Constellation's Beefy New Stereo Amp
The ebullient Irv Gross, Director of Sales at Constellation, greeted me when I walked into the company's exhibit room at CES 2017. He pointed to the back of the room when I asked whether Constellation had introduced a new amplifier: there waited the 185-lb, 500Wpc Centaur II Stereo ($55,000), connected to a pair of Magico M3 loudspeakers ($84,000/pair) via thick MIT speaker cables.
Crystal Cable CCI
Today's audio world is beginning to be populated by innovative integrated amplifiers that fit into our homes and lives in new ways: products that are not only practical and user-friendly but can make us happy when we walk in the door and see the thing sitting on a desk or shelfwaiting for its master to touch and appreciate it.
D'Agostino Progression Monoblocks
Rated at 500W into 8 ohms, the Progressions function as a voltage source, doubling the power with each decrease in load impedance, resulting in 1000W RMS into 4 ohms and 2000W RMS into 2 ohms
dCS Network Bridge
Up at the top of the Mirage hotel in the dCS suite, instead of a flashy new flagship product, the company was formally introducing something of a more practical nature: the dCS Network Bridge. The Network Bridge will allow owners of older dCS products to add networking to their existing systems. Audiophiles with other brand DACs can also use the dCS Network Bridge to add networking to their systems.
Delta 3 Stereo Amplifier from Classé
Classé premiered its new Delta 3 amplifier series at CES 2017. Rated at 350Wpc RMS, the Delta 3 Stereo ($10,000) employs lateral MOSFETs in its output stage and 234,000 microfarads of German-made 4-pole Mundorf electrolytic capacitors in its power supply.
DeVore and Sugden and the Dap-Kings
Today, in Vegas, DeVore's super-sensitive Orangutan O/96 loudspeakers ($12,000/pair) were powered by Sugden's Masterclass LA-4 line preamplifier ($3750) and Sapphire FBA800 40Wpc class-A amplifier ($7500). The system was playing Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings (on Daptone Records) with super cool but hot-running LP joy.
Dynaudio's Contour Series
CES 2017 was the occasion for the North American debut of Dynaudio's Contour series of loudspeakers. There are four models in this range, all manufactured at Dynaudio's newly expanded R&D and manufacturing facility in Skanderborg, Denmark.
ELAC Discovery Q Music Server
I was quite excited to see the original ELAC Discovery prototype exhibited last year at CES, and AudioStream's Michael Lavorgna favorably reviewed the production model late last year. The original Discovery includes Roon Essentials in the purchase price, which though having a cap of 30,000 tracks, gets you most of the way to a decent collection and streaming experience for a very reasonable $1,099.
Elac's New Adante
There's a rumor that Andrew Jones, first with TAD and now with Elac, is incapable of designing a mediocre-sounding speaker
Emotiva XPA Gen3 Modular Amp
Emotiva looked so direct-sales, street-wise smartand everybody was talkin’ about how musical Emotiva’s stuff sounds: “It sounds goodand they're givin’ it away!” I couldn’t wait to try one of their products.