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AXPONA 2016

Herb's Final Rooms

Herb Reichert Apr 20, 2016

Brian Walsh and Essential Audio of Barrington, IL put on a highly enjoyable demonstration. There was something eccentric but wonderful happening with each song. The equipment mix was eccentric and wonderful, too: What is not to like about the Kuzma Stabi S turntable ($2156 and perhaps the best bargain in contemporary hifi), the Kuzma Stogi Ref 313 CE VTA tonearm ($4640), and Kuzma CAR-30 moving-coil cartridge. The digital source components were equally impressive: Aurender N100H music player/streamer ($2699), and the Resonessence Labs Veritas DAC which was premiering at Axpona ($2850).

AXPONA 2016

AXPONA: Jason's Journey Continues

Jason Victor Serinus Apr 20, 2016

The AudioEngine team at AXPONAfrom left to right: Brett Bargenquast, Morgan Day, Gavin Fish (also of LH Labs), and Patrick Carrwere really happy with their flagship HD6 self-powered loudspeakers ($750/pair). These handsome little babies integrate aptX Bluetooth and Toslink optical to play 24/96 files. They also stream Tidal, Spotify, Pandora, and YouTube wirelessly via smartphone, tablet, or good old fashioned computer. Optical yields the highest-resolution sound. You can even connect your TV or turntable.

AXPONA 2016

Reichert Rocks it on Sunday

Herb Reichert Apr 19, 2016

If you don't like digital it just means you've never heard it through a good DAC like the pin-you-to-the-seat with inner detail and palpable presence Bricasti Design M1 SE ($10,000). Bricasti's Brian Zolner has a way with amps too. I have only heard them with Tidal speakers but his $30,000/pair M28 mono amplifiers appear to be equally extraordinary.

AXPONA 2016

Moving on Up at AXPONA

Jason Victor Serinus Apr 19, 2016

From left to right: Larry Marcus president of Paragon Sight Sound, Nick Doshi of Doshi Audio, Dave Wilson, Peter McGrath, John R. Quick, dCS America, Jon Zimmer of Transparent Audio.

At an after-hours press listening session sponsored by Paragon Audio/Video of Michigan, Dave Wilson was in a major upbeat mood for the show premiere of Wilson Audio's new Alexx loudspeaker ($109,000/pair). . . The Alexx, Wilson's successor to the MAXX 3, acquitted itself admirably through the Doshi Audio 3.0 line stage, 3.0 phono stage, and 3.0 tape stage ($16,999/each), as well as their Jhor mono amplifiers ($29,995/pair); dCS Vivaldi digital system ($115,000 total); Transparent Opus cabling and power conditioning ($208,360 total) along with an extra-long version of John Marks' Esperanto Audio Small-Batch S/PDIF cable on Peter McGrath's Sound devices portable digital.

AXPONA 2016

More Saturday Fun at AXPONA from Herb

Herb Reichert Apr 19, 2016

Audio shows are tribal gatherings and, when they are going strong, they can become musical hoedowns. At every one of these tribal gatherings you can find Peter McGrath and Wilson Audio Specialties making the biggest campfire and singing the best songs. Why? Because they can. Decades of experience have made Wilson demos the Big Eventand this year's version, presented by dealer Paragon Sight and Sound, may have been the best ever. They introduced the new Wilson Alexx speaker($109,000/pair). Was it amazing? Of course it was. It was powered by a range of Doshi Audio tube electronics which appeared to do their jobs on some newer, higher level than I am used to.

AXPONA 2016

Saturday at AXPONA with Herb

Herb Reichert Apr 18, 2016

I was talking to a couple of oldster audiophiles standing outside the glass-walled Woo Audio room. They were raving about some Von Schweikert Audio speakers when I interrupted them to ask, "Have you heard the Abyss headphones?" They laughed and smirked

AXPONA 2016

AXPONA: Jason's Friday Finish

Jason Victor Serinus Apr 18, 2016

I scored big this year, because my floors included High Water Sound's room. As usual, Jeffrey Catalano was a breath of fresh air, playing LPs of music not encountered in other rooms

AXPONA 2016

AXPONA: Herb's Friday Postlude

Herb Reichert Apr 17, 2016

I always laugh at Andrew Jones's demonstrations, because every time he plays some bass-slamming blockbuster, the curtains behind the speakers start flapping in the breeze from the force and velocity of the speaker's rear port.

AXPONA 2016

AXPONA: Herb's First Day

Herb Reichert Apr 17, 2016

Because the energy is so strong, I always feel drawn to these rooms, and once there, I lose time, spend money, and feel young again

AXPONA 2016

AXPONA: Lower Level Vistas

Jason Victor Serinus Apr 17, 2016

Once Pro Musica Chicago discovered that one of the electrical outlets in their room was severely handicapped, as it were, and switched to another, the VTL TL5.5 preamp with phono stage ($10,500) and VTL S200 power amp ($12,500) delivered eminently neutral sound