AXPONA 2016
AXPONA 2016: End of Line and Best In Show
My first AXPONA was five years ago in Atlanta. It was about as far from 2016 as you can get. Then, there was something like 20 rooms. Five years later, and the difference is almost […]
AXPONA 2016
AXPONA 2016
AXPONA 2016: Best Sound, Best Products, and Audiophile tribes in Beat City
Tribes. We all belong to, or identify with one whether we know it or not. Some of us are very cognizant of our tribe, and let our freak flag fly. Others are more guarded about […]
AXPONA 2016
AXPONA 2016: John Stancavage’s Best of Show
Best Sound Cost-no-object system: Wilson Alexx, driven by Doshi tube amps (Paragon/Wilson Audio room). Neutral, effortless and jaw-dropping sound, combined with realistic weight, solidity and image height. $150,000 to $200,000 system: Sonus Faber Lilium speakers […]
AXPONA 2016
AXPONA 2016: Ear Gear eXpo (Plus) Roundup
The Ear Gear eXpo at AXPONA followed quickly on the heels of the all-headphone extravaganza of Head-Fi’s CanJam SoCal, which made double-coverage tricky and somewhat problematic — an issue I “solved” by giving some admittedly […]
AXPONA 2016
AXPONA 2016: “This stuff costs how much? No f@!#ing way!”
When I attend audio shows these days, I spend a lot of time riding elevators. This year at AXPONA in the Westin O’Hare in Chicago, where more than 400 exhibitors were scattered across eight floors, […]
AXPONA 2016
AXPONA 2016: Sonist sings with Triode
It may be an odd thing to say, but Jonny Wilson knows how to decorate a demo room. No, seriously. There are a lot of folks that can set up a great-sounding room. But the […]
AXPONA 2016
AXPONA 2016: Seduced by Vapor Audio and LampizatOr
Fan favorite Vapor Audio has not necessarily had the best track-record when it comes to audio shows. Maybe we’ve been unlucky with our timing, or they’ve been unlucky with their timing, but whatever the reason, PTA and […]
AXPONA 2016
AXPONA 2016: Noble Audio, down the line
Lets talk about Steve Bug. If you’ve never heard of Steve Bug, I’m not sure what to tell you. He makes music that would generally fall under the “electronic” header (Dance/House), but beyond that, I’m translating […]
AXPONA 2016
AXPONA 2016: Essential Audio goes AudioKinesis, with Resonessence Labs
I’m a fan of Duke LeJeune and his AudioKinesis brand. Brought to AXPONA by Brian Walsh’s Chicago-area based dealership, Essential Audio, I got to see Duke’s latest work — the Bienville Suite. $12k nets you […]
AXPONA 2016
AXPONA 2016: Endeavor indulges in Audio Alchemy
Audio Alchemy, Peter Madnick’s newest project, showcased here a slightly different flavor of gear than I found (and talked about) in the ELAC room. Here, I found the DMP-1 digital media player ($1795), the DDP-1 DAC/preamp ($1995) […]
AXPONA 2016
AXPONA 2016: The Mola Mola Makua – digital control over an analog realm
This is less of a room review, and more a small write-up on an interesting piece of hardware/software I sort of stumbled across at AXPONA in Chicago: The Mola Mola Makua pre-amp with phono stage […]
AXPONA 2016
AXPONA: Tuning in to Channel D
Channel D has become so well-known for its audio software that it’s easy to overlook the fact that the company makes impressive phono preamps as well. Engineering guru Dr. Rob Robinson set up one of […]
AXPONA 2016
AXPONA 2016: Quintessence Audio, the essence of luxury
One of the things I always look forward to at AXPONA is seeing how Morton Grove, Ill.-based retailer Quintessence Audio Ltd. chooses to outfit its penthouse-suite space at the Westin O’Hare. For a number of […]
AXPONA 2016
AXPONA 2016: Blue Smoke locates Black Box
Usually in the high-end, “blue smoke” is not something you want to hear in the same sentence as “tubes.” Unless, of course, we’re talking about Blue Smoke Entertainment Systems and their AXPONA 2016 room, which […]
AXPONA 2016
AXPONA 2016: Teac has not lost their marbles
It seems some of the fun rooms at audio shows take on a bit of a buffet line quality, where a wide variety of gear is stretched out along the perimeter of the room so […]
AXPONA 2016
AXPONA 2016: The Sublime Musicality of Raidho Acoustics
Back at the last RMAF, one of my favorite rooms saw both Raidho and Constellation. I found it to be a remarkable blend of resolution and effortless musicality. At AXPONA 2016, I was happy to find Raidho’s always-entertaining Lars Kristensen […]
AXPONA 2016
AXPONA 2016: Doshi Audio muscles around 450 lbs Wilson Alexx
Nobody is arguing that most Wilson Audio speakers aren’t big. Some of their kit is downright huge. These are serious speakers for serious cats who want large-scale playback capabilities. The Alexx weighs in at 450 […]
AXPONA 2016
AXPONA 2016: It’s GamuT, dammit*
There are precious few audio brands “out there” that seem to care as much as the guys at GamuT. The speakers are designed to sound “live”. The amps are designed to “sound great”. This kind of […]
AXPONA 2016
AXPONA 2016: Devialet mercilessly beats Magico into submission
Rose gold, and solid copper-chassis Devialet D-900 Dual Mono amplification is not something you see very often. That’s because they’re as rare as hen’s teeth. According to the chap on hand from Hanson AV in […]
AXPONA 2016
AXPONA 2016: Joseph Audio and a roll of tape
I’ll confess — I’m a digital kind of guy. Perhaps it’s the ease, or the lingering aftereffects of my day-job, but digital wasn’t really a transition for me. Sure, I “came up” before Napster and […]