Amir's CES 2012 Picture Thread

[amirm]

Soulution:

That is a small USB to AES bridge on the second shelf supporting USB to AES. I was surprised to hear that despite the high cost (a few thousand) it was powered through USB bus.

 

[amirm]

Accuphase and Focal

 

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dCS:

Wilson WP being driven:

VTL amplification:

The DAC guts:

 

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Raidho Acoustics:

Someone has to explain to me how this is a good way to hook up expensive speaker wire to the speaker:

 

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DSPspeaker. Nice little device. 2-channel room EQ in a small box. Not yet ready but works pretty well. Has both digital and analog I/O.

 

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VTL and Rockport Avior:

 

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MSB Technology. One of the best sounds I heard at CES. Expertly picked demo material to showcase good digital reproduction. YG Acoustics speakers played along well.

The guts showing their very low jitter clock source:

 

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Pass Labs amplifiers:

Funny story. I asked them what those giant meters show. He said the bias to the output stage. I asked if that ever changed or whether there were any adjustments to impact it. He said no. I asked then why on earth would I need a meter for it? He said, "it is for looks!" I like his honesty For the record, one channel showed a lower value than the other.

Stack of them at the entrance. Likely the ceiling below had a sag in it.

And the back end:

 

[amirm]

YG Acoustics. Another example of fine performance at the show. I must say, the speakers in person look nicer than in pictures.

With Tenor amplifier:

Ampex ATR tape deck. Somehow looked smaller than I thought it would:

 

[amirm]

Now for my favorite brand, the Mark Levinson . I will post an interview with Kevin Voeks later on these products.

For their anniversary, they decided to go all out and announce a bunch of stuff. Good news: they have all the right features. The bad news: they don't ship for a while .

First up the No 560 DAC. Key here is that it not only has the standard inputs and asynch USB, but also a high-performance HDMI input! It has something like 10 different inputs! And it nicely has volume controls operating in 32-bit digital domain (that is the DAC resolution). So connect it to an amp and you are good to go.

At $6K, it is very reasonably priced:

Add to it an SACD/CD transport and you get No 519 at $8K:

There is also the No 52 Reference Dual-Monaural Preamplifier. It is in the video. This is the one that is going to ship first. It has two boxes separating the digital/noisy stuff from the analog. It is the mate for the No 53 mono amps. I see that Wizard post this in the ML forum.

BTW, I love the new look. Consistent with the past but totally modern.

 

[amirm]

Even better news: the new Performa Series 3 speakers. These are the "value" line of the Revels. Today's versions sound really good but are in plane square boxes. The new ones come in gorgeous enclosures with true veneers and automobile class glossy finish. Main innovation is a patented new way of designing the wave guides for the tweeter to control their off-axis response. Instead of the usual smooth shape, they have put a cut in it that sharply improves the polar response. You can almost see it as a vertical line in some of the close ups:

These new bookshelves replace the already superb M22s. They outperform them in every way and yet, they cost $400 less. I could not believe the low distortion and smooth high frequency response. Truly audiophile quality at just $1,700 MSRP. I am going to get a pair for our living room TV to replace my ancient M20s.

Here they are again but the other cool unit is the one in the white cabinet. That is an in-wall built into a mock-up of a drywall enclosure. If I played that behind a curtain, you would swear you are hearing audiophile class speakers! They have been designed with full double-blind testing and care that goes into the design of their normal boxed speakers.

You can see the shape of the enclosure better here:

Again, much more to come on the video.

 

[amirm]

Magico Q7:

I had been hearing a lot of horrible sounds prior to walking into this suite and it was nice to hear something resembling audiophile quality . I read that others did not think much of it but I thought it was a low-distortion reproduction, albeit I thought it had a bit too much bass.

Was being driven by the HDCD mode 2 DAC:

The Otari tape deck was also there but not playing at the time (I heard it last year and it sounded really good).

Careful about scratches!

 

[amirm]

Enigma. We talked about its not-so-notable sound:

 

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Lam and Wilson room. Last year the room was packed and I thought all the demos were super lousy. This year, there was hardly anyone in the room when I went there and I liked what I heard. It wasn't "blow you away" but very good.

These guys bring loads of content, sources and electronics:

Again, someone has to help me with the turntable brand:

 

[amirm]

I think Lam and Electronics Verity Lohengrin II speakers.

 

[amirm]

Wisdom Audio's $100K speaker setup ($80K for the pair of planar speakers that get you down to 80 Hz and two giant subs for the rest behind them for $20K).

The sound was much improved from CEDIA. Alas, it has all the same issues we used to hear with our Wisdoms before we discontinued the line. They go from sounding great to all of a sudden not. Vocals to me always have issues on these speakers. Not sure if it is resonance of the panels, the lousy job the Audyssey EQ does or what. Whatever it is, it really brings down the performance at times.

 

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As always, Vince was there with the Totem speakers, this time with new bookshelves:

The speakers sound tight and a bit bright to my ears.

 

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PirmaLuna Electronics driving Sonus faber Amati Futura speakers:

I have one of their amps for evaluation.

 

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Yippee! I finally got to hear DEQX. This thing works! At least the new HDP4 does that they will ship in spring. They had it nicely setup where you could hear both the speaker correction and room correction separately. They had bought these oddball speakers from ebay for $1,500. They made their grungy sound quite hi-fi. Add to it room EQ and it made them really sing. I hope to get my hands on evaluation units this time.

Pretty good connectivity:

 

[amirm]

Something from Modwrite :

Music server???