T.H.E. Show Newport 2012

"Daedalus Audio and ModWright Instruments have teamed up to show how good a sound you can get for close to $15k," Daedalus' Lou Hinkley explained as I entered the room. Indeed, for as much as I could hear over a very loud conversation, the sound of a track from River, Herbie Hancock's Tribute to Joni Mitchell, and another from a Norah Jones album was very, very nice.

Speakers were the Daedalus Audio Athena ($9950/pair) with Daedalus/Bolder speaker cable ($1500/8ft pair). Modwright Instruments supplied the KWI 200 ($5000) w/DAC ($1150) and phono ($350). Other interconnects were by WyWires, including the Silver Series Version 3 balanced ($1099) and Silver Series s/pidf cable ($499). The PC in the background was playing files via J River Media. Unheard were the VPI Classic 1 table ($2750) and Dynavector 20XH cartridge ($850). Racks were by Linkz Design. Apologies for the poorly focused photo. The sound was much clearer than this image.