CES Day 1: High End Audio Photo Gallery

CES Day 1: High End Audio Photo Gallery

Hey guys - Last night I uploaded hundreds of high end audio photos
from CES. Some very interesting products are on display here and I
snapped as many photos as I could for you. Here is a link to the
gallery http :// www ,com puteraudiophile,com /node/126

Chris

Founder
ComputerAudiophile,com

Re: CES Day 1: High End Audio Photo Gallery

"Chris27" <chris@connaker,com > wrote in message
news:fm1es80210@news4.newsguy,com ...
> Hey guys - Last night I uploaded hundreds of high end audio photos
> from CES. Some very interesting products are on display here and I
> snapped as many photos as I could for you. Here is a link to the
> gallery http :// www ,com puteraudiophile,com /node/126
>
> Chris
>
> Founder
> ComputerAudiophile,com

Thanks for the pics Chris.
Looks like high end audio is alive and well in 2008. Can't imagine what the
electricity bill is going to be to run all that equipment!
Bob

Re: CES Day 1: High End Audio Photo Gallery

On Jan 8, 10:26 pm, Chris27 <ch...@connaker,com > wrote:
> Hey guys - Last night I uploaded hundreds of high end audio photos
> from CES. Some very interesting products are on display here and I
> snapped as many photos as I could for you. Here is a link to the
> gallery http :// www ,com puteraudiophile,com /node/126

A couple of comments:

1. It probably would be VERY useful for the pictures to have some
sort of caption

2. I REALLY hope some of these products are jokes!

3. I'm glad my living doesn't depend upon the high-end audio
industry. Right now, I'd rather be in real estate!

Re: CES Day 1: High End Audio Photo Gallery

On Wed, 9 Jan 2008 17:37:04 -0800, dpierce.cartchunk.org@gmail,com wrote
(in article <fm3ss002k9u@news3.newsguy,com >):

> On Jan 8, 10:26 pm, Chris27 <ch...@connaker,com > wrote:
>> Hey guys - Last night I uploaded hundreds of high end audio photos
>> from CES. Some very interesting products are on display here and I
>> snapped as many photos as I could for you. Here is a link to the
>> gallery http :// www ,com puteraudiophile,com /node/126
>
> A couple of comments:
>
> 1. It probably would be VERY useful for the pictures to have some
> sort of caption

I concur. But thanks for the PICs anyway.

> 2. I REALLY hope some of these products are jokes!

Unfortunately, they are not.
>
> 3. I'm glad my living doesn't depend upon the high-end audio
> industry. Right now, I'd rather be in real estate!

Ouch!

Re: CES Day 1: High End Audio Photo Gallery

<dpierce.cartchunk.org@gmail,com > wrote in message
news:fm3ss002k9u@news3.newsguy,com
> On Jan 8, 10:26 pm, Chris27 <ch...@connaker,com > wrote:
>> Hey guys - Last night I uploaded hundreds of high end
>> audio photos from CES. Some very interesting products
>> are on display here and I snapped as many photos as I
>> could for you. Here is a link to the
>> gallery http :// www ,com puteraudiophile,com /node/126
>
> A couple of comments:

> 1. It probably would be VERY useful for the pictures to
> have some sort of caption

> 2. I REALLY hope some of these products are jokes!

They are jokes, but they are really expensive jokes on both the producers
and the buyers.

I saw a lot of this junk at HE2005, and it looks like not much is changing
except maybe someone keeps rearranging the furniture and making trivial
changes to the front panels.

However, the people who take this stuff seriously, seem to take it *very*
seriously. Sad.

The time and money could go into advancing the art and science of audio,
instead of just gilding it.

Re: CES Day 1: High End Audio Photo Gallery

On Fri, 11 Jan 2008 15:43:01 -0800, Arny Krueger wrote
(in article <fm8uu5015da@news3.newsguy,com >):

> <dpierce.cartchunk.org@gmail,com > wrote in message
> news:fm3ss002k9u@news3.newsguy,com
>> On Jan 8, 10:26 pm, Chris27 <ch...@connaker,com > wrote:
>>> Hey guys - Last night I uploaded hundreds of high end
>>> audio photos from CES. Some very interesting products
>>> are on display here and I snapped as many photos as I
>>> could for you. Here is a link to the
>>> gallery http :// www ,com puteraudiophile,com /node/126
>>
>> A couple of comments:
>
>> 1. It probably would be VERY useful for the pictures to
>> have some sort of caption
>
>> 2. I REALLY hope some of these products are jokes!
>
> They are jokes, but they are really expensive jokes on both the producers
> and the buyers.
>
> I saw a lot of this junk at HE2005, and it looks like not much is changing
> except maybe someone keeps rearranging the furniture and making trivial
> changes to the front panels.
>
> However, the people who take this stuff seriously, seem to take it *very*
> seriously. Sad.
>
> The time and money could go into advancing the art and science of audio,
> instead of just gilding it.
>

Wouldn't that require a set of goals? From what I'm seeing, it looks as
though those have gone out the window in favor of if it sounds "good" (define
"good" please. - Exactly!), do it.

Re: CES Day 1: High End Audio Photo Gallery

On Jan 9, 7:37 pm, dpierce.cartchunk....@gmail,com wrote:
> On Jan 8, 10:26 pm, Chris27 <ch...@connaker,com > wrote:
>
> > Hey guys - Last night I uploaded hundreds of high end audio photos
> > from CES. Some very interesting products are on display here and I
> > snapped as many photos as I could for you. Here is a link to the
> > gallery http :// www ,com puteraudiophile,com /node/126
>
> A couple of comments:
>
> 1. It probably would be VERY useful for the pictures to have some
>    sort of caption
>
> 2. I REALLY hope some of these products are jokes!
>
> 3. I'm glad my living doesn't depend upon the high-end audio
>    industry. Right now, I'd rather be in real estate!

I plan to add captions to the photos, but because CES is consuming all
my waking hours I just can't do it right now.

As far as some of the products being "jokes" I have to disagree with
you. I talked to most of the builders of these products and many have
small 1 to 5 people operations. They have poured their lives into
their products and some count on CES to make or break their business.
To them and many others the uniqueness of the products is what
attracts people. Many are built with absolute sound quality in mind
and the look of them has everything to do with sound quality. As used
car salesmen say, "There is an ass for every seat."

Thanks for sharing your opinion though. I really do like hearing
everyone's thoughts on this stuff. It is kind of funny to hear one
person at CES proclaim a product as the best sounding & best looking
product of the show and then another say the opposite!

Re: CES Day 1: High End Audio Photo Gallery

On Jan 11, 6:46 pm, Chris27 <ch...@connaker,com > wrote:

> Many are built with absolute sound quality in mind
> and the look of them has everything to do with sound quality.

I've never seen anyone capture the essence of high-end audio in a
single sentence quite this well. The look of them has everything to do
with sound quality. Yes, indeed it does.

bob

Re: CES Day 1: High End Audio Photo Gallery

"Chris27" <chris@connaker,com > wrote in message
news:fm8v4p015vo@news3.newsguy,com

> As far as some of the products being "jokes" I have to
> disagree with you. I talked to most of the builders of
> these products and many have small 1 to 5 people
> operations. They have poured their lives into their
> products and some count on CES to make or break their
> business. To them and many others the uniqueness of the
> products is what attracts people. Many are built with
> absolute sound quality in mind and the look of them has
> everything to do with sound quality. As used car salesmen
> say, "There is an ass for every seat."

A person may be very sincere, but that doesn't keep them from being
sincerily mislead.

We've just seen this drama acted out on a larger stage with the commercial
failures of SACD and DVD-A.

Money was invested without the expected returns, careers were bet on more
mainstream acceptance than ever materialized, and there were subsequent
firings and demotions, etc.

Re: CES Day 1: High End Audio Photo Gallery

On Sat, 12 Jan 2008 07:57:06 -0800, Arny Krueger wrote
(in article <fmao0i01bpb@news1.newsguy,com >):

> "Chris27" <chris@connaker,com > wrote in message
> news:fm8v4p015vo@news3.newsguy,com
>
>> As far as some of the products being "jokes" I have to
>> disagree with you. I talked to most of the builders of
>> these products and many have small 1 to 5 people
>> operations. They have poured their lives into their
>> products and some count on CES to make or break their
>> business. To them and many others the uniqueness of the
>> products is what attracts people. Many are built with
>> absolute sound quality in mind and the look of them has
>> everything to do with sound quality. As used car salesmen
>> say, "There is an ass for every seat."
>
> A person may be very sincere, but that doesn't keep them from being
> sincerily mislead.
>
> We've just seen this drama acted out on a larger stage with the commercial
> failures of SACD and DVD-A.

You do know that many labels like Sony (natch), BMG, Telarc, Mobile Fidelity
et al are still releasing new SACD discs, do you not? And that Marantz, Sony,
Oppo, Esoteric, Meridian, et al are still releasing new SACD player models?
>
> Money was invested without the expected returns, careers were bet on more
> mainstream acceptance than ever materialized, and there were subsequent
> firings and demotions, etc.

Yet SACD is still very much alive and has a good enough following for it to
remain viable - at least for now.

Re: CES Day 1: High End Audio Photo Gallery

"Sonnova" <sonnova@audiosanatorium,com > wrote in message
news:fmb8o301ubn@news1.newsguy,com
> On Sat, 12 Jan 2008 07:57:06 -0800, Arny Krueger wrote
> (in article <fmao0i01bpb@news1.newsguy,com >):
>
>> "Chris27" <chris@connaker,com > wrote in message
>> news:fm8v4p015vo@news3.newsguy,com
>>
>>> As far as some of the products being "jokes" I have to
>>> disagree with you. I talked to most of the builders of
>>> these products and many have small 1 to 5 people
>>> operations. They have poured their lives into their
>>> products and some count on CES to make or break their
>>> business. To them and many others the uniqueness of the
>>> products is what attracts people. Many are built with
>>> absolute sound quality in mind and the look of them has
>>> everything to do with sound quality. As used car
>>> salesmen say, "There is an ass for every seat."
>>
>> A person may be very sincere, but that doesn't keep them
>> from being sincerily mislead.

>> We've just seen this drama acted out on a larger stage
>> with the commercial failures of SACD and DVD-A.

> You do know that many labels like Sony (natch), BMG,
> Telarc, Mobile Fidelity et al are still releasing new
> SACD discs, do you not? And that Marantz, Sony, Oppo,
> Esoteric, Meridian, et al are still releasing new SACD
> player models?

Mere inertia, and struggles within a tiny niche market.

>> Money was invested without the expected returns, careers
>> were bet on more mainstream acceptance than ever
>> materialized, and there were subsequent firings and
>> demotions, etc.

> Yet SACD is still very much alive and has a good enough
> following for it to remain viable - at least for now.

How can a medium that never achieved a critical mass of installed players
and mainstream retail store presence be called "viable".

BTW Sonnova, do you still think that HD DVD is going to prevail over Blu
Ray? ;-)

You sure know how to back em! ;-)

Re: CES Day 1: High End Audio Photo Gallery

On Sun, 13 Jan 2008 07:50:02 -0800, Arny Krueger wrote
(in article <fmdbva02ftq@news4.newsguy,com >):

> "Sonnova" <sonnova@audiosanatorium,com > wrote in message
> news:fmb8o301ubn@news1.newsguy,com
>> On Sat, 12 Jan 2008 07:57:06 -0800, Arny Krueger wrote
>> (in article <fmao0i01bpb@news1.newsguy,com >):
>>
>>> "Chris27" <chris@connaker,com > wrote in message
>>> news:fm8v4p015vo@news3.newsguy,com
>>>
>>>> As far as some of the products being "jokes" I have to
>>>> disagree with you. I talked to most of the builders of
>>>> these products and many have small 1 to 5 people
>>>> operations. They have poured their lives into their
>>>> products and some count on CES to make or break their
>>>> business. To them and many others the uniqueness of the
>>>> products is what attracts people. Many are built with
>>>> absolute sound quality in mind and the look of them has
>>>> everything to do with sound quality. As used car
>>>> salesmen say, "There is an ass for every seat."
>>>
>>> A person may be very sincere, but that doesn't keep them
>>> from being sincerily mislead.
>
>>> We've just seen this drama acted out on a larger stage
>>> with the commercial failures of SACD and DVD-A.
>
>> You do know that many labels like Sony (natch), BMG,
>> Telarc, Mobile Fidelity et al are still releasing new
>> SACD discs, do you not? And that Marantz, Sony, Oppo,
>> Esoteric, Meridian, et al are still releasing new SACD
>> player models?
>
> Mere inertia, and struggles within a tiny niche market.
>
>>> Money was invested without the expected returns, careers
>>> were bet on more mainstream acceptance than ever
>>> materialized, and there were subsequent firings and
>>> demotions, etc.
>
>> Yet SACD is still very much alive and has a good enough
>> following for it to remain viable - at least for now.
>
> How can a medium that never achieved a critical mass of installed players
> and mainstream retail store presence be called "viable".
>
> BTW Sonnova, do you still think that HD DVD is going to prevail over Blu
> Ray? ;-)
>
> You sure know how to back em! ;-)
>

It should prevail over Blu-Ray for all the practical reasons, but the
marketplace is neither practical nor rational, so I suspect that Blu-Ray will
win. The marketplace always picks the inferior technology when there is a
format war: Zenith-GE over Crosby (FM Stereo), 8VSB over Sinclair (HDTV), VHS
over Beta, Windows over Mac, Blu-Ray over HD-DVD and probably many, many
more. With the latter, though, I have both. I really don't care EXCEPT that
HD-DVD has a better picture (due to Blu-Ray yield problems, most Blu-Ray
discs are still MPEG2 instead of the better quality VC-1 or H.264) , and the
players are more reasonably priced.

And I'm not "backing" SACD, I was given an XA777ES SACD player by Sony and
get sent the SACD discs by virtually all of the manufacturers. I have
hundreds of SACDs at the moment and the only ones I've purchased are the
remastered RCA Red Seals and I bought them because I want modern copies of
many of those classic performances. I will say that SACD sure sounds
analog-like though. I do like it.

Re: CES Day 1: High End Audio Photo Gallery

"Arny Krueger" <arnyk@hotpop,com > wrote in message
news:fmdbva02ftq@news4.newsguy,com ...
> "Sonnova" <sonnova@audiosanatorium,com > wrote in message
> news:fmb8o301ubn@news1.newsguy,com
>> On Sat, 12 Jan 2008 07:57:06 -0800, Arny Krueger wrote
>> (in article <fmao0i01bpb@news1.newsguy,com >):
>>
>>> "Chris27" <chris@connaker,com > wrote in message
>>> news:fm8v4p015vo@news3.newsguy,com
>>>
>>>> As far as some of the products being "jokes" I have to
>>>> disagree with you. I talked to most of the builders of
>>>> these products and many have small 1 to 5 people
>>>> operations. They have poured their lives into their
>>>> products and some count on CES to make or break their
>>>> business. To them and many others the uniqueness of the
>>>> products is what attracts people. Many are built with
>>>> absolute sound quality in mind and the look of them has
>>>> everything to do with sound quality. As used car
>>>> salesmen say, "There is an ass for every seat."
>>>
>>> A person may be very sincere, but that doesn't keep them
>>> from being sincerily mislead.
>
>>> We've just seen this drama acted out on a larger stage
>>> with the commercial failures of SACD and DVD-A.
>
>> You do know that many labels like Sony (natch), BMG,
>> Telarc, Mobile Fidelity et al are still releasing new
>> SACD discs, do you not? And that Marantz, Sony, Oppo,
>> Esoteric, Meridian, et al are still releasing new SACD
>> player models?
>
> Mere inertia, and struggles within a tiny niche market.
>
>>> Money was invested without the expected returns, careers
>>> were bet on more mainstream acceptance than ever
>>> materialized, and there were subsequent firings and
>>> demotions, etc.
>
>> Yet SACD is still very much alive and has a good enough
>> following for it to remain viable - at least for now.
>
> How can a medium that never achieved a critical mass of installed players
> and mainstream retail store presence be called "viable".
>
> BTW Sonnova, do you still think that HD DVD is going to prevail over Blu
> Ray? ;-)
>
> You sure know how to back em! ;-)

For somebody who professes to be a knowledgeable audiophile, and somebody
who likes to show they are "up" on latest technological goings-on, you
surely show some knowledge gaps.

Just as the net provides younger folk the ability to conveniently download
individual songs (shades of the '50's), the net also provides a worldwide
distribution network of specialty stores, including those that specialize in
high-quality recordings, for the purchase of CD's/SACD's. (with a heavy
emphasis on classical). That and the almost universal availability of
SACD/CD players has made for a highly efficient niche for classical
releases, not in small part because it has allowed smaller labels to bypass
the big company controlled distribution networks of the old "brick and
mortar" stores. Far from showing inertia, this "niche" has substantially
increased the vitality of the classical market, with a wide variety of new
releases being issued and supported. The "niche" is very strong in Europe
and the Orient, more so than in the Americas, but those of us here who
appreciate the "niche" still greatly benefit.

Why not give up your animus toward SACD and simply admit that you
underestimated its staying power?

Re: CES Day 1: High End Audio Photo Gallery

"Harry Lavo" <hlavo@comcast,net > wrote in message
news:fmeprl0d4d@news2.newsguy,com

> For somebody who professes to be a knowledgeable
> audiophile, and somebody who likes to show they are "up"
> on latest technological goings-on, you surely show some
> knowledge gaps.

> Just as the net provides younger folk the ability to
> conveniently download individual songs (shades of the
> '50's), the net also provides a worldwide distribution
> network of specialty stores, including those that
> specialize in high-quality recordings, for the purchase
> of CD's/SACD's. (with a heavy emphasis on classical).
> That and the almost universal availability of SACD/CD
> players has made for a highly efficient niche for
> classical releases, not in small part because it has
> allowed smaller labels to bypass the big company
> controlled distribution networks of the old "brick and
> mortar" stores. Far from showing inertia, this "niche"
> has substantially increased the vitality of the classical
> market, with a wide variety of new releases being issued
> and supported. The "niche" is very strong in Europe and
> the Orient, more so than in the Americas, but those of us
> here who appreciate the "niche" still greatly benefit.

Harry, that's not reliable knowlege, thats rumor and hype.

> Why not give up your animus toward SACD and simply admit
> that you underestimated its staying power?

What staying power?

Sony backed and developed Blu Ray which does not seem to support DSD
content. Sony has also backed off of their refusal to make PC drives that
play SACDs.

Here's the list of audio formats that Blu-Ray supports:

"What audio codecs will Blu-ray support?
http :// www .blu-ray,com /faq/#bluray_formats

"Linear PCM (LPCM) - up to 8 channels of uncompressed audio.
(mandatory)
"Dolby Digital (DD) - format used for DVDs, 5.1-channel surround
sound. (mandatory)
"Dolby Digital Plus (DD+) - extension of Dolby Digital, 7.1-channel
surround sound. (optional)
"Dolby TrueHD - lossless encoding of up to 8 channels of audio.
(optional)
"DTS Digital Surround - format used for DVDs, 5.1-channel surround
sound. (mandatory)
"DTS-HD High Resolution Audio - extension of DTS, 7.1-channel surround
sound. (optional)
"DTS-HD Master Audio - lossless encoding of up to 8 channels of audio.
(optional)

Bottom line, Blu Ray marks Sony's retreat from DVD as an audio
distribution format, and the Sony Vao announcment marks Sony's retreat from
their no-PC policy for DSD audio.

Re: CES Day 1: High End Audio Photo Gallery

"Arny Krueger" <arnyk@hotpop,com > wrote in message
news:fmgt0k0f45@news1.newsguy,com ...
> "Harry Lavo" <hlavo@comcast,net > wrote in message
> news:fmeprl0d4d@news2.newsguy,com
>
>> For somebody who professes to be a knowledgeable
>> audiophile, and somebody who likes to show they are "up"
>> on latest technological goings-on, you surely show some
>> knowledge gaps.
>
>> Just as the net provides younger folk the ability to
>> conveniently download individual songs (shades of the
>> '50's), the net also provides a worldwide distribution
>> network of specialty stores, including those that
>> specialize in high-quality recordings, for the purchase
>> of CD's/SACD's. (with a heavy emphasis on classical).
>> That and the almost universal availability of SACD/CD
>> players has made for a highly efficient niche for
>> classical releases, not in small part because it has
>> allowed smaller labels to bypass the big company
>> controlled distribution networks of the old "brick and
>> mortar" stores. Far from showing inertia, this "niche"
>> has substantially increased the vitality of the classical
>> market, with a wide variety of new releases being issued
>> and supported. The "niche" is very strong in Europe and
>> the Orient, more so than in the Americas, but those of us
>> here who appreciate the "niche" still greatly benefit.
>
> Harry, that's not reliable knowlege, thats rumor and hype.
>
>> Why not give up your animus toward SACD and simply admit
>> that you underestimated its staying power?
>
> What staying power?
>
> Sony backed and developed Blu Ray which does not seem to support DSD
> content. Sony has also backed off of their refusal to make PC drives that
> play SACDs.
>
> Here's the list of audio formats that Blu-Ray supports:
>
> "What audio codecs will Blu-ray support?
> http :// www .blu-ray,com /faq/#bluray_formats
>
> "Linear PCM (LPCM) - up to 8 channels of uncompressed audio.
> (mandatory)
> "Dolby Digital (DD) - format used for DVDs, 5.1-channel surround
> sound. (mandatory)
> "Dolby Digital Plus (DD+) - extension of Dolby Digital, 7.1-channel
> surround sound. (optional)
> "Dolby TrueHD - lossless encoding of up to 8 channels of audio.
> (optional)
> "DTS Digital Surround - format used for DVDs, 5.1-channel surround
> sound. (mandatory)
> "DTS-HD High Resolution Audio - extension of DTS, 7.1-channel
> surround
> sound. (optional)
> "DTS-HD Master Audio - lossless encoding of up to 8 channels of
> audio.
> (optional)
>
> Bottom line, Blu Ray marks Sony's retreat from DVD as an audio
> distribution format, and the Sony Vao announcment marks Sony's retreat
> from
> their no-PC policy for DSD audio.

I'm sorry, but all the information you present simply shows that Sony has
chosen to back another, more universal, format for Video sound.

Moreover, the continuation of SACD does not require Sony's support even if
they withdrawal completely, as there are now independent mastering studios
doing SACD. The fact is, the niche I described is alive and well.