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

AXPONA 2012

Soundfield Audio

Jason Victor Serinus Mar 12, 2012

Soundfield Audio, a speaker company which launched six months ago in Tampa, was making a considerable mark with its Soundfield Audio Monitor 1 ($1300/pair) and larger Soundfield Audio System 2 ($7500/pair with separate subwoofers). The Monitor 1 is a 3-way bookshelf that claims to reach down to 38 Hz ±3 dB, and boasts a passive 5.25" midwoofer and 1" tweeter united in a coincident coaxial driver, and an 8" active long-throw subwoofer. Not yet posted or detailed on their website is the larger System 2.

AXPONA 2012

Captivating Clarity from Audio Physic

Jason Victor Serinus Mar 12, 2012

Sometimes a system touches your heart when you least expect it. There I was in Reinhard Goerner's Goerner Communication room (Montréal) when, all of a sudden, the warmth and beauty of Joni Mitchell's voice on a vinyl pressing of "I Could Drink a Case of You" had me half qvelling. (Hey, it's Yiddish. I don't know how to spell it; I only know how it feels).

AXPONA 2012

Channel D and Joseph Audio Make Great Music

Jason Victor Serinus Mar 12, 2012

Read to the end, folks, because this one has a happy ending. In their extremely popular roomI couldn't get in the door the first time I triedRob Robinson of Channel D and Jeff Joseph of Joseph Audio were attempting to dem computer audio done right. I say, "attempting" because, despite the unquestionable excellence of Joseph Audio Pulsar loudspeakers ($7500/pair, to be reviewed in the June issue of Stereophile), which I have enjoyed at multiple audio shows, and Channel D's Pure Vinyl high-res digital transcription/editing/playback software ($299) and Pure Music Digital Music Player ($129), the 24/192 files I heard when I first entered had a most unpleasant hard edge to them.

AXPONA 2012

Meet the Writers

Jason Victor Serinus Mar 12, 2012

At the prompting of John Atkinson, yours truly organized and moderated a non-denominational four person "Meet and Ask the Writers" panel on Saturday afternoon. Joining me, on the left of the photo) were (leftright) A. Colin Flood of Enjoy the Music.com, Ray(mond) Seda of Dagogo.com, and Neil Gader of The Absolute Sound. Because the panel was sandwiched into the seminar schedule last minute, we only had 45 minutes to dialog without mikes over music not exactly wafting through the air walls. (A big thanks to Part Time Audiophile for his selfless photographic assistance and positive energy. Much appreciated by all.)

AXPONA 2012

Audible Images' Two A's

Jason Victor Serinus Mar 12, 2012

Headlined by Aerial Acoustics' Model 7T loudspeaker ($10,000/pair, to be reviewed in the May 2012 issue of Stereophile) and Audio Research's Ref 5 SE preamp ($12,900), Ref 150 amplifier ($12,900), and DAC 8 ($5000), the system from Audible Images of Melbourne, FL delivered very clear, warm (rather than neutral), and crisp sound from a Japanese compilation Three Blind Mice. "Excellent," I wrote in my notes. Undoubtedly the Krell Model 505 CD player ($10,000), and Transparent Audio's Reference XL speaker wire, Reference interconnects, Power Ix, and Power link power cords had something to do with it.

AXPONA 2012

Soundsmith's New Hyperion Phono Cartridge

Jason Victor Serinus Mar 12, 2012

Hardly 90 seconds into the demo, the earthquake hit. No, not one caused by God and nature, or the vibrational residue from a huge subwoofer in the room above or below. Rather, this earthquake was courtesy of the huge industrial washing machine located directly below Soundsmith's fourth floor exhibit. And we are not talking minor stuff here, folks. Everything was shaking badly, including the sign on the wall, and it went on for several minutes.

AXPONA 2012

Audioengine Expands its Line

Jason Victor Serinus Mar 12, 2012

"We initially meant our self-powered speakers for the computer market, and never thought you guys from Stereophile would take us seriously," Audioengine's Brett Bargenquast told me in a particularly candid moment. "Then Bob Reina's review of the A2s helped launch us."

It sure did. Bob's glowing review even convinced me to get a pair of Audioengine 5s for my iMac. Years later, they remain in use, making the husband's cheapo TV in the cottage sound far better than it should.

AXPONA 2012

Silnote and Tyler Acoustics

Jason Victor Serinus Mar 12, 2012

Silnote Audio Cables of Boones Mill, VA, a company new to me, was making an all-out effort to bring attention to its line. Paired with Tyler Acoustics D-20 loudspeakers ($10,500/pair), an Olive 4HD music server, Musical Fidelity DAC, Rogue Magnum tube amp, and Rogue phono stagethere must have been a turntable and cartridge, but I failed to write it downSilnote's Master Series Orion M-1 interconnects ($3100/pair), speaker cables ($4700/pair), and power cables ($1800 each) were helping deliver solid sound.

AXPONA 2012

Siegfried Linkwitz’s Orion-4 Speakers from Wood Artistry

Jason Victor Serinus Mar 12, 2012

Having enthusedgushed, reallyover the Orion-4s ($15,510/pair in this iteration with active crossover, Bibinga wood and Ebony trim) when I first heard them at Burning Amp 2010, then again at Burning Amp 2011 (as reported in the January 2012 issue of Stereophile), I was happy to encounter them once more in Jacksonville. It was no surprise to find them doing an absolutely wonderful job of capturing the correct sound of a piano, and bringing lovely depth to a recording of Mozart's Piano Sonata in D Major, K.576. They did an equally fine job in showcasing the beauty of a quartet performing music by Lera Auerbach.

AXPONA 2012

Audio Power Labs Treats Eye and Ear

Jason Victor Serinus Mar 12, 2012

Although Misty Ellis' atmospherically lit room was a challenge to photograph, the sound this company from Columbus, OH put together from a big-bucks system headed by the Audio Power Labs 833TNT 200W transformer-coupled monoblocks ($175,000/pair), Tidal Audio Contriva Diacera SE floorstanding speakers ($58,190/pair in piano black, $64,190/pair in African Pyramid Mahogany as shown), and Laufer Teknik The Memory Player 64 ($24,600) was as tantalizing and satisfying as its visuals. Initially marred by an exaggerated midrange and treble resonances, everything improved immensely when Tidal dealer Doug White, the extremely conscious proprietor of The Voice That Is in Newtown Square (Philadelphia), PA, removed the preamp responsible for the imbalance.