Capital AudioFest 2024

At the risk of giving these social media upstarts more attention, my old friend Jason Messina (aka The Audiophile Junky) could be found in the Popori/UniQue room, which is a funny thing. The only time I’ve seen Jason even close to being immobile—i.e., not making videos, which he does, hitting the ground running (I’ve seen it)—is at a show!

Jason demonstrated the Theoretica Applied Physics Bacch-SP adio Stereo Purifier with DAC ($30,000) for me, and I was duly impressed, if a bit spooked. Who knew there was so much audio action happening behind my head?

Also in the room, a Roon Nucleus One ($499), VAC Essence 80 IQ monoblock amplifiers ($19,980/pair, on the way for review I’m told), ultra-tall Popori Acoustics WR2 electrostatic speakers ($34,000/pair), and Rythmik Audio F2G subwoofers ($1299/each).

Cables were courtesy Snake River Audio, rack by Solidsteel, StudioTraps by ASC, and cable lifters were by ViaBlue.