SSI 2014

The 2014 SSI witnessed the official North American introduction of Naim Audio's mighty Statement amplifier (which John Atkinson previewed in his coverage of the 2014 CES). I experienced this behemoth at the unveiling party thrown for it by distributor Plurison Audio, and was struck not so much by its undeniable power but by its very nuanced performance on subtler material—such as the classic "Helplessly Hoping" by Crosby, Stills, and Nash. During the chorus, when David Crosby's low harmony was the last to enter ("They are three together. . ."), the audible tension and release were palpable—and very impressive. The Statement is something that neither I nor the vast majority of you will ever enjoy at home, but . . .wow.

Here's the Devialet line on static display: the D-110 ($6495), the D-170 ($9495), and the D-240 ($17,495).

Presumably someone snapped-up this show special, seen in the second room of Montreal retailer Son Idéal: a Rega RP40, which is the 40th Anniversary edition of the Rega RP3, complete with the reddest mat in existence. Son Idéal offered it for $CAD1199, instead of the usual $CAD1699.

Here's a closer look at the Ayre MXR 20 amplifier, which is due to ship fairly soon, according to Ayre's Alex Brinkman. As he puts it, "We lost a little time working on the Pono thing."

At the GTT Audio room, turntable designer Louis Desjardins introduced a more affordable alternative to the original Kronos turntable: the Kronos Sparta ($21,000, plus an additional $6500 for the companion Helena tonearm).

In one of the rooms sponsored by Audio Pathways, the always-impressive yet consistently difficult-to-photograph-in-the-dark Raidho Acoustics C1.1 loudspeakers ($CAD18,000/pair) sounded excellent with a slightly-less-photo-phobic Jeff Rowland Continuum S2 integrated amp ($10,500), set up with Transparent cabling.