Who is excited about Capital Audiofest 2023?

I’m always a Gershmann fan when I hear them. 

Did the mbl setup manage to standout this time around?

@thyname can’t get anything by you.  But don’t worry I stare at lots of things and my ears even still function as well.  It’s a neat trick.  Try it you’ll like it!🙏

So the sound level is the only possible difference in sound between rooms?

Of course not. Read what I actually said which is “it often helps”.

Mainly the sound meter is a useful tool to identify differences in bass extension and levels Room to room. I’ve found some rooms are bass heavy and others bass shy and others just right. It helps to verify what you hear.

Bass levels have a big impact on what you hear. Too much bass tend to obscure detail in the midrange. Too little tends to make the midrange sound more pronounced.

The meter also helps confirm what you are hearing room to room and better understand why things sound different or not.

Also my ears are older and no longer hear “air” fully well out to 20khz, but the sound meter app on my iPhone has that covered much better than I. Just because I can’t hear something doesn’t mean a “high end” system gets a free pass to slack off.

I was at the show the whole day but I saw no people pulling their decibel meters out of their pockets or oscilloscopes.

Did you check what people were actually looking at when they had their smartphones out? Sound meter apps are a real thing! There could have been nefarious measuring going on right under your nose.  Things are not always what they appear to be.😉

Is Vanatoo there this year? Anyone looking for good sound on a thin budget should give a listen. I’ve got my Vanatoos going now that I first discovered at CAF a couple years back. Wowsa! That’s what modern technology done smartly can do that could never have happened even 10 years ago.  Giant killers!

Deja-Vu is usually worth carving out some time. 

Very 1st much smaller Capital Audiofest in the old Rockville mansion venue had a custom Goto horn setup that was outstanding.

Hmmm I missed Avant-garde on the card this year. That would be an attraction for me.

Looks like I will miss CAF this year.

To anyone there who might: please check on RAAL headphones for @mahgister and report back here. Thanks.

Yes Joseph Audio has always made my products I would consider buying best sound list.  
Also the parking garage is also always a booby trap with lots of dead ends trying to get out. 

@jacobsdad2000 sounds like fun. 

I do usually spend some time auditioning headphones. I bought a Chord Mojo there a few years back that I still use often at night. I think I tried a pair of RAAL headphones there last year. They were very big and clunky, not something I would keep on my head for long. So the audition was too short to form an opinion on the sound. It was fine as best I recall. If I go I will look for them and let you know.

Thanks @mahgister.

Well when I do go I’m generally interested in several things:

1). The best sounding systems regardless of cost as a reference and trying to understand why they sound the way they do. I will pop out the decibel sound meter app on my iPhone to get a quick visual and that often helps explain differences I hear room to room quite a lot.

2) Any components used in those systems that I would actually consider owning. Lately I am focused on downsizing as much as possible so most oversized components are not of interest.

3). Any specific components I might be interested in buying at the time to play with
at home. Currently I have lots of very rewarding hifi toys to play with at home. I may be interested in giving a pair of different floorstanders another try at home just to see and this show is a chance to hear sone boutique type options that would be hard to audition otherwise. Most of the time I come back from the show with some new findings to explore further.