AXPONA 2023

With the assumption of audiophile Cliff Duffey (above) as President of AXISS Audio USA (aka AXISS Distribution Inc.), and the addition of T.J. Goldsby as Vice President of Sales and Dealer relations, the company has added more lines than can comfortably fit into a headline.

One of their large suites in the Schaumburg Hotel was brimming with some of those lines and several debuts: the North American debut of the new Accuphase A-300 class-A monoblock amplifier ($65,000/pair), created for the company's 50th anniversary, which delivers 125W into 8 ohms and up to 1000W into 1 ohm and is claimed to have an extremely high damping factor; the world premiere Yukiseimitsu Audio Yuki AP-01 turntable complete with tonearm and inner and outer ring clamps ($60,000, above) plus an Air-Tight Opus One cartridge ($17,500); the newly updated Gauder Akustik DARC 200 loudspeaker ($149,000/pair); the Beaudioful top-end custom-built Rack Walnut ($14,400 as shown); Nihon Onkyo Engineering room diffusors (below); and ZenSati cabling.

AXISS switched between electronics once each day. When I first entered, amplifier, preamplifier and DAC were the Soulution 511 in monoblock ($83,500/pair), Soulution 725 with phono module ($65,000), and Soulution 760 DAC with Leedh ($76,000). Together with Gauder Akustik DARC 200 loudspeakers, the Yukiseimitsu Audio Yuki AP-01 turntable, the Beaudioful Rack Walnut mentioned above, Gauder Akustic Clearwater speaker cabling, and a mint's worth of ZenSati Seraphim cabling (below), the system exhibited uncommon midrange strength and mellow sound.

I returned to the AXISS suite in the afternoon of Day 1 to hear the new Accuphase A-300 monoblocks paired with the Accuphase C-2900 preamplifier with AD-2900 phono module ($39,000) and Accuphase DC-1000 digital converter ($34,000). With a USB bridge converting USB to coax and a Roon Nucleus for streaming, the system sounded as smooth as with Soulution electronics but with far more color and a livelier top. I loved the warm and pleasing sound of Miles Davis's "Time After Time." Tchaikovsky's "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies" from the score to the perennial Nutcracker ballet, was so engaging, with such a beautifully cushioned velvet midrange, that only modesty and common sense prevented me from donning my tutu and dancing around the room like a sugar plum fairy on the ultimate sugar high.