Hartley is particularly proud of what they achieved in reducing distortion. He feels that speakers are generally weak in this area, so that we may have sources and playback electronics…
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The Monitor Audio Platinum II involves some major improvements in driver technology. Dean Hartley told me that they had moved a good way towards completion of these changes when the original Platinum Series speakers were introduced, but they felt that further improvements were possible, and they wanted to be absolutely sure they got it right, so they played it safe by going with the existing technology.
With two years in research and development, Monitor Audio's Platinum Series II involves—according to Dean Hartley, Monitor Audio's Technical Director—"advances in every area of design: electrical, mechanical, magnetic, acoustic and aesthetic." When I reviewed the original Platinum Series PL200 in 2010, I liked it a lot. When I first heard that Monitor Audio had an upgrade of the Platinum series, I made a note to myself in my CES planning to be sure to visit the Monitor Audio room and listen to the new speakers.
I was not disappointed. Allowing for different listening environments,…
Taking a photo of a single speaker for a show report presents a challenge, especially if the speaker is narrow and tall. In the case of the new MartinLogan EM-ESL X, the flagship of the ElectroMotion series (at $3995/pair, I make it close enough to $4000 be part of my territory), I solved the problem by enlisting the help of the uncommonly photogenic Erin Phillips, Communications Manager for MartinLogan and Paradigm.
The only things I am sure about in the current and future state of high-end audio are: listening to and collecting LPs has only just begun, and, listening with super-quality headphones, desktop speakers and wireless speakers has also only just begun. By "begun" I mean each of these technologies will continue to evolve exponentially in terms of how good they will sound and how many people will be listening. I think a major Audio Renaissance has already begun and I believe that Dynaudio is one of the companies leading on the charge loudspeaker front.
Dynaudio's new Xeo 2 ($1599/pair) is…
Sometimes, even in audio, numbers do speak for themselves. I reviewed the Rogue Sphinx ($1395) almost two years ago—and still, everyday I like it more. The Sphinx continues to deliver more quality sonics (into a wider variety of speaker loads) per dollar than any amp I ever knew. Now they appear to have accomplished the same thing again—this time it is a beautiful little $1695 preamplifier called the RP-1.
Besides looking like a $5k preamp, the RP-1 played music like a $10K preamp. The RP-1 has a MM/MC phono stage, so for CES, Rogue's principle owner/designer, Mark O'Brien had it…
Everywhere I go I hear about Andrew Jones the speaker design wizard, and how suddenly, this "trending" new combination of established manufacturing smarts (ELAC America) and engineering magic is making high-value speakers at astonishingly low prices. (I had just submitted a review of the ELAC Debut B6 for the May issue of Stereophile before boarding the plane for Vegas.)
Before all the aramid cones had even broken in on the Debut Series, Elac America has introduced a new series called the "Uni-Fi"—which consists of a floor stander (the UF5), a bookshelf model (UB5), and a center channel—…
We'll be detailing all of the rooms that Graham Nash visited at CES in the next week, but before we get started, here's a small detour that took place about halfway through the day.
In the back room of the Chord suite, at the top of the Venetian, a variety of Audeze headphones were set up connected to various Chord portable and desktop products and arrayed on a couple of long tables. I mentioned to Graham that I listened to the Audeze LCD-Xs at home, but Instead of going for the most expensive system, Chord's John Franks handed Graham a pair of Audeze EL-8 headphones ($699) connected to…
While I left coverage of the newly upgraded dCS Vivaldi stack and the recently released Rossini player (which John Atkinson will review) for Jon Iverson's time in the dCS suite with Graham Nash, I will note that its new filters and upgraded Ring DAC software algorithm (which includes the ability of the original dCS mapper to run at two different speeds), together with advanced word-clock management and signal processing, produce a readily noticeable improvement in sound.
Most apparent to me, in an intentionally brief A/B, was the lifting of a veil that I would have never realized was…
Dan D'Agostino Master Audio Systems' newly upgraded Momentum monoblocks, now called the Momentum M400 monoblocks ($65,000/pair, and shipping now), sounded fantastic in the dCS Suite in the Mirage. The photo is slightly deceptive, because this early-issue pair is housed in the slightly different, original Momentum chassis, but who cares? The mating of D'Agostino Momentum400 monoblocks with Wilson Audio Alexia loudspeakers, Transparent Audio Generation V cabling, HRS SXR isolation system with new Vortex isolators, Meletzsky Stromtank power supply system, and the newly upgraded dCS Vivaldi DAC…
It's unfair to judge the scale of Wilson Audio's forthcoming Alexx loudspeaker ($109,000/pair) from the height of the two gentlemen flanking it, because main designer Daryl Wilson and inspiration/father Dave Wilson are ridiculously tall. But despite the fact that Alexx is 4" shorter than the older MAXX3, his 65" height means he's a foot taller than his not-so-little sister Alexia.
Measurements, however, say only so much about an imposing 4-way loudspeaker that is due in the first quarter of 2016. A listen would say a lot more, but Wilson opted for static display. Thus we must content…