The Chester Group's New York Audio Show 2013 -- Sunday

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  Today's mission, should I choose to accept it, is to visit every room at the show and ask a simple question:

"What component(s) do you have under $1000?"

Not everyone has that free flowing funds, or perhaps they are seeking a system for their office, kitchen, bathroom, etc and don't want to delve too deeply into audiophile-land. And so just what can you get at the New York Audio Show 2013 for $1000...

Well Rounded Sound WRS WB1 small desk monitor tube-shaped speakers are only $399.

 

Dune HD Duo network media player (will set ya back $650) has two hot swappable HDD racks for 3.5" SATA drives. It does audio and video, with video processor by Sigma Designs (SMP8643). The unit has a slot for SD memory cards and three high-speed USB 2.0 ports for connecting external storage and extension modules. To quote their website "The Duo supports practically all audio and video formats. It is compatible with all types of "high-definition" sound formats (Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD Master Audio). Special notice should be taken of the extremely fast networking speeds, IPTV and Internet radio functions, as well as the built-in Internet browser. New functions and supported formats are brought to the Dune HD Duo with the regular release of firmware updates." Bit torrent, IPTV, web browsing and much more is what this baby can do. Of course you want the dirt on their audio side of things, because for such a low price how could it handle a variety of audio file types? Well, it can handle:

Audio codecs: AC3 (Dolby Digital), DTS, MPEG, AAC, LPCM, WMA, WMAPro, EAC3 (Dolby Digital Plus), Dolby True HD, DTS HD High Resolution Audio, DTS HD Master Audio, FLAC, multichannel FLAC, Ogg/Vorbis; support for very high quality audio (up to 192 kHz/24-bit)

Audio file formats: MP3, MPA, M4A, WMA, FLAC, APE (Monkey's Audio), Ogg/Vorbis, WAV, DTS-WAV, DTS, AC3, AAC

HD audio support: pass-through (up to 7.1 channels) and decoding (up to 7.1 channels) of Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD MA (Blu-ray structure, TS, MKV), pass-through (up to 7.1 channels) of multichannel LPCMaudiotracks (Blu-ray structure, TS, MKV), decoding (up to 7.1 channels) of FLAC (MKV, external)

Subtitle formats: SRT (external), SUB (MicroDVD) (external), text (MKV), SSA/ASS (MKV, external), VobSub (MP4, MKV, external SUB/IDX), PGS (Blu-ray structure, TS, MKV)

 

Ah yes, the good ol' Beringer DEQ 2496 crossover ($400) and Tascam S1 ($800) were in a room here at the New York City Audio Show 2013.

 

Of course those on a Mac surely already own this, yet we have Channel D with their amazing software ($129 for Pure Music and Pure Vinyl is $279).

 

For those who like tweaks, the Stein Music H2 is $1000 each. Hmmm... this is not quite a component technically, but I'll let this one slide as Enjoy the Music.com reviewed it and he really loved it.

 

Woo Audio WA7 Fireflies USB/DAC headphone amp is $999. This vacuum tube headphone amplifier has a built-in USB 32-bit/192kHz DAC and 6C45 driver/power tubes operating in Class A. There is a dedicated port for in-ear-monitors (IEMs) and one for normal headphones. Hmmm, did I just say ‘normal' when referring to audiophiles? Why yes, yes I did and so what are you going to do about it, punk? ;-)

 

Audioengine P4 speakers ($325) in bamboo and N22 amplifier ($199) are here at the New York Audio Show 2013. In fact everything by Audioengine is under $1000. Remember kids, i personally love the A5 and have a set in the bedroom and another pair in the bathroom (with Audioengine S8 powered subwoofer).

 

New to Coincident is their Dynamo SE34 ($999) that uses EL34 tubes. Now I know what you thinking, this sweet looking honey of an amplifier simply can't have all that great exotic stuff yet still be under a grand. This cutie SET amp is said to belie its 8 watt power rating and according to Coincident any 90dB/W/m sensitive speaker should work. Other tubes that support the EL34 outputs are 6SL7 input/driver tube and 5U4 GB rectifier tube. And there's more! For under a grand you also get hand wiring, a stainless steel mirror finish chassis… all in a 22 lbs package for less than an Alexander Hamilton ($1000 United States Federal Reserve Note).

 

KEF's has always been a sharp company and their X300A ($800) powered speakers with USB DAC use the company's 5.25" Uni-Q driver. Inside each cabinet is not one, but two Class AB amplifiers (20w for the tweeter and 50w for the midrange/woofer). There's a standard 3.5mm analog headphone input, USB 2.0 jack and the DAC section can handle 24-bit/96kHz. Its really cool of KEF to remember we desktop audio guys need something to groove to, too.

 

Here's the RP3 Rega turntable ($895) and Brio-R ($895).

 

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