Bel Canto e1X DAC/Control Preamp, e1X Stereo Amplifier, and Audiovector SR 3 Avantgarde Arreté Loudspeakers

Bel Canto e1X DAC/Control Preamp, e1X Stereo Amplifier, and Audiovector SR 3 Avantgarde Arreté Loudspeakers

In room 504 at the 2019 AXPONA, Minnesota-based Bel Canto partnered with Danish company Audiovector to present a really good-sounding system with a small footprint.

VTL S-400 Series II Reference Amp, Stenheim Alumine Five Speakers, dCS Rossini Player, Nordost Odin 2 Cables

VTL S-400 Series II Reference Amp, Stenheim Alumine Five Speakers, dCS Rossini Player, Nordost Odin 2 Cables

"OMG, it's music" is the first thing I wrote down in this room. "So much of what I've missed at this show is here." On master recordist Peter McGrath's live 24/88.2 MQA recording of pianist Benjamin Grosvenor playing the Sarabande from Bach's French Suite No.5, I heard the natural ring of his piano's top notes resounding and decaying in an uncannily realistic depiction of a large, open venue. Given that plans to attend Grosvenor's performance at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on Saturday night were scrapped due to the musician's strike, this was certainly the next best thing.

Vimberg Tonda Speakers, Karan M 2000 Amps, Thales Statement Tonearm, Crystal Cable Future Dream Cables

Vimberg Tonda Speakers, Karan M 2000 Amps, Thales Statement Tonearm, Crystal Cable Future Dream Cables

Canada's Wynn Audio sure mixed it up, to good effect, in a system that included two premieres: Crystal Cable's Future Dream 15th Anniversary limited-edition series, which combines proprietary monocrystal silver and silver-gold alloy in a four-coaxial-conductor construction insulated by Dupont Kapton and Teflon, and the Entreq Silver Tellus Infinity ground box ($2400 each), a passive device that, using a different technology to Nordost's QKore grounding units, claims to remove ground noise from components.

Vandersteen System 9 Speakers and Amplification, Channel D Lino C Phono Stage, AudioQuest Niagara 7000 Power Conditioner, HRS SXR Silver Rack

Vandersteen System 9 Speakers and Amplification, Channel D Lino C Phono Stage, AudioQuest Niagara 7000 Power Conditioner, HRS SXR Silver Rack

Vandersteen lovers, of which there are many, may stare in disbelief at these words, but AXPONA 2019 marks the first time that I truly got why so many people rave about Vandersteen's sound. At least I think I did. Even if I didn't fully get what other people get, I got enough to say, "Oh yeah, uh huh, that Vandersteen midrange is surely something worth writing home about." In fact, based on what I heard, I see why some people would prefer to cart up the whole thing and let it do the speaking.

Ayre Acoustics QX-8, QX-5, & Codex

Ayre Acoustics QX-8, QX-5, & Codex

Getting ready for the first day's visitors in AXPONA's Ear Gear Expo, Ayre's vice president and CTO, Ariel Brown, was busy setting up the Colorado's company's QX-5 Twenty D/A processor ($8950, right) Codex D/A headphone amplifier ($1795, hidden in center, and the new QX-8 D/A processor ($4450 with S/PDIF inputs, $4950 with asynchronous USB input, $5450 with USB and Roon Ready Ethernet, left).

PrimaLuna EVO 400 Preamp and Amp, GoldenEar Triton One.R Speakers

PrimaLuna EVO 400 Preamp and Amp, GoldenEar Triton One.R Speakers

In front of the room sponsored by GoldenEar Technology and PrimaLuna USA, I saw tube maven Kevin Deal (above)—the latter company's Primary Dude—displaying the insides of a PrimaLuna amplifier. PR man extraordinaire Anthony Chiarella was sitting next to him saying, "Its built like a Fabergé egg." Which indeed it was.

Woo Audio WA11 Topaz Headphone Amp-DAC, WA33 Headphone Amp, and Mysphere 3.1 Headphones

Woo Audio WA11 Topaz Headphone Amp-DAC, WA33 Headphone Amp, and Mysphere 3.1 Headphones

I'm a little old to be a fan (but I am), and some say singer-songwriter Billie Eilish is a little young (just turned 17) to be as famous and successful as she is. But hey, what's-his-name from the Jackson Five was only five years old when he was that famous . . .
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