Harman International is comprised of a great many companies, so it's no surprise that it took two CEDIA booths to hold 'em all. We took our trusty camera through the both of 'em to check out the latest from the likes of Infinity, JBL, H/K and Mark Levinson, and we spotted JBL's fresh LS Series, Infinity's wireless subwoofers / Prelude Forty and a $15,000 SACD player from Levinson that made Sony's new $1,500 SCD-XA5400ES look dirt cheap. Have a walk around, the gallery's right down there.

A $1,500 SACD player? In 2008? Long after the never-very-popular format peaked? Thanks, Sony -- we can only imagine how lopsided the gallery visit-to-purchase ratio will be on this one.

For those burned by either DVD-Audio, SACD or HD DVD (or, heaven forbid, any combination of the three), you're probably taking a rather defensive approach to Blu-ray audio. Now that said format is the sole king of high-definition media (in the physical realm, anyway), it's just a matter of time before firms start pushing out full-fledged audio discs while trumpeting the incredulous sound quality. After all, with 50GB of space, you can fit an awful lot of high-resolution audio on there. We've already seen the first BD record released and we already know that Neil Young's entire archive will soon be loosed on the format, but are the puzzle pieces aligned for Blu-ray audio to take off? From our standpoint, we're still hesitant to say yes. With CD players still dominating dashboards and BD drives still a long ways from being commonplace in computers, BD audio is apt to remain a niche good for years to come. Even still, do you think it has what it takes to overcome?

If you and your sizable bankroll have been waiting ever so patiently for McIntosh's new gear to arrive at your local dealer, we envy you. Not just because you've got the scratch, but more importantly because your wait is over. McIntosh announced that its fully-balanced, 300-Watt MC2301 mono vacuum tube amp ($11,000) is at your dealer now. Expect a call from your sales rep, lucky dog! While you're at the store, maybe pick up a XCS1K center channel speaker ($17,500). The compliment of two 10-inch woofers, 32 2-inch mids and 20 0.75-inch tweets should be a great way to break in that new amp, right? Finally, McIntosh hasn't forgotten the two-channel enthusiasts out there (whom we suspect make up a sizable chunk of their clientele) -- also "on the shelves" are its 250-Watt MA7000 ($8,000) and 200-Watt MA6600 ($6,000) stereo integrated amplifiers, and the MCD301 SACD player. Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD MA it's not, but we'd wager a McIntosh setup built around these pieces sounds mighty fine!

Though we're not exactly sure if Marantz will be a wholly owned subsidiary of D&M Holdings for much longer, the boutique brand is still planning to strut its stuff at the upcoming Audio Karma Fest in Michigan. Reportedly, the outfit will be showcasing a number of luxurious components from its Reference Series, include the $3,199 SC-11S1 preamplifier, $4,199 SM-11S1 power amplifier, $3,699 SA-11S2 SACD player and the all new $2,599.99 AV8003 Networking AV Preamp / Processor. For those lacking the requisite scratch, the slightly less magnificent SA8001 SACD player ($899.99) and PM7001 integrated amp ($599.99) will also be around. Word has it that all of the items will be demonstrated on Snell loudspeakers, which all in all should deliver a fairly blissful experience.

When Oppo decided to exit the DVD deck business with a bang, it actually did precisely that. According to a recent review of the firm's last DVD spinner over at CNET, the DV-983H was summed up as practically the "ultimate standard-def disc player," with excellent image quality on DVDs, great upconverting abilities, included DVD-Audio / SACD support and 7.1-channel analog outs to boot. Reviewers were even able to make the unit region-free courtesy of a simple remote code hack, and it was said to have handled PAL discs like a champ. On the downside, the exorbitantly high price tag ($399) really makes it unattractive to most everyone, but the impeccable feature set still enabled it to net a solid 8.4 out of 10 rating. In all actuality, there's a slim chance you'll be picking this up before a serious price drop, but if you're not quite ready to go Blu, this here is apparently the player to own.

If you like to hang on until hardware tech is EOL-ed (End of Life) maximally polished to jump in, now may be the time for you to score a DVD player. The Oppo DV-983H upscaling DVD player announced last week is now officially available. Oppo's going out with a bang, for sure -- the unit has some good looking specs, especially the built in Anchor Bay (a.k.a DVDO) VRS processing. But what's more significant is a bit of info we gleaned from the PR email accompanying the DV-983H release: the unit is the last DVD player that Oppo will be making. The company that made its name in upscaling DVD is moving whole hog into something else, and we're all-in on a Blu-ray spinner. Bring it on, Oppo! Full PR email after the jump.

Though it's not the elusive Blu-ray player we're anxiously awaiting, Oppo's latest standalone deck is finally up for pre-order. The DV-983H universal player features 1080p upscaling of DVDs, SACD / Redbook CD / HDCD playback (no DVD-A?), optical / coaxial digital audio outputs, a USB 2.0 port, support for DTS, Dolby and Dolby Pro-Logic II, HDMI audio output supporting bit-stream and uncompressed multi-channel high resolution audio and a design that's actually not half bad. You'll also get a one-year warranty and a six-foot HDMI cable for $399, but we've got to say, picking this one up will be hard to do with knowledge of what's on the way.

[Via AudioJunkies]

The Red Book audio format used by CDs isn't improved upon by either SACD or DVD-A formats, it turns out. Extensive double-blind listening tests conducted by E. Brad Meyer and David R. Moran have shown that the old 16-bit, 44.1-kHz standard does not degrade the sound quality of either of the newer formats. The study, which took over a year to conduct, showed that the stereo analog output from a high-end SACD/DVD-A player showed no audible change when subjected to additional processing down to Red Book format. Now before you have a van Gogh-style freakout and cut off your audiophile-approved golden ears, that isn't to say that the DVD-A and SACD discs didn't sound better than the same title on CD. Give credit to the higher production values given to the SACD and DVD-A releases, though, not the formats themselves.

[Via AudioJunkies]

[Image courtesy PerfectSoundForever]

On one hand, the designs of Yamaha's latest devices could have easily been ripped straight from last century, but in another sense, there's a certain level of attractiveness that comes with brushed aluminum AV components sporting retro-inspired buttons / knobs. Nevertheless, the CD-S2000 SACD / CD player (which arrives in silver or black motifs) plays nice with MP3 / WMA files and sports analog, optical / coaxial digital and XLR audio outputs. As for the A-S2000, it's available in the same two hues and can crank out up to 190-watts x 2 at 4-ohms or 120-watts x 2 at 8-ohms. Apparently marketed towards the high-end crowd, neither of these December-bound units come cheap, as the CD-S2000 will demand ¥208,950 ($1,824) while the A-S2000 rings up at an equally staggering ¥176,400 ($1,540).

[Via AudioJunkies]

Nah, Pioneer's DV-800AV won't play back HD DVDs or Blu-ray discs, but it should make those vanilla DVDs look an awful lot better. This fairly high-end device sports HDMI / component outputs and optical / coaxial digital audio ports, and it plays nice with a plethora of file types including WMV, DivX, JPEG, MPEG-4, AAC and WMA. For those still clinging to the fledgling music format, there's even support for SACD, and the Burr Brown 24-bit / 192kHz PCM1796 DAC should impress, too. The unit is all set to launch late next month for ¥70,000 ($611).

Pioneer hasn't forgotten the audiophiles out there, and their new X-Z9 is for those who still listen to stereo music. The X-Z9 combines a SACD/CD deck and integrated digital amplifier (50W to each channel) in one chassis. All you have to do is connect the included speakers and you've got an audio listening station. In case you prefer music of the ripped variety, there are additional inputs available: Sirius/XM; interoperation with a PC via Home Media Gallery; iPod integration and USB drives. Supported digital formats include WMA, MPEG4-AAC, MP3 and FLAC. Available in October for $1799.

You read that headline right, CD player. No SACD, DVD, and certainly no format war-bickering HD DVD or Blu-ray. Just the most "perfect sound forever" Redbook audio the Canadians at Bryston can deliver. This player has high-end pedigree: premium DAC's, separate analog and digital power supplies, discrete op-amp Class A analog stage, and the usual output jacks + XLR and AES/EBU. If all the nuts and bolts in the kit aren't enough to let you know you've got a high-end piece of gear, then the 18 pounds of heft will. A cool $2395 puts the last CD player you'll ever need to buy in your rig.

Teac most certainly doesn't shy away from cranking out the finer things in life, and the company's Esoteric UX-1Pi is further proof of its dedication to high-end. This elegently designed machine dons a simplistic black and silver motif, and internally, packs a 14-bit DAC, LSI ABT1018 scaler, HDMI v1.3 connector, 1080p upscaling, i.LINK FireWire, component / S-Video outputs, surround sound pre-outs, XLR front outputs, and optical / coaxial digital audio. The device handles DVD video, DVD-Audio, SACD, and your collection of toasted gems as well, and while Teac was nice enough to throw in a wireless remote, you'll still be paying ¥1,470,000 ($12,129) for this beauty when it lands this month. Click through for a shot of the port assortment.

[Via Impress]