Nordost's New Top USB Cable
Dennis Bonotto, new International Sales Manager for Nordost, joined the company's Michael Taylor to introduce Nordost's new top USB cable, the Valhalla 2 USB ($3500/1m)
Octave Audio V 80 SE
Both sides of the Atlantic are making tube products that (again) sound at least a little like actual vacuum tubes and less like high-strung solid-state racing cars. Both cultures now want genuine tube sound but demand 21st century tube longevity and reliabilityand, of course, a discrete headphone amplifier.
Off the Beaten Path…
I thought audio-show bathroom art had reached its nadir at Munich High End
Piega's New Loudspeaker
Distributor Axiss Audio was showing the new Piega Coax 711 loudspeaker ($25,000/pair). Everything in the speakerincluding its coaxial ribbon tweeter/midrange, bass drivers, and all-aluminum enclosureis designed and manufactured by the Swiss company.
Questyle CMA 400i DAC/Headphone Amp
I was thinking this was a nice $1,000-2,000 product as Questyle's representative was going over the features: 3 types of headphone jacks (regular unbalanced, 4 pin balanced XLR and 2.5mm balanced), USB/Optical/SPDIF inputs on back, swithcable gain via three small switches on the bottom, and AKM AK4490 DAC chip inside.
Revel F208Be
While the model designation might lead one to think that the new entry is a Beryllium-tweetered version of the F208, the F208Be is actually a new design, with new drivers and a higher-end crossover
RHA Dacamp L1 Portable Headphone Amp/DAC
British manufacturer RHA, known primarily for their in-ear headphone models, had the new Dacamp L1 for the first time at CES. Beautifully built and feeling hefty in the hand, the new headphone amp and DAC sports independent processors for each channel. Three knobs along one side control gain (there are three settings), bass and treble, and inside is a 4000mAh lithium ion battery that RHA claims will give you 10 hours of play time.
Rogers EHF-200 MK2 Tube Amplifier
Sometimes it's love at first sight. I know appearances can be deceiving, but I couldn't stop looking at Rogers High Fidelity's 114Wpc EHF-200 MK 2 amplifier ($15,900). The beautiful KT150 tubes, the glossy red front panel, and the thick plexiglass tube cover were eye candy.
Rogue Audio's New Headphone Amp
Rogue now introduces their first headphone amp/preamplifier, the RH-5 ($2495), which not only looks sleek and timeless in that oval-windowed Rogue way, it features three line-level RCA inputs and one pair of balanced XLR inputs.
Siltech Triple Crown Power Cable
Siltech's Triple Crown power cable (approx. $13,683.40/1.5m at the current exchange rate) is a pure, mono-crystal silver design that uses stabilized air-core insulation and Furutech connectors