CES 2018

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CES 2018
Lumin D2 Streamer/Renderer/DAC
Jon Iverson  |  Jan 12, 2018  |  12 comments
Lumin's popular D1 has been updated to the D2 (black unit on top in photo above) with several new features: internal switch-mode power supply (no more wall wart), dual-mono Wolfson WM8741 DAC chips, reworked board layout, and DSD 128 support. There is also SPDIF out and you can bypass the internal DAC.
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CES 2018
M2Tech Rockstars Series
Jon Iverson  |  Jan 12, 2018  |  0 comments
Replacing the mid-size chassis offerings from M2Tech that were originally targeted to desktop and secondary system use, the new Rockstar line is now intended for main systems as well. The Young MKIII preamp/DAC features include additional digital inputs and analog inputs and outputs, DSD 256, full MQA, and Bluetooth APTX .
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CES 2018
Marantz ND8006 Network Audio and CD Player
Jon Iverson  |  Jan 12, 2018  |  3 comments
Emmanuel Millot, from Sound United (Marantz's parent company who also owns Denon, Polk, Definitive Technology, and others), was on hand to walk us through the new Marantz ND8006 CD and network audio player/streamer. Retail is $1,199 and it became available late last year.
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CES 2018
Mark Levinson 585.5 Integrated Amplifier
Jon Iverson  |  Jan 12, 2018  |  0 comments
Harman's performance audio director of engineering, Todd Eichenbaum, was on hand to explain the ".5" updates to the ML 585. "The 585.5 is the same at the original 585 integrated, but adds the same phono stage as the 523 and 526 preamps." The 585.5 has been shipping since late last year at $16,000
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CES 2018
Mighty Impressive Sound from Elac
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jan 15, 2018  |  1 comments
Both Andrew Jones, who designs Elac loudspeakers, and Peter Madnick, who is responsible for Elac's Alchemy series of components (the successors to the Audio Alchemy brand), were on hand to demonstrate a system that sounded equally wonderful on both of the "Red Book" files I heard there. I loved how beautifully this system captured the seductive midrange of David Roth's voice on "Before I Die" as it conveyed his music with captivating warmth and lovely layering. Timbres on Count Basie's 88 Basin Street were also natural and compelling.
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CES 2018
Mobile MQA Playback from LG
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jan 10, 2018  |  4 comments
It may look like any other smartphone, but LG's V30, shown by Vanessa Marrero, is smart enough to incorporate ESS's Sabre 32-bit Quad DAC…
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CES 2018
MQA Expands its Reach
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jan 10, 2018  |  2 comments
With Warner, Universal Music Group, and Sony as major shareholders/partners, it's no wonder that MQA figured so prominently in the CES Hi-res pavilion. MQA wasn't everywhere—Qobuz hasn't seen fit to embrace it as yet, and the majority of audio manufacturers have yet to get on board—but it has certainly come to mobile phones and players.
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CES 2018
Musique Concrète from Master & Dynamic
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jan 12, 2018  |  0 comments
Master & Dynamic, known mainly for their headphones and earphones, recently launched their MA770 wireless loudspeaker ($1800 each). Designed by Sir David Adjaye, who also designed D.C.'s new Smithsonian Museum, the 35-lb speaker's cabinet is made from exceedingly inert composite concrete…
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CES 2018
Mytek's Latest
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jan 10, 2018  |  0 comments
With Mytek's Michal Jurewicz in the background, the company's Chebon Littlefield showed the new Clef high-resolution, MQA-equipped, Bluetooth-equipped, mobile USB DAC/headphone amplifier ($299).
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CES 2018
Nagra HD Preamp
Jon Iverson  |  Jan 15, 2018  |  8 comments
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."
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CES 2018
New Concept Active Turntable from Clearaudio
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jan 14, 2018  |  3 comments
In the room sponsored by distributor Musical Surroundings, I spied Clearaudio's new Concept Active turntable ($2600 to $4400, depending upon choice of three plinths, three tonearms, and three cartridges). The version I saw was $3200 in black and silver with Concept tonearm and Concept MC cartridge. This all-in-one, ready-to-play system incorporates a high quality internal phono stage and headphone amp.
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CES 2018
New from Audeze
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jan 10, 2018  |  0 comments
Thanks to automated manufacturing, Audeze has produced its first "affordable" in-ear phones, the iSine LX ($199), currently sold via their website…
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CES 2018
New from Esoteric
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jan 14, 2018  |  1 comments
Esoteric's N-01 network player ($20,000), which debuted at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in October, is now equipped to decode MQA. It was part of a system that produced very direct, fast sound and that, on LP, rendered Ray Charles' voice with exceptional clarity.
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CES 2018
Portable and Wireless from Elac
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jan 15, 2018  |  0 comments
Andrew Jones's first active speaker, the tri-amped Argo Series B51 ($2000/pair), offers 250W of class-AB power in the form of a 150W AB amplifier for the woofer, 70W AB amp for the midrange, and 30W class-A amp for the tweeter. The B51s can be used either wired or wirelessly, but need an external DAC, DAC-equipped server, or other device to produce sound from digital.
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CES 2018
Primephonic Expands Classical Streaming/Download Service
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Jan 13, 2018  |  1 comments
Bet your bottom dollar that most folks involved in the high end never saw the exceedingly narrow space occupied by classical music download/streaming service Primephonic.com. That's because the company's marketing manager, Jennifer Harrington (pictured), and Chief Operating Officer (COO), Veronica Neo, were virtually hidden amidst a plethora of booths in the Holland Pavilion, itself situated over the hills and through the woods and turn right after the house that Jack built and then ask your bloodhound to lead the way to the far-right side of Hall G in the Sands Convention Center and then search and search some more for booth 51.
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