Hegel H150 Integrated Amplifier Officially Announced

Sonus faber Announces Amati Supreme Speaker

FiiO M27 Headphone DAC Amplifier Released

Audio Advice Acquires The Sound Room

LATEST ADDITIONS

RMAF 2011

Angel City Audio & Melody Valve HiFi

Stephen Mejias Oct 19, 2011

Angel City Audio built a system comprising their Trinity loudspeaker ($6999/pair), Melody Pure Black 101 preamplifier ($4499), and Melody M835 monoblock power amplifiers ($5899/pair), along with an Onix XCD50 CD player and Melody cables and interconnects.

RMAF 2011

Sutherland, Vandersteen, Arcici, EnKlein

Stephen Mejias Oct 19, 2011

Ron Sutherland was extremely excited about his versatile, new preamplifier.

“Want to know what it’s called?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“The N1.”

“Oh.”

“Get it?”

“What?”

“N1!”

“Hmm?”

“It’s all-in-one!”

RMAF 2011

Gold Sound Loves You

Stephen Mejias Oct 19, 2011

It was around this point of the show that I started to feel weak and dizzy, overwhelmed by the size of RMAF and disappointed by the lack of truly affordable gear. Thank goodness for Gold Sound. The Colorado dealer had pieced together not one, not two, but five affordable, audiophile systems priced under $5000.

RMAF 2011

Resonessence Labs and Westlake Audio

Stephen Mejias Oct 19, 2011

There was a lot of buzz over the new high-performance, highly versatile Invicta DAC/preamp ($3395) from Resonessence Labs. The Invicta handles all resolutions up to 24-bit/192kHz from all of its inputs, including asynchronous USB 2.0.

RMAF 2011

Audio Physic, Acoustic Signature, Trigon, Nordost

Stephen Mejias Oct 19, 2011

In the room presented by Audio Physic, Acoustic Signature, and Trigon, music was sweet and nuanced, played at low volumes, but nevertheless involving and deeply enjoyable. I admired the subtlety of touch, richness of texture, and ease of flow. We listened to a few minutes of One Foot in the Gutter, a live, 1960s recording by the Dave Bailey Sextet, and I swear I could hear the joy and humor in the band’s playing.

RMAF 2011

The Funk Firm’s FXR II tonearm

Stephen Mejias Oct 19, 2011

Riding the Acoustic Signature Storm ($7500) was the new FXR II tonearm ($1995) by the Funk Firm. Super cool.

RMAF 2011

Totem’s Element Series

Stephen Mejias Oct 19, 2011

Totem was showing their new Element Series of loudspeakers. Both the stand-mounted Fire ($6000/pair) and floorstanding Earth ($9000/pair) use Totem’s 7-inch Torrent hand-assembled driver and employ no crossover parts in the woofer section.

RMAF 2011

The Rogers High Fidelity EHF-100

Stephen Mejias Oct 19, 2011

Sound Representation’s affable Jon Zimmer introduced me to the Rogers High Fidelity EHF-100 integrated amplifier ($6000), which was driving a pair of Totem Element Fire loudspeakers.

RMAF 2011

Hear No Evil: KEF, Kimber, and the Parasound CD 1

Stephen Mejias Oct 19, 2011

Even as my dear friend Michael Lavorgna lays down the law in the Wild Wild West that is Computer Audio and continues to rid himself of Compact Discs, I find myself more and more attracted to the little silver discs and their associated players. So I was happy to learn about Parasound’s new CD 1, which adds a computer to the conventional CD player.

RMAF 2011

Austin Hi-Fi: Crimson Electronics, Crimson Audio Cables, Resolution Audio, Music

Stephen Mejias Oct 19, 2011

I walked in during “Band on the Run,” and the sound was full of life, energy, and impact. I took a seat and scanned the deceptively small and apparently simple system: 3-way ATC SCM50SL passive loudspeakers ($11,650/pair), each way powered by its own pair of Crimson Electronics 640E Series III monoblocks ($5995/pair), a Crimson Electronics 710 preamplifier ($6995, including phono section), and Resolution Audio’s Cantata Music Center ($6000; reviewed by Jon Iverson in our November issue). All components rested neatly on simple, affordable Ikea Lack stands.