JosephAudio's Pearl3
Jeff Joseph was demming his new Pearl3 floorstanding speakers ($28,100/pair) in an all Bel Canto system (including their new USB converters), hooked up with Cardas cables. Jeff's music choice was decidedly idiosyncratic a duet for marimba and double bass, a recording of an African singer and sax player made in his backyard, Harry Belafonte live at Carnegie Hallbut with every kind of music, the Pearls allowed the music to speak most effectively.
KEF’s Blade Redux
In a large, acoustically untreated basement room at the Flamingo, KEF's "Brand Ambassador" Johann Coorg, was getting superb sound from the same orange pair of Blade speakers ($30,000/pair) that he had demmed at last October's RMAF. Again using Parasound Halo preamp and monoblock power amps, Johann was playing files from J River Media Center running in a Windows environment on his MacBook Pro, courtesy of Parallels, to feed a Parasound ZDAC. (That way, he could use the Mac's native USB2.0 driver.) Cabling was all WireWorld and AC was conditioned with a Torus transformer.
Kimber Kable's New USB Cables
The Kimber Select line is sporting three new USB cables, whose prices are yet TBD: copper (approx. $500), hybrid (approx. $1000), and full silver (approx. $1500). Shipment is projected for late January. The cables, built entirely in Utah, feature a braided design, unique proprietary shielding, and a distinct ebony head shell chosen for its inert properties. Presumably, thoughts of the lovely sounds soon to be delivered by these new cables were enough to leave Kimber's photo-shy Nate Mansfeld smiling.
Klipsch Image A5i Sport in-ear headphones
Though I was exhausted from a long day of walking through enormous casinos and down seemingly endless halls, I couldn’t resist the allure of flashing lights and loud dance music. I walked into the room and was startled by red-and-white-striped jump ropes spinning dizzying patterns to the music.
KR Audio Sings
How lovely to again make the acquaintance of Eunice Kron of KR Audio and Roger DuNaier of KingSound. Driving the mighty King III full-range electrostats, with a generous assist from Clarity cable, were KR's VA910 160Wpc monoblock push-pull ultralinear, class-AB1 amplifiers ($18,000/pair). Chosen to enhance the King III at a lower cost than other KR Audio amps, they use Russian KT120s, which are more affordable than KR's own tubes, mated to a MOSFET class-A driver stage. Completing the chain was the KR P130 triode stereo line preamplifier ($4990), which comes with remote control.
Krell Connect Network Streaming Device
Krell is jumping into the streaming world with a somewhat reasonably priced product that can come two ways: streamer with digital out only at $2,500 or with built-in DAC for $3,500. The Connect has WiFi and ethernet UPnP/DLNA compatibility for NAS drives in addition to internet radio and USB input. The Connect will handle FLAC, WAV and MP3 files up to 24/192. The DAC option adds five digital inputs along with its ESS Sabre 32 bit DAC processor.
Krell's Phantom III
Krell released the Phantom III ($5500), a dual-mono design stereo preamp with a dedicated headphone amp and option for an internal DAC ($1500 extra). Fully balanced, the DAC portion, based around the ESS Sabre 32 DAC, handles files up to 24/192, and includes an asynchronous USB input.
Kubala-Sosna Quartet, Sextet, Octet
In one of the 14 rooms at CES using Kubala-Sosna cabling, Joe Kubala showed me one of his three forthcoming Distribution Instrument boxes ($TBD). Variously named Quartet, Sextet, or Octet for the number of outlets, this high-end power distribution system is, in Joe's words, "the most neutral way we know to distribute power to our cables." The case is Corian, and each outlet boasts a direct path back to the 20 amp IEC connector. Expect an official unveiling at AXPONA Chicago in early March, which Stereophile will cover room-to-room.
LA Audio . . . from Taiwan
LA Audio was but one of many companies who journeyed to Las Vegas in hopes of securing U.S. distribution. New to their line is the P-845 II monoblock ($12,000), a push-pull design that outputs 60Wpc and has a frequency response of 20Hz100kHz. This is the most expensive product from a company with a 20-year history in Taiwan.
Lamm 's LP-1 Signature phono preamp
Lamm Industries introduced the new LP-1 Signature dual-mono phono preamplifier ($32,790), with two separate chassis power supplies. Each channel uses two high-transconductance triodes without feedback. The new phono preamplifier was used in a system with Lamm ML-3 amplifers ($159,490), an LL-1 preamplifier ($42,790), connected to a pair of Wilson Audio MAXX3 speakers ($69,500/pair) with Kubala-Sosna cables throughout. Music was played on a Kronos turntable ($32,000) fitted with a Graham Phantom II Supreme tonearm ($6000) and a ZYX Universal II cartridge ($8,495). Vladimir Lamm was also using two pairs of his ML2.2 monoblocks ($37,290/pair) to drive a pair of Verity Audio Lohengrin loudspeakers ($120,000/pair) in an adjoining room. The sound in both rooms was spacious, smooth, dynamic, and full.