This weekend Hifi Pig took itself to Paris and the Paris Hifi Home Cinema Show 2012.
Here’s the first part of our coverage of the show.
Don’t forget to let us know what you think by submitting your comments.
Speaker manufacturer PMC have announced that anyone buying any loudspeaker from their Twenty series between 
October 1st and December 31st of this year in the UK will receive a free Audio Quest Dragonfly USB DAC/headphone amplifier.
Customers will need to simply register their purchase on the PMC website and then make a decision of whether to have the nifty little dongle posted to them, or to collect it from their dealer.
The Dragonfly plays all music files from MP3 to 24 bit/192kHz, has a variable output to drive powered speakers, drives headphones directly and has two clocks onboard.
UK based Custom Cable, has launched an online headphone comparator service, to enable customers to identify the models they are interested in and make side by side comparisons.
The new function enables visitors to categorise and select headphones by manufacturer, type, price, colour, impedance, frequency response and cable length. The user can then select different products and add them to a Compare List to view side-by-side and quickly identify the features of each model.
Phil Wannell, business manager, said, “We’ve seen an explosion in the sales of headphones over the past few years, largely driven by the phenomenal growth of the iPod, iPhone and other portable music players. This has resulted in the choice of headphones – the different styles, shapes and colours available – becoming much larger and therefore far more confusing.”
Hifi Pig gave it a whirl and it seemed to work pretty well at narrowing down your choices.
Don’t forget to check out our coverage of the National Audio Show 2012 ( Whittlebury). We have lots of pictures of high
end audio from some of the biggest names and some less well known names in hifi and audio.
National Audio Show 2012 – Show Report Part 1
National Audio Show 2012 – Show Report Part 2
National Audio Show 2012 – Show Report Part 3
National Audio Show 2012 – Paul’s Top Six Rooms
Norwegian High end Audsio company Electrocompaniet announce a new product to their range called ECI 6DS. The 
ECI 6DS is an all-in-one music-system that streams music from your network, wired or wireless. Blu-ray players, CD players and even satellite television tuners can also be connected and everything is controlled by the simple to use remote control.
The ECI 6DS has an on-board DAC and boasts a 2 x 125 Watt integrated amplifier. Your analogue sources can be connected by balanced (XLR) and phono (RCA) inputs.
Key facts:
• Music streaming from W iFi/LAN
• Internet Radio
• USB playback
• Modern DAC with USB, Coax and Toslink inputs
• Powerful 2 x 125 Watts integrated amplifier
• 1 balanced(XLR) and 3 phono(RCA) inputs
• Balanced(XLR) and phono(RCA) outputs
All functions are fully controllable by the graphical remote control
Weight 21 kgs
The estimated RRP of € 5.320 / £4.315 and is available from October.
Onkyo announce the release of the new DS-A5 iPod/iPhone/iPad Dock, adding AirPlay functionality to Onkyo A/V 
receiver models and other selected audio products from within its range.With a DS-A5, owners of current-model Onkyo A/V receivers – as well as older models lacking a USB port or an ethernet connection – can enjoy AirPlay wireless streaming as well as a digital-to-digital docking connection to iOS devices.
receiver models and other selected audio products from within its range.With a DS-A5, owners of current-model Onkyo A/V receivers – as well as older models lacking a USB port or an ethernet connection – can enjoy AirPlay wireless streaming as well as a digital-to-digital docking connection to iOS devices.
As well as streaming from portable iOS devices, AirPlay also enables high fidelity wireless streaming of audio files from iTunes-equipped personal computers.
When the device is docked, a digital audio output can be employed to deliver signals directly to the receiver’s DACs and a composite video output allows viewing of photos and video on the big screen with cinema sound.
When the DS-A5 is linked to an Onkyo A/V or stereo receiver via the supplied RI (Remote Interactive) cable, the user may power up the system ‘from cold’ by selecting content on their iOS device, and tapping the AirPlay icon. RI has the added advantage of incorporating DS-A5 functionality into the main system remote controller.
The unit can be used to add AirPlay capability to non-Onkyo hi-fi and AV systems, standalone DACs etc minus, of course, the above stated benefits of RI connectivity.
Price £150.
Box Designs by Pro-Ject Audio Systems, have announced the launch of a new Apple and Android compatible control
application for use with a variety of their products. The new “Box Control” App
Box Control is a special development undertaken by Pro-Ject Audio that offers users full control of Box Design network audio players. It communicates with the new Stream Box DS net over a proprietary NetAPI interfacing protocol, allowing for a “quick and engaging” user-experience. With a few touches of the finger on the user interface, you can access and play music from media servers, internet radio stations, connected USB Hard Drives and Apple iPod devices (depending on how your system is set-up)
In addition to offering remote functions over Pro-Ject streamers, Box Control also has the ability to communicate with the forthcoming ‘Remote Box’ from Pro-Ject Audio to offer convenient control functionality over any other device in your listening room that has an IR receiver!
Because of the NetAPI software that Box Control works on, Pro-Ject have also announced a new updated version of the Stream Box DS. The Stream Box DS net offers the same build and operating system as the original DS, but it now comes compliant with the Box Control application out of the box. The Stream Box DS net also introduces Apple Lossless file support over home networks.
The high-end VIRTU “Masters Reference” Mono PreAmplifier from Swiss manufacturer DaVinciAudio Labs is an interesting 
looking piece of hifi with its outsized controls and funky back plate.
The preamplifier is “designed without any cost constraint” and with “fanatic attention to detail and unconventional circuit design” which the company says separates them from the mainstream.
DaVinciAudio Labs claim that the VIRTU is a worldwide unique design, being single ended, transformer coupled and class A. This PreAmplifier is totally transformer coupled and is powered by an external PowerSupply.
The VIRTU sports 3 RCA and 2 XLR inputs and 2 switchable XLR/RCA outputs.
Key Design points (taken from the company’s press release)
1. Carefully selected components
2. Particular components for these amplifiers are single ended solid state design
3. All class A operating point
4. Own creation of transformer coupled circuit design
5. Output transformer potentiometer
6. Each stage has its own special hand made transformer, developed by DaVinciAudio in Bern
7. Chassis are milled from solid aluminum block
Henley Designs have announced a new agency agreement with Tivoli Audio for their range of radios and music systems. 
Managing Director, Laurence Armstrong, said of the new agreement:
“We’re delighted to be supporting Tivoli Audio’s re-introduction into some of the UK’s finest retailers. Tivoli is a brand we’ve known and respected for a long time; they have a reputation for superior design and sound characteristics and the current range of models are a step above everything else out there at the moment. We believe that together we can have a long and successful relationship.”
Peta Austin, Tivoli Audio General Manager UK, added:
“I am delighted to announce Tivoli Audio’s partnership with Henley Designs, and this new agreement supports retail initiatives we have established in the UK over the past year. Furthermore, Henley Designs is the first UK distributor to benefit from our new, and vast, Netherlands-based stock centre. Consequently, Laurence and his team will have 24/7 access to the entire Tivoli Audio range, including colours and finishes never previously brought into the UK.”
From September 2012, Henley Designs will be offering the whole Tivoli Audio range to an exclusive selection of hi-fi outlets that are committed to supporting the impressive variety of equipment.
The National Audio Show organised by the Chester Group seems to have settled comfortably into its current home at the Whittlebury Hall in beautiful rural Northamptonshire, England.
Quite a few of the mainstream brands and distributors were absent this year, but to be honest that just seemed to make room for other offerings that may well even have been more interesting and unusual! The diversity of audio offerings at the Show was very wide and fascinating, and some excellent sounds were to be heard. More »
KEF has announced that is to continue its 50th year celebration promotions – so consumers have another chance to take
advantage of their trade-in offer.
Commencing on 21st September customers have the chance to trade-in any speaker against a KEF Q Series range speaker and receive a 20% discount on their purchase.
The new promotion, which ends on 15th November, is supported by all of KEF’s authorised Q Series UK retailers.
Toronto-based exaSound Audio Design has introduced the new, e20 DXD/DSD DAC – a stereo asynchronous USB 
interface supporting 384kHz/32bit PCM, and 2822.4/5644.8 MHz DSD.
George Klissarov, founder of exaSound explained: “The e20 DAC takes to the next level the remarkable bit-perfect, low-jitter accuracy of the e18 DAC. It is refined for the perfect stereo experience, has even lower distortion and noise levels, improved headphone amplifier, balanced outputs and DSD support. The e20 DAC enables the leading edge audiophile to play DXD and DSD master files in their native format, without any conversion or down-sampling, offering a perfect reproduction of the recorded material. e20 delivers recording-studio precision and realism – nothing added, nothing taken away.”
Features of the exaSound e20 DAC include:
- Based on the ES9018 Sabre32 reference DAC chip.
- e20 operates in asynchronous USB transfer mode.
- Galvanic isolation between the USB and the DAC eliminates ground loops noise, and blocks computer-originated interferences.
- Jitter minimization is achieved by using three precision quartz oscillators (0.13ps master clock).
- Seventeen internal power cleaning stages.
- Second generation high-fidelity headphone amplifier, capable of driving the most demanding headphones.
- Simultaneously driven, gold-plated unbalanced (XLR) and balanced (RCA) outputs.
- Two S/PDIF inputs provide jitter reduction and superb D/A conversion when used with CD transports.
- Automatic sampling rate switching, up to 384 kHz software up-sampling.
Price is $2 499
The Burson Conductor is a DAC, Headphone amp and Pre-amplifier in one box.
At the heart of our DAC is the ESS SABRE32 Reference DAC chip with patented 32-bit Hyper-stream DAC 
architecture and Time Domain Jitter Eliminator technology. The Conductor also features the well reviewed Soloist Headphone Amplifier and a FET output stage Pre-amplifier.
The Conductor features a 24bit/192khz Tenor TE8802 USB receiver working in Asynchronous Transfer Mode. It also accepts coaxial and Toslink inputs supporting 32bit/192khz audio files. On the analogue front, it accepts analogue input via RCA and outputs in 6.35mm headphone jack, line-level output (DAC) and variable output (preamp).
Input impedance: 36.5 KOhms
Frequency response: ± 1 dB 0 – 50Khz
Signal to noise ratio: >96dB
THD: <0.03% at 30ohm with 1W ouput
Channel separation: >73dB
Output power: 4W at 16 Ohms
Input impedance: >8K Ohm @ 30 Ohm, 1W
Output impedance: <1 Ohm @ 30 Ohm, 1W
Power dissipation: >45W, internal, regulated power supply
Price $1850
G Point-Audio, the UK distributor of Polish artisan hifi products, have finally announced their long anticipated partnership
with ANSAE – manufacturers of the well regarded high-end “Power Tower” power socket strip and power cables.
As well as the Power Tower (retailing at £1250 for the SE version) ANSAE also have three power cables in their collection: The Supreme at £1500,The Pure at £1000 and the entry lever Manik at £700.
G Point-Audio will have all the ANSAE products in the range available for demonstration at the National Audio Show (room 154) on September 22nd and 23rd and special show only deals will be the order of the day.
AKG has announced the ‘AKG by Tiesto’ range of headphones. 
The K67 Tiesto is a compact, on ear, closed-back design with 40 mm drivers and – like its siblings –a 3D-Axis folding mechanism enabling flat storage. Next up, is the K167 Tiesto, which uses an over ear, closed-back design and the top of the range is the K267 Tiesto an over-ear, closed-back design featuring adjustable bass boost. The K267 Tiesto also incorporates an innovative DualPlug system that lets you connect the cable to the left or right side of the ‘phones.
For those that don’t know, Tiesto is one of the most influential DJs in the world. His achievements have ranged from playing at the opening of the 2004 Olympics to an audience of billions, to Grammy Award nominations and the coveted title of ‘Greatest DJ Of All Time’, bestowed on him by Mixmag.
The K67 Tiesto and K167 Tiesto go on sale in the UK during September, while the K267 Tiesto arrives in November.
Recommended retail prices are £99, £199, and £329.
British Cable manufacturer Black Rhodium has announced the launch of their ‘Salsa 1.2 mm’ loudspeaker cable. The 
new loudspeaker cable is based very closely on their popular Salsa cable with one difference – the insulation of the individual conductors has been increased from a thickness of 0.8mm to 1.2mm.
The press release from Black Rhodium has the following to say: “The reason behind this change is that when two electrical conductors carry an electrical current, the magnetic field produced by the current in one conductor affects the resistance of the other conductor. This is known as the ‘Proximity Effect’. Because the loudspeaker load is reactive, the current and voltage in the speaker cable are not in phase and the modulation effect produces a ‘Transient Phase Distortion’ signal that distorts sound quality. By moving the conductors of Salsa 1.2mm further away from each other, the magnetic field (which reduces inversely proportionally to the distance) on the other cable is lowered and the ‘Transient Phase Distortion’ is less audible”
Specifications
Conductors: 19 x 0.3mm diameter (13 gauge) silver plated copper
Insulation: Silicone rubber type GPC
Outside diameter of cores: 4.5mm
Prices: Un-terminated £40.00 per metre, 3m pair terminated with gold plated 4mm plugs £330.00 and 3m pair terminated with rhodium plated 4mm plugs. £380.00
US Company Channel Islands Audio introduce their 24 bit/192k Transient MKII asynchronous USB converter.
The heart of the system is the company’s XMOS based circuit, utilizing extremely low-jitter clocks. Multiple digital outputs are available via isolated 75 ohm BNC (with included 75 ohm RCA adapter) and two individually buffered I2S outputs.
In addition to the digital outputs, Transient also provides Digital to Analog conversion. The conversion is done by a Wolfson circuit with a built-in high resolution volume control and 2V RMS output. A microprocessor circuit allows configuration for fixed (line level) output, or variable volume control, and also indicates the sampling frequency of the incoming signal.
The Transient is powered by the USB cable so you can plug into your computer audio and take it on the go. CI Audios VDC-5 MKII Upgrade Power Supply can be connected to the DC Input port for improved performance.
Price $699
The name Avid will be familiar to many of our readers and now the company have launched an additional two 
phonostages to their range. The first is the Pellere which bridges the gap between the Pulsare and Pulsus and is said to offer a new level of performance at this market price point.
The Pellere closely follows the design of the Pulsare, using the same internal high specification components, being fully balanced and offering both RCA and XLR connections. The same loading options as the Pulsare are offered but using external DIP switches similar to the Pulsus, conveniently located on the underside of the casework. Similar to the Pulsare an external purpose-designed regulated power supply is used.
Pellere is finished in the same distinctive casework as other Avid products and in keeping with all their products, all manufacturing and testing is done within the company’s new factory based near Huntingdon, UK. The Pellere is available now with a UK retail price of £2,500
In addition to the Pellere Avid have also launched the Pellar phono stage which becomes their entry-level phonostage. 
Designed from the knowledge gained with the Pulsus and sharing many components the Pellar incorporates an internal power supply and boasts rear mounted connections allowing for RCA input with RCA output.
The default resistance value is set to 47k, making it ideal for MM cartridge types. An additional set of RCA connectors allows the resistance values to be tailored to any desired value; so all MC cartridge types are accommodated too.
On the underside of the unit, unusual in this price region, gain settings are available for all MM, low output and high output MC types. Price is £600
DC Gold Audio has announced that they have acquired DynaStrand, the company that manufactures the Dynasty Challenge Interconnects and Emperor Challenge Speaker Cables.
DynaStrand was founded by Jed Hacker, the designer of the speaker cables and interconnects. With a background in broadcasting, Jed also has over fifteen years in the audio cable design industry. He was the primary designer for well-known speaker wire and cable companies before branching out on his own and forming DynaStrand.
DynaStrand speaker cables and interconnects are made with high purity oxygen-free copper and foam dielectric as the primary insulation and currently DynaStrand cables are being sold directly to the public.
The 50 Watt RMS, 50TNT monoblock amplifier is Ohio based Audio Power Lab’s latest product and was officially 
launched at the Capital Audiofest earlier in the summer. The company say the amplifier is the “ultimate marriage of astounding audio transparency and sophisticated physical design” and is hand-built by the company in Ohio .
The amplifier has taken over three years of work by a team of engineers and designers and the 50TNT is the newest addition to the company’s family of push-pull amplifiers utilizing directly heated triode output tubes, transformer coupling, zero negative feedback and pure Class A operation.
The amplifier features a tube complement of 2x572B, 2×5881, 2x12BH7 running in push pull configuration and weighs in at an impressive 27Kg.
Lampizator, the famed Polish manufacturer owned by the maverick genius Lucasz Fikus, has announced that they are to 
introduce a new monobloc tube amplifier for the European market only. The company are aiming the GM70s at people who would normally buy a stereo 300B amp, but with 30 WPC instead of 8 supplied by the impressive looking GM 70 triode valve.
The amplifiers are single ended from input to output and operate in pure class A mode with zero feedback. There are no solid state parts in audio circuits and the power supplies are unregulated and over-specified for the task. The GM70s boast a separate transformer for each task with a total of three per side. Signal paths have been kept to an absolute minimum with just 2 inches of silver wire from RCA to pot, 2 inches of silver wire from pot to first tube, one inch to second tube and a hop across one capacitor to main tube without additional wiring.
Specification:
Dimensions WHD : 450 x 140 (250) x 600 mm
Weight: net 30 kg per each mono
Power: 30 WPC single ended class A
Power Tube: GM70 triode graphite version
Driver: doubled 6N6P
Input tube 6N1P
Input impedance: 47 K
Output impedance (speakers recommended) 8 Ohm
Volume: Stepped input potentiometer ALPS
Power transformers total capacity: 700 VA
Rectification: two separate tube rectifiers for HV
Inputs: One single ended RCA
Price 4000€ per pair plus 23% VAT with a special edition available for 5500€ plus 23% VAT
Whilst not strictly hifi in its purest sense this little box of tricks may appeal to those music lovers that want to have a 
discrete music source in their kitchen, bedroom or perhaps desktop. The Crystal Avoustics Blubox is a Bluetooth-controlled wireless desktop stereo speaker, designed to generate a “room-filling sound” that you can control from a handheld device.
discrete music source in their kitchen, bedroom or perhaps desktop. The Crystal Avoustics Blubox is a Bluetooth-controlled wireless desktop stereo speaker, designed to generate a “room-filling sound” that you can control from a handheld device.The Bluebox carries an internal 2 x 15W amplifier. This amp drives two 76mm drivers, which deliver “a substantial sound in conjunction with a bass reflex port, which helps to provide a deep and punchy low-end performance”.
A 3.5mm mini-jack connection allows you to connect any external audio source to the Bluebox.
The Bluebox is also AVRCP compatible, so you can use its buttons to control the playback functions of your handheld device. And as well as being user-friendly, the Bluebox is also said to be “room-friendly”, with a neatly angled, 15-degree inclination to its front fascia.
Price £64.99.
Naim has launched its new entry-level CD player the CD5si. The CD5si is said to be a step forward in performance from 
its predecessor the CD5i with improvements to several key areas which “significantly improve sound quality.”
The new CD5si design includes the Burr Brown PCM 1793 DAC, which is similar in performance and architecture to the DAC used in Naim’s network players such as the NDX but is more optimised for the fixed sampling rate of CD (rather than the many sampling rates from streamed music). A new higher precision clock supports the new DAC, reducing jitter even further. The analogue output filter has also been improved.
A new high-performance transport mechanism has been fitted to the CD5si giving improved consistency and longevity. The new mechanism is mounted in Naim’s unique improved swing drawer tray giving it a low resonance, stable platform in which to operate. The internal power supply voltage has also been increased, to improve the linearity of the output signal.
After having a long lasting and unhealthy lusting for Decware amplifiers, news that the American company was to 
produce a flagship pair of KT88 mono amps caused a flutter of excitement at Hifi Pig headquarters.
The Zen Torii monoblocs are designed to be your final amplifier purchase and are made to order by the company, so expect a substantial waiting time, but they do come with a lifetime warranty.
- 60 watt class-A monoblocks.
- 2 Transformer Balanced XLR Inputs – selectable.
- 1 Single-ended RCA input.
- Input level control.
- Ultra cool bias adjustment – no tools required and can be done on-the-fly.
- Large Simpson Meters – let you maintain perfect tube matching without effort.
- Exotic parts – cost no object design.
- KT88 Ultra-linear output stage.
Price is around $5500
