Vapor Audio’s Rick LaFaver had reason aplenty to smile. Playing MA Recordings’ fabled CD of Sera Una Noche: La Segunda, his system nailed the timbre of instruments spot on. I was amazed at the depth he achieved from his small speakers, and took special note of the realistic decay of the sound of brushes on cymbals and bells being struck. “The hollow resonance of the percussion seems real,” I wrote in my notes.
Doing the honors were Vapor Audio’s Joule Black loudspeakers ($8995/pair with stands), pictured beside the smaller Vapor Audio Cirrus Black loudspeakers ($3995/pair). Completing the system, and equally responsible for the sound, were BMC M2 monoblock amps ($7990/each), BMC BDCD1.1 belt-drive CD transport ($4990), and BMC DAC1 preamp ($6290); Antipodes Music Server ($2500), a VortexBox based design that operates headless, and uses an external battery power supply for the USB output to truncate computer power supply noise to the DAC; HB Cable Design PowerStar Horizon power distributor ($3995) and Stage III cabling; and racking from HiFi Racks UK (approx. $1000).
