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TIAS 2016: Electronics, Part 1

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: Features; Created: 30 September 2016

I love the Tokyo International Audio Show (TIAS) for three reasons: (1) Tokyo, as a city, is a wonderful place to visit; (2) the event is extremely well run; and (3) you can often find products from great Japanese brands that aren’t always easy to find elsewhere. Case in point: the newest electronic components from Esoteric and Luxman, which made their debuts at TIAS. For Luxman, the three shown below were the company’s only new releases at TIAS 2016. Esoteric had many more introductions, but I focused on the three new Grandioso-series products, which represent the company’s top offerings. All prices in Japanese yen (¥).

CEDIA Expo 2016: Speakers, Part 2

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: Features; Created: 19 September 2016

I’ll conclude my coverage of the 2016 CEDIA Expo with a roundup of the rest of the interesting speakers I saw. All prices in USD.

CEDIA Expo 2016: Soundbars and Wireless Speakers

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: Features; Created: 18 September 2016

It’s safe to say everyone attending the 2016 CEDIA Expo -- a trade show that focuses on custom-installed A/V and home automation -- knows that traditional wired audio systems and home-theater systems are playing a shrinking role in most people’s lives. So it’s no surprise that the Expo saw the introduction of several new wireless music systems and soundbars -- products designed primarily for convenience, but that can deliver impressive sound quality if they’re designed for performance rather than the lowest possible price.

CEDIA Expo 2016: Audio Electronics

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: Features; Created: 18 September 2016

Most of the action in audio electronics at the CEDIA Expo involved new A/V receivers, surround processors, and multiroom audio systems. There were a few interesting stereo products launched at the Expo, though. Some incorporated a few nods toward custom installation, such as networking capability and easy interfacing with multiroom gear, but all will work fine if your system has just two speakers and you play only music. Here are the new two-channel audio products I found at the CEDIA Expo, all priced in USD.

CEDIA Expo 2016: Subwoofers

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: Features; Created: 18 September 2016

So much of the focus at the annual CEDIA Expo is on home-theater sound. Naturally, there are always interesting new subwoofers on display, from state-of-the-art slab shakers to stealthy models designed to be tucked into a corner or built into a wall. Here are some of the most interesting new subwoofers I saw (and in some cases, heard) at the CEDIA Expo. All prices in USD.

CEDIA Expo 2016: Speakers, Part 1

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: Features; Created: 16 September 2016

There aren’t many mainstream audio products featured at CEDIA, but there are innumerable boutique audio products designed for custom installation -- including, of course, lots and lots of new speakers. On the first day of the show, I saw new high-end tower speakers, and new in-wall and in-ceiling speakers. There were way too many to pack into one blog post; I’m planning at least one more CEDIA 2016 post devoted to speakers, one focusing on subwoofers, plus another devoted to wireless speakers and soundbars.

CEDIA Expo 2016: Press-Day Preview

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: Features; Created: 15 September 2016

The Custom Electronics Design and Installation Association Expo, better known as the CEDIA show, kicked off on September 14 in Dallas with a handful of press events and a special press-only preview event. Most of the audio products at CEDIA are targeted at built-in, multiroom audio systems or custom home theaters, but because almost all the major audio manufacturers attend, you never really know what you’re going to encounter. Despite today’s abbreviated schedule, I found a few products that shocked and surprised me -- and that anyone involved in audio would have to be pretty curious about.

YG Acoustics' New Two-Tower Masterpiece: The Sonja XV

Details: Written by: Howard Kneller; Category: Howard Kneller; Created: 12 September 2016

When YG Acoustics unveils a flagship loudspeaker, the press comes running, and that is exactly what happened last week at GTT Audio & Video, one of YG’s largest dealers, located in Long Valley, New Jersey. This new speaker is the $265,000 USD (per pair) Sonja XV (eXtreme Version), a 15-year-anniversary model consisting of two towers -- one main tower and one woofer tower. A new ultra-high-end addition to the company’s Sonja line of speakers, the XV incorporates YG’s latest technologies. YG’s president, Yoav Geva, says that the XV is the closest that the company has ever come to the natural sound of a live performance.

Bowers & Wilkins’s 50th Anniversary: The 800 D3

Details: Written by: Hans Wetzel; Category: Hans Wetzel; Created: 15 July 2016

There’s no question about it: it’s kind of lame to call the presser for a new loudspeaker an “event.” A plywood box with some extruded-aluminum and fancy drivers doesn’t get the blood flowing quite like the introduction of automotive stalwarts, such as Ferrari’s V8-powered sports car models, Porsche’s iconic 911, or BMW’s benchmark-setting M3. But in the case of the Bowers & Wilkins 800 D3, the newest flagship of the company’s legendary 800-series, the “event” moniker strikes me as warranted.

Paul Barton's RoomFeel Explanation and Experiment

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: Doug Schneider; Created: 08 June 2016

On May 20, Lenbrook Industries brought a group of journalists to Ottawa, Canada, so PSB’s Paul Barton could show them the acoustics lab at Canada’s National Research Council (NRC) and explain what RoomFeel technology is and how it applies to headphones he develops there. Barton has been going to NRC since 1973, the longest of any speaker designer.

T.H.E. Show Newport 2016: I Finally Got a Decent MQA Demo!

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: Features; Created: 06 June 2016

When SoundStage! published my report about the MQA demo at Munich’s High End 2016 a few weeks ago, we ruffled some feathers -- not only of the people behind MQA, but of some audio writers who were already on the record with effusive praise of MQA. Fortunately for me, the MQA folks knew I would be attending last weekend’s T.H.E. Show Newport Irvine, California, and were willing to give me a more useful demo.

T.H.E. Show Newport 2016: Grab Bag

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: Features; Created: 05 June 2016

While strolling the halls of the Hotel Irvine, site of last weekend’s T.H.E. Show Newport 2016 in Irvine, California, I encountered numerous interesting products that didn’t fit into categories large enough to populate an entire column. So I thought I’d wrap up my new products coverage with a column full of somewhat random stuff: headphone amps, acoustic treatments, and more. They’re arranged here in alphabetical order by brand, with all prices listed in USD.

T.H.E. Show Newport 2016: Source Devices

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: Features; Created: 05 June 2016

It’s always fun at audio shows to watch how the choice of source devices evolves. At T.H.E. Show Newport 2016, the source devices of choice were computers, record players, and half-inch analog tape. I’m sure there was a CD player somewhere, but I didn’t notice it. Here are the most interesting developments in source devices I found at the show, with the products arranged in alphabetical order by brand and all prices in USD.

T.H.E. Show Newport 2016: Amps and Preamps

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: Features; Created: 05 June 2016

With increasing focus on digital technology, headphones, and compact systems, traditional amps and preamps don’t seem as prominent at hi-fi shows as they once were. Still, as I walked the halls and show floor of T.H.E. Show Newport 2016, held at the Hotel Irvine in Irvine, California, I did find a few new amps and preamps that caught my eyes and ears. Actually, they’re new in one sense and old in another, because four of the six components are tube-based. Products below are presented in alphabetical order by brand, with all prices in USD.

T.H.E. Show Newport 2016: Speakers

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: Features; Created: 04 June 2016

T.H.E. Show Newport 2016, held at the Hotel Irvine in Irvine, California, featured a few new speakers plus several being demoed for the first time in North America. The offerings ranged from ultra-retro to ultra-modern, at prices from a few hundred dollars to more than a hundred thousand dollars. Here are the ones I thought were most interesting. Speakers are presented in alphabetical order by brand, with all prices in USD.

T.H.E. Show Newport 2016: Affordable Headphones at a High-End Show?

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: Features; Created: 03 June 2016

Since it moved to the much nicer venue of the Hotel Irvine last year, T.H.E. Show Newport has become one of North America’s more important regional hi-fi shows. The show’s website says that the show will feature more than 400 manufacturers. I walked some of the show yesterday during the press preview. Many of the manufacturers were still setting up in preparation for weekend crowds, but that didn’t stop me from noticing the first trend of the show. To my surprise, the most interesting thing I saw during the first day was the introduction of several shockingly affordable new headphones. It’s especially surprising after I spent so much of the first day listening to speakers costing more than $10,000 USD per pair.

High End 2016 SnapShots!

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: Photos; Created: 08 May 2016

Photos taken by Doug Schneider on May 5-8

High End 2016 Product Coverage Gallery 5

Details: Written by: Administrator; Category: Photos; Created: 08 May 2016

Companies featured in gallery below: Gryphon Audio Designs, T+A, Octave Audio, EAT, Chord, Hegel Music Systems, Goldmund, Weiss, Pro-Ject Audio Systems, Astell&Kern, Ceradyn, Grado, Lehmann Audio, Pathos, Phatlab

High End 2016 Product Coverage Gallery 4

Details: Written by: Administrator; Category: Photos; Created: 08 May 2016

Companies featured in gallery below: Brinkmann Audio, Ypilson, EMM Labs, Grimm Audio, Amphion, Audio Research, Sonus Faber, BMC, Dynaudio, Ayre Acoustics, WestminsterLab, Audio Solutions, Dynaco

The Coolest Equipment Racks at High End 2016

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: Features; Created: 08 May 2016

SoundStage! hasn’t done much coverage of equipment racks, but there were so many appealing models on display at Munich’s High End 2016 that we decided a photo essay was in order. These racks are not mere furniture. They’re all constructed specifically for audio, with various techniques used to channel and/or damp vibration that might affect audio electronics and source devices. All of these companies offer racks in many shapes, sizes, and finishes, so if you like one of these designs but need a different configuration, check out the company’s website to see what your options are.

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