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When Charles van Oosterum founded Kharma International in the Netherlands 35 years ago, he began with the company's Ceramique line, which used ceramic drivers. Kharma's ceramic-driver Enigma was their first big speaker to fill a ballroom. Now, over a third of a century later, with ceramic drivers replaced by Kharma Composite drivers with carbon fiber, the Kharma Enigma Veyron 2 ($437,500/pair), the smaller (!) sibling of the Enigma Veyron 1, has made its US debut at CES. (I should have covered this speaker at its Munich High End debut but, mea culpa, I somehow missed it.)
Under the mistaken impression that I had covered all the new cables, accessories, and $20,000/pair-and-up speakers in the Venetian—save for one cable company whose rep was deeply engaged both times I visited the room and one speaker company whose blare into the hallway discouraged me from visiting—I invited our own Jana Dagdagan and her video camera to join me as I indulged in auditioning the two rooms populated by Magico loudspeakers. I'm glad I did, because I not only heard some great sound, but also discovered a passive display of the brand new Magico S3 Mk II ($28,000/pair in M-Cast…
Vintage Technics amplifiers and tuners are surely among the most beautifully styled audio gear ever. In terms of well-drawn, refined-looking industrial design, Technics amplifiers from the 1970s and 80s beat Marantz, Kenwood, and even Sansui.
The space-station bottom lighting on Technic’s watt-meters created a new fashion in amplifier art direction that has never been equaled— and has never gone away. (Think: Audio Research, Pass Labs, SAE, and D’Agostino.)
Technics spent all of 2016 re-emerging into the Euro-American audio market—and they did it with full-on high Japanese…
Look at that photo, with the beautiful wood-plinthed KT88 amp. What do you notice? That's not a dCS digital stack lying on the table bottom-right: It's an iPad. A fancy red cable, whose name I forgot to get, is connecting a portable music source to the line-level input of a $1850 single-ended stereo integrated headphone amplifier called the Mogwai. It's all handmade by Ampsandsound engineer-proprietor Justin Weber. Look again. Do you see those loudspeaker binding posts? Ah ha! The Mogwai is another of those "fusion" products that I love. It sits on your desk, drives some sensitive desktop…
I am an Anglophile
and a Brit-fi guy. I just am. Back in 1982 I really wanted a wood-cased A&R Cambridge A60 to drive my Rogers LS3/5a speakers. But I couldn't afford its modest price. Somewhere around then, this venerable UK company simplified their name to Arcam. They continue make excellent, elegant integrated amplifiers, and their venerable Solo Music ($2250) is an audiophile-quality "complete stereo system in a box" that features SACD/CD drive and 80Wpc (8 ohms) of amplification in a modest but high-styled, enclosure.
The whole Solo Music package is simple, good looking, and…
Available elevators at CES are usually scarce, so seasoned show-goers hit the stairs at the end of each floor to move up or down. Since the Simaudio room was right next to the stairs, we decided to head straight up five floors to the 35th where distributor Bluebird Music had their nest in one of the larger Venetian suites. Jake bounced up the stairs no problem carrying his ukulele, the rest of us maybe a tad more winded. But we made it and were greeted by the Bluebird and Chord crew as we entered.
John Atkinson had stuck with us, wanting to hear Jake play as often as possible, and…
Naim hit CES running with four new Uniti digital products, starting with the Nova (pictured below) at $6,995 and available in June. The Nova is the top dog of the three new all-in-one player/integrated amps and features a full slate of digital inputs (including SD card and USB on the front), a quartet of analog inputs (two sets RCA and two 5-pin DIN), and networking either via ethernet or WiFi. Streaming options include AirPlay, Tidal, Spotify Connect, Bluetooth AptXHD, and internet radio.
Up to six devices can be networked at once and controlled via the Naim iOS and Android App…
Though the variations can get confusing, I love all of these compact music networking and streaming devices spawned by the original Sonos products over ten years ago. The rPlay is intended for those who want to add one or more points of audio around their lair, streamed from subscribed services such as Spotify, Tidal, Qobuz, Deezer, Pandora, or Amazon Prime, or a NAS on the network.
Arcam has incorporated DTS PlayFi as well as Apple AirPlay and UPnP, which allow a host of options up to 24/96 resolution. Arcam says Amazon Alexa-related devices will also be added shortly, and control is via…
I was quite excited to see the original ELAC Discovery prototype exhibited last year at CES, and AudioStream's Michael Lavorgna favorably reviewed the production model late last year. The original Discovery includes Roon Essentials in the purchase price, which though having a cap of 30,000 tracks, gets you most of the way to a decent collection and streaming experience for a very reasonable $1,099.
So to top themselves in 2017, ELAC is introducing the Discovery Q. This time you get a 1-year full Roon subscription (meaning you can now go for that huge library of music), support for…
What goes up, must go down. So we headed back to the stairs and then down five flights to the 30th floor where John DeVore was set up. We were now in the smallest size room you'll find at the Venetian, but still big enough to fit us all in, like a cozy, plush living room. John keeps his space dark and relaxing too, the emphasis clearly on our sense of hearing. So no flash, and I've tried to keep the brightness in the photos realistic to reflect how this room felt.
You can see John Atkinson on the couch at left and John DeVore to Jake's right. Also in the small room, but not in the photos…