AURALiC Taurus Headphone Amplifier ($1899) and Vega DAC ($3499)

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

WyWires Red Series Headphone Cable ($239)

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

WyWires Power Broker ($2495). Completely passive electrical design and two kinds of wood! Great looking AC distributor with noise reduction.

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

Audeze EL-8 Closed-Back headphones so people won’t ask, “what’s that song you’re listening to??” ($699)

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

HiFiMAN

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

The world premier of the HiFiMAN HE-400S ($299). Amazing sound for the money.

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

The state of the art HiFiMAN HE-1000 ($3000)

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

Rockport Avior loudspeakers ($37,500) sounding very full and rich with tube amplification from Balanced Audio Technologies

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

The Balanced Audio Technologies REX II Mono Amplifier ($19,900). That’s almost $40K for a pair, yikes!

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

One of the most visually arresting designs I saw, the glass cabinet Perfect Technologies The Point Mk II Evolution ($115,000)

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

Synergistic Research had an absolutely cavernous room with a pair of Magicos and demonstrating some of their new room correction and signal tweaking devices.

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

The drool-inducing Luxman L-550AX Class A Integrated Amplifier ($5400)

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

The Vivid G1 Giya in crazy violet was one of the best speakers I heard at T.H.E. Show and for $65,000, it should be.

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

Meridian had a very detailed presentation of the new MQA (Master Quality Authenticated). Meridian streamed Killing Me Softly by Roberta Flack from a server in Norway It was pretty amazing. The quality of streamed audio books to take a giant leap forward in 2015. The tech is actually very interesting. Google it.

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

Harbeth HL5 plus ($6695) sounding very good with Naim electronics.

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

One of the most surprising rooms was Technics. Yes, Technics. C700 and R1 Reference systems sounding and LOOKING very, very special.

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

Technics boxes are PRETTY!

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

Straight out the future comes the Cabasse La Sphere, priced at the very reasonable #ucantaffordit

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

Remove the La Sphere’s grill cover to complete the eyeball effect

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

Another very successful room, Boulder electronics and the Focal Maestro Utopia ($49,995). Perfect system for the 1%.

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

My second favorite speaker at T.H.E. Show, the staggeringly realistic $24,000 TAD CE1 (Compact Evolution One) featuring interchangeable side panels. Stands are $2400. Whoever put this system together knew what they were doing. Presto amplification, turntable by Merrill Williams, Dynavector cartridge, and WyWires cabling. Magnificent result.

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

The very strange-looking, but effortlessly loud and clear, self powered, and DAC’d Avant Garde Zero 1 ($17,500). Clearly influenced by the 2001: A Space Odyssey monolith with similar effect. Being around it made me violent, or was that just evolution, I get those confused.

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

My third favorite speaker, the Raidho D-1 ($28,500). I actually recall liking the X-1 system more that I heard it last year, but sometimes I hate on things I can’t afford. So there’s that. The Raidho room also had the new, more budget-friendly Scansonic line of speakers which seemed very promising.

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

McIntosh. Because it’s PRETTY!

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

The new great looking Tannoy Revolution XT 8F ($TBD)

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

D’Agostino MLife Integrated amplifier/streamer ($48,000) looking heavy and serious.

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

ATC SCM 40 ($6999) powered by Exposure electronics sounded very good.

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

The world premiere of the the Von Schweikert Unifield 2 Signature Loudspeakers ($25,000) powered by Constellation electronics. Great clarity and surprising bass from such a small speaker.

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

Ryan loudspeakers, which made their auspicious debut at last year’s show, again sounding excellent using the R630 floor stander ($5000) and Auralic electronics.

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

Legacy speakers are imposing

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

One of the truly odd, yet unbelievably cool looking speakers I have ever seen, the Boenicke Audio W8SE+ ($19,000). The picture makes the speaker appear normal size, but they are small and the visual effect is like a giant speaker that has been shrunken.

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

Swiss things! I felt like I wasn’t dressed well enough for the Goldmund room. It’s no coincidence the best watches are also Swiss. The new wireless Logos Tower speaker was looking very cool.

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

The Bel Canto Black Series. It’s seriously very, very black and expensive. Porsche makes a black series too. You could match.

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

My favorite speaker at T.H.E. Show. The new Wilson Sabrina ($15,900) powered by Theta. I think this speaker was actually in more than one room, but I liked this one the best. The Sabrina sounds huge for such a compact speaker. Have to have it. Achingly gorgeous sound.

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

A very cool discovery was made in what I thought was a Focal room, but turned out to be Orange County retailer Cloth and Metal’s room. Cloth and Metal has two locations. It’s a pretty genius concept and looks like great execution: designer clothes and audio equipment for the tasteful Millenial. They were getting great sound from Cambridge Audio electronics with both the Focal Aria and Cambridge Audio speakers.

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

The new Focal Sopra No.2 ($14,000) in fabulous orange! The speaker’s looks and build quality is on another level.

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

The new Focal Sopra No.1 ($9000). The Sopra line is positioned between the more expensive Utopia line and less expensive Electra line.

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

An array of Mark Levinson mono blocks and JBL horn speakers.

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

The upcoming Revel Concentra2 series looks very promising.

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

The very cool-looking JBL Everest DD67000 ($70,000)

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report

MoFi’s room featured Quad electrostats powered by Balanced Audio Technology. A very nice place to spend some quality time.

T.H.E Show Newport Beach 2015 - Show Report