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To me, the most important issue surrounding the digital vs analog debate is not sound quality (each has their virtues). It is always the user interface: Must I use a keyboard, a remote, or a tonearm finger-lift? I love turntables, tonearms, and cartridges. I especially love them when they are inexpensive, beautiful, easy to use, come with a mounted and aligned Audio Technica cartridge and, amazingly, a uni-pivot tonearm like the new $999 Thorens TD-203 does. Fit and finish looked superb.
I will never forget the first time I auditioned the $1699 Audeze LCD-X planar-magnetic headphones. My neck and shoulders relaxed—my tensions melted and my brain exclaimed, welcome to the next level! I had never experienced this quality of detail or spatial perspective. I knew then; the experience of enjoying music via headphones had fully evolved from a necessity (it's late and the kids are sleeping) to a viable first choice over traditional loudspeakers. The new Audeze EL-8s ($699) are not just moderately-priced alternatives to the reference quality Xs—they offer their own special brand of…
Every CES show reporter I bumped into would start the conversation with, "So, Herb what have you seen that you liked?" Or, "What's the coolest new product?" The second I walked it the Naim room, I knew the answer to both questions. Their new Mu-so wireless loudspeaker ($1500) is so cool and so hot—it froze my gaze and warmed my innards with its totally deluxe sound.
The Mu-so's beautifully proportioned brushed aluminum cabinet, its full rear-spanning heatsink, its slender mirrored base, and its sculpted 3D grill (which comes in several colors) push it immediately to the top rank of…
I am sure it's a good sign, but I have been crossing paths with Hegel amplifiers a lot this last year. And, all of these encounters have featured a testicular upper bass and lower midrange coupled with a hyper-colorful upper midrange. No matter what loudspeaker they are powering I always think, Hmmmm. . .maybe here's a solid-state amp that plays like the proverbial tube amp—but without that old "MOSFET mist."
My CES encounter featured the 75Wpc Hegel H80 integrated amp ($2000) driving (are you ready?) the Magico S-1 loudspeakers ($12,900/pair). The source was Tidal streaming. This…
Confusingly, the N10 is listed in the company's product brochure as a Network Music Player, but also has a 1TB SSD inside, so I'm calling this one a server. Some details such as pricing were not available at the show, but the N10 will have more caching (240GB - though in one spot the literature says 120GB) for playback than the N100 and more of a full size case.
Also features the linear power supply, Tidal-readiness and app. Projected release date is March.
Though the company calls the N100 a server in one of their press releases (not in the brochure luckily), I tend to think of these types of products as network players, since it does not have a built-in drive for storing music and relies on NAS drives on a network. Nonetheless, the N100, which retails for $2,499, looks very promising and will be available this month. Another version called the N100S with 1TB internal storage (thus making it truly a server) was also announced, though there was no price at press time.
Inside is a 120GB SSD for caching playback from the network, full linear…
Aurender had a cool hand-size device in their room that not only functions as a normal DAC/Headphone amp for portable use, but also sports optional mSATA storage up to 1TB(!!) of user installable SSD, turning the thing into a player. I must admit the form factor for the FLOW is pretty seductive with a large velocity sensitive volume knob on the front and smooth satin aluminum case.
The FLOW handles 32/384 PCM as well as DSD64/128 and in addition to its USB 3.0 and SPDIF optical inputs, there is a 1/4 inch/6.35mm headphone jack. Price is $1,295 with leather case and is available now.
If this product has halfway decent sound, it should be a hit at $540 retail.
Included is a built-in USB DAC as well as analog line in and Bluetooth wireless capability for connection to smartphones and the like. Power output is 25 watts/channel (MOSFET Class A) and there is also a headphone jack on the front. A preamp out is also included if you'd like to use the MARS just as a tube DAC to drive your he-man amp. Looks well made and available now.
First time I've seen this manufacturer at CES, but WOW what a gorgeous product! I've included a couple more shots from their website so you can see how this Swiss jewel is put together. The aluminum chassis is surrounded on all four sides by glass, for example, and can sit vertical or horizontal.
Okay, it ain't cheap at $40k, but before you start howling about this in the comments, consider that sometimes it's worth it just to see what the human mind can create in the service of music. And like great art, you don't have to be able to afford it (I sure can't) to appreciate its…
With a major nod to ZenSati, who designed the cables, Viola Audio Labs' president and technical director Paul Jayson happily displayed the company's new cable line. Available at this time are the VC RCA interconnects ($1995/1m pair), VC XLR interconnects ($2730/1m pair), and VC Speaker #3 speaker cable ($5005/2.5m pair). Sporting the company's custom Viola blue-vinyl sleeve, the cables are solid-copper core with silver plating, and include custom Viola engraved terminations.