TAS Editors & Writers Pick "The Best Sound" at CES 2009
Several TAS editors and writers attended CES 2009 in Las Vegas. Each was asked to select his choice for “Best Sound at CES.” Following are their selections:
Robert Harley: The Magico M5 loudspeaker ($90,000) driven by Soulution electronics through MIT cable was easily the show’s best sound, combining electrostatic-like transparency and resolution with the body and weight of a dynamic loudspeaker.
Jonathan Valin: The Magico M5. With the Wilson MAXX Series 3 (in both the Boulder and Lamm rooms) coming in second, and the Vandersteen Model 7, the Da Vinci Virtù, and the Perfect8 Technologies The Source tied for third. This said, there really wasn’t a loser at this CES.
Neil Gader: Call me clueless, but even at eighteen-large, the Magico V2 might actually be a bargain. For the smaller room however, the Joseph Audio Pulsar has knockout potential.
Jim Hannon: The Magico M5 system could easily get the nod, but the Herron Audio room (Herron electronics/prototype 2104A speakers, VPI front-end) came as close to capturing the sound of the recording venue as I heard.
Chris Martens: I heard jaw-droppingly great sound from two systems at CES: the revised Aerial 20T loudspeakers driven by Boulder electronics, and the Von Schweikert Unifield 3 loudspeakers driven by Moscode electronics.
Alan Taffel: IsoMike SACDs played through EMM Labs decoders, Pass amps, and TAD Reference One speakers. The show’s only multichannel music was more natural, involving, beautiful, and transporting than any stereo contender.
Steven Stone: Jonathan Valin and I love to disagree about cameras, but when it comes to audio his assessment of the new Magico M5 is right on. Easily the best sound at the show. Period.
Dick Olsher: Four-way tie: Kimber Isomike demo; TAD Home Audio room featuring the CR-1 monitor; Analysis Audio’s Omega ribbon speaker driven by the Spectron Musician amp; the LAMM Industries room.
Extensive coverage on these and other products will appear in The Absolute Sound.
Comments
It's too bad Alan Taffel and Dick Olsher didn't attend RMAF. The IsoMike demo in a much larger room was FAR better than at CES. Ray Kimber's recordings sounded very good at CES, but at RMAF they sounded as real as I've ever heard a recording sound.
I mentioned my preference for the system at RMAF to Ray Kimber and he said, "You do the best you can with the room you've got..."
Steven Stone
Contributor to The Absolute Sound, EnjoytheMusic.com, Vintage Guitar Magazine, and other fine publications
I was pretty stunned at the IsoMike demo (I heard it on the last day of CES). On an upcoming release of Robert Silvermann playing Mozart Piano Sonatas, I could literally hear the sound of the piano coming off the open lid of the Steinway D. All kinds of fine details emerged, including subtle ambient cues which are far too often obscured by both recordings and audio systems, yet the piano still had precise focus. It's the closest I've heard a piano recording sound to the real thing, and makes me totally rethink multichannel, digital, etc. I voted it as "My Biggest Surprise" of CES 2009.
There were many, many, other great sounding rooms at the show. Here are my other favorites:
Vandersteen Model 7 speaker and Aesthetix electronics with a Clearaudio Statement turntable was in a league above Vandersteen's previous efforts, including the Model 5 of which I'm a big fan.
The Hansen Emporer loudspeaker had the best soundstaging at the show, with the sound existing completely independently of the speakers. The dynanics were also outstanding, as was the sense of presence and palpabilty in the midrange.
The Rockport Aquila loudspeaker driven by Ypsilon electronics and the Blue Smoke "Black Box" music server was terrific—tremendous purity in the mids, startling dynamics, and great bass extension.
The Wilson MAXX Series 3 in the Boulder room sounded a lot like the Alexandria X-2 Series 2 that I've been living with blissfully for the past seven months. They threw a huge presentation with a wonderful and engaging immediacy, terrific low-level resolution, and a spectacular soundstage.
The new Vienna Acoustics "The Kiss" was startling in its tonal purity, smoothness, and imaging.
I'm sorry that I missed the Joseph Audio Pulsar that everyone is raving about.
I tried to hear the $300k Perfect8 Technologies speaker, but they wouldn't let me into their room, saying that they were conducting a "private demo."
this is the same list as your most significant list. not sure why you had two separate lists.
<<I tried to hear the $300k Perfect8 Technologies speaker, but they wouldn't let me into their room, saying that they were conducting a "private demo.">>
I think it was me they were conducting the "private demo" for, after you'd sent me to the room to listen!
I hope the four more "attainable" speakers mentioned (Joseph Audio Pulsar, Magico V2, Aerial 20T, Von Schweikert Unifield 3) on this list get reviewed along with the speakers that cost as much as luxury cars.
Fingers crossed!
M.D.
<<I hope the four more "attainable" speakers mentioned...get reviewed along with the speakers that cost as much as luxury cars.>>
They do!
In a way, it is difficult to compare the sounds of the M5 with that found in the IsoMike room, because they were in different formats -- stereo versus multichannel. For more on why I felt the IsoMike room produced a sound that was, overall, the more realistic, see my separate blog: "The Best (and Only) Multichannel Sound at CES"
Alan Taffel
TAS Senior Writer
As a soundengineer for more than 40 years I know that roomacoustics are the most important parameters to feel the original sound of music. You can do anything to record the original sound as realistic as can be. But...
When te room, were the recording has to be played back, not is what the original situation sounds like ,you will never get the optimum feeling it sounds like the original music.
Only the one who was in the room where the recording was made can remember the original sound easier as when it was played.
Cor Dekker
Soundengineer
I found the IsoMIke room to be completely incomprehensible. I felt that my brain was asked to do too many things in interpreting the sound. I actually had an uncomfortable physical reaction to the it. Perhaps it take a certain ‘mind’ to enjoy it. You know just like some people have easier time seeing images from some scramble art than others. In any case, I can’t imagine anyone preferring this room to many other I heard in the show.
I agree, Roy - I found the 'sonic fireworks' distracting.
Bob
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