These days, it wouldn’t be a hi-fi show without the debut of another company offering cute, affordable Chinese-built audio gear. This year’s entry was GoVibe, which premiered all sorts of cool little headphone accessories. The $400 VestAmp headphone amp is designed to be slim enough to fit in a breast pocket. The Volante is a $250 flying saucer lookalike that’s actually a tube-powered mini headphone amp with analog and USB input. The $60 Mini U-DAC looks like and plugs in like a USB stick, but has a DAC and headphone amp built in. The $60 Mini Box Amp is an analog-in/analog-out booster that lets a computer, iPod, or smartphone drive power-hungry ’phones. And the $730 Porta Tube+ incorporates a tube amplification stage and a 24/96 DAC with USB input. (It would also make a great hand warmer in the winter.) All prices are approximate.
