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- Written by: Roger Kanno
- Category: Features
I've always had a soft spot for companies that sell high-quality audio equipment at reasonable prices -- companies like Cambridge Audio, NAD, and Arcam, for example. I learned, however, that the venerable British company Cambridge Audio will be rebranding some of its products as simply Cambridge, and not Cambridge Audio. I like that: it's straightforward with nothing superfluous, kind of like its products. Normally something like a simple name change wouldn't grab my attention, but when I walked into the company's exhibit room, something else looked a little different as well. After looking closer and speaking with one of the reps, I learned that the company was releasing an entire new line of electronics initially consisting of six components.
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- Written by: Jeff Fritz
- Category: Features
The system: Two Devialet Phantom loudspeakers and a MacBook. That's it. Doug Schneider wrote extensively about the Phantom on this site last month after he visited Devialet's headquarters in France, so I won't rehash all of that here.
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- Written by: Jeff Fritz
- Category: Features
The system: For speakers, Magico Q7 loudspeakers ($185,000/pr.) and a QSub-18 subwoofer ($36,000). For electronics, Soulution 701 mono amplifiers and 725 preamplifier, plus a Berkeley Audio Design Alpha DAC Reference and a Baetis Audio Reference Media Server. Cabling came from Vovox.
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- Written by: Jeff Fritz
- Category: Features
On the first half of Wednesday, the team took off from the hustle and bustle of the Venetian and headed across the street to the Mirage for a few private listening sessions with several companies displaying there. It was quite an experience, starting with the new Rockport Technologies Cygnus speakers! After having multiple Rockport Technologies speakers through my system over the years, I was anxious to hear Andy Payor's latest thinking on loudspeakers, which the Cygnus represents. I surely wasn't disappointed.
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- Written by: Brent Butterworth
- Category: Features
At this year's CES, headphones didn't seem to be as much of a focus as they have been of late. But still, I found way more new models than I could possibly write about. This article will focus on what I'll term "mass market" headphones, meaning ones that seem targeted more to the average music lover than to audiophiles. Of course, that's a subjective judgment. I'll be filing reports on audiophile headphones and headphone amps once I've had a chance to go through the high-end audio exhibits at the Venetian.
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- Written by: News Editor
- Category: Photos
Companies featured in gallery below: Melco, Astell&Kern, Cary Audio, Bryston, Boulder Amplifiers, Ayre Acoustics, YG Acoustics, Bryston, Vandersteen Audio, Cyrus Audio, Monitor Audio
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- Written by: News Editor
- Category: Photos
Companies featured in gallery below: Luxman, Mola-Mola, GoldenEar Technology, Vienna Acoustics, Stenheim, European Audio Team, IsoTek, Shunyata Research, Naim Audio
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- Written by: Brent Butterworth
- Category: Features
The day and a half before CES is packed with press events. Most are put on by such companies as LG, Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony, touting their latest TVs, phones, and other mainstream tech. There's not much audio on display until the show starts, but during the press events I encountered a few new headphones and personal audio players that are well worth a look.
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- Written by: Brent Butterworth
- Category: Features
If there's a hot trend in audio electronics, it's headphone amps. Seems like every manufacturer has come out with one in the last year, and headphone jacks are suddenly appearing on practically every new preamp. It was easy to observe this trend at the 2014 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in Denver -- both in the hotel rooms where manufacturers were doing demos, and in the CanJam section where headphones were on display.
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- Written by: Brent Butterworth
- Category: Features
You might think that the world of stereo audio electronics would have settled down a long time ago, unlike home-theater audio electronics where almost every year brings a new gotta-have-it innovation that makes last year's products seem like flea-market junk. But the advent of PCM and DSD high-resolution audio, the popularity of Internet streaming (even among audiophiles), and the explosion of the headphone market have radically altered the form and function of the latest stereo gear -- and it was all on display at Denver's 2014 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest.
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- Written by: Brent Butterworth
- Category: Features
Rocky Mountain Audio Fest is actually a two-part show, sharing the Denver Tech Center Marriott with CanJam, an expo devoted entirely to headphones and related gear. CanJam is by far the best consumer show for headphones I've ever attended. Most of the major manufacturers show up. Well, at least the ones who focus on enthusiasts; you won't find Beats or Bose or Skullcandy.
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- Written by: Brent Butterworth
- Category: Features
Every Rocky Mountain Audio Fest is packed with cool new speakers ranging in price from hundreds of dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Most of them are conventional passive speakers, so that's what I've focused on here. Occasionally a manufacturer or two works up the nerve to break with tradition and build amps (and maybe even digital signal processing) into the boxes. But by and large, audio enthusiasts still prefer to mix 'n' match their amps and speakers.
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- Written by: Brent Butterworth
- Category: Features
By far -- by a zillion, trillion miles -- the most excitement at the 2014 CEDIA Expo centered around the launch of the home version of Dolby Atmos, the technology that adds audio "objects" to the standard 7.1-channel mix, and adds height speakers for additional envelopment. I spoke with hundreds of people at the Expo, and not a single one expressed a negative sentiment about Atmos. All of the demos -- aided by a fresh Atmos demo disc from Dolby -- showed how the technology can add an immediately noticeable sense of realism to home-theater audio.
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- Written by: Brent Butterworth
- Category: Features
When it came to audio electronics, the new Dolby Atmos A/V receivers grabbed much of the attention at the 2014 CEDIA Expo. But I was surprised and heartened to see a lot of new stereo gear on display, including new ultra-high-end models as well as affordable products that are almost impulse buys (well, at least for serious audiophiles). Here's the best of what I saw at the show.
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- Written by: Brent Butterworth
- Category: Features
As usual, the focus at last week's 2014 CEDIA Expo in Denver was on home theater and home automation, but it was also the first North American appearance for several new stereo speakers that have either just hit the market or will be shipping within a few months. Some of these are intended just for stereo use; others are available with accompanying center and surround speakers and subwoofers for home theater.
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- Written by: Brent Butterworth
- Category: Features
CEDIA Expo, held often in Denver, Colorado, is always a big show for home-theater audio, so it's always a big show for subwoofers. At this year's show, the focus seemed to be on relatively tiny models, ones better suited for filling out the sound of your bookshelf speakers than for shaking the floor of a home theater. Here are the best of the new models I saw. Unfortunately, most of them were on static display so I can't say anything about the sound.
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- Written by: Doug Schneider
- Category: Photos
Photos taken by Doug Schneider on May 17 and 18
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- Written by: News Editor
- Category: Photos
Companies featured in gallery below: Crystal Cable, Magico, Tannoy, Octave Audio, CH Precision, Simaudio, Nagra, Cambridge Audio, Amphion, Pro-Ject Audio Systems, Alpha Design Labs, Pathos Acoustics
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- Written by: Jeff Fritz
- Category: Features
I was telling Tidal Audio designer Jorn Janczak that I thought the Contriva G2 (€41,000/pr.) was the perfect-sized loudspeaker. It is large enough to have generous internal air volume for support of a pair of 9" woofers, but also small enough to fit most real-world listening rooms. And let's face it: most audiophiles want a loudspeaker that can produce enough bass to make them feel the music -- a pair of nines will do that. At the same time, we all know that real-world speakers need to be able to fit in an average room -- not just relegated to a large dedicated listening room, which are not all that common these days. The Contriva G2 fills the bill better than most.
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- Written by: Doug Schneider
- Category: Features
It wasn't that many years ago when most speakers were available in only a limited number of finishes -- all that you had to choose from were usually a small number of wood-type finishes (real or vinyl) or glossy black paint, which everyone had. Only a handful of companies were pushing beyond that limited selection. The rest were, well, boring.
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