Toronto Audiofest 2021

In a near-repeat of my visit to the Gershman Acoustics room at 2019’s Toronto Audiofest, I got the chance to meet up with the Toronto-based company’s Ofra and Eli Gershman and also Krell COO Walter Schofield. This time I also got to meet Exasound president George Klissarov, to chat about audio and listen to good music from a system using a Krell 150Wpc (the first 90 watts in class-A) K300i integrated amplifier (US$7500, US$8500 with DAC; see Jason Victor Serinus's review, here.), Gershman Acoustics’s Grande Avant Garde speakers ($15,900/pair US), and the Exasound S88 streaming DAC ($6500 US; see Kal Rubinson's review here). Gershman Acoustics and Krell are two brands that, by all evidence, work well together, and you can now add Exasound to the mix as a synergistic match. On streamed DSD files, the sound was robust, visceral, rich, dynamic, sweet, and rhythmic as all get-out. Cabling was by Cardas.