CES 2008: Alan Taffel Takes a Look at Next-Gen Audio from CES
January 23rd, 2008 — By Alan TaffelAlan Taffel’s Best of Show
Best Sounds: The future may be bright, but the sound at CES 2008 was not spectacular. No single room stood out as having the best sound, though several were impressive in their own way. Magico’s Mini II, dynamically hobbled by low-wattage Pathos electronics, nonetheless evinced unparalleled musical integrity. In a separate room, with Boulder electronics, MIT cable, and a Magico-built music server that may or may not reach production, the company’s V3 had terrific dynamic punch. The TAD room was noteworthy not just for its excellent speakers, but also for the best-sounding source of the show: The Tape Project’s direct-from-master analog tape.
Greatest Bargain: The Wadia iTransport is the missing link between an iPod, with its undeniable convenience and ability to store lossless digital files, and a top-flight audio system. Built with Wadia’s usual uncompromising quality, the unit is a steal at $350.
Most Surprising Discovery: Multichannel audio is apparently dead, at least for now.
Most Important Trend: The proliferation of truly high-resolution source material.
Most Significant New Product: The Lamm ML3 Signature single-ended triode monoblock amp. Although bass shy at the Venetian–perhaps due to room limitations–these amps meted out pure magic through the Wilson MAXX 2 speakers. The big Wilsons have never sounded so utterly invisible, or so breathlessly musical.
Greatest Technological Breakthrough: Reference Recordings’ HRx ultra-high resolution (176.4/24) digital music format. Let’s hope it catches on in a big way.
While I heartily applaud just about all of your observations (especially the recognition that REAL High Definition audio has finally arrived and can be downloaded at iTrax.com), I would like to point out that multichannel audio is not dead at all. It’s true that there was very little surround being demonstrated at the Venetian this year…but I believe the reason is the lack of adequate space to pull of a great demo and the limited view of most manufacturers.
The future is high definition, surround audio playing back from a music server. It will take time and the tipping point is still some years away, but those that have heard great recordings in 5.1 surround wonder know it’s coming.
AIX Records has been creating true HD Audio in stereo and surround for 8 years (almost 58 recordings many with HD Video) and is glad that optical discs are diminishing in importance. We still produce and release DVD-Audio titles for those that appreciate the benefits of HD PCM encoding…but now those that are properly equipped can download HD into dedicated music servers. The show was a hint of things to come.
The most important technological innovation in the area of music servers was not being shown to the public but was tucked away in a suite at the Belaggio. The future is coming but I have to hold my thoughts until April or May.
Comment by Mark Waldrep January 26th, 2008 @ 8:33 pm