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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,…
In the room sponsored by distributor Musical Surroundings, I spied Clearaudio's new Concept Active turntable ($2600 to $4400, depending upon choice of three plinths, three tonearms, and three cartridges). The version I saw was $3200 in black and silver with Concept tonearm and Concept MC cartridge. This all-in-one, ready-to-play system incorporates a high quality internal phono stage and headphone amp.
I took a brief listen through Audeze LCD-3 headphones equipped with standard cabling. Despite a lot of groove noise—it may have been the pressing—and an inability to deliver the bottom…
Beautiful and warm sound, gorgeous midrange, absolutely quiet surfaces with silence between the notes—these were some of my impressions upon hearing Natalie Merchant's performance of "The Butcher's Boy," from the LP version of Kronos Quartet's Folk Songs, on this brightly backlit, hard to photograph system from Musical Surroundings.
Most important, however, was the light that projected from the loudspeakers. Courtesy of an AMG Giro G9T turntable/Turbo 9" tonearm combination ($13,500) plus Turbo tonearm cable ($2250); new DS W2 optical phono cartridge system ($13,000); Giro-specific…
Paul Barton of PSB was on hand to demonstrate the RoomFeel technology he uses in his headphones. "Headphone listeners listen to recorded music that was designed to be heard in a room," he said. Therefore, his RoomFeel technology adds a simulated room response to music.
Barton, who designs for NAD and Bluesound as well as PSB, conducts research for his 45-year-old company at the National Research Council in Ottawa. Shown were PSB feed-back and feed- forward noise-cancelling headphones ($399), with the latest Bluetooth technology, whose aptX-HD algorithm enables 24/48 transmission.
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With Dali and PSB—not to mention NAD and Bluesound—all distributed by Lenbrook, at CES the white Dali Callisto System active tower loudspeakers with SoundHub (target base price $5500/pair, available by early May) sat beside black PSB Imagine T3 speakers ($7499/pair). The Callisto system with SoundHub offers wireless HD audio transfer to the speakers, has numerous inputs including Bluetooth AptX-HD—"you can connect anything" is the claim—multiple outputs, two modular expansion ports, auto sensing source select, and Bluetooth remote control.
The SoundHub serves as both a preamplifier and…
The wireless version of Audioengine's highly regarded A5+ loudspeakers ($499/pair in black or white, $569 in bamboo) uses aptX HD Bluetooth to transmit signals up to 24/48. Performance has been improved, the tweeter has shifted to the cabinet's center, and there is also a cute little remote.
"All products in the Heritage Series are built in the Klipsch factory in Hope Arkansas," the company's Kerry Geist begins. Klipsch has chosen to only demo the Heritage stuff here in the Venetian, with the bulk of their contemporary line back at the main convention center. And the room is quite crowded, so they clearly understand their demographic.
For those new to the hobby, the Klipsch legacy goes back decades with the original "K-Horns" as Geist calls them, appearing just after WW2. Those expecting faithful reproductions of the early models will be slightly disappointed however, as…
Richard Vandersteen, hailing from Hanford, California, was on hand to show off his new creation, the M5-HPA monoblock amplifier. Vandersteen notes that this is a high-pass amplifier, not intended to go full-range, for a system that would also include a subwoofer. The selectable high pass settings are 20Hz, 40Hz, 80Hz, 100Hz or 200Hz. The 80 and 100 Hz settings are optimized to work with Vandersteen subwoofers.
"The best thing about high-passing a speaker is getting that low frequency load out of the amp and getting all of that energy out of the main speakers, which cleans things up a lot…
Shown here is the new DeVore Fidelity Gibbon Super 9 ($9,900 pair) which falls in between the company's big Gibbon 10 3-way and the Gibbon 88 smaller 2-way floorstander.
"This is a 2 and a half way," says DeVore, "and the goal with this speaker was to get as much of the performance of the big Gibbon 10 in a smaller package and make it significantly easier to place in a room." DeVore adds that the speakers are very easy to drive with a 91dB sensitivity and "nice even 8 ohm load." They've also been designed for a wide sweet spot and in fact the demo pair were not toed in at all but were…