Bryston's New Cubed Solid-State Amplifiers
Bryston had sent me emails announcing a new amplifier series but gave little detail. Arriving at the exhibit in the Venetian Towers, I was greeted by ever-upbeat James Tanner, Bryston's Director of Marketing. He pointed to the new Bryston 7B3 monoblock amplifier ($11,000/pair), and explained that the "cubed" name arose as naturally following the previous Bryston amplifier SST2 series.
BSC Audio's $15,900 L5 Reference Multi-Chassis Preamplifier
The 2016 CES was the North American Debut of the BSC's L5 Reference multi-chassis remote controlled class A line stage ($15,900).
Can't Pass up Pass
15001600 parts, 14 circuit boards including six input boards . . . that's just the start of what gives Pass Labs' top-of-the-line XS Phono stage ($45,000) the right to the "excess" moniker. It's a while back that Nelson Pass told veteran preamp designer Wayne Colburn (above). . .
Cary Audio AiOS Network Player/Streamer/DAC/Pre/Integrated
You have to wonder what gets into some of these otherwise normal audio companies like Cary. Did they just hire a twenty-something in the design department? Did the VP have an acid trip one weekend?
Cary's Network Player
In addition to the Cary Audio AiOS, Cary Audio Design was showcasing its elegant DMS-500 network audio player/digital music streamer ($4999), which they claim, is virtually "future-proof."
CAT Speakers & SAE Horsepower Amplifiers
Brian Barr was showing the SAE 2-horsepower amplifiers described earlier by Larry Greenhill with his $100,000 California Audio Technology speaker system, comprising CT MBXS6 two-way satellites and two MBX900 subwoofers. This system played more loudly, more cleanly than any I heard at CES.
CES 2016: A Turning Point
See that huge line? It's a small indication of the huge, multi-national, multi-industry group of CES attendees whose numbers170,000, if the former CEA (Consumer Electronics Association), now CTA (Consumer Technology Association) counts accuratelyset new attendance records.
There's just one thing. That line was not at the Venetian Hotel, where all but a few of what CES dubs the "high-performance audio" exhibits were staged. Instead, it was at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Just about everyone you see had no idea that the High End of the audio industry was holding forth on floors 29, 30, 34, and 35 of the Venetian, because virtually all PR, including the multipage "CES 2016 Attendee Guide" that they received in the mail, failed to mention our existence. . .
Chord DAVE DAC
I've recently had a great run with Chord products in my system including the Hugo TT DAC and now the small-sized Mojo (mobile joy) headphone DAC. On the opposite end of the spectrum from the Mojo is DAVE which the company says is the most advanced DAC they've made so far.
Constellation Audio's Prototype Turntable
Constellation Audio's eye-catching set-upthe first time they've shown their reference system at an audio showincluded a prototype turntable with two arms that is expected to replace the Continuum Caliburn table. (Is Michael Fremer watching? You betcha.)
Constellation For the Starry Eyed
Constellation Audio’s impressive systemCygnus Media Server/DAC ($38,000), Altair 2 preamplifier ($78,000), and Hercules 2 monoblock amplifiers ($180,000/pair), as well as MIT cabling and Shunyata power treatmentfed the MartinLogan Neolith beauties ($80,000/pair) with enough power to make deep percussion sound real in the next room.