Fidelis Distribution’s Walter Swanbon plays the long game. Like other legacy manufacturers—think Audio Note, Tannoy, Audio Research—Swanbon’s equipment offerings are classics: some in waiting, some long established as leaders.

Giovanni Guidi: A New Day; Jordina Millà/Barry Guy: Live In Munich; Neta Raanan: Unforeseen Blossom; Misha Tsiganov: Painter of Dreams.

Compared to past years, Fidelity Imports and its stable of brands kept a lower profile at this year’s Capital Audiofest. It shared rooms with local dealer, The Listening Room (“Audio Systems of Distinction” since 1978), showing equipment I have become familiar with both from afar and up close, as in my recent review of the Michell TecnoDec at Analog Planet, and soon, the Union Research S6 integrated amplifier for Stereophile.

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Small, compact and visually unique, Monitor Audio's Studio 89 is an uncompromising loudspeaker capable of filling large rooms with pristine sound. It benefits from a host of cutting-edge Monitor Audio innovations and is born of the same Transparent Design Philosophy as the statement Hyphn.

Christopher Hildebrand, the man behind Fern & Roby, is a bit of a romantic. He's got that same sentimental streak I do, a deep appreciation for the simple things – music, books, and the love of family. It's no surprise, then, that he's poured his heart into his unique audio creations, honoring the memory of his grandmothers, Fern and Roby.

Boris Blank has a cold, and three days after meeting him in his hometown of Zurich, I do too. This seems apt. Metaphorically, he's been infecting me for decades.

For almost 45 years, Yello, the pioneering Swiss band that Blank formed with singer Dieter Meier, has created witty electropop that provokes joy and awe in attentive listeners. You can dance to most of this music, of course—it's often hard not to—but its allure, its spell, goes deeper. For one thing, Yello's music is delightfully visual. Cinema for the ears.

So there I was, in the parking lot of the Rockville Hilton, cigar smoke curling into the crisp autumn air, grilling Gary Gill about his brainchild, Capital Audio Fest (CAF). This East Coast audio extravaganza has grown into a monster, bursting at the seams of its Rockville venue.