CES 2015

You can use this one just for headphones or hook up a pair of speakers to the 150 wpc amp. In addition to a handful of analog inputs, the H160 accepts SPDIF, USB, optical and ethernet connections for digital audio. But that's not all: Hegel has done some tweaking in software to improve wireless playback from any Apple AirPlay or DLNA device. Available now for $3,500

Bryston's latest DAC was on hand, and yes all of those buttons on the front represent the number of input options! In addition to the normal SPDIF, optical and USB inputs are four HDMI inputs for hooking up computer-based, SACD, Blu-ray and other "modern digital sources".

With a major nod to ZenSati, who designed the cables, Viola Audio Labs' president and technical director Paul Jayson happily displayed the company's new cable line.

Larry Smith (left) and David Salz (right) of Wireworld have every reason to smile. Not only have they entered the headphone cable market with four levels of Nano cables for headphones and portables, and stand prepared to market a Starlight CAT7a media network cable ($TBD) that claims higher transmission speeds for streamed music and video, but they've also come out on top in a recently published cable listening comparison test.

Scot Markwell of Elite AV Distribution proudly displayed Furutech's top-of-the-line Nanoflux power cable ($4395/1.8m, almost 6 feet). The cable's wire is coated with Nanofluid, microscopic gold and silver suspended in squalene oil that fills in tiny gaps between wire crystals to improve performance.

Transparent also introduced the colorful, entry-level Hardwired brand, which is designed to satisfy the wants of newcomers to the fold.

Transparent Audio's new Gen 5 (Generation 5) family of cabling supersedes their MM2 line. With resonance control and network technologies derived directly from their year-old flagship, fittingly called Magnum Opus, Gen 5 includes new cable, new networks, and new network enclosures.