BIG speakers, namely the 3-way PMC Fenestria ($90,000), which loomed tall in the second Motet room. Upstream components included an Accuphase A75 amplifier ($25,600), Accuphase C2850 preamplifier ($25,000), Lumin U1 streamer ($10,000), and—get this—an iFi Diablo DAC that retails for $1200!
That was my first thought when I entered the Westin Toronto Airport Hotel, the same venue used for the previous, and first ever, Toronto Audiofest in 2019. It was also the thought I had inside the first exhibit room I visited, sponsored by importer Wynn Audio and helmed by the amiable Wynn Wong.
It's a reasonable question coming at the light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel tail-end (fingers crossed) of a worldwide pandemic.
I'm about to find out because I'm at the 2021 Toronto Audiofest, held at the Westin Toronto Airport Hotel from October 22–24.
It's a true clichéthat is, a cliché that happens to be true: Rock music, in almost all its forms, is young people's music. It's about new, fresh experiencesnew love, new sex, consciousness sought or attained, rebellion, drugsand when you've reached a certain age, those experiences don't feel so fresh anymore. That's a fact about which it's hard not to feel some regret. You don't have to share their sentiment to realize that there's a reason Pete wrote, and Roger sang, "Hope I die before I get old."