CES 2015

Walking the halls of the Venetian, you often hear music emanating from the rooms, the sound prompting you either to want to check it out or to walk on by. I was attracted by the music coming from the room identified as Crystal: a clear, lively sound that could be appropriately described as "crystalline." I assumed that the exhibitor was Crystal Cable, which I knew to make some excellent speakers, but which have prices above my CES report coverage limit of $10k/pair. Nevertheless, I went into the Crystal room to have a closer listen—and discovered that the exhibitor was not Crystal Cable, but a company called Crystal Acoustics, based in Greece.

The MB100 was on display last CES, but did not start shipping until mid 2014 for $6k, so I'll include a quick recap here. There is a 1TB internal drive for music storage (up to 24/192 PCM) and networking for external drives. iOS or Android app or TV interface controls the MB100 and support for Spotify, Pandora, SiriusXM, Rhapsody and TuneIn is included.

Though still sporting the classic Mac look, there is plenty of new tech packed into the D150. USB gets you up to 32/192 PCM as well as DSD 64/128 and DXD 352.8/384 and there are also two SPDIF and optical connections. There is a custom DIN connector for connecting a McIntosh CD/SACD transport such as the new $3,500 MCT450 (available in a couple months).

There's also a high quality headphone amp and Mac's "Advanced Quad Balanced" DAC section. Price is $3k.

Seen last year in prototype form, the production version is here and as shown above, consists of two units: the RF transmitter is the smaller grey thing (on the left) that connects to your computer or tablet/phone, with the other unit, the receiver, connecting to your audio system. HRT claims that RF has sonic benefits over Bluetooth for sending a signal through the air.

There are two versions of the dsp coming: the dsp for android devices (the red version above) and the i-dsp for iOS stuff (the white version shown below). Both will retail for $69.95 with the i-dsp arriving in a couple months and the dsp here now.

These aren't new products to CES, but I thought it was worth throwing a photo up since Kevro International says they plan to reboot the line in the US this year. The Streamline2 retails for $2399 with the Xa going for $2499. Potential dealers take note.

Though the basic package is still the same, Furutech says it has completely redesigned the insides of the GT40α which now handles 24/192 PCM. The company claims that they've added some "serious shielding" inside to protect noise from getting into the built-in MM/MC phono preamp. There is also a USB output for recording your discs to computer. MSRP is $529 in the US.