I was saddened to see Dusty Vawter post the following on the CI Audio section of the AudioCircle forum, early this morning:
“The last 2 years have been extremely difficult, and now we’re in a situation where we can’t get parts to build products, our chassis and custom vendors have few employees and long lead times, and costs are through the roof. Starting January 1st, we will end production of all products and retire the CIAudio brand.
We will continue to offer both warranty and non-warranty service, and we still have limited quantities of various products for sale. Thank you to all who have supported us over the years, many of which have become close friends! It’s been a great run, but time to pursue some other interests.”
My first dedicated phono preamp and DAC were CI Audio products, the old VPP-1 and VDA-1, respectively, bought what seems like ages ago, and just in the last year I upgraded to his wonderfully quiet and detailed PEQ1MkII phono preamp. Dusty is a great guy, and CI Audio was a fine brand. I’m sorry to see it go.
Yes, sad news. I had two different models of Dusty’s amps, which were very good value for the money. I hate to say it, but this same fate a waits many other companies as well, due to the insanity that’s taking place globally.
Never owned a CIA product myself, but surfed the website many times and was impressed with the emphasis on high value and performance. Maybe, fingers crossed, CIA can get back on its’ feet again.
I’ve known Dusty since 1st grade and live only a few minutes from his HQ. I also own the CI Audio amp, preamp, streamer and phono preamp. I’ve been buying high end audio for many years and can safely say his electronics have been the best bang for the buck on the market. Incredible performance for the price. Not surprising because that’s his personal philosophy and he has stuck to it. Very sad to see him close his doors but global circumstances forced him to do it earlier than planned. But … I’ll continue to use his “stack” as the core of my 2-channel system.
It’s very good as is the built in DAC. I use it in my 2-channel system with Harbeth M30.2 XD speakers and it sounds wonderful. He also built me his last phono pre-amp a couple of weeks ago before shutting down and customized the gain on it to perfectly match my Hana cartridge.