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- Details
- Written by: Aron Garrecht
- Category: Features
The audio industry is constantly evolving, so it came as no surprise that within my first few hours of show coverage, I began to notice that a number of companies are currently offering analog preamps. This trend involves the integration of an analog preamp and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC). With the demand for computer-based audio products growing exponentially over the past few years, I am surprised that it took this long for a product like this to really catch on. That being said, I think this could be a turning point in the industry, as the combination of these two products not only saves space, but it also reduces the complexity and cost of an audio system.
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- Written by: Doug Schneider
- Category: Features
If one person called me a hard worker and another said I was lazy, they'd both be right. Certain things I put a lot of effort into, while other things I don't. Insofar as audio goes, turntables are the things I don't like to work hard at -- I don't really like shopping for the individual parts, and I'm not really into setting them up. I leave that stuff to guys like one of our writers, Jason Thorpe, whom I phone for 'table advice when I need it. But if I had to shop for and set up a turntable for myself, I would want the simplest solution, yet I wouldn't want compromises. Impossible?
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- Written by: Jeff Fritz
- Category: Features
Some of the best systems at CES are those not assembled -- they're virtual systems. In other words, combinations of components that I've created based on the hottest products at CES. Although the sound of these setups is purely speculation, the quality of components is not. This is one I think would be a knockout.
System 1 price: $73,045.
- Details
- Written by: Doug Schneider
- Category: Features
I've been to enough shows around the world in my 17 years of audio reviewing to know this: companies from Europe typically showcase their wares better than companies from most other places. Obviously, there are exceptions, but for the most part I find that the Europeans have great "display taste," often dressing up their rooms and products so that they're exhibited in the most flattering way. Even if they're showing in a hotel room, which is the way it is with CES, they won't just throw their components on the floor or an end table and call it a day -- it must be a display. They'll also take bolder risks with product styling and colors, often going in directions that conservative North American and Japanese companies just won't touch.
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- Written by: Doug Schneider
- Category: Features
About a year ago I reviewed Ayre Acoustics' $14,950 VX-R stereo amplifier. I loved it back then, and it remains one of the very best amplifiers I've ever heard, as well as one of the most beautiful I've seen. If you own one, you're lucky. And if you'd like to own one but can't afford it (count me in that camp), Ayre's new VX-5 is likely what you're looking for. Ayre's North American sales manager, Alex Brinkmann, says the VX-5 will be "about $8000" when it's released later this quarter, yet, in my opinion, it looks and sounds like it could cost more.
- Details
- Written by: Hans Wetzel
- Category: Features
Maryland-based GoldenEar Technology announced the release of the Triton Seven, a new addition to their Triton tower series, here at CES 2013. Building off of the success of their powered Triton Two and Triton Three loudspeakers, the latter of which I recently reviewed, the Triton Seven is a wholly passive affair. Priced at $1398 per pair, the 40"-tall design features the same High Velocity Folded Ribbon of the larger models in the line, along with a pair of 5.25" midrange-bass drivers. To maximize their bass response, each Seven houses an 8" passive radiator on each side of the floorstanding speaker's cabinet. Unlike the larger Triton Two and Three, which make use of a curved front baffle, the Seven has a flat front edge. But its overall design is still similar to its larger siblings, with a rearward rake that makes the Seven narrower at the front than it is at the rear.
- Details
- Written by: Administrator
- Category: Photos
Companies featured in gallery below: McIntosh Labs, Lamm, YG Acoustics, Stello, Boulder Amplifiers, Verastarr, Pass Labs, MBL, Ayre Acoustics, Wadia, Cambridge Audio, Parasound, HRT, Tri-Art, GoldenEar Technology, Anthony Gallo Acoustics
All prices in US dollars unless otherwise indicated
- Details
- Written by: Hans Wetzel
- Category: Features
The Consumer Electronics Show is best known for showcasing state-of-the-art technology -- the cutting-edge stuff that pushes the boundaries of what most consumers think is possible. Almost all of this advancement comes at extreme cost. Yet in the midst of a recession, many audio companies are introducing products that offer a great deal of functionality at very affordable prices.
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- Written by: Jeff Fritz
- Category: Features
When you have to ask whether the quoted-by-the-manufacturer price of a component is in the hundreds or thousands, you know the audiophile world has gone mad. I'm barely halfway through the first day of CES 2013 and, already, when a company rep told me the price of their loudspeakers was "17," I had to wonder whether it was $1700 or $17,000, because I couldn’t tell for sure. It turned out to be the latter.
- Details
- Written by: Administrator
- Category: Photos
Companies featured in gallery below: Audio Research, Sonus Faber, REL, Magico, Constellation Audio, Simaudio, MartinLogan, Hegel Music Systems, Torus Power, Luxman, Definitive Technology, Neodio, Bryston, Musical Fidelity
All prices in US dollars unless otherwise indicated
- Details
- Written by: Administrator
- Category: Photos
Companies featured in this gallery: Aurender, Meitner Audio, Sonus Faber, Audio Research, Magico, Simaudio, Definitive Technology, NAD, Paradigm, Hegel, Cambridge Audio, KEF, Vivid Audio
- Details
- Written by: Administrator
- Category: Photos
Companies featured in gallery below: Wyred 4 Sound, Emerald Physics, Sutherland Engineering, Light Harmonic, Triode Corporation, Benchmark Media Systems, Ayre Acoustics, Thiel Audio, Totem Acoustic, Simaudio, PSB Speakers, Hegel, Aragon, dCS
- Details
- Written by: Jeff Fritz
- Category: Features
High-end audio is fragmenting. There are companies such as KEF and Devialet -- Doug Schneider favorites, written about ad nauseum -- that are pushing the performance envelope at lower price points further than anyone could have imagined just a few years ago. At the higher prices, there are research-driven companies such as Vivid and Magico that are doing the same at the outer limits of what is possible.
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- Written by: Doug Schneider
- Category: Features
Last night, I overheard a conversation between Ken Kessler and some other hi-fi journalists about why high-end audio is dying and why so much hi-fi equipment doesn't sell well to people who are rich enough to afford it. Ken, who's big into luxury goods, was adamant that most high-end manufacturers simply don't know how to sell their high-priced products to well-heeled customers. The other journalists, a couple of whom work for a popular but continuously shrinking print magazine, disagreed vehemently with him. It was at that point that the conversation turned heated and, occasionally, ugly, with some shouting and stern words between both sides. I listened and smiled as I watched these old guys fight, but I also knew one thing -- Ken was quite right and the other fuddy-duddies were wrong. That's when I joined in . . .
- Details
- Written by: Doug Schneider
- Category: Features
In the Barenaked Ladies' song "If I Had $1000000," they sang about what they'd buy if they had that much cash. From what I recall, none of it had to do with high-end audio.
- Details
- Written by: Doug Schneider
- Category: Features
When I walked into the SV Sound (SVS) room and saw their new Ultra-series speakers, comprising a floorstander, monitor, center-channel, and surround, I admit to first thinking, "Are the attractive, sloped, shiny-black cabinets simply acting as pretty faces to conceal that there's little in terms of true design work behind them?" Plus, the prices seemed too good to be true -- the Ultra Tower will retail for about $2000/pair, the Ultra Bookshelf about $1000/pair. In high-end audio, that's cheap -- and cheap sometimes correlates with no time spent engineering anything at all.
- Details
- Written by: Administrator
- Category: Photos
Companies featured in gallery below: Crystal Cable, April Music/Stello, Octave Audio, PMC, ifi Micro, SVS, Audio Physic, Aperion Audio, Music Culture, Nagra, Zellaton, Sonus Faber, Peachtree Audio, Resonessence Labs
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- Written by: Jeff Fritz
- Category: Features
Esoteric is now the US distributor for the French loudspeaker brand Cabasse. Tim Crable, Esoteric's director of sales, said, "The synergy is magical between their point-source loudspeakers and our electronics." Esoteric is no longer in the loudspeaker-manufacturing business, so the pairing is natural because now Esoteric can display and, ultimately, distribute a complete high-end-audio system.
- Details
- Written by: Jeff Fritz
- Category: Features
Show One -- value abounds: The Resonessence Labs Concero DAC is priced at $599. It uses an ESS Sabre DAC chip and has an asynchronous USB input. It comes in . . .
- Details
- Written by: Jeff Fritz
- Category: Features
Walking through the displays at Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2012, I'm struck by the number of manufacturers that are squeezing what seems to be an amazing amount of performance out of products that are priced in reach of the common consumer. Talking to designers, company presidents, sales managers, and others, I heard story after story describing product-development projects that were conceived to offer more value, more performance, and more connectivity for audiophiles looking to maximize their dollars.
Subcategories
Most-Read Last 90 Days
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- Audio Video Show 2024: Devialet: From Weird, Confusing, and Mysterious to a Kick-in-the-Astra Reboot
- Aron Garrecht’s New Reference Room, Part 1
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- Audio Video Show 2024: Skala Audio—the Bravest Exhibit at the Show
- Audio Video Show 2024: Norwegian Wood, Is It Any Good?
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