LATEST ADDITIONS

Alma Music's Fabio Storelli and On A Higher Note's Philip O'Hanlon tempted me with promises of serious sound, female entertainment, and triple-distilled whiskey. I fell into their room and almost spent the night.

O'Hanlon had the brand spanking new Graham Audio LS8/1 Limited Edition standmount loudspeakers ($9700/pair, with stands).

Running into my Brooklyn buddy and Mytek head honcho Michal Jurewicz at the local Safeway (hotel food: $$$), he invited me to an after-hours shootout between his forthcoming GaN FET-powered, Empire monoblocks ($19,990/pair, below), which are specified as offering 400W into 8 ohms and 800W into 4 ohms. His dueling partner in this shootout was Albert Guerra of AGD Productions, who brought his GaN FET-operated Gran Vivace Monoblocks ($18,500/pair).

The Listening Room and Perlisten Audio's Erik Wiederhotlz assembled a fine-sounding room, its front end including the revised Michell Orbe SE Turntable with an inverted, oil-circulating main bearing, freestanding motor, and massive platter ($6999 w/o tonearm; $8495 w/Technoarm 2), Innuos Statement Music Sever and Streamer, Soul Note D2 DAC ($8999), Soul Note E2 MM/MC Phono Equalizer ($8999), and Soul Note S3 SACD player ($19,999). Amplification consisted of more Soul Note!

The Berlin-made electronics and loudspeakers in the Voxativ room were impressive and riveting, moving air like a freight train from their handmade full-range drivers, modular, three-section floorstanders, and 30Wpc SET integrated amplifier.

Jeff Fox and Jessie Bentley of Falls Church, Virginia's Command Performance AV graciously opened their room to me, pre-showtime. I chose their vinyl copy of trumpeter Erik Truffaz's 2000 album, The Mask, for play on their J. Sikora Reference turntable, ($47,000; gloss finish with Reference power supply), and its new J. Sikora KV Max Zirconium Series 9" tonearm (TBA), a CAF world premiere, running a Lyra Atlas Lambda SL cartridge ($11,995).

Robin Wyatt's Robyatt room wins my early, best sound of show. Playing recordings I thought I knew well, as well as those I'd never heard, his exacting, tonally true, vivid, physical, natural and extremely transparent system left my jaw on the floor and other's mouths agape.

Black Ice amplification joined with Klipsch speakers and a Pro-Ject turntable to create a high-octane rig that played contemporary pop, rock, and blues like Stevie Ray Vaughan riffing with '90s German techno.