KEF Debuts New Finishes for Blade One Meta and Blade Two Meta

Sennheiser Drops HDB 630 Wireless Headphones

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AXPONA 2024

Von Schweikert and WestminsterLab dance with Lampizator, Sonore, Small Green Computer, MasterBuilt, and more

Jason Victor Serinus May 02, 2024

Damon Von Schweikert, CEO of speaker manufacturer Von Schweikert Audio, did something interesting in the room (1621) he shared with Gary Leeds of WestminsterLab. Faced with a challenging room whose opening to a second inner chamber of similar size all but guaranteed that bass would be a mess, set up two Von Schweikert V-12XS MkII Shockwave subwoofers ($33,000 for two), facing each other.

AXPONA 2024

Yamaha, 70 Years Young, Blends Past and Present

Rogier van Bakel May 02, 2024

At audio shows, we don’t look back much. AXPONA is mostly about what’s new, what’s hot, what’s happening. Yamaha proudly bucked the trend and delved into the past. In two adjoining rooms on the 14th floor, the Japanese brand celebrated its 70th anniversary as a hi-fi company.

AXPONA 2024

GTT Audio & Video presents Audionet, Kronos, Grimm and Mola Mola, Kronos, Vivid, Kubala Sosna, Dejitterit, and My Sonic Lab

Jason Victor Serinus May 02, 2024

Another big system with a midrange to love, with speakers well-matched to the space. I wasn't converted to the style of singer Vanessa Fernandez, whose cut from her new platter seemed more derivative than inspired, but the midrange sounded excellent, and there was also lots of bass to attract attention.

Audacious Audio Floor Loudspeaker Reviews

TAD Grand Evolution One loudspeaker

Sasha Matson May 01, 2024

Review samples of some new high-end audio products do not grow on trees. They are more like dray horses trouping from one destination to another. After the US premiere of the Technical Audio Devices (TAD) Grand Evolution One (TAD-GE1), a floorstanding speaker from TAD's Evolution series, at the 2023 Capital Audio Fest, the review pair came to stay with me in Upstate New York for a couple of months before traveling on to the 2024 Florida Audio Expo for another public appearance. After that, they returned to John Atkinson for measuringthen off again on another journey.

The TAD Labs GE1 is a three-way, three-driver design. Up top is TAD's proprietary Coherent Source Transducer (CST), a 5½" coaxial tweeter/midrange driver. Two matched 7" woofers fill out the middle of the front panel.

AXPONA 2024

Wilson Audio, Dan D’Agostino, Clearaudio, DS Audio, dCS, Innuos, Stromtank, Transparent, and Critical Mass Systems

Jason Victor Serinus May 01, 2024

Does this star-studded brand lineup from Quintessence Audio Ltd. of Chicago sound familiar? It should, not only because it’s frequently encountered at audio shows and dealers, but also because it consistently earns plaudits as one of my Best Sounding Rooms.

AXPONA 2024

Quintessence’s take on Perfection: Wilson, Moon, Clearaudio, Hanna, Innuos, Kubala-Sosna, and Critical Mass Systems

Jason Victor Serinus May 01, 2024

After achieving Serenity and acquiring Knowledge, do we end up in the land of Perfection? The room I visited after Perfection was Connection, which was occupied by Quintessence Audio. So perhaps we can say that Serenity + Knowledge + Perfection produces a Connection to something higher than ourselves, which in this case would be Nirvana. (There's also a Nirvana room.)

AXPONA 2024

A Full Active Gryphon System Wows

Jason Victor Serinus May 01, 2024

There are times when a music critic gets so upended by a recording of well-loved music that their previous plaudits for a different recorded version demands reassessment.

AXPONA 2024

Gryphon Audio Designs’s New PowerZone

Jason Victor Serinus May 01, 2024

Just as they did last year, Gryphon devoted the large Schaumburg E space to static displays, including the debut of the Gryphon PowerZone PZ3.10 power purifier ($14,000) which has eight Furutech AC sockets and 20A current capacity and is said to utilize Quantum Resonance Technology.

AXPONA 2024

Stenheim, VTL, dCS, Nordost, VPI, and Lyra Wow Once Again

Jason Victor Serinus May 01, 2024

Last year in the large Schaumburg F air-walled room in the Convention Center, Stenheim, VTL, and Nordost put together one of the finest sounding rooms I’ve heard at any show. This year, the sound was again among the best I encountered in the over 40 rooms I auditioned.

AXPONA 2024

Fidelity Imports: Opera, Soulnote, QED, Titan Audio

Ken Micallef May 01, 2024

Steve Jain and his Fidelity Imports crew presented six rooms at AXPONA, stuffed with debut products from across the world.