I might have missed the wine tastings, but I did not miss the gourmet food trucks. Like vinyl and nautical-themed clothing, lunch trucks have been making a big comeback. Don’t ask why. Just enjoy it.
On one fine and sunny afternoon, Devore Fidelity’s John DeVore and I stepped out for lunch. We came this close to ordering a couple of foot-long, potato-wrapped sausages covered in chili and cheese from Tornado Potato, but we wound up settling for Rolling Sushi. Sushi from a truck? It was really good!
Then, of course, since we didn’t bust our guts on Tornado Potato, we treated…
The title may have veiled what this seminar was about, but there were some light moments during the two-hour Friday afternoon session that discussed "what to listen to and for in music." Pictured (left to right) are Tony Weber, 40-year industry veteran and Regional Sales Manager for Cary Audio; Tim Brisson, formerly of MIT cables; Bruce Brisson, who engineered the first purposefully built audio cable in 1981, which was marketed by Monster Cable; Paul Stubblebine, for 34 years a mastering engineer; and Cookie Marenco, a five-time Grammy nominee who is founder and producer/engineer for…
And, for those who weren’t brave enough for Tornado Potato or Rolling Sushi, the Aura restaurant and bar proved the perfect place to see and be seen, to mingle, to catch up on business, or to simply enjoy food and drink.
The Aura was conveniently located on the ground floor of the Hilton, near the elevators and front desk, adjacent to music vendors, as well as seminar and demo rooms, and benefited from sunlight streaming in through the patio terrace. While walking through the restaurant, I kept being reminded of the excellent atmosphere of the Munich High End Show—basically,…
Although a fair number of woman are now appearing audiophile shows, both as exhibitors and attendees, rare is the woman who attends without her partner/spouse/significant other. Meet Sheri Morgenroth, who founded the Houston Audio Society eight years ago. Currently an engineer by day, and married to a man who cares not about our hobby/passion/obsession, Sheri was fascinated by records at a very early age. When she reached college, she grew very frustrated when her fellow music loving students wouldn't let her borrow their records because they judged her turntable and tonearm a hazard to their…
This was the first time I've encountered ESS Labs at a show. Rico Caudillo, CEO, explained that after an eight-year cessation, the company returned to the scene maybe four years ago. Pictured here, left to right, are the imposing, all-dipole Transar ($19,000/pair) and smaller AMT Limited ($4495/pair). (I apologize that the LD8 at $1800/pair didn't make it into the photo).
The Transar threw a huge, open, very high soundstage, among the most impressive I encountered in my first day in the Hilton's small rooms. Although distinctly wiry on voice, the instruments surrounding the voice had a…
Finally I had a chance to hear the loudspeakers lauded by Stereophile equipment reviewers, the Voxativ Ampeggio Signature by Schimmel ($32,500/pair). This single-driver, ultra-sensitive speaker headlined an excellent line-up from Alfred Kainz's highend-electronics, Inc. that led me to write in my notes, "Beautiful. Remarkably close to natural sound. The highs are wonderful, especially the cymbals."
Making the Voxativs sound as good as they did were Kainz's own highend-electronics Music Server I ($995), a 64-bit device that runs on Windows 7; Synergistic Research's The Music Cable ($3599…
I fell in love with the adorable little system from Chris Sommovigo's The Signal Collection when I heard it play some of Todd Garfinkle's MA Recordings at AXPONA 2012 in Jacksonville. In Newport Beach the love affair continued.
Making far more sound than their diminutive size warrants, and delivering all the beauty that MA Recording's demonstration quality CDs and LPs hold, were the Davone "Mojo" Monitor ($2300/pair), Black Cat interconnects ($125/1m pair), Black Cat speaker cables ($350/3m pair), and, playing source files, Korg MR2000S recorder ($2500). Kneeling beside them, from left…
Everyone who knows Dan Meinwald of EAR USA looks forward to his exhibits, as much for their wonderful sound as for the opportunity to discover sometimes unusual, musically engrossing vinyl titles. This year was no exception. Once an attendee who was dominating the proceedings finally settled down, and Dan played a master tape-sourced file of Heifetz and Smith playing Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata and a hi-rez copy of the Concierto de Aranjuez (I think), the room transformed from a showcase for a loudmouth into an island of warm sanity. It was luscious.
Driving the handsome Marten Django XL…
I have always greatly admired the match of Robert Lee's Acoustic Zen loudspeakers—in this case the wonderful Crescendo loudspeaker ($16,000/pair), a 3-way transmission line design with a horn-loaded ribbon tweeter—with the Triode Corporation electronics imported by Santy Oropel of TWIN Audio Video. Here, the Crescendos formed an especially sonorous alliance with the TRV-CD5SE CD player ($3250), TRX-1 remote controlled tube preamplifier ($3200), and TRX-M845SE monoblock power amplifiers ($22,500/pair).
After several overly chatty rooms, it was a joy to discover that Robert and Santy had…
Gary Katayama of Affordable Audio constructed a system that allowed Randy Bankert's Sonist Concerto loudspeakers ($5895/pair) to show how much sound they can deliver. With apologies for my potentially flawed attempts at deciphering Gary's handwriting, I heard the Baetis Media Server ($2595) and Mach 2 Mac mini (approx. $1000) using Amarra 2.3, Human Audio Table USB–S/PDIF converter ($1000), Bel Canto 3.5 USB DAC ($3500), Audion 300B amplifier ($5500), EAT E-Flat turntable ($6000), and Synergistic Tranquility Base ($1000). The soundstage was impressively big, and the sound warm but overly…
