Stereophile Show Home Entertainment 2007 Hi-Fi and Home Theater Event  Report By Rick Becker The VAS room across the hall was a different experience altogether. What appeared to be a throwback may well be a step into the future. The VAS stereo control center looked very similar to the high end of Pioneer's separate components of the 1970s, loaded with such contraband as tone controls and variable crossover frequencies for bass and treble controls. Recent rummaging through some back issues of Vintage Guitar Magazine enlightened me of the importance musicians give to the tone of their instruments. On rare occasions their recordings sound just the way they want them to. With the VAS control center, you have the option of adjusting the recording to make it sound just the way you want it to, within limitations, of course. At the power end of the chain, a pair of VAS tube monoblocks whetted my appetite with massive transformers.

Hot Cayin Peeper Posted Sat May 12, 2007, 7:44 PM ET — By Wes Phillips   VAS Audio's Steve Leung is one pleased papa when it comes to Cayin's new iDAC-1 USB-input DAC ("under $800!"). It has a Burr-Brown DAC, built-in remote controllable analog preamp that uses two 6DJ8s, sports an optical S/DIF digital input as well as the USB port, and even has a headphone jack.     "It's a great desktop solution, especially if you have powered loudspeakers like your NHT M-00s!" he said. "It's perfect for computers!" Yes, Leung ends pretty much every sentence with an exclamation point. That's because he's excited about hi-fi. He's especially excited about good hi-fi. Today, he was very excited.         Classy Class-A By Wes Phillips & Jon Iverson VAS Audio's Steve Leung is the most consistently up audiophile we know??e's always raving about his latest listening session or discovery. "This one's incredible," he exclaimed, pointing to the 80Wpc Cayin H-80A Pure Class-A tube hybrid integrated amplifier (approximately $3000)." What makes it special? "I'm a tube guy, but I like power too. The H-80A has 2 12AU7 input tubes feeding a MOSFET output stage. It sounds sweet, but it'll drive just about any load. It's rated from 10Hz - 40kHz." "Try to pick it up!" Leung reached into a drawer and pulled out a weight-lifting belt. "It weighs 77 lbs.!" We declined.       Cayin Audio By Wes Phillips/Jon Iverson Cayin's American distributor Steve Leung had three new units on display at the Acoustic Sounds booth: the Phono One ("under $2000"), a tube driven phono section with build in step up MC transformer.  Citation Sound-1 ($5000) full-function preamplifier (phono section included), and the HA-1A ($800) tubed headphone amp/integrated amp (3Wpc). Jackson Mar and Anna Gao of Cayin's parent company, Zhuhai Spark Electronic Equipment Co., Ltd., came over for CES and couldn't resist grinning when the price of the HA-1 caused by standers to whistle in admiration.