aptX Bluetooth allows streaming from wireless devices, and the digital section employs Chord's…
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The TT ("Table Top") is the new larger sibling to the hand-sized Hugo DAC released last year, which the company says expands connectivity options and improves performance. There are two 1/4 inch headphone jacks on the front panel and a bevy of inputs outputs on the back: SPDIF, USB (up to 32/384 PCM) and optical in, and balanced and unbalanced analog out. DSD64 is available on all inputs and DSD128 via SPDIF or USB. Chord's Rob Watts encourages users to connect with the USB input if possible.
These aren't new products to CES, but I thought it was worth throwing a photo up since Kevro International says they plan to reboot the line in the US this year. The Streamline2 retails for $2399 with the Xa going for $2499. Potential dealers take note.
Though the basic package is still the same, Furutech says it has completely redesigned the insides of the GT40α which now handles 24/192 PCM. The company claims that they've added some "serious shielding" inside to protect noise from getting into the built-in MM/MC phono preamp. There is also a USB output for recording your discs to computer. MSRP is $529 in the US.
There are four digital inputs on the back including USB and both PCM and DSD files are processed natively before reaching the analog section. In addition to a headphone jack, both balanced and unbalanced outputs are available and the $1,400 HD12 includes a remote control for use as a preamp. Available now.
You can use this one just for headphones or hook up a pair of speakers to the 150 wpc amp. In addition to a handful of analog inputs, the H160 accepts SPDIF, USB, optical and ethernet connections for digital audio. But that's not all: Hegel has done some tweaking in software to improve wireless playback from any Apple AirPlay or DLNA device. Available now for $3,500
Bryston's latest DAC was on hand, and yes all of those buttons on the front represent the number of input options! In addition to the normal SPDIF, optical and USB inputs are four HDMI inputs for hooking up computer-based, SACD, Blu-ray and other "modern digital sources".
Bryston says the BDA-3 can handle up to 32/384 PCM and DSDx4 all processed in their native resolutions through to the custom discrete analog output section. Price will be somewhere around $3,200-3,300 and it should hit retailers by spring.
The BOT-1 rips CDs to internal RAM where the files are then read as if…
I liked the sound of the music in this room. Driven by a Calyx M series music player and a Virtue Audio, "Virtue One" class-T integrated amp ($499), the Well Rounded Sound EXP loudspeakers ($1599/pair) and the WRS SUBST sub ($799) played the joyous hell out a variety of musical selections. This modest system generated a big but well-articulated soundspace. Bass was smooth and went pretty deep. Tone character and musical flow seemed easy going and natural. Like Siskel and Ebert used to say, "Thumbs up for Well Rounded!"
Morel's new Octave 6 bookshelf loudspeakers ($2500/pair) employ the kinds of new technologies I believe are leading today's audiophiles into some fresh, open, and I would say newly transparent realms of musical enjoyment. Driven by Hegel H300 amplifiers ($5500), the Morel Octave 6s played with a strength and precision that speakers of even the recent past could not achieve.
The Octave 6 woofers utilize a 6" mid-bass unit with an oversize 3" aluminum voice-coil, a hybrid neodymium/ferrite motor, and a damped polymer cone. These new Morels and the big (250W) Hegel amps delivered music with…
In my review of the Roksan K2 BT integrated amplifier last November I made it especially clear that I enjoyed the way this amp played the earthbound"'roots" type music I love. It played my Bartok and Stockhausen equally well. In fact, the K2 BT is still the amp I use when I am not reviewing and I am just listening for my own simple enjoyment. I am a Roksan fan . . . But!! I also suggested that maybe I liked the way it played music more than how it looked in my "fashionable" Bed=Sty man cave.
Well, the newly styled Roksan K3 integrated amp ($2500 with aptX streaming), the K3 CD player ($…
I am a sucker for the new breed of desktop "wireless" loudspeakers—when they look and sound as natural and dynamic as the new Audioengine B2 Premium Bluetooth loudspeaker, I can dance around, sing, dream on Bartok, or play air guitar while streaming Tidal or WFMU. You are invited!