CES 2012 – All these laptops and Music Servers and USB DACs…

So many systems were completely…

[OK, yes, you might call this a rant. But it is really a lament]

They spend all that money and effort to set up a room, and then they muck it all up. They sit there with their remote control enjoying how they can sit on their bums and play this track and that track – and it all sounds like itchy and scratchy, get me out of here, 1984 again [not the Eurythmics album, 1984, that was GREAT. Currently watching the associated movie it was the soundtrack for… But, back to the lament:].

Sorry to be such a curmudgeon, guys, but I spent my 20’s with early CD sound – and I do not intend to happily relive that particular audio hell again. Not without a fight,, anyway 😉

You young folks… go for it. See you in 10 years [takes about this long] when you all are lamenting the youthful hours and disposable income misspent , along with all the previous generations of audiophiles – as the rest of us wait for the technology to mature and sound like music [or at least hack up something that pays attention to the actual musical nature of music].

Hey, the generation before me had to live though the solid-state amp / preamp ‘revolution’ – apparently each generation has to suffer [insert wild, hellish screaming here] … The reel-to-reel guys probably thought the same thing about the arrival of LPs – the first turntables probably sounded like poop. .

CES 2012 – Vitus Audio


This should have been an interesting system but whether it was because the WideaLab’s Aurender S10, probably the weak link in the system, just wasn’t able to bring out the best of the first rate components in this room – or whatever – I don’t know.

But…


YG Acoustics Anat III Studio loudspeakers


YG Acoustics Anat III Studio loudspeakers


Vitus MP P201 CD player


Vitus MP P201 CD player


Vitus MP P201 CD player


Vitus RI-100 amplifier


Vitus RI-100 amplifier


WideaLab’s Aurender S10 was playing in this room


Tripoint’s Troy, a passive EMI/RFI filter

CES 2012 – Nordost, Raidho, Scansonic


Nordost had a small system setup with Raidho monitor speakers and a mix of Burmester and Jeff Rowland electronics [and Nordost cables, of course].

I do not remember the sound of the system here – I would have said there wasn’t any music playing, but the Burmester CD player, from the photos, is definitely spinning the disc.


Raidho C1.1 loudspeaker


Raidho C1.1 loudspeaker


Raidho S1 loudspeaker


Nordost room rack with Burmester CD player and Jeff Rowland electronics and Nordost Qx4


Jeff Rowland ‘Aeris’ preamp


Nordost ‘Quantum’ Qx4


Scansonic display