AXPONA 2017

I encourage all interested to attend the show. It was on about a par with last year, excellent.

The show is obviously gaining in importance. One development that I saw was a larger presence of manufacturer's representatives from Europe, Scandinavian nations in particular. Asia has always had its manufacturer representatives in attendance. I even saw some official attendees sporting badges from a South American nation. It all made the show more interesting.

Here are my recommendations from day 1:

1. Park at the CTA lot if you are driving. Just be careful, because they are installing a new payment system and you may not get out--and will have to back up an try again--if you go to the wrong gate when leaving. It's $7.00 per day. Axpona got discounted parking at the Westin, but I prefer the short stroll from the CTA lot.

2. Go early if you want to go to Starbuck's. There was a line of at least 10 people at Starbuck's, all day long it seemed.

Beyond that, here are my show-related favorites from Day 1:

Lower Level:

Directors A & B - Kef: Kef has a interesting active-speaker-cum-ecosystem version of the LS-50. Johan Coorg is engaging and entertaining as always. I am glad he made it again.

Third Floor:

316 - Aurender/GamuT: I enjoyed listening to the GaumT stand-mount speakers. They are best when you are in the front row for a nearfield experience. There was a very friendly guy manning the room who had an interesting collection of music. He played Max Richter tracks yesterday. A quick note on the GaumT speakers and stands. They were made with freshly harvested Birch it seemed. They sounded great and were definitely the "best smelling" speakers in the show.

Fourth Floor:

412 - Hegel: The Hegel system sounded great. They are launching their new Rost component with Kef Blades. The Blades were played at a modest volume and did not overpower the regular-sized room. There was a very friendly Norwegian gentleman on hand who played some interesting Norwegian music.

414 Auralic/YG: Stop by this room. The gentlemen in the room handed the iPad over to attendees to select their own tracks to play through YG Carmel speakers. Never miss a room where you are allowed to play the music.

426 - Joseph Audio/Jeff Rowland: This pairing presented reel-to-reel once again. The Perspective speaker played the music. The room had a great reel-to-reel version of Fritz Reiner's 1960-61 Scheherazade RCA recording with the CSO. Friendly people were manning the room.

Fifth Floor:

526 - Vandersteen: Vandersteen had its floor standers in a smaller room this year. I don't recall if they were the Treo or Quatro models. Good track selection and reasonable volume levels allowed the large speakers to meld well with a regular-sized room.

536-538 - Audioconsultants: Chicagoans and Midwesterners will welcome the long-awaited debut/"spring seminar" of this retailer at Axpona. A Chicago-based event now feels more complete with this exhibitor on hand. Their products sounded great, too.

Sixth Floor:

614 - Canton/Esoteric: Canton is a strangely underground brand in the US, though not in Europe. The debut of Canton's References series, albeit in a tucked away kind of low-keyed room, was another welcome addition to Axpona. The Esoteric gentleman was one of the few exhibitors doing what seemed to be a CD-exclusive presentation. He had a great presentation, and it was nice to see some sliver discs spinning.

626 - Raidho/Next Level Hi Fi: This local retailer had an interesting presentation from a manufacturer's representative. They played some incredibly large-sounding, but diminutive, Raidho stand-mounters. This room was packed to overflowing yesterday. Expect a wait to get in today, but don't miss this room.

642 - Magico: People are free to espouse divergent views. But for me, the Magico S3 Mk II speakers were the standout, "best in show" speakers. These speakers seem to improve each year; refinements and an ever more natural sound emanate from these material-science heavy transducers. The room is tucked-away near the stairwell at the end of the hallway. Don't miss this room.

Final Note: The show directory is kind of confusing this year. You may expect something in a room, only not to find it. Conversely, ancillary components are omitted in some cases. Peek into each room, there might be something that is not on the directory.

The discussion about audio in 2017 was one of the best I've listened to. it went beyond the usual course these seem to take. Especially appreciated Steve Guttenberg's response to the guy who asked about room treatment...."consider headphones". Couldn't agree more. After spending a long time in the ear gear expo, many of the speaker systems sounded sluggish and resonant. Harbeth was fantastic though as usual.

I was in the room at the same time you were Jason in fact sitting right in front of you and heard no bass issues, in fact I was impressed with the tonality and tautness of the lower registers. I found the sound cohesive and the soundstage was huge...goosebump huge. Later in the day (Friday) we heard tracks from the TT, RtoR and the digital server...all equally impressive. The 11 Ultras are an incredible achievment IMO and the opinion of many others who visited the room..

Hi Jason,

I'm sorry if I confused or offended you in any way, but WyWires, MrSpeakers, and HiFiMan paid to be co-exhibitors in our room.

We were exhibiting the system you photographed with MrSpeakers Ether Flows and HiFiMan HE-1000v2 headphones both with WyWires new Platinum headphone cables.

I'm sure you can understand that it would not have been fair to the companies that paid to exhibit their headphones and cables with us to allow a professional reviewer such as yourself to audition or photograph our room with headphones and cables from another company.

You just happen to walk in at the exact same moment that we were attempting to politely usher out the only attendee all week end who insisted on listening to his personal headphones and upgraded headphone cable. I can see why you got caught up in his enthusiasm.

But you caught me a bit flat footed. Obviously my communication skills were lacking since I could not manage to convey to you that we had co-exhibitors for headphones and cables that wanted you to photograph their products as well as ours.

Hopefully at some future show you'll have a chance to audition our room under optimal conditions. We would be happy to give you a private quiet audition before or after show hours as we did with several other members of the press.

Benjamin Zwickel
Owner, Mojo Audio

Always good to see Steven Rochlin (Audio Pimp) on deck.

I'm beginning to think we're on the cusp of a new renaissance in traditional hi-fi. Like the vinyl revival a few years ago, it is slowly building up steam. I attended a demo recently, in a public venue at no charge, that was put on by a dealer to showcase wares not widely available in the area. I was surprised by the attendance, as well as seeing many women and couples under-30 at the show, actively listening and making music requests. I'm not sure what is the driver of the trend, what is stimulating the interest, whether it's a spillover of the growing vinyl revival, the increasing cachet of higher-cost headphones, or some other factor, but something seems to be inspiring people to search out better sound and a listening experience that more closely approximates a live acoustic concert in the home. It may be that hi-fi will become cool, and aspirational, again. Steve G.'s mention of hi-fi products appearing for sale in non-tradtional places like department stores aligns with aspirational hi-fi and hi-fi as lifestyle products.

I feel we are also seeing a rise in the traditional audio dealer, those who are adapting and engaging the customers, providing solutions to needs and desires, and not the stereotypical snooty, aloof dealer who only caters to deep wallets and only deigns to commune with those who are already initiated members of the high-end audiophile fold. I think the proliferation of, and growing attendence at certain regional audio shows, at least in the U.S., underscores the trend.

Of course, the market is adapting by providing integrated solutions to consumer demand for quality, but assembling a component system need not be hit-and-miss if the traditional dealers can return to offering value as a service and cultivating repeat business and word-of-mouth business, rather than merely serving as product vendors.

It is still too early to tell, but one may hope.