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A 2017 CES Innovation Awards honoree, the HiVi Swan MS-10 ($4000/ pair) is a wireless active stereo system that resembles no loudspeaker that I've seen. (I kept thinking that it looks like one of those "ergonomic" office chairs.) But the separation of the woofer and mid/tweeter modules actually makes sense, and the speaker (on static display) certainly attracted a lot of attention in the Innovation Awards section of CES.
Dennis Bonotto, new International Sales Manager for Nordost, joined the company's Michael Taylor to introduce Nordost's new top USB cable, the Valhalla 2 USB ($3500/1m). The new cable—so new that it's not even listed on the sign behind Dennis—departs from the company's Heimdall 2 and Tyr 2 USB cables by using silver-plated solid-core conductors in a twin-axial configuration, and terminating them with Nordost's proprietary Holo:Plug connectors. Such a design reduces jitter and, thanks to a faster velocity of propagation, also increases bandwidth. In fact, the cables are so fast that Nordost…
At CES 2017, Japanese manufacturer A&M Ltd. announced the expansion of their Air Tight amplifier line with the ATM-3211 all-triode, 120W monoblock ($72,000/pair). The circuit employs a pair of 211 triode tubes running in class-AB, driven by a 12AX7 differential amplifier, itself followed by three 12BH7s arranged in a cathode-follower circuit. Tamura builds the amplifier's power transformer, and WBT supplies the speaker terminals. The amplifier's load-impedance matching can be switched by the owner from the factory default (6 ohms) to 16 ohms. Art Manzano of distributor Axiss Audio said he…
Naim Audio first displayed their monolithic flagship Statement amplification system at the 2014 CES; this year it was present in a static display. The 222-lb Statement consists of three adjacent towers, comprising the NAC S1 preamplifier and two NAP S1 monoblock amplifiers. Each monoblock amplifier is rated at 746W into 8 ohms (one horsepower), 1465W into 4 ohms, and a 9kW burst output into 1 ohm. Each power amp has a 55-lb, 4000VA power transformer in the base, and its output circuit is a bridged design with zero overall feedback.
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…