Show One -- value abounds: The Resonessence Labs Concero DAC is priced at $599. It uses an ESS Sabre DAC chip and has an asynchronous USB input. It comes in . . .
Walking through the displays at Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2012, I'm struck by the number of manufacturers that are squeezing what seems to be an amazing amount of performance out of products that are priced in reach of the common consumer. Talking to designers, company presidents, sales managers, and others, I heard story after story describing product-development projects that were conceived to offer more value, more performance, and more connectivity for audiophiles looking to maximize their dollars.
Companies featured in gallery below: Nordost, Legacy Audio, Sanders Sound Systems, Tenor Audio, Von Schweikert Audio, Your Final System, Vapor Audio, Mojo Audio, DeVore Fidelity, Zu Audio, Joseph Audio, Estelon, MSB Technology, Bob Carver, Sonic Studio
Companies featured in gallery below: Focus Audio, Grandinote, Capriccio Continuo, Reference 3A, Kudos, Ceol Audio, Opera, System Audio, Paradigm Shift, exaSound, AIX Records, GutWire, Synthesis, Calyx Audio, Usher Audio
When I entered the Opera Audio room here at TAVES, nothing really jumped out at me. While readers may imagine that covering an audio show is a vibrant, almost electric experience for audio writers, that's pretty far from the truth. Going from room to room methodically copying down equipment information, I think it's fair to say that actual sound quality becomes something of an afterthought unless it's glaringly apparent that the sound is shockingly good. Or bad, for that matter.
Canada's Bryston Limited is a company legendary for power amplifiers, preamplifiers, and more recently, digital-source-type products such as the BDP-2 digital player and BDA-2 digital-to-analog converter. Now the company is jumping headlong into the loudspeaker market with the introduction of their first product. Named the Model T, its starting price is $6495/pair for the passive version with an internal crossover and a standard finish. Premium finishes increase the cost, as does the option for an external passive crossover or an external DSP-based crossover, the latter option creating a fully active solution. A stand-mounted version as well as a center-channel and subwoofer (both passive and active) are also in the works. Obviously, Bryston is optimistic and thinking ahead.
The French get a bit of a bad rap. There was Napoleon Bonaparte, the Corsican who developed the eponymous complex. There was the Great War, where France endured almost 1.4 million military deaths. And finally there was the Second World War, where the French were overrun by a failed artist with a God complex and a bad mustache. Militarily then, things have not always gone well for the western European nation. Yet they are renowned for their cheese, their fashion, their new wave -- indeed, for almost the entirety of their cultural tapestry. Taste in the finer things seems to be part and parcel of being French.
I'll cut to the chase and tell you now that Paradigm's new Tribute loudspeaker is the company's best looking and, from what we could tell at TAVES 2012, best sounding loudspeaker to date. In the case of the former, that might not be saying much -- a little over ten years ago most Paradigm loudspeakers were pedestrian-looking rectangular boxes. Beauty wasn't their thing. It's only recently that they've really upped their styling, and the Tribute is a great example, particularly the Dark Garnet Gloss finish, which is gorgeous. But in terms of sound, that's saying a lot. For decades, Paradigm has consistently produced speakers that perform far in excess of their price.
"The discoveries made by our engineers were so profound that when the end result was first demonstrated within Bose, the reaction was nothing short of astonishment." So reads the literature that accompanies Bose's new VideoWave II "entertainment system." Also known as a television, the second-generation VideoWave screen is a two-product line comprising a 55" model priced at $6495 and a 46" model at $5495. With a 1080p, 120Hz LED display sourced from Samsung and an array of 16 individual speaker drivers enclosed along all four sides of the 6"-deep, wall-mountable device, it struck me as an interesting, if grossly overpriced, product.
Companies featured in gallery below: Paradigm, Bryston, Elipson, Bel Canto Design, Cary Audio Design, Blue Circle Audio, ELAC, Naim Audio, Air Tight, PrimaLuna, Bose
Captionless semi-random photos taken during the show
Captionless semi-random photos taken during the show
Companies featured in gallery below: Vitus Audio, Hegel, Essential Sound Products, Zellaton, Fono Acoustica, Brinkmann, Dynaudio, Burmester, Tidal Audio, Canton, Auralic, Audio Physic, Isophon
The world is indeed a smaller place these days. Social media has connected people from all walks of life and makes for the instant transfer of information around the world. Technology is, in fact, the vehicle for the convergence of cultures and the examination of disparate ideas by diverse groups of people even worlds apart. Our connectedness and its effect on our lives are unprecedented in human history.
Companies featured in gallery below: Rockport Technologies, AudioQuest, Manufaktur, Harmonic Audio Labs, Harbeth, Norma Design, Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic, Mola Mola, Soundelux, Esoteric, Pro-Ject, Antelope Audio
Sennheiser's new IE 800 earphones so intrigued me when I shot them for our product coverage that I went back to my hotel, grabbed my B&W C5 earphones, and then went back to compare the two through listening. The IE 800s are priced at 600€, the C5s at 179€. I use the C5s all the time. Could the 800s be that much better and worth that much more?
Qualia & Co.'s marketing department is based in Los Angeles, their materials research is conducted in France, and their products are designed and manufactured in Japan. The products' prices and build quality are extreme by anyone's standards. So just who is behind Qualia & Co.?
Companies featured in gallery below: Siltech, Crystal Cable, Ascendo, Margules Audio, Absolare, Inspire Hi-Fi, Tannoy, Sonus faber, KEF, Constellation Audio, Pathos, Amphion, NuForce, Orpheus, Soulution
KEF's new LS50 speaker is said to be a modern-day homage to the classic BBC-designed LS3/5A monitor that was created in the '70s and used KEF-made drivers. It was, at least to some, the ultimate nearfield monitoring tool. To others, like me, it was an interesting little speaker, but with some problems. Perhaps more important, I'm a "minimonitor" guy, but I never wanted a pair of those. I'm not sure why; it's just that nothing about it excited me. But I can't say the same thing about the LS50. Read on . . .
Companies featured in gallery below: Wadax, WideaLab, AudioNec, Raidho Acoustics, Hanss Acoustics, Audioaero, Forster Audiotecnik, Kharma, Kaiser Acoustics
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