RMAF 2016 Show Report
Rocky Mountain International Audio Fest & CanJam 2016
Part 5 By Steven R. Rochlin

Pro-Ject makes one of the coolest value-priced turntables with their VTE that comes left or right handed and with or without Bluetooth (€315 or 420 with Ortofon OM5 cartridge). It can also be vertically standing on a table, or or wall mounted of course. An included record clamp secures your beloved vinyl LP to the platter. Pro-Ject's VTE L and VTE R (left or right) has a silicone belt-driven platter and low vibration synchronous motor with DC power supply. Also included is an 8.6" aluminum tonearm. So how does the VTE turntable do it's magical trick? The tonearm relies on a specially-designed spring to ensure proper vertical tracking force. During our HIGH END 2016 show report from Munich, Pro-Ject's VTE L and VTE R earned an Enjoy the Music.com award for Turntable Style. Pro-Ject MaiA DS (top left within middle pic) integrated amplifier produces 80 Watts per channel with the with optional linear supply power. Dual mono design in principle, it has three analog and six digital inputs. Special XMOS asynchronous USB inout can decode 24-bit/192kHz and DSD up to DSD256. What i truly love about Pro-Ject is that they offer many of their products in many high gloss colors and wood finishes. All Products are made from valuable material like MDF, steel, aluminum, carbon or acrylic. All signal contacts are of course gold plated.

Hegel room just keeps getting better as now at the (end-ish) of RMAF they nailed the sound here at RMAF with power and strength, yet could also deliver subtle tones too. In fact the Hegel HD 30 DAC received an Enjoy the Music.com Blue Note Award! Our reviewer Greg Weaver said, "If you are a die-hard analog hound like me, or have just eschewed using a digital playback system for whatever reason (as I did until about three years ago), this may be the perfect time, and most affordable device, to get you into remarkably satisfying, enjoyable digital playback," says Greg Weaver. "The Hegel HD30 has changed how I look at (and listen to) DACs under $8000. I can't imagine you could find anything to quibble with at its price... You will be one satisfied music lover."

It was easy to recognize the famous basketball player David Robison, who was roaming through the hallways here at RMAF 2016 and at CanJam 2016 Denver. After he gave a great listen to the Phantom loudspeaker by Devialet, David Robinson said, "Great sound!". Am sure you all already know about Divalent and their high-tech modern speaker called the Phantom. If not, go check them out as it is a revolutionary design, easily handles multi-room tasks and can be controlled via APP too.

OPPO filled their room with sound via a Sonica Grand powered speaker ($699). Here's another highly modern speaker with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capability, thus allowing you to enjoy the benefits of each of these technologies. With Wi-Fi, you get the benefit of controlling the speakers from anywhere in your home, higher quality sound, and the ability to stream to multiple speakers throughout your home. With Bluetooth, you have the convenience of a quick and simple connection for locations where Wi-Fi is not available. Forget Sonos low-rez audio as you may enjoy true high-resolution audio files up to 192kHz/24-bit from your mobile devices. OPPO's Sonica Grand also handles USB drives, DLNA servers, or NAS drives. Sonica Grand supports AirPlay and DLNA when connected via Wi-Fi or Ethernet, Bluetooth, and there's even a connection for 3.5mm stereo analog input too! Other goodies from OPPO here at the RMAF 2016 show includes their award-winning HA-1 headphone amplifier / DAC / Preamplifier and of course PM-series of planar magnetic headphones. OPPO easily earns my RMAF 2016 award for Best Value In Personal Audio Products.

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