I totally agree Axpona was better this year, it was promising to see attendance up and the nicer venue had gravity. Great reception hosted by the founder too:) Below are a few standouts on the show for me.
Like many said here I will echo the J.Rowland & Joseph Audio room was near perfection. I would have liked to pick a few tracks I know well for reference but it had a realism that was uncanny. Class D sorcery!
I always dig the Volti Rival Triode room, its fun and incredible what they do with 16 watts, that room ROCKS, free beer after 4!
Prana Fidelity had passion and really great sound. Beautiful hand made finish.
Gryphon has incredible reproduction of vocal tracks. Timbre and tonal balance. They had the very best DJ!
The big Sonus Aida's & Audio Research monster 750's playing their drum demo > holy sh*t
Salk makes great gear, it was everywhere.
Again the VAC - Von Schweikert room did not disappoint. I got lucky Sunday and listened in with the press folks to some special pressings of The Who and then someone in the back made my day breaking out Dead Can Dance's Spritchaser> Song of the Stars r-mastered on vinyl. Big speakers in a big room! The bass seemed a bit overdriven to me which was noticeable on a few tracks but still wow what a fun room.
I think everything plugged into a Wilson speaker sounded good this year.
Design, how about the VU meters on the Reference Audio Research amps? or Technics big juice on their turntables and beautiful classic lines on their reference amps?
How about value?
I love everything Pure Audio Project does, the highs are so clean, revealing but not harsh and an open baffle powered by a 2A3 has a magic like nothing else. Their big room was running thru the only COS dac at the show. -I have a D2 and it made me a digital convert. Power cables and audio foils by Verastarr. Cables matter, I want to hear the furniture:)
The Dynaudio room always sounds great.
Vehement has some of the best sounding bookshelves I heard all weekend. Their setup was dialed-in and they have real passion for sound.
Did anyone else hear the Elac's, they really did design a great sounding speaker with the E6. $200!
How bout HSU, the nicest guy at the show and still one of the best deals in an audiophile sub.
Emotiva has a crazy bargain in home theatre with 16 individual channels individually decoded, 360 immersive sound. Their demo was impressive.
Hats off to Avantgarde who turned the room into your living room, I finished the show with their big horns and 12 watts of Class A Sunday @445pm getting the Led out, then the last song was Another Brick in the Wall, turned to 11 and I was center stage. Thanks guys, go Germany!!
Till next year!
Like many said here I will echo the J.Rowland & Joseph Audio room was near perfection. I would have liked to pick a few tracks I know well for reference but it had a realism that was uncanny. Class D sorcery!
I always dig the Volti Rival Triode room, its fun and incredible what they do with 16 watts, that room ROCKS, free beer after 4!
Prana Fidelity had passion and really great sound. Beautiful hand made finish.
Gryphon has incredible reproduction of vocal tracks. Timbre and tonal balance. They had the very best DJ!
The big Sonus Aida's & Audio Research monster 750's playing their drum demo > holy sh*t
Salk makes great gear, it was everywhere.
Again the VAC - Von Schweikert room did not disappoint. I got lucky Sunday and listened in with the press folks to some special pressings of The Who and then someone in the back made my day breaking out Dead Can Dance's Spritchaser> Song of the Stars r-mastered on vinyl. Big speakers in a big room! The bass seemed a bit overdriven to me which was noticeable on a few tracks but still wow what a fun room.
I think everything plugged into a Wilson speaker sounded good this year.
Design, how about the VU meters on the Reference Audio Research amps? or Technics big juice on their turntables and beautiful classic lines on their reference amps?
How about value?
I love everything Pure Audio Project does, the highs are so clean, revealing but not harsh and an open baffle powered by a 2A3 has a magic like nothing else. Their big room was running thru the only COS dac at the show. -I have a D2 and it made me a digital convert. Power cables and audio foils by Verastarr. Cables matter, I want to hear the furniture:)
The Dynaudio room always sounds great.
Vehement has some of the best sounding bookshelves I heard all weekend. Their setup was dialed-in and they have real passion for sound.
Did anyone else hear the Elac's, they really did design a great sounding speaker with the E6. $200!
How bout HSU, the nicest guy at the show and still one of the best deals in an audiophile sub.
Emotiva has a crazy bargain in home theatre with 16 individual channels individually decoded, 360 immersive sound. Their demo was impressive.
Hats off to Avantgarde who turned the room into your living room, I finished the show with their big horns and 12 watts of Class A Sunday @445pm getting the Led out, then the last song was Another Brick in the Wall, turned to 11 and I was center stage. Thanks guys, go Germany!!
Till next year!