I attended the show with my kids, so I will make some comments from their perspective.
They wanted to spend most of their time in the headphone area - they loved the HiFiMan Headphones. They also thoroughly enjoyed the new Manley Headphone Amp. We met EveAnna Manley, who was super nice and patient - she knows how to relate to the younger generation.
On the way out we stopped in the PS Audio booth - I saw Paul, the PS Audio celebrity walking around, answering questions and being extremely cordial. Scott McGowan came up to my son who was looking at the Sprout. Scott was super, patient, answered all objections well. The merchandising in that booth was exemplary. My kids earn their own money, and the price of the Sprout is A LOT for them, never the less, they bought it. My son received his new Sprout 3 days later, brought it over a couple of days ago and is ecstatic with the purchase. I almost forked over for some of their gear - but really wanted time to listen. My kid said the Manley was the best sounding headphone amp by far, but could not afford it.
I am kind of looking at a streamer/dac and was looking at the PS Audio stuff - but I noticed almost every room was using the Blue Note - they must know something I don't - I am going to check them out.
I forked over for an Astell & Kern high res player.
We were all let down in the Wilson room, we have Wilson's and were expecting something better.
Magico was a letdown.
We all like Klipsch (we have their speakers in our movie room) but I think we have all outgrown them - they just don't sound good except in a multi-channel movie type application.
The new Vandersteen's were blah.
I am not a Focal fan, but the big Focal speakers were simply stunning - I have never heard them sound so good.
My kids dragged me into the Parts Express room saying "you have to hear these" - they were playing music off a phone, through a $30 tube amp from Amazon, through a pair of $350 DIY speakers - IT/THEY SOUNDED INCREDIBLE - THE BEST BOOKSHELF SPEAKERS I HEARD. And if the RMAF show is the cream of the crop, then these are the best bookshelf speakers made. Of course, they wouldn't sell them.
Some of the best speakers we heard were the Warfedales - they were not out yet - were like $2500 for the pair - sounded GREAT. I am going to find the dealer and go listen to them, I can see purchasing them.
We all agreed that most rooms need to expand their musical tastes - there is plenty of good, contemporary, well-recorded music out there to demo. Hearing Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, Diana Krall, and Kind of Blue and the same sounding jazz - some did not have anything available to play other than dead people.
We had a ball and will go again next year.
They wanted to spend most of their time in the headphone area - they loved the HiFiMan Headphones. They also thoroughly enjoyed the new Manley Headphone Amp. We met EveAnna Manley, who was super nice and patient - she knows how to relate to the younger generation.
On the way out we stopped in the PS Audio booth - I saw Paul, the PS Audio celebrity walking around, answering questions and being extremely cordial. Scott McGowan came up to my son who was looking at the Sprout. Scott was super, patient, answered all objections well. The merchandising in that booth was exemplary. My kids earn their own money, and the price of the Sprout is A LOT for them, never the less, they bought it. My son received his new Sprout 3 days later, brought it over a couple of days ago and is ecstatic with the purchase. I almost forked over for some of their gear - but really wanted time to listen. My kid said the Manley was the best sounding headphone amp by far, but could not afford it.
I am kind of looking at a streamer/dac and was looking at the PS Audio stuff - but I noticed almost every room was using the Blue Note - they must know something I don't - I am going to check them out.
I forked over for an Astell & Kern high res player.
We were all let down in the Wilson room, we have Wilson's and were expecting something better.
Magico was a letdown.
We all like Klipsch (we have their speakers in our movie room) but I think we have all outgrown them - they just don't sound good except in a multi-channel movie type application.
The new Vandersteen's were blah.
I am not a Focal fan, but the big Focal speakers were simply stunning - I have never heard them sound so good.
My kids dragged me into the Parts Express room saying "you have to hear these" - they were playing music off a phone, through a $30 tube amp from Amazon, through a pair of $350 DIY speakers - IT/THEY SOUNDED INCREDIBLE - THE BEST BOOKSHELF SPEAKERS I HEARD. And if the RMAF show is the cream of the crop, then these are the best bookshelf speakers made. Of course, they wouldn't sell them.
Some of the best speakers we heard were the Warfedales - they were not out yet - were like $2500 for the pair - sounded GREAT. I am going to find the dealer and go listen to them, I can see purchasing them.
We all agreed that most rooms need to expand their musical tastes - there is plenty of good, contemporary, well-recorded music out there to demo. Hearing Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, Diana Krall, and Kind of Blue and the same sounding jazz - some did not have anything available to play other than dead people.
We had a ball and will go again next year.