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Written by: Brent Butterworth

Category: Features

Created: 09 January 2016

I’ve already reported on several of the audiophile-oriented headphones that I’ve seen at the 2016 International CES. Since then, I’ve had time to walk through much of the CES high-end-audio exhibit space at the Venetian, and have found many more audiophile headphones that look well worth a listen. Here they are, with all prices listed in USD.

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Written by: News Editor

Category: Photos

Created: 09 January 2016

Companies featured in gallery below: Esoteric, Rogue Audio, Shunyata Research, EgglestonWorks, SVS, Crystal Cable, Micromega, Naim Audio, Aura, Stello, Verastarr, Lamm Industries, Luxman, Synergistic Research, Bang & Olufsen

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Written by: Jeff Fritz

Category: Features

Created: 08 January 2016

As I was learning more about the new Linn Series 530 loudspeaker, it became obvious that this product -- which is packaged along with a Linn streamer -- is made for a different kind of audiophile. The cloth-covered speakers -- with your choice of cloth, by the way -- along with the powerful DSP engine that can make the speakers sound like they are placed out into the room, are geared toward the audiophile who doesn’t want to see their equipment. We know a market for this type of thinking exists, and up until now the in-wall/in-ceiling market has primarily served it. The price of the Linn system described above is $19,200. Do people really want to spend that kind of coin only to hide their purchase?

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Written by: Brent Butterworth

Category: Features

Created: 08 January 2016

Noise cancelling is one of the toughest technologies for headphone manufacturers to master, partly because it’s hard to make a headphone sound good whether noise cancelling is on or off, and partly because much of the best technology is heavily patent-protected. Still, as I walked the aisles of the 2016 International CES (which opened on Wednesday), I found several new noise-cancelling headphones worthy of a serious evaluation and a long listen -- or at least a bemused glance. Here are the noise-cancelling headphones I’ve found so far at the show. All prices in USD.

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Written by: News Editor

Category: Photos

Created: 08 January 2016

Companies featured in gallery below: Dynaudio, D'Agostino Master Audio Systems, AudioQuest, EMM Labs, Raidho Acoustics, Elac, NAD, TAD

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Written by: Roger Kanno

Category: Features

Created: 07 January 2016

If you haven’t heard of ALMA (Association of Loudspeaker Manufacturing and Acoustics International), I would not be surprised. I first heard of it a few years ago from some speaker designers who encouraged a few of us at the SoundStage! Network to attend. The annual ALMA Symposium and Expo takes place in Las Vegas, just prior to CES, and is an important meeting place for speaker manufacturers and designers. In fact, according to Barry Vogel, the association’s manager, ALMA is one of the best-kept secrets in the audio business.

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Written by: Brent Butterworth

Category: Features

Created: 07 January 2016

The show floors at the 2016 International CES in Las Vegas opened yesterday, and predictably, it was a loud madhouse of people -- and at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC), where I spent the day, it was also a madhouse of plastic. This is where most of the mass-market audio products are displayed, including the big brands known to anyone who has ever shopped for headphones in a Best Buy or Target. But the LVCC also contained exhibits from a few companies with products geared to serious listening, and those are the ones I'll focus on here. This is just the start -- I’m headed back for more as soon as I finish here. All prices in USD.

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Written by: Doug Schneider

Category: Features

Created: 07 January 2016

On November 17, 2015, the Bang & Olufsen company celebrated its 90th anniversary by releasing what, when I first saw a picture of it, looked to be one of the stupidest loudspeaker designs ever created -- the BeoLab 90, a fully powered, DSP-controlled transducer featuring more than a dozen drivers pointing this way and that, no doubt intended to splay sound all over the room. It’s priced at $80,000 USD per pair. I’ve long liked 360-degree-radiating designs, but this looked way too out there to actually work.

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Written by: Super User

Category: Photos

Created: 06 January 2016

Companies featured in gallery below: Mark Levinson, GoldenEar Technology, MartinLogan, Anthem, Moon by Simaudio, Nordost, Constellation Audio

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Written by: Jeff Fritz

Category: Features

Created: 06 January 2016

Warning: armchair quarterbacking to follow. But hey, as a member of the press, that's what I do.

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Written by: Brent Butterworth

Category: Features

Created: 05 January 2016

The 2016 International CES -- the world’s largest and most important consumer electronics show -- kicked off on Monday, January 4, in Las Vegas with CES Unveiled, a preview event for press only. Unveiled packed more than 150 exhibitors and roughly 1,200 press into a single ballroom at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. The booths were small, typically just 10' by 10', so Unveiled was mainly a chance for some of the smallest, newest, and most innovative companies to show their stuff. Because most of the press attending Unveiled were from general-interest publications and broadcasters, most of the audio products shown were in mainstream categories such as headphones and wireless speakers.

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Written by: Brent Butterworth

Category: Features

Created: 19 October 2015

If you’re looking for new high-end stereo gear, the annual CEDIA Expo isn’t the best place to go; the focus at the Expo is always on things like multiroom audio and home theater. But there are always at least a few new stereo amps, preamps, and source devices, and the technology is often more advanced than what you see at, say, Rocky Mountain Audio Fest.

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Written by: Brent Butterworth

Category: Features

Created: 19 October 2015

The annual CEDIA (Custom Electronics Design and Installation Association) Expo is probably the world's largest showcase for audio products in the high-end home-theater and multiroom-audio fields. From a speaker standpoint, the Expo is dominated by in-wall/in-ceiling, outdoor, and surround-sound speakers, but there are usually several new loudspeakers targeted at audiophiles -- including some elite in-wall models that can give freestanding tower speakers a run for their money.

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Written by: Brent Butterworth

Category: Features

Created: 06 October 2015

Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, the biggest consumer hi-fi show in North America, wrapped up last Sunday after showcasing numerous new products. I've already covered the headphones and speakers that were introduced at RMAF. In this article, I'll report on some of the most interesting new audio electronics.

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Written by: Brent Butterworth

Category: Features

Created: 05 October 2015

The annual Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, which ran for three days last week at the Denver Marriott Tech Center hotel, is the biggest and, in my opinion, most important consumer hi-fi show in North America. How big and important? Big and important enough that many manufacturers use it to debut their new products.

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Written by: Brent Butterworth

Category: Features

Created: 03 October 2015

The annual Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, which started on Friday at the Denver Marriott Tech Center hotel, also includes CanJam, which is probably the biggest headphone show for consumers in North America. This year, CanJam was big enough that it had to expand beyond the large hotel ballroom that usually hosts it into a lobby area outside.

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Written by: Brent Butterworth

Category: Features

Created: 02 June 2015

I've already filed reports on the most interesting headphones, headphone amps, and speakers I saw last week at T.H.E. Show Newport Beach, Southern California's biggest consumer audio show. This report will cover audio electronics. As with speakers and headphones, there weren't a whole lot of new audio electronics displayed at this regional show, but there were a few, and there were also some that saw their first North American public demonstrations here.

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Written by: Brent Butterworth

Category: Features

Created: 01 June 2015

T.H.E. Show Newport Beach, Southern California's biggest consumer audio show, took place last week at Hotel Irvine. These regional shows have come into prominence recently as a way for audio enthusiasts to easily hear lots of new gear -- something that's not so easy to do otherwise, as the number of brick-and-mortar audio retailers has decreased. Unlike trade shows such as CES, regional shows are rarely used to launch new products, but they often function as the first public demos of products just coming onto the market.

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Written by: Brent Butterworth

Category: Features

Created: 01 June 2015

Last week, the premier Southern California consumer audio show, T.H.E. Show Newport Beach, took place at the Hotel Irvine (yep, in Irvine, not Newport Beach). Like most regional hi-fi shows, T.H.E. Show Newport doesn't see a lot of new product introductions -- but it does include a few, as well as some of the first live public demos of products announced at CES the previous January.

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Written by: Super User

Category: Photos

Created: 17 May 2015

Photos taken by Doug Schneider on May 16-17

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