Who is excited about Capital Audiofest 2023?

Thanks for the message mapman...

I am very satisfied by my headphone K340 ,an hybrid, the only real one dating back 45 years ...But i am curious about any actual  top headphone which may beat them on all acoustic factors , bass , holography , natural timbre , highs as honey and a balance with a speaker-like sound out of the head if the recording is good ... I never listen an headphone which can even touch them ......I trash all the 9 others in a bin because nevermind the design they sound unnatural, artificial and in the head ...

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. 

I Purchased the BACCH4Mac earlier this week, not the universal, but the one step up so that I can use the optional in ear mics… 3-4 week lead time.  I plan on visiting booth 549.  
 

The rest of my system is solid, and I’m very happy with the sound in my basement…. so will be looking for generally interesting, and innovative products and concepts versus trying to solve a specific problem  

This will be my first show in a decade. 
 

Markmuse,

Any listening thoughts on the Caladan's? I've got mine purchased based on reputation alone. What electronics were used, and what did you find lacking?

My Favorites:

Von Schweikert Endeavor SE's with massive VAC equipment; these smaller reasonable VS's were amazing in that room.

VS VR-55 mkII with Westmisterlab REI mono's and Lampi Horizon.  Wow.  These class A amps are small and run cool.  Having the powered woofer option in the VR-55 allows blending of bass with the room - for example it was turned DOWN for this room..contrary to simple thinking that the powered woofer adds bass.

The Songer S1 Field Coil single driver speakers were amazing, shown with Taiko 
Extreme and switch.  I wuold never consider this type of speaker but maybe I should!

The Borrensens, from X2 all the way up to M1 are a bit over etched for my liking.  Amazing at first but then hurt my ears.  I did not think the imaging was amazing, the speakers did not disappear.  But they sure are resolving.

Soulnote electronics were in several rooms, and sounded very sweet to my ears.

I kind of close my eyes to expensive tube stuff...

And Lubomir from M101 cables demonstrated the positive effects of his cables, especially his ethernet cable.

Bill Parish from GTT had a wonderful small room, with Mola Mola Mauka w Tambaqui, MM's new class D amps, a new audiophile switch he has developed, and his Vivid Giya 4 speakers. Smooth and wonderful.

Most Musical: Cessaro Wagner 

Most Impressive Soundstage: Borenssen Flagship Model

Honorable Mention: Acora, Kharma, Cessaro bookshelf model, Wolf Langa

Oh, and getting out of the parking area under the hotel at the end of the day was a total cluster you-know-what. It took hours. 

+2 on Joseph Audio. Now Listen Here had a very nice setup in the executive suite (Pearls with some outrageously expensive electronics), and there were a few others featuring the Perspectives and Pulsars. These all sounded very good.

Also heard and purchased Clayton Shaw’s new speakers. Incredible value, though the electronics he was using were not up to the quality of the speakers in my opinion.

The Singer field coil speakers were very interesting.

Caprice Audio had a really nice setup. He has a noise reduction box that he designed. Not sure how much that contributed - he did do a before and after comparison - but the stand mount speakers he had were every bit as good as the Borresen stand mounts (actually maybe better) at about 1/5 the price. Wish I could remember the name of them.

+1 on the Joseph Audio speakers they also sounded very nice.

I also thought the Songer audio speakers sounded great.

The Joseph Audio and Magico speakers also sounded very nice. 

i was also pretty impressed with the small stand mount speakers that OCD audio guy has in his room. I can’t remember what they are though. 
 

i want to go back to hear Clayton Shaws new speakers. My brief listen was promising. 

I went primarily to listen to speakers. In no particular order speakers that I found interesting:

Songer audio S1 field coil single driver

Cessaro GAIA 1

the big NOLA speakers

The small Tidal speakers in the Bricasti Design room

Magico in the Convergent Audio room

Magico in the Command AV room

One interesting observation was the Alma Music Estelon Aura. In their show room I thought they sounded very good but at the show not so much.

The abundant internet influencers were in full force. They would sashay into the room stand in from of the speakers and equipment and talk over the music describing the systems.

It's always worth going to see Ken Stevens in the Convergent Audio Technology room.  He usually manages to get great sound even in a show setting, plus it's always educational just to speak with him.

@jacobsdad2000 sounds like fun. 

Big fat zero chance here. Not a DC Metro fan and no time. Heading to the Black Hills, Bighorn Sheep, winter meat!

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.

Interesting...

We will wait for your impressions ...

Take notes ... 😊

I dont buy anything , save in the next year or so i will buy the Dr, Choueiri  BACCH filters ,,,

But i am curious about the RAAL headphone ... Test them if you see them...

I will never replace my modified K340 but i am curious ...😁

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.

Report here  in any language ...

We will read ...

😉