Every January, our very own Phil and Steve make the pilgrimage to Las Vegas for the CES show.
For the core product categories that AVForums covers, it is undoubtedly the most important show on the planet and for those of a hifi persuasion there is a huge amount of new product announced there too. For pure hifi though, CES now has a credible rival and one that takes place a little closer to home. Every year, at the MOC Exhibition Centre in Munich, the audio industry gathers for a no holds barred exhibition of the current state of the art. This year was the eleventh time the show has been held here and in amongst the thousands of products on display, I've tried to find some of the more interesting and (hopefully) relevant ones.
XTZ does Auro
As, the XTZ review was expertly done by Phil, this was one of the first times I've heard the Cinema series and certainly the largest installation I've seen. It was also one of the first times I've listened to Auro material. With no less than eight 12 inch drivers at the front of the room, I feared that the results might be slightly bass heavy but in actual fact, integration was excellent and the general performance was very impressive. Naturally, if any Auro material is going to sound good, it will be the demo disc, but the results were sufficiently impressive, I'd be happy to see more of it.
Astell & Kern 'Layla' Earphone
Astell & Kern 'Layla' Earphone
When I reviewed the Noble Kaiser 10, I had assumed (naively as it turned out) that ten drivers per side might represent the logical maximum that anyone might try to build into an earphone. Six months later however this idea has been roundly knocked on the head by the arrival of the Layla, the first earphone being offered in the Astell & Kern range. Twelve armatures are arranged in four crossover points of three and the whole thing is yours for around £1,800-2,000. The housing is not small though so be prepared for a few looks, admiring or otherwise.
Focal Sopra 1 and 2
Focal Sopra 1 and 2
Focal has been a little quiet of late and it seems that the reason for this calm period is that the men and women of St Ettienne have been getting really rather obsessive over making their already excellent drivers that little bit better. The Sopra range sits between the Electra and flagship Utopia series and this means that there is more than a little Utopia to the Sopra 1 standmount and Sopra 2 floorstander. There are also some features not seen on any other Focal model up to now. The tweeter (Beryllium as one might expect) vents to a chamber at the rear of the speaker while the main drivers use new surrounds and flux technology to improve their linearity. The result of all this beavering away is a duo of speakers that sound really very good indeed. Hopefully some AV models will follow too.
Chord Electronics DAVE
Chord Electronics DAVE
Elsewhere at the show, whatever they are putting in the drinking water at Chord Electronics shows no signs of dispersing. Hot on the heels of the Hugo TT we saw at
Naim Power amps
Naim DR Power amps
Naim has so far resisted giving any names at all to their core 'Classic' range of components but this doesn't mean that they aren't constantly working on them. The latest upgrade is the 'DR' specification which stands for 'Discrete Regulator.' This uses technology from the flagship Statement pre and power amplifier we first saw last year and starts to make some of the research and technology available at a more terrestrial price point. When combined with the NA009 transistor- also specially developed for the Statement and built in house by Naim- the result is a useful upgrade in performance to the four core power amps in the Naim range. A short demo with the Focal Sopras suggested that the improvements are a useful step forward and the synergy between the two brands is improving all the time.
Devialet Phantom
Devialet Phantom
Having complained that the only example of a Phantom at
Devialet/Nautilus
Devialet/Nautilus
The Phantom wasn't the only product Devialet was showing off however and they inadvertently ensured a product I have never actually heard in the entire time I have been working in this industry also got a look in. The company was showing off their 'SAM' technology which adapts the performance of the amp to specific loudspeakers and the speakers they chose to demonstrate this with was the oft seen but rarely heard Bowers and Wilkins Nautilus. The overall result was pretty impressive- although ironically, as I've never heard the Nautilus without the SAM processing, making a final judgement isn't completely straightforward but it was good to see.
Final
Final Audio Design
Final has been in
Avid
Avid
Later this month, a review of the Avid Ingenium Turntable will go live on the site. The process by which the Ingenium has been designed is that it is a distillation of the flagship Acutus turntable you can see in the picture above. This means that your amp decisions over the next few years might be influenced by the electronics you see here. The Reference preamp and monoblock power amps are Avid's opening gambit in this product category and will in time generate a whole family of amplification. In the meantime, if you need the power to drive pretty much any speaker in existence, two phono stages and staggering build quality, this is a fine place to start looking.
Esoteric
Esoteric
Arguments over the most expensive room of the show are complex and hard to establish but Esoteric had to be in the running with an absolutely beserk demonstration of their entire flagship lineup- including a great many power amps at $21,000 each in one giant orgy of hifi. Like almost all the really expensive systems playing at the show, a slight terror overtakes the operators and absolutely no risks are taken with the music that is played but there was enough promise there to suggest that being left to my own devices with the system would have been fun.
Avant Garde
Avant Garde
The noble exception to companies playing it safe was Avant Garde who seemed to be intent on generating sound pressure levels that could boil the fluid in your inner ear (and given the astounding sensitivity of horn speakers, something they could probably do). In the general pricing insanity of the
Klimo Stern Turntable
Klimo Stern Turntable
After a while wandering around the show, a sort of crazed price blindness takes over and anything that has a list price lower than a well specced Ford Focus actually starts to look like good value. Tucked away in a smaller room at the end of a corridor and only on static display was something rather lovely and by the deranged standards of
Silbatone
Silbatone/Western Electric
Munich represents a massive commercial undertaking for most companies and it is not something you rush into doing. The idea therefore that one chap turns up with no real intention of selling anything and exhibits purely for the joy of showing off some equipment celebrating its eightieth birthday seems a bit weird but that is exactly what Manho Ho does. If you really wanted to talk about the Silbatone amps he makes, he will but he was really at
So there you have it. If you like a bit of two channel, I urge you to get out to this show at least once and these highlights have barely scratched the surface of what else was running at the show. I have put in a few requests with various manufacturers for products that will hopefully be of interest here and I try to feature a few of them over the coming months.
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