Montreal Audiofest 2024

And now for more from the Montreal show. All prices are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated.

You want guts? You want music with explosive dynamics, effortless sonic propulsion, and a bass beat that punches so low and hard it makes you sit up at attention? How about if with all that power came high-level transparency, dimensionality, tonal purity, vocal naturalness, and microdetail?

If that sounds like your kind of system, the demo I heard in the Le Studio du Son room could be your cup of tea. Or coffee. Or can of Red Bull.

Speaking of cuppas: On the top shelf in the middle (see photo above) was a Java HiFi Carbon One-Shot integrated amplifier ($17,000), which—correction—apparently wasn't being used, though it seemed to be powered up.

Also in the system was a brand I wasn’t familiar with but which, it turns out, builds components just three miles from my home: Galion. The Montreal show was the worldwide launch of the the 20Wpc push pull, class-A Galion TS A20 amplifier (in photo on right), and it was also showing, on passive display, the tubed TS120 SE integrated amp ($5295; far left).

The rest of the system included an Eversolo DMP-A8 streaming preamp, which I’ve been tempted to buy ever since I heard one for the first time at 2023’s Toronto Audiofest, a pair of three-woofered, bass-reflex, THX Dominus–certified Perlisten R7t speakers ($15,000/pair; see Kal Rubinson’s review of the similar but more expensive S7t), whose low end is said to go down to 27Hz. Cabling was by XLO (various price), and power conditioning was Richard Gray Power Company’s RGPC 600S line conditioner ($1525 US).