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Norwegian company Electrocompaniet is releasing their new PD 1 DAC in about 3 months, which will include optional wireless streaming at 16bits/48kHz. The DAC will sell for approximately $3,500 and features USB, Coax, Toslink and a RF link. The SPDIF inputs support up to 24/192 while the USB tops out at 16/48. The PD 1 also features balanced audio outputs. The Accompanying EMS 1 Streamer (shown in the photo above) allows you to stream from any remote computer without any cables, and the company claims there will be no loss in quality compared to a hardwired USB connection. The EMS 1 will retail for $300 and also be available in about 3 months.

Varied, good to fabulous sounds at the show.... in no particular order....

Dynaudio DM3/7
While strolling through one extremely high-end exhibit after another, you can easily lose touch with reality. $125,000-per-pair speakers? I'll take them. $30,000 amp? Four please - I'll biamp. So when one of the best sounds at the show comes in at around $8600 for the entire system . . . well, it makes me sit up and take notice. Dynaudio was teamed up with T+A, and the DM3/7s were running off the T+A Music Player ($3800) and Power Plant ($2800) CD player and amp combo. Although the T+A gear isn't exactly cheap, it's quite reasonable considering much of the stuff that was showing at CES. The Dynaudio DM3/7s are an island of sanity in an ocean of excess. Well done, Dynaudio.

PSB Imagine Mini
Rarely do I hear anything at a show that makes me sit up and take notice like the PSB Imagine Mini did. But after hearing it, I couldn't wait to get back to my SoundStage! Network colleagues and tell them how good PSB's new Imagine Mini sounded. "That thing sounds f'ing amazing!" I exclaimed to anyone who would listen. Nobody did, so I said it twice as loud and then grabbed Jason Thorpe off the casino floor. He was just as impressed.

Arabesque III
So we sat down to listen. It didn't take more than a couple of notes to realize that there was something very special going on in this room. There were about eight other people milling around, and most of them were talking, but the first piano notes rang out so clearly, and with such resounding definition, that I could hear straight past their jabbering and was instantly drawn into the music.

Magico's Q3
Magico's Q3 ($34,000 per pair) sounded extraordinary. It sounded dimensional, full, and with heaping amounts of natural detail that gave me a breathtaking view into the recording. Perhaps most amazing was the bass response. It was deep and linear, tight and articulate -- and ultimately, utterly standard setting. The Q3 does something else that might be more important, though, and I'm hopeful this will make next year's CES even better: It made reference-grade sound at a price point much lower than expected. Many would have you believe you need to spend six figures for super-speaker sound. But that's just not true. Sometimes six figures won't even buy you good sound.

Vivid Audio G2
The Vivid Audio G2 ($50,000 per pair) sounded simply arresting. The midrange was so right-there crystal clear -- it floated in air just as if it were emanating from a person occupying the space between the speakers. The highs were effortless, but so natural that I could never imagine being fatigued by these speakers. Most other speakers at the show sounded simply pedestrian and downright artificial by comparison. Vivid Audio speakers, in many ways, are groundbreaking devices.

Tidal Sunray
The Tidal Sunrays ($150,000 per pair) are simply beautiful-sounding loudspeakers. I heard two pairs of Sunrays at CES 2011 (they were playing in two different rooms), and their strong points were clear: holographic soundstaging, three-dimensional imaging, and seductive musical subtlety, particularly in the high frequencies. I was struck by how much depth-of-stage they could reproduce; they made me want to get out of my seat to mingle with the performers.

Wilson Alexandria X-2
The Wilson Alexandria X-2s tethered to a pair of Lamm ML3 signature amplifiers playing Peter McGrath’s recording of Leonard Shure’s rendition of Beethoven’s Op. 109 was so beautiful that it brought me in tears.

Sonus faber
Sonus Faber driven by Audio Research 610t amplifiers. The sound was wonderful, combining a warm and lush rendering of timbre with high resolution of recorded detail.

King E
Another great sound was the new King E from Hansen. This is a ground-up effort with new enclosure material, drivers, and crossovers. The $97k King E sounded every bit as good as the phenomenal $250k Hansen Grand Master that so impressed me last year.

Audience The One Clairaudient
The $995 Audience, a tiny cube housing Audience’s 3.5” full-range driver coupled to a passive radiator, sounded amazing with its lack of a crossover. The speaker was surprisingly full range, and disappeared completely.

MMMicroOne
Another great value was the MMMicroOne from Evolution Acoustics ($2k per pair). This slim two way employs dual 4” custom ceramic-matrix drivers coupled to a pleated-diaphragm ribbon tweeter. When driven by DarTZeel electroncs and the new Playback Designs disc player, the MMMicroOne was utterly transparent, smooth, and engaging. The bass extension was surprising for the size (and the placement well out into the room). What’s more, the MMMicroOne’s finish quality was what you’d find on the world’s finest loudspeakers.

Aerial 7T
The stand out speaker of the show in my category was Aerial's brand new 7T at exactly $10k. The fit and finish of the cabinet (several thin layers of veneer-like wood sandwiched between thin layers of MDF and then pressed into gentle curves for the sides and back) was just fantastic. The technique and materials used to create the curved walls, lots of internal bracing, and the drivers (all Scanspeak, I believe) together with the cross-over really delivered the goods as a complete loudspeaker system. The sound was completely full range -- as in deep, tuneful, powerful bass on up to beyond human hearing -- and it was wonderfully integrated and musically engaging, even under the typical, noisy show conditions. It also had lots of musical details without any glare or grain in the upper frequencies.

Harbeth HL 5
Like the Quad room, Walter Swanborn’s Fidelis presentation was another oasis of music at the show. Featuring Harbeth HL 5 speakers driven by a new Perreaux integrated amplifier (soon to be reviewed by Neil Gader, I think), the sound here was so involving and seductively musical that I wound up listening to the better part of Act IV of Carmen (in the Bernstein/DG recording that is a forty-year reference of mine).

Totem "Fire"
Totem Acoustics has a new line called the Elements Series. I heard the smallest model, a stand-mounted, called “Fire” ($6,000) and can enthusiastically report that it sounded just fantastic at the show.

Quad
Quad, imported by Jeff Sigmund’s Taiga company, is always an oasis of musicality amid the general din of rooms that try to impress by pummeling you into submission with sheer loudness, and this year is no exception, with reproduction of nearly peerless neutrality, naturalness, and musicality (I’ve rarely heard Eva Cassidy’s lovely performance of Autumn Leaves reproduced more beautifully). As with the KingSound room, this is another easy and obvious candidate for “Best Sound,” and one I didn’t want to leave. Pride of place was occupied by the 2905 speakers (in the gorgeous “classic” finish), all tube Quad electronics.

KingSound's King II
Less than half a day at any Consumer Electronics Show is, I know, a little premature to be thinking of “Best Sound,” yet such was among many thoughts that ran through my mind as I listened to KingSound’s (AKA King Audio’s) King II electrostatics ($11.5/pr), whose older, smaller siblings, the Princes, so impressed my colleague Robert E. Greene in TAS 210. Rarely has Diana Krall sounded so life size and lifelike yet so completely un-hifi, while orchestral music is projected with extraordinary timbrel truthfulness and clarity, superb dynamic range, and soundstaging that on good or better recordings transports you to the event. Most rooms I listen for a few minutes (or less!)—this one I didn’t want to leave.

Sony’s SS-AR1
Sony’s new $27k/pr SS-AR1 gets my vote. Source and control components from EMM Labs, a pair of Pass Labs X330.5 power amps, and Kimber select cabling all worked together to make Ray Kimber’s recordings sound as real as anything I’ve ever heard through a loudspeaker.

Pro-Ject System
One of my favorite systems at CES 2011: A Pro-Ject Perspex turntable ($2000) featuring magnetic isolation to prevent acoustic feedback, a carbon fiber tonearm, and Sumiko Blackbird cartridge ($899), CD Box SE CD player ($799), Tune Box SE II MM/MC phono preamp ($749), Pre Box SE with four inputs ($499), Amp Box SE mono ($1098/pair), and matching Speaker Box 5 loudspeakers in high-gloss white ($399/pair). Speaker cable was Pro-Ject’s own, and a REL T5 subwoofer was supporting the low-end. Even at low volumes in a busy room, the music was marked by fine detail, clarity, and speed. Joe Pass sounded as remarkable and unignorable as ever.

Wilson Audio Sasha
Wilson Audio’s $26k Sashas were driven being superbly well by D’Agostino deco-ish amps—the first of Dan’s comeback-tour electronics (which I would dearly love to review). My Captain Luke cut—“Rainy Night in You-Know-Where”—sounded a bit less present than it did on a couple of other speakers we will come to, but very natural in timbre (and his grumbly bass-baritone can be a bitch to reproduce). Ditto for Guitar Gabriel on “Key to the Chevy” (both voice and guitar). The “Calvini Hit” track of The International had tremendous dynamics and jump. The Sashas were very close to a Best of Show contender on this day, although the real story may be Dan’s new electronics.

TAD Reference One
I heard the TAD Reference Ones in two different rooms, one of which was a genuine knockout. In TAD’s own room, with TAD’s electronics (including its new Class D amplifier), the sound was a little dark (what else is new?) but very detailed and beautiful. In the VTL room, driven by the now-fully-balanced VTL 450 Series 3 amplifier they were almost a revelation. No darkness here. No euphony (or much less of it). On the Heifetz recording of the Prokofiev Second and the Satie piano pieces, the TADs came very close to the transparency and neutrality and resolution I get in my own room with Magico Q5s and some of the world’s finest electronics. This is the best I’ve ever heard VTL sound at a trade show, and the TAD Reference Ones are simply marvelous. It just goes to show that, allowing for the small differences in accent caused by electronics, really well-engineered, really low-distortion transducers are starting to sound more alike—more transparent to sources and (sources permitting) more like the real thing. A definite Best of Show finalist.

Symposium Acoustics - Reflection TLS
Symposium Acoutstics—maker of superb stands and equipment platforms and, just for the record, one of the most lifelike loudspeakers I’ve ever heard, the Panorama—showed a smaller speaker at this year’s CES, the $30k Reflection TLS, a hybrid ribbon-cone system with two 8” Kevlar woofers in transmission-line and sealed boxes. Driven by VAC electronics (which added a bit of overall darkness, I thought), the Reflection TLS evinced superb delicacy of detail on my Captain Luke and Guitar Gabriel cuts. Clearly capable of unusually high resolution, this was one of the better sounds at CES.

Rosso Fiorentino Siena
New to me was the $25k Rosso Fiorentino Siena three-way, five-driver, sealed-box floorstander driven at the show by AMR electronics. These speakers were one of the great surprises at CES. They simply sounded terrific, which is to say transparent and lifelike, on everything I played, from Heifetz to David Byrne. Very neutral and high in resolution, the Sienas also had (for me) lovable bass without any of the port overhang that adds excess energy and color to cellos, doublebasses, and, yes, electric bass (at least as it is recorded on LP and CD). To hear “Take Me to the River” through this system was to hear something very close to the transparency and realism I hear at home on this same cut. A definite Best of Show finalist from an unexpected and unheralded source. (I must also commend the sound of the AMR phonostage and the Dr. Feickert turntable in this room.)

Marten - Coltrane II
I heard the $90k Marten Coltrane II three-way floorstanders with ceramic mid and woof and diamond tweeter in several rooms, the first time with the wonderful Lars SET amps and dCS digital. These nice-looking speakers sounded very neutral on Diana Krall doing Joanie from Live in Paris. I thought I detected just the slightest hint of ceramic whiteness or enclosure grain, but, even so, the overall presentation was very natural. On a Paul Bley piano recording, the Coltrane IIs did a nice job of reproducing mike placements and ambience, bespeaking high transparency to sources. A contender for BOS.

Burmester B80
Burmester was showing its $55k B80 three-way with MTM mids and tweet and side-firing woofers, powered by MBL electronics. (Just kidding. Naturally, Burmester was rolling its own amps, preamp, and CD player with its speakers.) A bit to my surprise given past performances, this entirely Burmester system produced an outstandingly neutral, natural, low-distortion sound. Julie London cried me a river exceptionally realistically with a nice sense of three-dimensional solidity and just a touch more chest than I’m used to (although Julie’s chest was one of her best features). The Talking Heads were also pretty damn impressive—maybe just a little bleached and whitish in timbre, but so detailed, so controlled, such marvelous top-to-bottom coherence, and truly great bass. A BOS finalist.

T+A Solitaire
T+A showed its $45k Solitaire, which combines an electrostatic tweeter with six cone midranges in a line array and two side-mounted 10” woofers in a sealed enclosure. Believe it or not, the Solitaire produced the deepest bass I heard at the show. Unfortunately, that sensational bass did not mate up seamlessly with the Solitaire’s mids and treble. (It’s hard to mate ’stats with anything other than more ’stats.) This slight bass discontinuity might have been exacerbated by room or placement; whatever the reason it did darken the soundfield, although it didn’t keep timbres on cuts like “Cry Me A River” from being lovely nor did it reduce detail, which was exceptionally high, top to bottom. This is an interesting and ambitious speaker, which, though not wholly successful, did some things better than any other at the show.

Verity Audio - Lohengrin II
As previously noted, Lamm introduced its replacement for the M2.1 (my favorite low-powered amplifier), the new M2.2. For the launch, Lamm paired two pairs of the M2.2s with Verity Audio’s $96k flagship, the Lohengrin II. Here again was a sound that came very close to what I hear at home on the discs that I brought to the show. The Satie, the Julie London, the Prokofiev—all were reproduced with outstanding transparency and a high degree of realism and even a strong taste of the freestanding “Scaena effect” (about which you will read in a moment). Bass was deep and fast, with none of the group-delay blur and phasiness of many ported speakers (and none of that bunched-up midbass, either). The best Verity speaker I’ve heard at a trade show and a CES 2011 Best of Show finalist.

Scaena 3.4 ribbon/cone line-array
We come now to my CES 2011 Best of Show winner—the $66k Scaena 3.4 ribbon/cone line-array loudspeaker with outboard woofers. The Scaenas, driven by conrad-johnson ART amplifiers and a GAT preamplifier, did something only the Q5s do to this extent: They completely disappear as sound sources.

At this year’s show, I sat in drop-jawed wonder listening to Captain Luke singing “Rainy Night in Georgia” and Guitar Gabriel singing “Key to the Highway.” I’ve heard these cuts sound real before—that they are capable of sounding unusually realistic is why I bring them to trade shows. But I don’t think I’ve ever heard these two old men sound more realistic than this. The speakers just weren’t there. Neither, for that matter, were the electronics. All that was being transmitted were the voices and the instruments, as if they were materializing from the very air of the room. There was no sense of enclosure, no sense of drivers and crossovers, no sense of electronic mediation, no sense of window or aperture. We all know “real” when we hear it; we don’t even have to think about it. This was that real. Only because it was coming from a dCS CD player, a conrad-johnson amplifier and preamplifier, and four woofers about fifteen feet away from two line-array columns of ribbons and cones that were about six feet away from me—all of which were obviously “there,” too—I had to think about it. The music didn’t seem to be “coming from” anything. And that was—and remains—marvelous and baffling.

Mr. Jonathan Valin of TAS seems to be using the following tracks as his reference currently.....

1) Captain Luke singing “Rainy Night in Georgia” and

2) Guitar Gabriel singing “Key to the Highway”

Freakishly, anyone of us owns an album?

SIO = Albumn names, please ?

My guess is:
1. Captain Luke & Cool John Ferguson - Outsider Lounge Music


2. Guitar Gabriel:
The Beginning of the Music Maker Story

Thanks, particleman.

I had found other albums by them and not sure if they contained the mentioned songs....

Lots of stuff here...
http://www.my-hiend.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=3066&page=6

Arj schrieb:

Lots of stuff here... http://www.my-hiend.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=3066&page=6

Hmmm... The stuff page 30 onwards doesn't have much WAF, but I like, nonetheless.

he he..I had not got there

Hello all....

An added incentive for all of us to visit CES! They have a "Porn" show running parallel to the Audio shows. They share the same venue too! As one of the audio reviewers have put it quite wonderfully.... "Disneyfication of the Porn Industry"

So.... do we have a group?

And as the pictures indicate, Visitors are Encouraged to get a 'Hands on' feel of the equipment !

.... as in an audiophile show, do all get to sample the products at the booth ?

its nothing but Irony that you have vibration control devices in one show and devices which do quite the opposite in the other