News

The annual Capital Audio Fest (CAF), the Mid-Atlantic States' premier playground for audio, returns to the Sheraton Hotel in Silver Spring, MD on July 25–27. With the addition of its CanMania, whose list of vendors continues to grow; Saturday's Headphone Meet; and a new focus on high-resolution downloads, the annual show expects to draw a younger and bigger crowd of up to 2000 attendees to its eminently accessible location.

Wednesday, July 23, and Thursday, July 24, 6 to 9pm: Hosted by North Carolina’s Audio Advice, Digital Living 2014 will take place on Wednesday, July 23, in Raleigh (8621 Glenwood Avenue), and again on Thursday, July 24, in Charlotte (11409 Carolina Place Parkway, near Carolina Place Mall). Representatives from Sony, Sonance, Savant, Lutron, Classé, Bowers & Wilkins, and AudioQuest will present their latest products, all with the goal of simplifying, improving, and creating a more enjoyable modern digital home. AudioQuest’s Steve Silberman and Jett Logan will share the significant impact high-quality cables can have upon the ubiquitous Apple TV media streamer.

Take a break from the heat and dive in to some fine sounds. The Las Vegas Audio Club is delighted to announce that on Saturday July 19, 2–5pm, Philip O'Hanlon from On A Higher Note will present the Luxman DA-06 DAC, PD-171 turntable (both reviewed by Stereophile's Art Dudley) and the L-590aX integrated amplifier driving the Vivid B1 loudspeakers, reviewed by John Atkinson.

Two silly-expensive preamplifiers, from Dan D'Agostino Master Audio Systems and Lamm Industries, are featured in the August Stereophile and both offer sound quality and measured performance that are beyond reproach. Rounding out this issue's amplification theme are a tubed integrated amplifier from Octave Audio in Germany and a high-quality class-D integrated amplifier from the American Rogue company. Contrasting with the preamplifiers, the Rogue is affordably priced, as is a Tascam CD player that John Marks raves about in his "Fifth Element" column and the Musical Fidelity V90-DAC, which gets the full review treatment from John Atkinson.

"Our goal is not just to create a portable digital copy of an analog LP; it is to honor the high-fidelity aspects of vinyl by making a digital copy that sounds indistinguishable from the original." So spoke Rob Robinson, PhD (above), creator of Channel D's Pure Vinyl and Pure Music Mac apps, at the start of a recent presentation members of the Bay Area Audiophile Society.

New York's CE Week occurs every June and is a miniature version of the January CES held in Las Vegas. The proportional representation of serious audio gear is similar but, given the small number of total exhibits, audio pickings are usually very thin. This year, however, there was more audio buzz than ever before.

Extreme, perhaps, in size—6'10" when fully extended—and certainly in price ($260,000/pair US price), the Estelon Extreme loudspeaker has arrived at its exclusive US dealer, Audio High in Mountain View and Los Angeles, CA. The brainchild of Estonian designer Alfred Vassilkov, 56, who describes it as the culmination of 30 years of research, each loudspeaker, pictured above with Audio High's Michael Silver, weighs 551.16 lbs (250kg).

Joseph Audio’s immaculate Perspective loudspeaker is featured on the July issue’s cover and is treated to an in-depth review from John Atkinson. Revel’s superb Performa F208 tower speaker is also featured this month, along with the Classic reissue of Phase Technology’s best-selling PC-60 bookshelf. Art Dudley tries out the sound of DSD files with Luxman’s DA-06 processor, while radically different, ididosyncratic amplifiers from Miyajima in Japan and LFD in England are put under the aural spotlight.

Magico's Alon Wolf will be appearing in person at The Audio Salon, Saturday June 14, from 3pm until 8pm. Alon's presentation will feature Magico's newest S-Series speaker, the S3 (above), which costs $22,600/pair, and a discussion about the technology behind the 10th Anniversary M Project.

No sooner has the Munich Show ended than T.H.E. Show Newport Beach is set to commence. Running from May 30 through June 1 in the Hilton/Atrium hotel complex that lies directly across the street from Orange County's John Wayne Airport, Southern California's installment of T.H.E. Show promises well over 300 exhibitors in 180 active sound rooms, 40–45 additional headphone exhibits scattered over two Headphoniums and other locations, and at least 15 vendor booths crammed with goodies galore.