In light of this year’s 2007 Editors’ Choice Awards in the current issue of The Absolute Sound (October 2007 issue), we thought you might want to compare this year’s picks with last year’s.

Download 2006 TAS Editors’ Choice Awards here.

As always, The Absolute Sound’s Editors’ Choice Awards, lists our annual Recommended Products list.  In this PDF download, we present the gear that our editors and writers have selected as the  “best of the best� in each  component category. Each category is then divided into separate subcategories defined by a price range, with components listed in order of ascending cost (though a few items, like cables and accessories, are listed aphabetically for clarity’s sake).

Each recommendation is also accompanied by a capsule review, the original reviewer’s name, and the issue the review appeared in. Note that in a few cases a product may have been reviewed in one of our sister publications, The Perfect Vision or AVGuide.com, or the review may be pending publication, or the product may not have been normally reviewed but earns a recommendation based on one or more writer’s extensive experience with it.

Given that this is the high end, where components generally have long lifespans, some of our recommendations look back several years. At the same time, in an effort to be as selective and up to date as possible, we have dropped some components that appeared on last year’s list, usually because they have been discontinued but sometimes because fresh competition has caused us to reconsider the choice.

As we have in the past few years, we’ve also included a list of the multichannel sources and electronics that we’ve found most faithful to the musical experience, rather than those that are designed more specifically for home-theater use (though naturally, the musical ones will do fine double-duty).

Below is the list of component categories from which we make our Editors’ Choice list. You’ll find almost all of the full reviews available for download by entering the manufacturer name in our Search bar and choosing the product you’re looking for.

Loudspeakers from less than $500 to more than $20,000
Subwoofers
Power Amplifiers from less than $1000 to more than $20,000
Integrated Amplifiers from less than  $1000 to more than $3000
Stereo Receivers
Preamplifiers from less than $1000 to more than $10,000
Phonostages from less than $2000 to more than $6000
Digital Processors
Digital Sources from less than $1000 to more than $10,000
Turntables from less than $1000 to more than $10,000
Tonearms from less than $1000 to more than $3000
Cartridges from less than $500 to more than $2000
Tuners
Mutlichannel Recorders from $1000 to more than $6000
Multichannel Amplifiers from $1000 to more than $6000
Interconnects, Speaker Cables, and Power Cords
Headphones and Headphone Amps
Equipment Racks
Power Conditioners
Accessories
Books 

AS ALWAYS, we love to hear from you and we do read your comments, so please feel free to post a response below.

Plus, the PDF contains Harry Pearson’s Workshop, which contains his picks for the best of the best.

Download 2006 TAS Editors’ Choice Awards here.

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Creative Xdock Wireless (March, dock+receiver $299/extra receivers $149 each)

Jan 10 - Anyone familiar with the excellent but expensive Sonos wireless music distribution system will immediately “get” the much less expensive Creative’s Xdock Wireless system.

The main iPod dock jacks to an A/V receiver or powered speakers via an optical audio cable and transmits your iPod’s music to receivers over a 2.4 GHz spectrum slice. You then add an unlimited number of receivers, which in turn get connected to amplifiers and speakers (hence the low price) as long as they’re within 100 feet of the dock. Each receiver comes with its own remote. You can set up to four zones to send different streams to.

Later this year there are plans for an Xdock system to accommodate Creative’s own Zen music/video players and a version that performs the same function for music stored on your PC. But aside from the wireless distribution, the Xdock employs Creative’s X-Fi technology, which restores much of the fidelity lost when your tracks are compressed.

- Stewart Wolpin

Return to CES 2007 report

Primare CDI-10

Primare of Scandinavia is not generally known for electronics that hew to the Lifestyle model. It’s amplifiers, preamps and processors are robustly built, richly but modestly styled and powerfully equipped. But once again, thanks to the iPod, the need for minimalist second-room stereo systems is too much of a marketing opportunity for any company to pass up.

Unlike the more retro appeal of the Shanling, the CDI-10 CD Receiver ($2195) is as contemporary as they come. It employs a heavy gauge steel chassis, a powerful and cutting edge 75Wpc Class D switching technology-in this instance proprietary to Primare. It uses a regulated power supply technology, is fully remote controlled and has incorporated an interesting and elegant twist on iPod connectivity.

Rather than the increasingly common docking station, it has a front panel mini-jack that is switchable between input and output. This enables it to be used for headphone use or,  in the alternative jacking into the iPod.

The larger point to be gleaned is that if the high end is to appeal to future generations, gear like the Primare (and Shanling) exemplifies the need for a Big Tent philosophy of inclusiveness rather than perpetuating the alienating “attitude”  from a rapidly, diminishing old boys club. Kudos to the forward thinking of both of these companies.

Return to CES 2007 report

Shanling MC-30 Music Center

The iPod phenomena continues to make its presence felt far and wide. Whereas audiophiles traditonally have sought out the biggest and the most powerful gear in any given segment, the iPodization of America has rallied the masses to shout out the mantra that “small is beautiful.” 

At CES the littlest Apple is sending ripples through a once considered moribund sector of the high end-CD Receivers. And distributor Music Hall is importing one of the most charming examples of this convergence technology.
The Shanling MC-30 Music Center ($999) exquisitily integrates the retro with the cutting edge. It’s a brushed aluminum, CD player and tuner with 3Wpc single ended tube amplifier section,  fully remote controlled with a built in docking iPod docking station. It comes fully equipped with a pair of matched speakers. The clean design is also a reflection of some innovative engineering; eagle eyes will note that the top caps of the front pair of footers are in fact an input selector and a volume control.

Shanling’s trademark blue-lighting encircles the transparent, CD transport lid. A gem of a conversation piece that cuts across all generational segments.

Return to CES 2007 report