search

Lithe, Alluring: Playback Designs, Evolution Acoustics, darTZeel, Wave Kinetics, Channel D

At a hi-fi show, the halls, stairwells, and elevators talk. If you listen closely, they’ll tell you where the show’s best sound can be found. On the show’s first day, I kept hearing whispers about Jonathan Tinn’s Blue Light Audio room.

Inside, I was greeted by Channel D’s smiling Rob Robinson, manning the controls of a Pure Music/Pure Vinyl-equipped Mac, sending high-resolution music files to a Playback Designs MPS-3 CD player ($8500) via USB. The sleek MPS-3 handles up to 384kHZ PCM and 6.1MHz DSD.

The small, attractive speakers were Evolution Acoustics’ MMMicroOne ($2500/pair…

Channel D's Pure Vinyl

Typically, the mere thought of digitizing my vinyl is enough to give me the heebie-jeebies&#151the process can be so tedious and time-consuming&#151but after watching Channel D’s Rob Robinson quickly and easily set track markers on a virtual LP using his clever Pure Vinyl software ($229), I imagined that even I could have fun with it.

The King of Limbs: Simaudio, Dynaudio, Shunyata, Quadraspire

In one of several rooms set up by local dealer Audio Vision, an attractive and deceptively simple little system was making some outstanding music: Simaudio 650 D CD/DAC transport ($7999), Simaudio 600 I integrated amplifier ($7999), Dynaudio C1 Signature loudspeakers ($8950, with stands), and cables and accessories from Shunyata: Black Mamba power cables ($595 each), Anaconda power cables ($1999), Anaconda speaker cables ($3499/2m pair), Anaconda interconnects ($2499/1m pair), Dark Field cable-lifters ($295/pack of 12). The components sat on a Quadraspire Sunoko rack ($395/level).

…

A Busy Day

On Friday, the California Audio Show seemed fairly quiet, as can be expected for the first day of any show. But early on Saturday a long line to the registration desk promised a busy day of music and hi-fi.

Excited About New Music: Wilson Audio, D’Agostino, ASC, dCS, Transparent Audio

When the hell did Wilson Audio’s Peter McGrath become so hip? Has the old dude been subscribing to The Wire, hanging out in Greenpoint, going to noise-rock shows in abandoned warehouses?

McGrath used a system comprising Wilson Audio Sasha loudspeakers, gorgeous D’Agostino Momentum monoblock amplifiers, Sooloos Control 15, dCS Debussy DAC, Transparent Audio cables, and ASC Tube Traps to demo music from Pan Sonic to James Blake to Nicolas Jaar.

Nicolas Jaar? Peter McGrath? What the hell? Where am I?

First the room: It was small. Very small. I almost didn’t even see it…

That VooDoo That You Do: VooDoo Cable

The fellows in the VooDoo Cable room were playing Joni Mitchell’s Travelogue, arranged and conducted by Vince Mendoza.

The system featured the Belles Reference 150A power amplifier, ModWright 36.5 preamp with dual-mono power supply, Sony XA-5400ES SACD player with ModWright Truth modifications, and PS Audio P600 multi-wave AC power regenerator. The speakers were VooDoo’s own, a prototype, which should be available in about a year. And the cables, of course, were all VooDoo: Stradivarius Cremona interconnects with high-purity copper and silver conductors ($1500/1m pair, RCA), Stradivarius…

Smooth and Forgiving: Neko Audio, Chapman Audio Systems, Cary Audio, Parasound, MIT Cables

I’d never heard of Chapman Loudspeakers, but they’ve been around for 40 years, designing and manufacturing a range of compression-line floorstanders, right here in the USA, on Vashon Island, Washington. The company’s T-8 ($8995/pair) uses a new Scan-Speak tweeter, revised Scan-Speak side-firing woofer, and has a sand-dampened internal chamber.

Chapman’s Jesse Jones explained that they wanted the tweeter to be smoother and more forgiving to more types of music while retaining the music’s essential energy.

The system included Cary Audio’s CD 306 SACD player, Cary’s SLP 05…

Indie Album Unexpectedly Embraced by the Audiophiles

There are other examples: Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago, Iron & Wine’s Our Endless Numbered Days, Feist’s Let it Die, Fleet Foxes’ self-titled debut, and the XX’s XX come to mind. All of these albums were darlings of the indie pop scene and embraced by audiophiles. (What the?)

This year’s award for “Indie Album Unexpectedly Embraced by the Audiophiles” might just go to James Blake’s dreamy, self-titled debut. I’ve heard “Wilhelms Scream,” the second track from that album, in at least five exhibitors’ rooms at the California Audio Show.

I guess we like the way it…

Magico, Spectral, Audio Research, MIT, Tim Marutani Consulting, Bill Schnee, Blue Coast Records: Awesome!

Though they were also seen at the Munich Show, Magico’s Q1 monitors ($24,950/pair) are making their US debut here at the California Audio Show. The speaker incorporates much of the technology and design philosophy used in Magico’s Q5, reviewed by Mikey Fremer, but puts it in a smaller package. Like the Q5 and Q3, the Q1 is a sealed-box design with extensive internal bracing.

Magico’s Alon Wolf explained that he strives to create a speaker which highlights no single aspect of the presentation, but instead offers a strong, top-to-bottom coherence. I asked him about the differences between…

KCSM Jazz 91.1

From left: Barbara Lamb Hall, Melanie Berzon, and Sybil Bolivar of San Mateo’s listener-supported KCSM, 91.1FM. Not only is KCSM one of Sam Tellig’s favorite spots on the FM dial, it’s one of the last all-jazz stations in the world.

Because so many audiophiles in the Bay Area are also jazz fans, KCSM and California Audio Show organizer Constantine Soo figured the show would be a great way for KCSM to meet and greet their listeners. The vibe in their hospitality suite was wonderful.

KCSM broadcasts 24 hours a day and has about 250,000 weekly listeners. Those outside the Bay Area…