Neil Gader's CES Favorites Part I
The super stealthy Esoteric RZ-1 ($6000) was one of those components I couldn’t get out of my head. It hides its complexity beneath a silver vault-like exterior. Part slot-loaded SACD/CD transport, part integrated amplifier with 100Wpc Class D amplification into 6 ohms it also offers a USB/32-bit DAC and 24-bit/192Khz conversion via the coax and optical inputs. There’s also two analog inputs–one of which is switchable to a moving magnet phono stage.
It may be deep in a Canadian winter but Simaudio certainly hasn’t been hibernating. The stunning new Moon 600i ($8000) joins the standard-setting 700i flagship ($12,000). The 600i takes over for the Moon i-7, delivers 125Wpc into 8 ohms, double into 4 ohms and offers a formidable 530 step volume control (0.1dB increments!), and a potent dual-mono power supply. Stunning good looks as well.
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Comments
Neil, since you are using Synergistic Research cables, did you have a chance to see SR's new top of the line cable? I heard that there will be some trickle down stuffs like Galileo charger and some kinds of boxes that will be available for Tesla line of cables but information is quite vague at this time. Any plan for follow up review with these new upgrades?
Also for computer/s/pdif bridge product that you talked about, beside Weiss firewire/s/pdif converter, are there any
other device, firewire or usb that support more than 24/96?
The High resolution Technologies MusicStreamer HD will support up to 192/24 via USB 2.0, which is already supported on the latest Apple Snow Leopard build. March release date. I suspect that more manufacturers will come on board with their own USB 2.0 solutions soon.
Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications
thanks Steve for the timely responce-you read my mind. I was just going to post you for this response. What will this development mean for iTunes users? Will high rez downloads become integrated into their model and pricing structure?
Neil Gader Associate Editor The Absolute Sound
Hopefully on January 26 Apple will have some word on higher rez (or even 44.1/16 AIFF files) increased availability on the i-Tunes store.
No rumors to that effect yet, however...
Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications
Yep, you're right. Here's some of the text from my upcoming show report:
The technology behind Synergistic Research’s Tesla Power Cell modules (as supplied with the company’s Galileo flagship cables) is now available for all cables in an entry-level version. Using copper/silver conductors they’re available for interconnects ($1500, RCA; $1850 balanced) and speaker ($2500). And for a limited time Synergistic will supply a six-foot pair of their cables with each order–a $400 value. I hope to have a listen shortly.
As for the second question, I don't have an answer and I didn't have time to cover in depth this growing segment. I'll check in with a couple other TAS reporters and see what they came up with. cheers
Neil Gader Associate Editor The Absolute Sound
Neil, thanks for the information, I recently upgraded most of my Accelerator IC/speaker cables to Apex and I am most impressed. Now looks like there are even more things that hopefully will improve the already great Apex even further. My only complain is that my living is now glowing with so many blue LED from my computer server, NAS, lots of SR cables.