One of the few true brick and mortar stores in the Chicago area, Quintessence Audio commandeered the four rooms and hallway/lobby area under the main entrance escalator area. They have been using these four rooms and lobby area for a few AXPONAs in a row now and have been getting great sounds from each of these rooms.
Words and Photos by Graig Neville
Two of these Quintessence Audio rooms usually have Wilson speakers running a hi-end electronics like D’Agostino or Audio Research electronics and a Clearaudio turntable. Another typically has Sonus Faber, Boulder electronics, and Clearaudio analog. The final room and lobby area typically have Bower & Wilkins and McIntosh. This year was no different with two rooms running Wilsons with D’Agostino in one and Simaudio Moon in the other, both with Clearaudio analog. The Sonus Faber room was being driven by Boulder with the enormous Clearaudio flagship turntable. The final room was a Bowers & Wilkins room running Classé electronics, which are reviewed here.
In the Imagination Room were Marantz, Classé, Denton, Polk, Definitive Technologies and Bowers & Wilkins. This was more showroom than listening room besides the 801 Signature loudspeakers running on Classé electronics. Quintessence Audio had headphones, speakers, and other accoutrement. Bowers & Wilkins often pairs with Classé and sounded like I’ve come to expect, which is quite good. The sound was lively and polished.
Moving over to the Connection room, the big Sonus Faber Aida Mk IIs ($140,000/pr) were driven by the Boulder 3010 preamp ($158,000), 2108 phono preamp ($62,000) and the 2150 monoblock power amps ($128,000/pr). Digital duties were by dCS Vivaldi Apex streaming DAC ($46,500), Clock ($21,000), and Upsampler ($27,000). Vinyl wasn’t playing when I was in the room, but Clearaudio was spinning the behemoth Statement Turntable ($300,000) with a Goldfinger Statement MC cartridge ($17,500). Rounding out the system was an Innuos Statement with Next Gen PSU ($25,000) and PhoenixNet ($4,349). Connecting it all together was Transparent Magnum Opus and XL cabling (to the might sum of $192,980) resting on Critical Mass Maxxum-Ultra racks and isolation ($70,875).
Adding up to over $1.2M, this was perhaps one of the most expensive systems at the show or at least in the top 5–and I can understand why. The sound in this Quintessence Audio room had authority and clarity that rivaled some of the best at the show.
Not to be outdone over at the Knowledge room, Wilson Audio was running the Alexx V speakers ($157,000) on Dan D’Agostino electronics including the Relentless preamp ($149,500), Momentum HD phono preamp ($32,500), and Relentess M800 monoblock power amps ($195,500/pr). Vinyl duties were again ClearAudio with the new Master Jubilee turntable with 10-inch Unity tonearm ($60,000), sporting a Goldfinger Statement MC cartridge ($17,500). There is also a 9-inch Universal tonearm that retails for $6,200. DS Audio was on a second tonearm with the Grand Master EX cartridge ($22,500) and supporting Grand Master EQ ($45,000).
Digital duties were that same dCS Vivaldi stack as in the Connection room as was an Innuos Statement with Next Gen PSU. A Stromtank S2500Q MkII supplied clean power to the system ($30,000) and fit in with the steam punk vibe of the D’Agostino gear. Opus and XL cables by Transparent tipped the scales at $186,150 and Critical Mass Maxxum-Ultra racks were used throughout ($70,875). This Quintessence Audio system crested the million dollar mark, but just barely and sounded different, but every bit as good as the Connection room. I spent some time in this room just listening and enjoying the music as well as meeting the newest D’Agostino marketing staff.
In the lobby area, Sonus Faber and a full McIntosh rack were making good sounds and drawing quite the crowd for Quintessence Audio. Also in the lobby was ClearAudio gear showing off that new Jubiliee table and new offerings from DS Audio. The DS E3 is the newest and most affordable cart in the DS Audio range and is expected to sell like hotcakes this year. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get a review copy as they are expecting to see just about every E3 that they make.
Finally, in the Perfection Room, Quintessence Audio had Wilson Sasha V speakers ($52,000/pr) which I know our own Mohammed Samji has owned were playing on newly designed Moon by Simaudio electronics, including the 891 Preamp/Streaming DAC ($25,000) and 861 Stereo amp ($22,000). ClearAudio had their Signature turntable with Tracer tonearm ($5,000) sporting a Hana Umami Blue MC cartridge ($2,500). Garth Leerer of Musical Surroundings, the distributor for Hana, ClearAudio, and DS Audio, said the Umami Blue has been a hot seller, and in this system I can completely see why. Our own Matthew Patrick has a Hana Umami Blue on his turntable at home – high praise indeed.
The Innuos PhoenixNet ($4,349) assisted with digital duties in this Quintessence Audio room. Kubala-Sosna Sensation cables connected it all ($32,850), and Critical Mass Ultra Q racks ($19,460) supported it all. I spoke with Todd Hurry, the North American Regional Sales Manager, at some length about the all newly designed Simaudio electronics. Moon felt that to move further they had to transcend the current technology in the products and that simple refinement was no longer possible. An evolutionary leap was required to make their products better and the newest electronics are in his opinion far superior sonically to what Moon had on previous offering.
If you would like to hear even more coverage from AXPONA 2024, check out our recap report and highlights from our audiophile-oriented show The Occasional Podcast. You can stream the episode direct from the embed below, or from your favorite podcast platform including iTunes, Android, Google, Deezer, Spotify, iHeartRadio and more.
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