Scott Wilkinson: Meridian
The Meridian MF1 D-ILA projector looked terrific, especially with the new DVP-6080 motion processor. Based on Faroudja’s MCTi engine, the DVP-6080 accepts 1080p/24 and outputs 1080p/72, creating two new frames for each frame in the input signal. The result is exceptionally smooth motion with none of the judder so commonly seen in movie material on a video display. It also deinterlaces and scales like a champ, producing a picture that’s positively three-dimensional. The demo was not without a few minor glitches, but the processor is a work in progress, and overall, the picture was gorgeous. The Meridian sound system was superb as well. 

Barry Willis: Optoma/Blu-ray
Without question, Optoma’s gorgeous Blu-ray clip from Phantom of the Opera, via its HD81 DLP projector with new BX-AL133 anamorphic lens. The demo was everything home theater fans could ask for: sumptuous color, rich shadows, and glorious detail on a huge screen in a partially darkened room. Perfect, in my opinion.

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Neil Gader: Aerial Acoustics
There was a backlog of great sound at this year’s show probably due in part to the superior construction of the Venetian itself. At the stellar end of the audio spectrum I was fond of the soundstage and dimensionality of the VTL/Avalon Eidolon partnership, the dynamics and punch of the new TAD Reference I and the grand scale of the Nagra/ Verity Audio Lohengrin II combo. But it was the latest version of the Aerial Acoustics 20T with dual SW12 subwoofers and driven by Ayre electronics that turned the sonic hat-trick combining poise, polish and punch in a lustrous silver lacquer package that even Dave Wilson might admire.

Wayne Garcia:
Hmm… lots, actually. A partial list of runners up (and these are just for loudspeakers): Gershman’s outstanding $30,000 Black Swan; MAGICO’s brand new and most excellent $22,000 V3 (especially on Day Four, when VAC’s Phi 300.1 amp was added to the mix); Kharma’s revamped and sublime sounding Midi Exquisite ($75k), MBL’s always superb 101 E ($49k); JBL’s astonishingly beautiful sounding and very cool looking $70k Everest horn system, a modern-day take on the company’s past-glorious designs; Sonus Faber’s fabuloso $20,000 Elipsa, and Quad’s lovely 2905 ($11,500).  

Jim Hannon: Kimber/SoundLab & Verity Audio
Two large, expensive speaker systems, and one smaller one, put the performers in the room. The gargantuan SoundLab ProStat 922 with two 9-foot panels per side, at a cost of $15K per panel, were producing beautiful, effortless, and natural sound on a variety of specially recorded four-channel IsoMike recordings. A much more reasonably sized and beautifully finished loudspeaker, Verity Audio’s new Lohengrin II (starting at $67,995) driven by Nagra electronics, produced sound that had everything you’d want: a holographic soundstage, reach-out-and-touch-it transparency, awesome dynamics, and sonic realism. It made me dream about winning the lottery. Lastly, the Quad ESL-2805 system described above sounded so natural I could have listened to it all day. That’s what Ella’s voice and Coleman’s sax are supposed to sound like.

Robert Harley: Kimber/SoundLab, Spectral & Magico
All the best sounds at the show shared a commonality; the signal source wasn’t CD, except in the case of the Spectral SDR-4000 Pro. The best sounds were Ray Kimber’s four-channel Soundlab system fed from a DSD master recording; the Spectral system mentioned above (which wasn’t fully dialed-in when I heard it); and the Magico Model 6 loudspeaker fed from a 15ips analog tape machine. Overall, I have to pick the Model 6 for its stunningly low coloration, spectacular dynamic behavior, coherence, and lifelike immediacy. The Model 6 might be a breakthrough in dynamic loudspeaker design.

Chris Martens: JBL & MBL
Because my time at CES focused on all things audio, I had little time to check out demonstrations that emphasized video image quality. But in the audio realm, my findings were as follows:
Music-oriented stereo systems: A two-way tie between the JBL Project Everest horn-loaded speaker system and the formidable, omni-directional MBL 101x loudspeaker system from Germany. Both speakers are extremely expensive (around $60-70k/pair for the JBLs, and price TBD--but far north of $100k/pair--for the MBLs), but offered sound quality that was to die for. Multi-purpose, multi-channel systems: My top choice would be the same Phase Technology dARTS (digital audio reference theater system) 525 system that will be reviewed in The Perfect Vision issue 76. At CES the self-powered, DSP-controlled, room EQ’d system offered astonishing performance, demonstrating once again its unparalleled ability to achieve great sound and a giant "sweet spot" in real-world listening rooms.

Alan Taffel: Kimber/SoundLabs, Hansen Audio, & CES
Three views. I have split my best sound award into three sub-categories: the impractical, the practical, and the commercial.

Winning for best, albeit impractical sound, was the Kimber/SoundLabs room. There, Ray Kimber played the modern equivalent of master tapes -- in this case, raw DSD of his own recordings straight from the hard drive -- through a quartet of SoundLabs ProStat 22's. The speakers, consisting of two monstrous panels in each room corner, were gigantic even by SoundLabs standards. But then, they were designed to be used in public spaces rather than in the home. The only normal equipment in the room were the Pass 350X amps and the Meitner SACD and multichannel electronics.

So, you can't have this system -- heck, the speakers alone would crowd you out of your own listening room! But if you could, you would realize just how "hi fi" virtually everything else sounds. Through this system, the sense of actually being in the recording space was overpowering. The sound was stunningly natural. And unlike virtually every other system I've heard, the venue was not presented as a weak afterthought to the primary musicians. Here, the two were integrated, exactly as they are at a real concert, thus making for a truly convincing mirage.

I will say that the ProStat's could not plumb the very deepest depths, but with the other amazing things this system was doing, that hardly mattered.   

As for a system one could actually buy, I was most impressed with the Hansen Emperor, a $49,000 version of the mighty Kings, driven by CAT electronics and an AudioAero Prestige CD player. The latter had reliability issues throughout the show, so some listeners may have heard this system with a significantly inferior front end. But when the Prestige was in the system, the Emperors came into their own.

I was most struck by the way the large speakers competely -- and I do mean completely -- disappeared. This is a difficult feat for 3-ways to pull off, but these Hansens are coherent to perfection. Although bass was boomy, as it was pretty much everywhere in the Venetian, overall timbres were the complete and realistic I heard at the show, and rhythms were likewise admirable. Vocals were exceedingly natural as well, with no grit or glare. 

My commercial sound award occurred away from CES itself. Yet I must report that some of the best sound I heard during my stay in Vegas was at the Cirque du Soleil Beatles show, Love. The Love Theater was intricately designed to give every single seat a terrific sonic experience, and boy did it deliver. The sound's scale was gargantuan, yet every instrument was clear and imaging was precise. The top was clear and the bass was thunderous. Never have I experienced a commercial sound system of this quality. The music isn't too shabby either. Anyone self-respecting audiophile visiting this city owes themselves a ticket to this stupendous show

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