CES 2013 is in the can. I had a terrific time at the show this year capturing images of new, outrageous, and sensible products. My favorite product of the show was an absolute surprise. Usually manufacturers drop hints as to what's coming or a press release is sent out with an embargo date to notify people of a new product. Not so with Wadia 
at CES 2013. The new Wadia Intuition came out of the blue. Wadia was more secretive about the Intuition than Apple was with the latest iPhone. The Intuition is an integrated amp with 400 watts into 4 ohms, analog inputs, and digital inputs including USB. I spent about 45 minutes listening to the Intuition and was very impressed. The design (U.S.) and assembly (Italy) of the Wadia Intuition is made possible by the powerhouse that is Fine Sounds SpA. With several high end brands under it's control Fine Sounds is spreading the knowledge to produce even better products than the brands could produce alone. The look of the Intuition was designed by Sonus Faber's industrial engineering team while the audio part
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Would you have a picnic in your basement? Of course not. Why should we listen to our favorite music on our favorite equipment in the stale atmosphere of a typical hotel room? Thanks to Alex Brinkman and the Ayre acoustics team for raising the bar when it comes to creating a relaxing more home-like environment at RMAF 2012. Walking into the Ayre Acoustics room was like walking on the set of Mad Men . I loved every second relaxing and even listening to a little Smashing Pumpkins Siamese Dream on orange colored vinyl. Hopefully more companies will follow Ayre's lead with respect to creating a welcoming environment for show visitors. At this year's show I brought my iPhone 5 running iOS 6. I took advantage of the new panorama feature, that has been available on nearly all other phones for years, to shoot photos of a few of the rooms I spent time in and found interesting equipment and people. I also want to thank Majorie Baumert and the Colorado Audio Society for organizing an awesome show. I can't wait until next year.
The first day of RMAF 2012 I spent the majority of my time in the expansive CanJam area. It's always fun to see and hear elaborate headphone systems capable of great sound. I'm also looking for a new pair of headphones thus my interest in this area was even greater than previous years. I spent a considerable amount of time at the Moon Audio booth listening to the Fostex TH-900 Premium Reference Headphones. I like that these phones are closed-back allowing me to listen in areas where the noise from an open-back headphone might be annoying to those around me. Paired with the
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Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2012 was stupendous. All kinds of new products including DACs and music servers were seemingly everywhere. Almost every room I entered contained at least one server or a device capable of file playback. There was a nice mix of Mac (Amarra, Pure Music, Audirvana), PC (JRiver), and Linux based servers. It's good to see that no single platform is taking over. Several companies were showing customized Mac, PC, and Linux solutions geared toward audiophile playback. The number of companies offering these servers increased greatly this year compared to the last few years combined. I'm unfamiliar with most of these companies and will need to do some homework researching each product. I wish there was more emphasis placed on service and education from the music server vendors rather than questionable hardware claims and misinformation, but I guess the industry must walk before it can run. My favorite sound of
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Orange is certainly a to color this year at RMAF. Maybe manufacturers are showing a little halloween spirit with pumpkin colored loudspeakers. Anyway, here are three simple shots I took this evening. The KEF Blade loudspeaker, the new Wilson Audio Alexia, and the new Peachtree Audio X1 USB to S/PDIF converter. Much more to come from Denver.
Wireless was everywhere. Music servers were everywhere. DACs were everywhere. CES 2012 was good for computer audiophiles and those looking to take the next step in high performance audio playback in the home. New Xeo wireless powered speakers from Dynaudio were among several wireless and/or powered speakers at the show. Audioengine showed its engineering prowess with its D2 wireless DAC at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Music servers from Weiss, Bladelius, and Merging Technologies showed much promise and the usual suspects from Apple running OS X and Microsoft Windows 7 were literally everywhere. Magico also debuted its $165,000 Q7 loudspeakers. I'm not sure there is a better loudspeaker on the market today.
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