PAF 2023

On the pretty lucky-sounding 13th floor of the Doubletree by Hilton at SEATAC, LTA and Daedalus Audio presented the larger installment of their two-room partnership. A Red Book file of Patricia Barber's "The Beat Goes On" was distinguished by lovely warmth and a very solid, all of one piece presentation.

What would "classical music" be without Fritz Reiner's Living Stereo recording of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade? Nowhere, apparently, since it continues to occupy the top of classical playlists in multiple rooms. Here it sprang forth most seductively in DSD. Once I'd taken a few deep breaths, I discovered a presentation dominated by a very sweet-sounding solo violin. The lower midrange wasn't as distinctly defined or as weighted as the top end, but that had no bearing on a fine presentation of the fairly recent remastering of Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, and Paco de Lucía's Friday Night Live in San Francisco.

Heard: Linear Tube Audio's MicroZOTL preamplifier (level 2) ($5750), the debut of their pre-production prototype 100Wpc monoblocks ($TBD), and forthcoming chassis-less R2R + ZOTL DAC ($TBD; above). Daedalus Audio supplied the Apollo 11 v.3 loudspeakers ($27,500+/pair; below), Small Green Computer gave us their Sonic Transporter i9 Optical Gen 2 music server ($2999+) and Sonore Signature Rendu SE Optical Network Player ($4950), and WyWires held it all together with their Diamond Series cabling and the WyWires/Daedalus Power Broker ($2495).