CES 2017

Turns out the Venetian's Grand Lux Cafe has a decent kale and brown rice salad, which three in our group quickly ate in Stereophile's hospitality room on the 29th floor. After lunch we headed up one floor to the Simaudio room where we were greeted by Lionel Goodfield and the Moon Units (sorry couldn't resist). Simaudio's room is at the back corner of one of the wings, and though much smaller than the suites on the top floors, is still twice as big as the regular rooms on their floor.

While the dCS and Nagra suites at the Mirage approximated the size of a typical medium sized living room, the YG suite at the top of the Venetian was something else entirely. The room was quite large, the speakers human size, and a bigger crowd was also on hand. Lori Lieberman was playing on the system as we walked in and YG's Director of Sales, Dick Diamond greeted us with a big smile and helped me get the laptop connected.

Jake was going to hear his music for the first time on a system totaling over half a million dollars.

During visits to the suite, I also heard Jake Shimabukuro's ukulele playing, which was outstanding, and then a recording of his performance played back over the Nagra HD monoblocks…

Shown in prototype form, without logos, Realization is Kubala-Sosna's new flagship cable line. With introductory pricing in effect until July, interconnects and speaker cable are $10,000/1m pair, and cost $1800 for each additional meter. Prices will rise to $11,000/$2000.

Lindemann announced a group of four new gorgeous-looking music players all with preamp control built in: MusicBook 10:DSD (USB music player/$3,495), MusicBook 15:DSD (USB music player plus CD/$3,995), MusicBook 20:DSD (Network music player/$4,495), and the MusicBook 25:DSD (Network music player plus CD/$4,995 - pictured above). The network models support WiFi and ethernet. Also new are two models of matching Class D amplifiers.

First, let's list what is in the photo (left stack first, top to bottom): EVO PhonoDAC Two ($1,600), EVO Clock Two ($640), HiFace EVO Two ($640), EVO Supply Two ($500), EVO Plus DAC Two ($890), and the EVO DAC Two ($630). Common to the DAC products: 32/384 PCM and DSD 256 processing, while the EVO Plus DAC Two has an additional clock input. Go to their website to check all the other little differences, but with pricing like this, I think listeners are in for a treat. I loved the pricier M2Tech Young DAC when I reviewed it a couple years back, so I trust their ears are in the right place with these new lower priced products.

On the first day of CES, a consortium of industry professionals gathered by the Digital Entertainment Group (DEG)—and chaired by Marc Finer, President of the DEG—spoke to assembled press and industry supporters at a Hi-Res Audio Press Conference. The group announced a new consumer awareness campaign called Stream the Studio, which is designed to increase awareness of hi-res audio amongst millennials.