Whitworth explains that the cables use neodymium N52 rare-earth magnets to eliminate skin effect and focus the…
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For now, I'll file this one under "interesting if it were true," since I can't verify the unique claims about these cables. But the main display certainly caught my eye. You can see the sci-fi looking metal enclosures in the above photo that the Texas company's Casey Whitworth says is the Professional Series Elite Interconnect. The large metal enclosures are Faraday cages surrounding the cable "so we can pile them on top of each other and not have issues with the magnets."
Kanto has just emerged in the market this past year with a series of three powered bookshelf speakers, a pair of subwoofers and two styles of stands. The company is based in Coquitlam, BC, Canada, and marketing manager Brett Smalley ran through the line.
The compact YU2 ($199) uses a 3" composite woofer and 3/4" silk dome tweeter, and has a USB DAC built in, an auxiliary input and output, sub output. Smalley describes the YU4 ($299 - shown in the photo above) as a "hybrid desktop/bookshelf speaker." It sports a 4" kevlar woofer and 1" silk dome tweeter and has the same features as the…
The sign up above said GoldenEar Technology, but when I walked in it looked like any normal hotel room. No big banners, black cloth draped along the walls or spotlights. And then at the far end I spotted company president Sandy Gross sitting on the couch and a single bookshelf speaker sitting on a stand. That was it.
But as soon as I introduced myself, Sandy jumped up and starting talking about his new baby, the DigitalAktiv 3. "This is a self-powered, wireless-connected monitor which we expect to be shipping later in the year. It has a 200 watt amp on the low frequency section with two…
With everything about its presentation and packaging proclaiming its intended specialness, Siltech debuted its 35th Anniversary limited-edition Crown Princess interconnects (3500 for either XLR or RCA terminations). As explained by Crystal Cable's Gabi Rijnveld (whose husband, Edwin van der Kleij-Rijnveld, runs Siltech), this is the first time that Siltech has issued a 100% monocrystal interconnect with silver conductors.
Crystal Cable isn't new to the "portable cable" market—it has manufactured cables for Astell&Kern for the past three years—but its new Crystal Duet (700 for 1.2 meters) is the first such cable branded and marketed under their own name. Constructed with silver and gold interconnects and a fascinating internal geometry whose innovative braiding renders it suited for both "standard" and balanced listening, the cable comes in a light, soft, hypoallergenic pouch. Custom lengths are available.
Not shown is Crystal Cable's brand new flagship, The Ultimate Dream interconnect (16,500/1-meter…
Bet your bottom dollar that most folks involved in the high end never saw the exceedingly narrow space occupied by classical music download/streaming service Primephonic.com. That's because the company's marketing manager, Jennifer Harrington (pictured), and Chief Operating Officer (COO), Veronica Neo, were virtually hidden amidst a plethora of booths in the Holland Pavilion, itself situated over the hills and through the woods and turn right after the house that Jack built and then ask your bloodhound to lead the way to the far-right side of Hall G in the Sands Convention Center and then…
VTL has finally released its long-promised TP-2.5i phono preamplifier ($3750). A completely redesigned replacement for the venerable 2.5, which was in production for close to two decades, its upgrades include shunt regulation and technology trickled down—oh, how I hate that phrase—from VTL's flagship TP-6.5 phono stage. JFET/tube hybrid circuitry is used for the MC stage, and all-tube circuitry for the MM stage. It has what VTL calls "enhanced" RIAA compensation and a front-panel-switchable filter/mono function.
Pictured on a Finite Elemente equipment rack below a Brinkmann Spyder…
The three best lower-cost systems that I heard at CES were this one ($7105 total) and others from Chord/Spendor and Music Hall; thanks in no small part to Totem's founder, Vince Bruzzese, whose extensive traveling has brought him in touch with a treasure chest's worth of eclectic titles that he searched out on Tidal and then purchased in physical form, this one was hands down the most musically enjoyable.
When I entered the room, a track about LSD by A$AP Rocky was streaming from his album At. Long. Last. ASAP. Beyond the incongruous association of the artist's cracked voice with the…
Seen in passive display, Transparent's new XL PowerIsolator, aka XLPI ($7995 including a $2400 Transparent XL 2m power cable with 20 amp connector), sits right below Transparent's Opus PowerIsolator. With 4 outlets in isolated banks of 2 outlets each, it is claimed to deliver unrestricted, in-phase power to all audio components, including high-current amplifiers. It also provides integrated Network Source Protection compatible with Gigabit Ethernet and PoE, hydraulic-magnetic circuit protection, and avalanche diode failsafe surge protection. In the event of a volcanic eruption, run.
Esoteric's N-01 network player ($20,000), which debuted at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in October, is now equipped to decode MQA. It was part of a system that produced very direct, fast sound and that, on LP, rendered Ray Charles' voice with exceptional clarity.
Arrayed on what looked like Grand Prix racks, the N-01 shared the spotlight with VPI's Prime Signature turntable ($6000) with Ortofon Cadenza Bronze cartridge ($2000); Esoteric's E-02 balanced dual-mono phono preamplifier ($9000), C-02X linestage ($20,000), and S-02 power amplifier ($20,000); Canton Reference 3K speakers ($15,…