McIntosh Labs’ D100 digital preamplifier is priced at a reasonable $2500, making it their most inexpensive preamplifier ever. It features five digital inputs: one USB, two optical, and two coaxial. It also has balanced outputs and an onboard headphone amplifier.
Also new from McIntosh Labs is the MT5 turntable, which comes ready to play with a tonearm and cartridge. We thought it to be a real looker. The MT5 will be priced at $6500 when it ships at the end of March.
Lamm’s new flagship phono stage completes their Signature series of products, joining the ML3 Signature mono power amplifiers and LL1 Signature preamplifier. The new LP1 Signature is priced at $32,790 and features . . .
. . . dual-mono power supplies that come in separate boxes, making the LP1 a three-chassis affair. Impressive.
The USA's YG Acoustics introduced the Sonja 1.3 flagship loudspeaker, which features two 10” BilletCore woofers along with two 6” BilletCore midrange drivers and a single ForgeCore soft-dome tweeter. In this configuration the price is $106,800/pr. The speaker can also be ordered with a single woofer cabinet -- making it the Sonja 1.2 -- which is priced at $72,800/pr.
The Sonja's contours are striking -- the curves you see are real, not lens distortion from the camera, and they're particularly impressive because the cabinet walls are all solid aluminum.
April Music's Hannah Song holds up the company's Stello HP100 headphone amplifier, which features a built-in DAC with a USB input. The SP100 is equipped with . . .
. . . three analog inputs, as well as single-ended and balanced analog outputs. The price for the SP100 is estimated to be $1200 when it becomes available at the end of February.
Boulder’s Jeff Nelson stands behind the company’s 3060 stereo amplifier, which is rated to deliver a whopping 900Wpc continuously into any load. This 450-pound monster of an amplifier is priced at $115,000 and is easily the largest stereo amplifier Boulder has ever produced. In fact, it might be the largest one ever produced by anyone!
The Verastarr Grand Illusion power cord is constructed of 2”-wide solid-copper foil and is priced at $1799 for a 5’ length. The company also makes speaker cables and interconnects with similar construction.
Pass Labs displayed their new flagship preamplifier, the Xs, which is designed to match the company’s Xs mono power amplifiers. The Xs preamp features a dual-mono power supply in a separate chassis. The price is TBA, and it is scheduled to ship in late April of this year.
MBL from Germany displayed a pair of Corona C15 mono power amplifiers, which are rated to deliver 500W into 4 ohms. These amplifiers are what MBL has termed their LASA (Linear Analog Switching Amplifier) design, and they represent MBL’s entry-level monaural power amps. The price for the C15 is $25,000 per pair.
Ayre’s newest stereo power amplifier is the VX-5, which is rated to deliver 175Wpc into 8 ohms and will be shipping at the end of January. This high-value model uses what the company has called their Diamond output stage, which was first seen in the company’s AX-5 integrated amplifier. The exact price has not been determined, but we were told it is expected to be “around $8000.” It looks and sounds like it’s going to be a solid bargain.
Wadia's futuristic-looking Intuition 01 is a fully digital integrated amplifier-DAC that outputs 350Wpc into 4 ohms and will accept any digital-source signal, including 32-bit/384kHz PCM and DSD via USB. Since the Intuition 01 is fully digital, it has an A-to-D converter combined with two single-ended inputs for analog sources. The Intuition features Wadia's DigiMaster digital-filtering technology, as well as Sabre's 9018 DAC. Another interesting thing about the Intuition 01 is that it's built in Italy! No firm pricing was given, but company representatives said that they believe it will be about $10,000 when it starts shipping in the second quarter of 2013.
Cambridge Audio introduced an entirely new line of surround-sound receivers. The Azur 751R (on bottom in photo) and 651R (not shown) both feature Anchor Bay ABT2010 video processing; Audyssey 2EQ room equalization; X-Tract Forced/Convection Heat Tunnel for near silent cooling; and oversized, low-flux toroidal transformers. The 651R is rated at 175Wpc and the 751R at 200Wpc. Both also feature Anagram Technologies' ATF 24/192 upsampling on all channels and an asynchronous USB audio input. The 751R and 651R are priced at $2999 and $2299, respectively, and will be available next month. Also available will be the $879 entry-level 351R surround receiver (not shown) and the 752BD universal Blu-ray player (on top in photo).
The new Parasound Halo P5 (top) is a full-featured preamp with a built-in DAC with USB, coaxial, and optical inputs. It also has an . . .
. . . adjustable subwoofer crossover, six single-ended inputs (one for a turntable for the onboard phono stage), balanced inputs and outputs, and a home-theater bypass mode. The P5 will be available in May for $1400.
HRT’s microStreamer looks to be taking a page out of AudioQuest’s book (the DragonFly DAC) with their unbelievably small asynchronous USB digital-to-analog converter. Accepting signals up to 24-bit/96kHz, the microStreamer features a digitally controlled, 63-step analog volume control, and claims an A-weighted signal-to-noise ratio of 105dB. The asking price is $189.95, and it looks to be worth every penny.
Tri-Art Audio showed their Bam Bam stereo integrated amplifier, which is a class-D-based design rated at 20Wpc into 8 ohms. It uses organic materials in its construction, such as bamboo for its casework that is stuffed with locally sourced lamb's wool for damping (yes, lamb's wool in an amplifier!). The Bam Bam is priced at $1495 and includes a remote control for volume. An optional battery pack is also available for improved performance.
GoldenEar introduced the Seven, their most affordable Triton tower model to date. The Triton Seven uses the same HVFR (High Velocity Folded Ribbon) driver as their other Triton models, but it uses two of their newly developed 5.25" bass-midrange drivers mated to two 8" passive bass radiators. Unlike the other Triton towers, which feature powered subwoofer sections, the Triton Seven is a more conventional passive loudspeaker, but is priced at only $699.99 each.
Anthony Gallo Acoustics has updated the drivers in their Reference Strada loudspeakers, which are now called the Strada 2. Their proprietary CDT 3 tweeter has a new drive circuit and a recalibrated dispersion/wave-launch pattern. The two 4" dynamic hyperbolic carbon-fiber bass drivers have been optimized to integrate more seamlessly with the CDT 3 tweeter. The Reference Strada 2 is priced at $999 each and is available now.
