The first thing that struck me as odd when I walked into the Bluelight Audio room was the setup. Here at last are the darling $2.5k Evolution Acoustics MMMicroOne speakers sitting on their stands, and […]
The $15k German Physiks Unlimited Mk II was the center point in this room. Showcasing a carbon-fiber driver, the specs are pretty standard for this price point: 88dB, 40hms, 32Hz-24kHz frequency response. What’s not is […]
The AAudio room featuring Ypsilon and Lansche was one of my top 5 rooms at the show. The new $45k Lansche No. 5.1 headlined this particular show, sporting their glowing plasma tweeters that generally make […]
In addition to the very imposing Lowther speakers on display in the the Lowther America room, there was a lot of very interesting Pass Labs gear. And, apparently, a new amp from First Watt: the […]
Here I found $23k Revel Salon 2 loudspeakers driven by new $24k PA-M300 Series 2 Monoblock Amplifier from Jones Audio. This is their first commercial release of a product that’s been in development for the […]
The big $12k Thiel 3.7s, standing there, looking very … ah … masculine. Fronting them was a $13k Model 625 stereo amplifier. Sitting on top of the amp is the $9800 Aeris DAC. This was […]
$15k Exemplar Audio XP-1, a fully balanced dual-mono outboard PSU preamplifier, fed into an $11k LSA Statement Integrated amplifier, used as a power amp. The $6500 Exemplar XPH-1 phono stage handled the analog duties.The turntable […]
Zu Definition. This speaker is almost iconic and a huge upgrade from their world-class Druid debut. And with all those subwoofers hanging off the back, I (for one) was utterly and immediately enthralled by notion […]
Pete Riggle’s new $1600 Woody tonearm. This arm has VTF, Azimuth, anti-skate — and all these adjustments can be done while the record is actually playing! No hex wrenches necessary, just thumbscrews. Shown at RMAF […]
Last year, the LSA Statement 1 was one of my favorite products at RMAF. I think they got edged this year in the mini-stand-mount category by the Sjöfn speakers, but only because the Scandinavian monitors […]
Once again! The Joseph Audio room was a bit of a reprise, at least to me, of the room put together for the Capital Audio Fest this past summer. Another sighting of the elusive $12k […]
Magic shoes! I remember being impressed last year with the E.A.R./Marten/Townsend room — this year was no different, though the gear was mostly new. Starting with the triangular-profiled $6500 Marten FormFloor loudspeaker, which I thought […]
Just because. It was actually kind of refreshing to walk into an audio demo room and have the first thing that hit me, visually, was something other than chrome, glass, or polished wood. Well, for […]
I’ve seen Veloce at Axpona and somewhere else and each time have been impressed with the look, feel, and the sound — with all their associated gear. At Axpona, the $18k Veloce LS-1 linestage fronted […]
I got lucky. When I finally managed to swing by the Vandersteen/ARC room, it was nearly empty. Which means yours truly got some serious quality time in the sweet spot. The $50k Vandersteen Model 7 […]
The Sonicweld room was a bit of a hoot. The $125k Pulserod system was totally over the top, but still, the sound quality in this room that featured room correction from DEQX was surprising. The […]
Simaudio VP Costa Koulisakis with his hand on an all-silver $8,000 Simaudio Moon Evolution 650d DAC/Transport. This is the unit that Stereophile’s Michael Fremer found to be a world-beater in the November 2011 issue. Heady […]
Made in the USA Doshi Audio was a surprise for me. One, I’d never heard of them before wandering into their demo room after getting a very specific recommendation from a friend. Two, once there, […]
For those of you that might possibly have missed it, I think WyWires provides some of the best bang-for-the-buck wires currently available. Their speaker cables and interconnects both carry specialty connectors from Xhadow and sport […]
I’ll admit it. I’ve always been fascinated by the Linkwitz Orion loudspeaker. Using quality drivers from SEAS and almost always sold in a kit, the new v4 Orion was shown as a pre-built, completely finished, […]
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