CES 2017

Covering CES with a perpetual smile and fresh ears is usually a challenge. But sometimes, you can feel like the luckiest reporter alive when everything falls into place.

Yes, it'll sound like I'm gushing, but unless you meet him, it's hard to comprehend what a positive and gracious human being Jake Shimabukuro is. Everywhere we went he stuck his hand out and, with a smile, exhibited unending excitement and curiosity at what he was hearing. And watching him play, up close and in person, is amazing. But we're getting ahead of ourselves.

Mark Levinson's engineers partnered with VPI's Mat Weisfeld (seen above) to develop the Mark Levinson No.515 turntable. The platter is belt-driven and the speed-control electronics are housed in a metal case under the 'table…

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…

The Heisenberg—Audionet's largest and most powerful monoblock amplifier—was on display in a portion of the suite shared with YG Acoustics…

In the YG Acoustics-Audionet suite, the sound on playback of Jake Shimabukuro's ukulele wizardry came closer to matching his live performance than in most rooms, perhaps as a result of the excellent match between the Audionet Max monoblock amplifiers and YG Acoustics Sonja XV loudspeakers.

Based in the Czech Republic, Acoustique Quality is a highly sophisticated loudspeaker design and manufacturing facility that uses the latest technologies, including 3D modeling, five-axis machining, high-precision cutter saws, etc.

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.