CES 2018

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CES 2018

High Fidelity Magnet Cables

Jon Iverson Jan 13, 2018 First Published: Jan 13, 2018 0 comments

For now, I'll file this one under "interesting if it were true," since I can't verify the unique claims about these cables. But the main display certainly caught my eye. You can see the sci-fi looking metal enclosures in the above photo that the Texas company's Casey Whitworth says is the Professional Series Elite Interconnect. The large metal enclosures are Faraday cages surrounding the cable "so we can pile them on top of each other and not have issues with the magnets."

CES 2018

AudioQuest Compares AC Cables

John Atkinson Jan 13, 2018 First Published: Jan 13, 2018 0 comments

If there is one thing that raises the hackles of engineers, it is audiophiles' insistence that power cords affect sound quality. But at CES, AudioQuest's Garth Powell (right in photo, with AQ's Alex Brinkmann) was showing how changing just one cable in a system, the one connecting a Simaudio Moon CD player to a Niagara 700 power conditioner, could make or break the system's sound quality. Playing a track from Muddy Waters' Folk Singer, with Moon amplification and Magico S1 Mk.2 speakers, and without changing the volume, Garth compared AudioQuest's new Thunder cable ($700) with AC cables from other companies priced up to $18,000, culminating with the AudioQuest Dragon ($4000).

CES 2018

Audio Research's Transparent Ref160M

John Atkinson Jan 13, 2018 First Published: Jan 13, 2018 0 comments

Some manufacturers weren't exhibiting at CES but did have suites elsewhere in the Venetian hotel. One such was Audio Research, who was showing the first amplifier to be designed following the passing of the company's long-time Senior Design Engineer, Ward Fiebiger, who died of a heart attack last March. The Ref160M monoblock offers around 150W into 8 ohms and will cost in the region of $30,000/pair.

CES 2018

Revel Performa3 Be Series Loudspeaker

Jon Iverson Jan 12, 2018 First Published: Jan 12, 2018 0 comments

Slated for release in the next several months, the "Be" indicates beryllium tweeters. Harman's Todd Eichenbaum explained that all of the drivers in the new series are updated from the original performa series.

CES 2018

KEF Goes Wireless with Fashion

Jason Victor Serinus Jan 12, 2018 First Published: Jan 12, 2018 0 comments

KEF has just upped the ante on the LS50W, the wireless version of its lauded LS50 bookshelf speaker, with the release of the LS50W Nocturne Special Edition ($2499.99/pair). Engineered by KEF Head of Acoustics Jack Oclee-Brown and sporting an eye-catching design by Dutch Designer Marcel WandersI regret that my photo fails to capture all the graphic detail on KEF's Uni-Q driver and cabinetthe LS50W Nocturne Edition will be available on January 15.

CES 2018

Musique Concrète from Master & Dynamic

Jason Victor Serinus Jan 12, 2018 First Published: Jan 12, 2018 0 comments

Master & Dynamic, known mainly for their headphones and earphones, recently launched their MA770 wireless loudspeaker ($1800 each). Designed by Sir David Adjaye, who also designed D.C.'s new Smithsonian Museum, the 35-lb speaker's cabinet is made from exceedingly inert composite concrete

CES 2018

M2Tech Rockstars Series

Jon Iverson Jan 12, 2018 First Published: Jan 12, 2018 0 comments

Replacing the mid-size chassis offerings from M2Tech that were originally targeted to desktop and secondary system use, the new Rockstar line is now intended for main systems as well. The Young MKIII preamp/DAC features include additional digital inputs and analog inputs and outputs, DSD 256, full MQA, and Bluetooth APTX .

CES 2018

Lumin D2 Streamer/Renderer/DAC

Jon Iverson Jan 12, 2018 First Published: Jan 12, 2018 0 comments

Lumin's popular D1 has been updated to the D2 (black unit on top in photo above) with several new features: internal switch-mode power supply (no more wall wart), dual-mono Wolfson WM8741 DAC chips, reworked board layout, and DSD 128 support. There is also SPDIF out and you can bypass the internal DAC.

CES 2018

fidata HFAS1 Network Audio Servers

Jon Iverson Jan 12, 2018 First Published: Jan 12, 2018 0 comments

Importer Mark Gurvey notes that this is the first time that fidata has shown products in the US, and they include a 1TB server (HFAS1-S10U at $5,000) and 2TB server (HFAS1-XS20U at $7,000) that are now available. Inside are sets of 500GB SSD Samsung pro-grade drives, and both servers are built on what Gurvey says is a "true audiophile" platform designed from scratch with physically isolated sections within the chassis for each function.

CES 2018

Great Sound from a Familiar Pairing

Jason Victor Serinus Jan 12, 2018 First Published: Jan 12, 2018 0 comments

dCS, D'Agostino, Wilson, Transparent, and HRShow often have we found products from these companies making a synergistic and most musical match? As you'll learn from Jana Dagdagan's video once it's posted, Jana, John Atkinson, and I visited the spacious suite in the Mirage Hotel in which these companies paired a dCS limited edition Vivaldi 1 ($80,000 or, in the striking bright nickel finish seen in this room, $92,000) and Rossini clock ($7999); an HRS VXR rack; D'Agostino Master Systems Progression preamplifier ($22,000) and Progression stereo amplifier ($22,000); Wilson Audio Sasha 2 speaker, with Transparent Generation 5 XL cabling (approx. $50,000 total); and Transparent Reference Power Isolator ($5995).