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Now distributed in the US by MoFi distribution, the venerable Quad Electroacoustics has a new non-electrostatic line, the Z series, which uses woven glass-fiber cones for the midrange and bass units, allied to a "true ribbon" tweeter. The tweeter is said to have descended from the original Corner Ribbon, which preceded the electrostatic Quad ESL-57. On static display at CES 2016 were the Z-3 ($4199/pair, left side of the ESL-2812 in the center of the photo) and the Z-4 ($4000/pair, on the right).
Made in Slovenia, the Ubiq One ($13,750/pair) is a striking-looking speaker, whose sound (in a system with the Absolare Passion integrated amplifier and Memory Player 64) had a horn-like quickness. I looked up Ubiq Audio on the internet, and was interested to note that Igor Kante, Ubiq's CEO and project leader, is a big fan of Avantgarde horns, as am I.
The late J. Gordon Holt used to say that although active loudspeakers make perfect sense, they will never attain popularity among audiophiles, who want to do their own mix-and-matching of amplifier and speaker. That was some time ago. Today, active loudspeakers are ubiquitous in multi-room settings, and even well-established audiophile loudspeaker manufacturers like Dynaudio have entered the active loudspeaker market.
Coming from the pro market, where active loudspeakers have been the norm, ATC is a major advocate of the active approach. According to ATC, the advantages include more…
Not having been actively involved in the turntable scene until recently, I found out for the first time about European Audio Team (EAT) at this year's CES. I was intrigued by the look of the various EAT turntables and arms, especially the E-Flat turntable with its flat arm ($4475). My guess was that the turntable was direct-drive, but the charming Jozefina Lichtenegger, the company's CEO (above), told me that the turntable was belt-driven, with a 35 lb platter. The platter is made of a vinyl mix, which eliminates a possible mechanical mismatch between the platter and the record.
Also on display in the LH Labs room was the long awaited VI DAC, also started as an Indiegogo project, and available shortly via normal retail for $4999 in solid state version, or $6999 with tubes sporting both single-ended or balanced outputs as shown here. Interestingly the tube version still contains the complete solid-state output stage, so you can switch between them.
Both versions contain separate power and digital boards as shown in the above photo and include Femto clocking and processing for up to 32/384 PCM or DSD256. The unique chassis design insures there are no…
Proprietor Gavin Fish was on hand to show off LH Lab's latest prototype, the Geek Source (initially started as an Indiegogo project), slated for release this spring at a retail price of around $5,000. There are optional Femto clocks and the Source will handle pretty much all PCM and DSD formats.
Fish says the company has developed a propriety OS optimized for music that they are pairing with their web-based interface for control of your massive library or streaming source. They also plan to add the Roon Ready API so the Geek Source can be run and controlled as a Roon endpoint.
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I couldn't make it over to the Hard Rock for the Levinson rollout, but Stereophile's Larry Greenhill was able to grab some photos and information to share:
The new No. 519 is intended to be an all-encompassing source for digital playback and will include not only a CD transport, but also Bluetooth, streaming, network playback, DAC, digital volume control and headphone amp. On the back are AES/EBU, SPDIF, optical and USB inputs as well as ethernet networking jacks. There are both balanced and unbalanced analog outputs as well AES/EBU, SPDIF and optical digital outputs.
The front…
AVM stands for Audio Video Manufaktur, and the company has been in the US for five years. I write this because every time I enter their room at CES I forget that I've seen them before and think, oh a new company. I'm not sure why that is, but to set the record straight (at least in my mind), they have a very full line of products with several new digital sources of note.
AVM has three lines of products ascending in quality and price: Inspiration, Evolution, and Ovation. Pictured above is the Evolution MP3.2 Media Player with built-in Teac CD transport that handles PCM up to 24/192 and…
[Note: click here for background on this project and here for how we set up the equipment.]
We were clearly off to a good start, so I was wondering what Graham Nash's reaction would be to an all out audiophile assault.
I explained to Nash that the Vivid speakers and Luxman system we just heard were relatively compact, by audiophile standards (though by no means modest), and that the next room would be more typical of the cost-no-object approach. Judged by Graham's "impact of the music" criteria, would bigger necessarily be better, or might it detract from the musical intent he was…
Movin' on up: Many audiophiles (of a certain age) are a little slow on the uptake. They clutch the past like it was a plate full of the best-mashed potatoes; "Don't touch my spuds!" Well, in many ways, classic two-channel—speakers out in the room, with a "sweet-spot" listening position—was a bowl of tasty spuds, but now, the sweetest spud may be the "bud"—ear bud that is. Headphones and in-ear speakers are moving up—from Can-Jam fun in the big room on the ground floor to the dee-luxe suites on the upper floors. Many of the best sounds and listening experiences at CES were with headphones.…