RMAF 2008

Newcomer Virtue Audio made its debut at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest showing a colorful collection of affordable Tripath amplifiers. The 45Wpc Audiophile One ($249) integrated amp was engineered by Audience's Roger Sheker and uses VirtuCap input capacitors designed for Virtue by Audience. Inside the chassis, you'll find the cutest little heat pipe designed to maximize space and keep things cool. On the rear panel, propeller post binding posts makes making connections easy, and the amp's aluminum chassis is available in five bold colors (black velvet, snow [a kind of frosty white], red brick, clouds [a kind of frosty blue], and mesa [a kind of mustard]).

In the vendor's area of the Marriott's lobby, Virtue was selling similarly colorful t-shirts that read: "I AM AN AUDIOPHILE." The tagline on Virtue's press cards reads: "We're all audiophiles at www.virtueaudio.com."

I like the message these guys are sending out, breaking stereotypical notions of what it means to be an audiophile. I took a shirt in a green that'll match my Rega P3-24.