CES 2011

Arcam's John Dawson is seen holding the company's latest cost effective DACs. Featuring asynchronous USB technology licensed from dCS, the rDAC retails for $479 while the rDACkw (on the left) employs Kleer wireless transmitter technology and retails for $599.

Both DACs include one optical and one coax SPDIF connector in addition to USB. For the wireless option, the company has two dongles that connect to the source: the rWave for USB connections and the rWand for iPods. They cost $50 each if purchased with the DAC, $99 each purchased seperately.

I have no idea what it has to do with an audio show either, not that Stephen Mejias seems to care.

The Consumer Electronics Association made the final step of registration, badge-holder pick-up, easier for CES attendees this year. In addition to registration sites at the Venetian, Las Vegas Convention Center, and a number of hotels, a registration booth was set up in the baggage claim area of Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport. The line may have been 25-people deep when I approached on Wednesday around noon, but it moved quickly.

The show will open in a few minutes and 5-year CES veteran Rosemarie Torcivia is ready to hand out free magazines and answer questions in room 29216.

John Atkinson readies the awards which will be picked up by the winners throughout the day.

HRT's latest DAC, the $199 iStreamer, sports a connector to take the digital signal directly from your iPod/iPhone/iPad device and convert it to analog. Power supply is included and the DAC will handle 32, 44, or 48kHz data rates at 16 bits.

Simple and to the point, this may be the perfect starter product for the budding audiophile.

My beat is digital, but I'm particularly on the lookout for music server products. So I was pleased to see that Cary had their MS-1 server on display and fully loaded.

The spartan front panel has a single power indicator and disc drawer for ripping CDs directly to the internal 1 Terabyte SATA drive. On the rear are two USB connectors and an ethernet port to connect to your network. One USB jack operates as the digital out sending the data stream to your DAC and the other is for an external mirror drive or for sourcing files from USB sticks or other drives connected to the MS-1.

Cary has created apps (available for free in Apple's App Store) specific for your iPad or iPhone/Touch to control the system and music library.

The MS-1 is available now for $2,495 with a power supply upgrade to be released shortly for an additional $450. Cary says it is also looking to increase future storage capacity (the current drive can hold about 2,600-2,800 albums as FLAC files).

Stacked on top is the company's new $1,495 Xciter DAC which can handle anything up to 32bit/192kHz with 4 selectable inputs and a complete bevy of connectors on back.