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LATEST ADDITIONS

AXPONA 2019

Ayre Acoustics QX-8, QX-5, & Codex

John Atkinson Apr 13, 2019

Getting ready for the first day's visitors in AXPONA's Ear Gear Expo, Ayre's vice president and CTO, Ariel Brown, was busy setting up the Colorado's company's QX-5 Twenty D/A processor ($8950, right) Codex D/A headphone amplifier ($1795, hidden in center, and the new QX-8 D/A processor ($4450 with S/PDIF inputs, $4950 with asynchronous USB input, $5450 with USB and Roon Ready Ethernet, left).

AXPONA 2019

PrimaLuna EVO 400 Preamp and Amp, GoldenEar Triton One.R Speakers

Herb Reichert Apr 13, 2019

In front of the room sponsored by GoldenEar Technology and PrimaLuna USA, I saw tube maven Kevin Deal (above)the latter company's Primary Dudedisplaying the insides of a PrimaLuna amplifier. PR man extraordinaire Anthony Chiarella was sitting next to him saying, "Its built like a Fabergé egg." Which indeed it was.

AXPONA 2019

Music Hall In the Marketplace

John Atkinson Apr 13, 2019

Celebrating 21 years of affordable Music Hall turntables, the irascible Roy Hall (right) was in fine form on AXPONA's opening day, offering show specials.

AXPONA 2019

Woo Audio WA11 Topaz Headphone Amp-DAC, WA33 Headphone Amp, and Mysphere 3.1 Headphones

Herb Reichert Apr 13, 2019

I'm a little old to be a fan (but I am), and some say singer-songwriter Billie Eilish is a little young (just turned 17) to be as famous and successful as she is. But hey, what's-his-name from the Jackson Five was only five years old when he was that famous . . .

AXPONA 2019

Janszen Lotus Electrostatic Headphones

John Atkinson Apr 13, 2019

On my way to AXPONA's Master Class Theater to catch Rob Robinson's seminar on current-mode phono preamplifiers, I was buttonholed by David Janszen. The Janszen name is synonymous with electrostatic drive-unitsthe midrange unit in the legendary Wilson WAMM was based on Janszen technologyand at AXPONA David was demonstrating prototype electrostatic headphones, the Lotus.

AXPONA 2019

Great Plains Audio & the Altec 604

John Atkinson Apr 13, 2019

Check this out, Herb Reichert. Oklahoma City-based Great Plains Audio grew from what was left of the Altec Lansing corporation in 1998. It focuses on manufacturing the classic high-sensitivity drive-units and speaker systems from the legendary company. Located next to the AXPONA Master Class Theater, the Great Plains booth featured their version of the classic coaxial drive-unit that was introduced in 1944 and powered recording studio monitors in the 1950s and '60s.

AXPONA 2019

The MQA Master Class

John Atkinson Apr 12, 2019

I turned up at Mike Jbara's Master Class presentation Friday afternoon, "Achieving Authentic Studio Quality Sound," expecting fireworks. Jbara is the chief executive of MQA and many internet denizens had declared that they would be attending his presentation to oppose what he would be saying. But all was quiet during Jbara's 45-minute talk on what he regards as the benefits of the controversial codec to both the music industry and to audiophiles. Another MQA-related Master Class takes place at AXPONA Saturday April 13 at 12 noon. Moderated by Besflores Nievara Jr., Brand Ambassador for Music Direct, Mike Jbara will join MQA partner NAD's CTO, Greg Stidsen, and other panelists to discuss "The Future of High Resolution Audio." Perhaps the fireworks will be in evidence tomorrow!

AXPONA 2019

Scaena Model 3 Speakers, High Fidelity Cables MA-1 Amplifier, dCS Vivaldi Front End

Jason Victor Serinus Apr 12, 2019

Spying the Scaena (pronounced Sane-a) room, I was happy to hear their fabulous sounding speakers once again. This time it was the Scaena Model 3 ($90,000 pair including the two big subwoofers), driven by a High Fidelity Cables MA-1 amplifier ($30,000), fed by a four-stack dCS Vivaldi system ($114,996 total) and connected by High Fidelity cables.

AXPONA 2019

McIntosh MC-611 Monoblocks, Bowers & Wilkins 802D Loudspeakers, Aurender A10 Server

Jason Victor Serinus Apr 12, 2019

Despite the challenging acoustics of air-walled conference rooms, retailer Audio Video Interiors produced extremely satisfying sound. True to McIntosh Laboratory's sonic signature, the company's C-1100 preamp ($14,000), relatively new 600Wpc MC-611 monoblocks ($15,000/pair), and MPC-1500 line filter ($5500) produced a beautiful, strong midrange and mellow top.

AXPONA 2019

VAC Statement 450i iQ Integrated Amplifier, Von Schweikert Ultra 9 Loudspeaker System, Esoteric Grandioso D1 DACs

Jason Victor Serinus Apr 12, 2019

Disorder was the order of the day as everyone and their father ogled and chatted about the VAC Statement 450i iQ integrated amplifier ($150,000). During my relatively brief visit to this free-for-all space, in which demonstrations alternated between two systems, there were up to six people standing in front of the one I tried to hear. At one point, someone blocked the speaker on one side while a company rep chatted it up with someone on the other.