The monster of all show reports, the Completion from the Venetian, the... [OK, I ain't no Howard Cosell], CES 2008 high-end audio show report is now up on the web, in two different resolutions [1000 pixels and 1500 pixels wide]. Finally.

[Sorry, the HT part has been delayed until I can withstand Photoshop again]

http://www.audiofederation.com/hifiing/2008/CES2008/report/index.htm]CES 2008 High-end Audio Show Report (http://www.audiofederation.com/hifiing/2008/CES2008/report/index.htm)

http://www.audiofederation.com/hifiing/2008/CES2008/report/1000/floor_34/MEDIUM_RELEASE_IMG_2614.jpg

Enjoy!
-Mike

Dayum! Thanks Mike.

Wow a lot of work put into that site. Better then being there. Very nice.

Theat is an incredible amount of work. Well done!

Thanks everybody. Makes it all worth while knowing that I am not the only one drooling all over the keyboard looking at all this cool shtuff.

Uh, figuratively drooling, of course, *cough cough*

Thanks everybody. Makes it all worth while knowing that I am not the only one drooling all over the keyboard looking at all this cool shtuff.

Uh, figuratively drooling, of course, *cough cough*

Appropriately (at least for me) you started your thread with a picture of Vladimir's new ML3 Reference amps ....everything else IMO is just downhill all of the way

Amazing report...you should charge for this!!! Thanks very much.

You must be a mountain biker or something, the degree of stamina to take up all those pictures while walking miles is comendable.


I think your comments are harsh on poor Boz at Tact audio , Marketing is not his forte, but he has the best surround processing solution coming online.

http://cineramax.com/CES_2008/TCSjackP.jpg

Thanks everybody!

oneobgyn: We thought the sound was very good - though the MAXX II was overshadowed a wee bit by the amps. Hmmmmm.... perhaps you can convince Wilson to lend a pair of Alexandrias to Lamm for the next CES? :-)

shumi_9: We're just lucky people don't charge *us* to see the report, with the way the giant photos put all that wear and tear on people's internet connections and the strain on their eyes as they keep popping out.

Seriously, we do think about putting ads up sometimes - they just couldn't be high-end audio ads, because we are pretty explicit about what we think and the advertiser's room may have Stupendously Sucked to our ears that year. Maybe we should run ads for Vegas. Or Q-tips. Or Comcast's broadband services... :-)))

CINERAMAX: It *does* help that we live at 7200 feet and have 45 steps to the front door and live in a three story house [ahhhh, our built in stair master] - and Vegas is down at [a quick Google] 2000 feet. That extra oxygen does help... :-)

I think Tact Audio has great marketing, targeting their constituency with just the message they want to hear. None of the manufacturers agree with us, of course, but we are focused only on the results - and don't care is the component is built with only chicken feathers and bailing wire - if it sounds great, then we will like it, ....uh... assuming it doesn't fall apart during shipping [Hmmmm, given FedEx and UPS tender-loving-care, that kind of rules everything out. Let's say at least 50% of the time] or start smelling really, really badly, of course :-).

Thanks again, y'all,
Mike

As best I understood the story, Vladimir was to have had a pair of Alexandrias from WA. Not sure what happened.

I can say that the ML3 played through my X-2's was the single best moment I have ever had in my 35 years of audiophilia. Fortunately we still have them

Dayum! Thanks Mike.

Michael got the Texas drawl already? That was quick.;)

Great coverage. You and your camera must be exhausted :cool:
Was there no interesting high-end homecinema stuff at CES?
I was hoping to see more high-end stuff from Krell, Mark Levinson, Theta, Sim Audio etc.

Well.....

Guess we lost a few posts during the transition these last few days...

Waited a few days but they don't seem to be showing up.

That's OK. We can handle it.

Re: Odin. OMG! To our ears, and specifically the interconnect with which we are currently most familiar - there was a significant increase in dynamics [which is really nice when one likes to use small tube amps], a significant increase in detail [as one expects], and a decrease in compression [a real surprise] - in comparison with the Valhalla.

But, yeah, getting over the price takes a little squinting and grimacing - and can easily understand how someone might want to spend the money elsewhere. But after several hours, we got addicted. The whole world looks different.

Re: TacT. We are all about performance, not quantity or novelty of features. That said, it is all cool stuff and I can't wait until the formats converge some so that manufacturers can focus on performance and not on supporting the cable / media / whatever technology d'jour. I don't know why it is but, from here, new video technologies seem to improve things and new audio technologies kind of muck things up and take a while to optimize.

Best,
Mike.