I only had one day, and couldn’t hit all the rooms. I thought these rooms were excellent:
- ACORA SRC-2 speakers with VAC mono blocks and preamp - Big room, and they presented an amazing soundstage and lifelike sound.
- Linear Tube Audio preamp and mono blocks with Daedalus speakers: Gorgeous sound and speakers (just beautiful wood and joinery). I am thinking of getting an LTA preamp. The speakers are very efficient, and a great pairing with the LTA 20-40W amps and integrated.
- LINKWITZ speakers - A total surprise. I know the name and a bit of the founder (RIP) but these speakers really surprised me. Amazing omnidirectional presentation, and a huge deep soundstage. The speakers really disappeared. They are odd looking, almost a homemade look but the sound! They come paired with 5 channel monoblocks (class D) so that each driver has its own channel. (The MBL Radialstrahler (120?) is a fancier omni that would have to be considered too.)
- Acapella Campanile horn hybrid - Lovely sound. I have little experience with horns, but was pleasantly surprised.
- MAGICO A5’s, Constellation Argo integrated, Berkeley DAC, Aurender streamer: Excellent overall. If I had $25-30k for speakers, these would be in the running.
- JOSEPH AUDIO Perspective (or Pulsar?) Graphene2 - Very pleasantly surprised. Gorgeous and lovely sounding. I didn’t get to hear their stand mount monitors which have gotten excellent reviews, darn it. Mr. Joseph is a charming fellow, in my brief chat with him.
I wish I could have gone back on Sunday to hear some of the rooms mentioned here. Next time I will spend 2 days. The hotel has a very odd layout which made navigating a bit of a pain.