration for power ratings of 560W, 1120W, and 2000W, respectively. In addition, the amplifier is capable of sustaining a current draw of 60 amperes at 36 volts, for an impulse rating of 6000W mono. Its damping factor is listed as 10,000 at 100kHz. Distortion (0.004%) and signal-to-noise ratio (>107dB) measurements at 1kHz are excellent, due in…
Rogers High Fidelity introduced their new 65Wpc 65V-1 integrated amplifier ($4000) as part of a neat system: Besides the EL34 stereo Rogers amp, the system included a pair of EgglestonWorks Niko Bookshelf speakers ($2500/pair), and a Detroit-manufactured Shinola Runwell turntable ($2500). Also featured were two made-in-Maine cables from Transparent Audio—their Link interconnect ($100/1m pair) and Wave speaker cable ($220/8' pair). These components weren't just made in the US, but beautifully made in the US. All combined, this system produced very pleasing sonics—and the Rogers integrated…
Jürgen Reis, MBL's lead engineer, was delighted to show me the company's new 560W (into 4 ohms), mono power amplifier, the MBL N15 ($17,800). Slimmer than MBL's reference-line amplifiers, four N15s (for bi-amping) fit into one equipment rack. There are two XLR (balanced) inputs, one for a preamplifier and the other for a future media server. Reis was proud of the N15's very high common-mode rejection and 36-ampere output capabilities. Using MBL's smart-link network connection, one can access a display showing the amplifier's temperature and fault status. I was treated to a detailed PowerPoint…
The VTL exhibit room exuded hospitality and charm. Luke Manley and his wife, Bea Lam, walked me through their latest offerings, including the $33,500 S-400 Series II Reference stereo amplifier. Even newer was the $18,000 TP-6.5 Signature phono stage with moving-coil step-up transformers. The circuit design includes a single-ended input with balanced outputs. Luke explained its hybrid design that offers two options for the moving-coil owner: a hybrid JFET-and-tube head amplifier, or the silver-wired transformer. The remainder of the circuit includes a 12AX7 for RIAA compensation, and 12AT7s…
"We do have a new BAT amplifier," replied MoFi Distribution's Managing Director, Norbert Schmied, to my standard room-entry inquiry. I had drifted into the MoFi room, which was busier than most exhibit rooms at the Venetian Hotel. Norbert took me over to a Balanced Audio Technology VK-56SE ($8500), a 52-lb, 55Wpc tube amplifier with a silver faceplate and a graceful arching rear bar, somewhat like a roll bar in a car. In addition to the roll bar, the VK-56SE now offers a fuseless protection circuit. The silver finish, fuseless protection, and roll bar distinguish the new amplifier from the…