CES 2008

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CES 2008
An Audio Oasis
Robert Deutsch  |  Jan 08, 2008  |  2 comments
VTL's room is always an oasis at shows, playing music at levels that actually match rather than trying to impress the listener with mere volume, the system meticulously set up. The same was true at CES 2008, a pair of Wilson WATT/Puppy 8s being driven by the new MB450 Series II tubed monoblocks ($9500/pair), the "budget-priced" (a mere $50k) Continuum Criterion turntable, and VTL's new TP6.5 phono section ($8500) as the source. The MB450 and other VTL components are pictured here with the company's co-owner, the ever-gracious Bea Lam.
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CES 2008
World’s First Noise-Canceling Digital Headphones
Robert Deutsch  |  Jan 08, 2008  |  0 comments
The Sony booth had a lot of interesting products on display, but hardly anything specifically dealing with audio. Last year, the only product I found I could find in the Sony booth that I could mention in my CES blog was a pair of headphones. This year, the product that I spotted that I thought would be interesting to Stereophile readers was "a pair of headphones!"
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CES 2008
Esoteric X-05 SACD/CD player
Wes Phillips & Jon Iverson  |  Jan 08, 2008  |  10 comments
Esoteric unveiled its new X-05 SACD/CD player ($5600), which employs a new VRDS-NEO "VMK-5" drive mechanism that includes a precision machined aluminum turntable and a polycarbonate clamping mechanism. The VMK-5 is said to be extremely rigid and optimized for SACD's high-rotation speeds.
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CES 2008
Awards Are Here
Jon Iverson  |  Jan 07, 2008  |  1 comments
The show has just opened its doors and Stereophile's Stephen Mejias holds the new Product of the Year awards to be handed out all day long.
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CES 2008
Synergistic Tubes
Wes Phillips & Jon Iverson  |  Jan 07, 2008  |  7 comments
We ran into SinglePower Inc.'s Mikhail Rotenberg as he was sprinting down the hall to the Synergistic Research room. "Check these out," he said. "These are a 1932 Tung Argon 4327 and a 1943 722A (323), labeled Centennial, but manufactured by Western Electric."
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CES 2008
Hot Rod iPod
Jon Iverson  |  Jan 07, 2008  |  0 comments
The new Wadia iTransport detailed above also comes in your choice of hot rod finishes. Well not officially, but they couldn't resist making one for the show.
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CES 2008
Wadia iTransport Rear End
Jon Iverson  |  Jan 07, 2008  |  3 comments
The back of the iTransport fully decked out with XLO cabling.
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CES 2008
Wadia iTransport
Wes Phillips & Jon Iverson  |  Jan 07, 2008  |  20 comments
It exists; we saw it for ourselves! Wadia's $349 iTransport can take the digital signal out of an iPod before the DAC, outputting 16-bit/44.1khz resolution for uncompressed files—it doesn't upconvert lower-rez files like MP3s, but it does reformat them to 16/44.1, according to Wadia's John Schaffer.
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CES 2008
Roger's Back!
Wes Phillips & Jon Iverson  |  Jan 07, 2008  |  1 comments
We were stunned to see Roger Skoff in the Ultralink/XLO room—we thought he'd retired years ago. "I did," he explained, "but I was asked to design some new stuff incorporating new technologies and more advanced versions of our existing designs."
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CES 2008
On the Other Side of TA
Wes Phillips & Jon Iverson  |  Jan 07, 2008  |  3 comments
The Music Player has tons of inputs: USB2.0, iPod (with control and display), S/PDIF digital coaxial, TOSlink digital optical, LAN, W-LAn, and RS232 for update and control interface.
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CES 2008
T + A Music Player
Wes Phillips & Jon Iverson  |  Jan 07, 2008  |  2 comments
"This," Quartet Marketing's Stirling Trayle proudly said, "is the T + A Music Player."
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CES 2008
Rosemarie & Cynthia
Jon Iverson  |  Jan 07, 2008  |  1 comments
The ever-lovely Rosemarie Torcivia and Cynthia Fontaine, running the Stereophile room at the Venetian. They'd appreciate it if someone would bring them a decent sounding stereo to listen to. An ipod even.
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CES 2008
The Superiority of Ayre Power
Wes Phillips & Jon Iverson  |  Jan 07, 2008  |  9 comments
The three phase power supply is pure Ayre. There are three amplifiers, one for each phase. "Essentially, they are mini-MXRs," said Silberman. They are 120 degrees out of phase with one another, and we need to tune each one with a stethoscope to achieve absolute pitch stability. The result?
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CES 2008
Ayre's Der Platen Spieler
Wes Phillips & Jon Iverson  |  Jan 07, 2008  |  3 comments
Ayre's Steve Silberman was excited about the new DPS Ayre turntable. Charlie Hansen had hipped Wes Phillips to the then pending debut of the DPS Ayre back in September.
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CES 2008
Sumiko TBD Cartridge
Wes Phillips & Jon Iverson  |  Jan 07, 2008  |  0 comments
Sumiko's Norbert Schmied showed us their new upscale cartridge. "What's it called?"
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