CES 2015

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the Antelope DAC with its Acoustically Focused Clocking technology earlier this year, especially with headphones. And now the company has made good on its promise to release the companion 10M Clock which Antelope claims is 100,000 times more accurate then the Platinum's built-in ticker.

Going into the Audio Arts room at CES was like going through a time portal into the 1986 CES, as Flim and the BB's classic album Tricycle was playing. The system was based on the top-line Zellaton speakers ($79,750/pair) driven by Swiss CH amplification connected with Schnerzinger cables. According to the meters on the Precision M1 monoblocks ($94,750/pair), while the average level was 4–5W, the peaks on the drums reached 360W and more! Yet the sound remained clean and uncompressed. An impressive if expensive sound.

Astell&Kern calls their new server an "MQS Network Audio Player", where MQS stands for "Master Quality Sound". WIth all the talk at the show about Meridian's new MQA technology, at first I confused it for "Master Quality Authenticated" and did a double take. Nonetheless, A&K's new product is quite a stunner as presented both on a stand with amplifier and as shown here, on a table top by itself.

You connect the B1 to the analog input of your system and then pair it with your bluetooth smartphone or tablet and you're off and running. The Cambridge audio DAC I reviewed a couple months back had this capability built in and my guests loved using Bluetooth to play music from their phones over the system.

Inside is a 24 bit DAC and Sam Tellig raved about the aptX B1 last month in Stereophile. The B1 should be available for purchase starting now for $189.

I am a sucker for the new breed of desktop "wireless" loudspeakers—when they look and sound as natural and dynamic as the new Audioengine B2 Premium Bluetooth loudspeaker, I can dance around, sing, dream on Bartok, or play air guitar while streaming Tidal or WFMU. You are invited!

My experience with the new AudioQuest Nighthawk headphones ($599) was one of highest points of my CES adventure.

Aurender had a cool hand-size device in their room that not only functions as a normal DAC/Headphone amp for portable use, but also sports optional mSATA storage up to 1TB(!!) of user installable SSD, turning the thing into a player. I must admit the form factor for the FLOW is pretty seductive with a large velocity sensitive volume knob on the front and smooth satin aluminum case.