Apparently Kimber Kable has had problems with knock-off unauthorized competition, so Gould points out how they are able to braid the eight strands together for both conductors in a single loom and then split them off in a special weave right up to the connectors (as seen in the photo), which the counter-fit…
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There was a brief back and forth as to whether they wanted to release information on the new cables (seen above in prototype form), but eventually Ray Kimber said yes. Kimber's Lonny Gould described these as "a carbon-infused eight wire cable." No pricing or release dates are set yet.
Swiss audio company Nagra won an Innovation Honoree award this year for their ingenious motorized volume control design in the tubed HD Preamp. René Laflamme, based in Montreal himself, describes the product: "The preamp is two channels of mono in a single chassis. There are two Super Cap capacitor power supplies, two independent circuits, and each channel has a single triode input stage featuring a NOS (new old stock) Mullard tube hand-selected by Nagra."
The award however is for the volume control design, "where you select a particular transformer tap with one of the volume controls…
Paul Jayson, president of Viola Audio Laboratories, New Haven, CT was on hand to demo the company's new Chorale Integrated Amplifier. Price is still to be determined, says Jayson, "but we are looking at around $19,000, and plan on shipping in March."
The amp section puts out 125 watts per channel into 8 ohms, 250 into 4 ohms, and the preamp section is controlled by an iOS or Android remote app. "We have a two option slots for a phono section or DAC. We're also working on a new DAC that would slide in with DSD, streaming and AirPlay," explains Jayson. The additional slide-in boards will be…
"The 5 Series stared with Arnie Nudell in 1993 and the Genesis V," says Gary Koh, from Seattle's Genesis Advanced Technologies. "Then there was the G500 and then the G501, G5.2, G5.3 . . . Now I've given up numbers and we have the Genesis Maestro." Retail price is $30,000 a pair and they are available now.
"Arnie designed half of the 5.3, but this is the first of the series that is entirely my design," adds Koh. "A lot of customers have been coming back saying they want a little more this, a little more that. So I've gone back to the four woofers of the original Genesis V. Even though…
HiFiMan had two new products on display this year: one for the budget-minded, and one not.
First, for the entry level, is the new Sundara planar headphone which will retail for $499. Josselin Marvie from HiFiMan explains that "We spent some time designing this headphone to be more reliable and comfortable, so we have a new headband design which is more lightweight as well. We also have new cups, and everything has been redesigned to make the headphone last longer."
Inside is also a new diaphragm that is 80% thinner than the older versions, "which results in a wider frequency…
"This is the evolution of our Sonja series," Explains YG Acoustics senior account executive Kerry St. James. "This follows the Sonja 1 series and the 'dot' indicates how many modules there are in the model. So this is a Sonja 2.2 (he points to the demo in the room) meaning it is the second series and has two modules. The 2 series is available as one module or expanded into three modules, the Sonja 2.3."
The first upgrade in the 2 series is the new "BilletDone" tweeter design. St. James says "this tweeter combines the best of both worlds of the rigid metal tweeter with a soft…
I was working on our video coverage of the 2018 CES with our resident videographer Jana Dagdagan, and as video is such a time sink, I wasn't able to visit as many rooms as I usually do. But one room I managed to visit and that stood out when it came to sound quality was Constellation's.
Jon Iverson already blogged about this room, which featured the Revelation Series Pictor preamplifier and Taurus Stereo power amplifier driving Magico S3 Mk.2 loudspeakers, with the Roon Ready Cygnus Media player as a source, but I felt I had to note the sound in this room. Cabling was all-MIT, with MIT…
When Jason Victor Serinus visited the Bluebird Audio room on the Venetian's 35th floor, he mentioned that Chord was demonstrating its Blu Mk.2 CD transport ($11,788) along with the Dave DAC that I reviewed and was impressed by last June. I chatted with Chord's digital guru Robert Watts (above in photo) about the new transport and he mentioned that it incorporated his latest WTA (Watts Transient Aligned) digital filter with a million taps! (The more taps there are, the closer a DAC can reproduce the timing information in the reconstructed analog signal—see my DAVE review for why Robert feels…
Photo by John Atkinson
The question, "What if they Gave a CES and Nobody Came?," which headlined my As We See It from mid-2016, was echoed by a similar title on Jon Iverson's opening blog for our coverage of CES 2018. Yet hopes and fears that our industry's increasingly limited presence in the Venetian would sound the death knell for "high performance audio" at CES do not reflect the experience of those who this year chose to either exhibit or wander hallways and eateries in search of dealers and distributors.
Yes, there were only two big suites on the 35th floor, and smaller…
Friday, January 19, from 5–8pm, Alma Music and Audio (7847 Convoy Ct. #101, San Diego, CA 92111) are hosting an event with guests Peter McGrath of Wilson Audio Specialties and Vince Galbo of MSB. McGrath will be talking about the differences between Wilson's entry-level Sabrina loudspeaker and the more elaborate models, like the Alexia 2, as well as playing his own live recordings. Galbo will be demonstrating MSB's amplifiers and DACs.
For more info click here.