LATEST ADDITIONS

High-flying Fidelity Imports occupied seven rooms at AXPONA 2024—probably a show record. Since starting the company in 2018, industry veteran Steve Jain has signed up a bevy of brands from Italy, France, England, Japan, and beyond.

It was great to finally meet Joe Rodger, a member of the young Linn team with whom I coordinated my review of Linn Klimax Solo 800 monoblocks ($90,000/pair) that appears in the May 2024 issue

Going to an audio show is a bit like being a finalist in that old Monty Hall show where your prize is behind one of three identical doors. At AXPONA, there are more than 200 identical doors.

It was good to see Sam Laufer again after several years. It was equally good to hear how fine Mark Porzilli’s Porzilli Audio speakers plus subwoofers ($35,000/pair) sounded in the company of the fabulous darTZeel LHC-208 Mk II integrated amplifier with DAC/streamer ($27,585), a Laufer Teknik Mini Memory Player 64 ($7500), an SVS 3000 Micro subwoofer ($899), and Liquid Cables.

In room 1126, I encountered one of many marriages of convenience between brands and distributors that prove to be matches made in audiophile heaven. In this case, it was the union of new Mon Acoustic PlatiMON VC One bookshelf speakers ($6000/pair) on top, joined by jumpers to the PlatiMON VC Two bass module ($11,000/pair), mated with components from AXISS Audio distributors and other companies.

In the quiet inner sanctum of Ultra Fidelis’ two-room suite with Vandersteen, AudioQuest, AMG, Audio Research and more, I sat enthralled before one of the most musical systems I encountered at AXPONA.

A $20,000 system is probably no one’s idea of cheap, but it’s affordable-ish by AXPONA standards. And if the sound quality of such a setup is as good as it was in room 394, where Chicago dealer Saturday Audio Exchange had again partnered with Canadian marques Paradigm and Anthem, we’re getting into bargain territory.