AXPONA 2013

Anything But Vaporware

Jason Victor Serinus  |  Mar 15, 2013

Handsome Vapor Audio Cirrus Black loudspeakers ($3995/pair)—I don't have a clue as to why speakers of blond wood are named "black," unless it’s a Harry Potter reference—mated with exotically named Arte Forma Due Volta monoblock amplifiers ($5500/pair) and Thalia preamplifier ($2250), a B.M.C. DAC1 ($5690), Antipodes DV2 music server ($3299), Antipodes Reference speaker cables ($2200/set) and interconnects ($1900), Balanced Power Technologies PC-9LN power cables ($499) and BP-3.5 power conditioner ($2399), and ATS Acoustics room treatments to produce sound that I found nicely illumined, albeit a little hard and unyielding. The system may not have penetrated to the heart of the music, but the sound was very attractive, solid, and well-controlled.

COMMENTS
HawksFan's picture
Submitted by HawksFan on March 17, 2013 - 9:22pm

Axpona was a great show!  It was very exciting for a life-long Chicagoian.  This Vapor Audio room caught me by surprise.  I have read some buzz on this around the internet, but wasn't prepared for how great they sounded.  I feel in love with the massive holographic soundstage, best in any of the standard size rooms.  And the incredible amount of effortless detail these showed in recordings, breathtaking. 

Calling them Best of Show might be a stretch compared to the TAD with that incredible master tape recording, Von Schweikert dynamics, and Scaena's effortless punch.  Maybe call them Best that I can afford. 

 

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