Capital AudioFest 2019

BorderPatrol DAC and Amplification, Volti Loudspeakers, Innuos Music Server and Reclocker, Triode Wire Labs Cabling

Ken Micallef | Nov 3, 2019

I’ve favorably reviewed both Gary Dews’ BorderPatrol amps and Greg Roberts’ horn-loaded Volti Audio speakers. Since I couldn’t afford to purchase either when I reviewed them, I was looking forward to seeing and hearing their wares at CAF.

BorderPatrol and Volti Audio maintained two rooms at the show, one gained when New York’s High Water Sound cancelled due to a family emergency. Room 316 included BorderPatrol SE-I USB DAC ($1350), BorderPatrol S20EXD amplfier ($19,500), Innuos ZENith music server (1TB, $4249), Innuos Phoenix USB Reclocker ($3,149), Volti Audio Vittoras speakers ($25,000), and Triode Wire Labs Cabling.

Room 309 ran a similar setup but exchanged the Volti Audio Vittoras for the Volti Audio Rivals ($8900) and the S20EXD amplifier for the SE300B EXD. Greg Roberts ran 309, but I wanted to hear room 316, where the large Vittoras held court with Gary Dews at the helm.

It was fun listening in on other visitors to this room. One fellow said, “how can these large speakers image so well in such a short room?” A couple kept switching out the sweet spot seat, the wife saying to her husband, “I’m not leaving.”

Allied to the BorderPatrol DAC and amplification, the 104dB-sensitive, Baltic Birch plywood–constructed Vittoras played music in an exceptionally natural, lifelike, dramatic-yet-relaxed way. Swedish bassist Terje Gewelt’s makes the kind of forward-thinking European jazz I love, and via the Innuos server, BP amps, and the Vittoras, the music sounded spatial with natural tone, good dynamic shadings, and deep bowed but not tubby bass textures. Holly Cole’s high-rez take on Danny O’Keefe’s “Good Time Charlie’s Got The Blues” could qualify as audiophile fodder, but I was fully taken with the depth of her vocal and the clarity, extension, and tone of the acoustic bass. The Vittoras’ biggest strength is their ability to play music in a relaxed, natural fashion with faithful detail, dynamics, and human scale. I and everyone else in this packed room just relaxed and became engrossed in the music.