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Anyone else attend the California Audio Show in Oakland?

I went yesterday 7/28, heard some really good stuff, including:

Old Forge Studios room. The Soundkaos Vox 3F standmounted 3 ways were incredible! My favorites of the show. Tiny boxes and 35Hz on the low end had many of us looking for a subwoofer. The Wand tt and PureAudio electronics were excellent.

Tidal Contriva speakers speakers were my 2nd choice as favorites. Just a bit more expensive than the Soundkaos at $65,000, they were beautiful to look at and gorgeous to listen to, or vice versa. Open and airy, great bass extension, with the equally fine Bricasti amps and preamp, they would surely be even better in a larger room.

Aurender streamers and dacs also pulled me in. I’m looking for new gear, and they have a great selection. The combo dacs and streamers start at around $3500 and run to $22,000 for the W22SE, which was playing in their room. 

On on the down side:

Audio Vision SF Room
I didn’t care for the Naim/Rega/Focal gear. It sounded very shut in, muffled to me. Sibilance was not pronounced, and the Focal speakers sounded blurred. 

Wyred4sound

I've never been a fan, so maybe I’m biased, but the new gear just didn’t add up to me. Disjointed is the word I come up with. The new W4S speakers were these hulking boxes, with drivers arranged in MTM configuration. The tweeters are ribbons, which I usually enjoy, but these sounded too laid back to me. 

Any other attendee thoughts?

pumper24
auxinput
2,920 posts
 
I took a quick look at the Bakoon.  It looks very high end, but it's a pretty low power amp (only 25 watts per channel).  If you are looking at the Vox, I would go for the Vox 3a or 3afw as these are just a bit more efficient at 92db than the 3f.  At 25 watts per channel, you want a pretty efficient speaker.

You probably have found the following review already:

https://6moons.com/audioreview_articles/soundkaos7/

It's a 9 page incredibly detailed review with tons of technical detail and internal/construction pictures.  The cabinet construction is excellent in my opinion and they pack a whole lot into a very small cabinet.  The two 5" woofers essentially make it a 7" three-way speaker.  If you can afford the cost of the 3a, I would definitely recommend that over the 3f.
audio_phool's avatar
audio_phool
58 posts
 
@auxinput Yes, Bakoon's Amp 13 R is a very well regarded amp both Headphone as well as stereo. So having quality amp for both Stereo and Headphone at this price makes it a good value. Also it saves on buying and matching pre and power amps as it is an integrated amp. So after considering all that and very small size & weight (just 5 kgs) it is an excellent choice for people like me who are short on space and still want high end stuff.

Yes it's a low power amp 25 Watts into 8 ohms and 50 in 4 watts, but its pretty stable even in difficult loads because of it's proprietary Satri Circuit which is kind of Current Amplification.
Yes, I have already gone through the 6moons review along with all available reviews (Hifi Knights, Positive Feedback and HiFiStatement which is in German)
http://hifiknights.com/reviews/speakers/soundkaos-vox-3afw/

https://positive-feedback.com/reviews/hardware-reviews/sound-kaos-3f-loudspeakers/

https://www.hifistatement.net/tests/item/2813-sound-kaos-vox-3f?start=0
While I have gone through all these reviews, I always take them with a pinch of salt (no, actually with bucket-full of salt). Over these review I value the impressions/reviews from the real world users who provide much more honest thoughts. Since real world user impressions/reviews are almost non-existent, hence I have asked you to provide your feedback which would help me to decide whether or not pull such a costly trigger.
Regards,Saurabh
audio_phool's avatar
audio_phool
58 posts
 
There is another German review which I forgot to mention.
https://www.lowbeats.de/kompaktbox-soundkaos-vox-3ff-huebscher-geht-es-kaum/
Saurabh
larsman's avatar
larsman
1,772 posts
 
FYI, Bakoon has changed their name to Enlium; the Bakoon amps are no longer available, new anyway. The new Enlium amp is due this month or next, I believe. 
audio_phool's avatar
audio_phool
58 posts
 
@larsman yes, Bakoon Korea has split from Bakoon Japan & now Bakoon Korea is Enleum. Their new Amp 23-R is essentially repackaged & renamed amp 13-R. Though I personally feel construction (chassis) of 13-R is much better than new one as old was CNC machined with transformer, power board in separate compartments also the capacitor bank for power section was slightly bigger than new one. This is the reason why the newer 23-R is at-least $500 cheaper than old 13-R.
https://www.bakoon.com/product/amp-13r/
https://enleum.com/#amp_23r


Regards,
Saurabh
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