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KEF, Audio Electronics, & Wireworld

While there were many exciting cost-no-object systems on display, the New York Audio Show was also home to refreshingly small and simple systems that nevertheless offered exceptional performance.

KEF’s beautiful LS50 loudspeakers ($1500/pair) were partnered with Audio Electronics’ Constellation tube preamp ($1495), Hercules power amp ($1895), and Lightning DAC ($1295). Wireworld provided the cabling. The music, which came from a laptop, sounded forceful, dynamic, colorful, and present.

If I could have taken home any system from the New York Audio Show, it would have been this…

Hi-Fi Your Computer with KEF's X300A

I got to hear KEF’s X300A powered desktop speaker ($800/pair) when I visited the company late last year. Now the system has found its way to the States. KEF's animated brand ambassador, Johan Coorg, gave a characteristically colorful demo.

The X300A uses KEF's Uni-Q point-source driver array and places twin class-A/B amplifiers and a high-quality toroidal transformer in each cabinet. Further, each speaker has an internal 24-bit/96kHz asynchronous DAC. The signal flows not through standard speaker wire, but via a "digital inter-speaker connection," or USB link. According to Coorg, this is…

Zoom Away with Audio Arts

The intriguing sonics and gorgeous décor of Gideon Schwartz’s Audio Arts room were easily noticed by anyone who entered. Just in front of me, a little boy took pictures with his iPhone of the imposing yet luxurious Zellaton Studio Reference One loudspeakers ($52,750/pair). Schwartz’s room, the Chairman’s Office as indicated by New York Palace signs, used to be the office for hotel inheritor and tyrant manager Leona Helmsley. Dusty multi-colored hard-bound books lined the dark mahogany shelves next to daintily painted ceramic pots centered by the wonderfully symmetrical American-crafted Audio…

YG Kipods and Veloce Amps Make JA Happy

The YG Kipod loudspeakers powered by Veloce amplification were clean, dynamic, and suggested the right level of stickiness to brass.

But you didn’t hear it from me. I asked JA on Sunday: "What's the best sound you've heard so far today?" Here's what he said:

SRV and Sony

This year, the surprising lack of SRV (and overabundance of easy listening) made me glad to hear his perennial cover of “Little Wing” through Sony’s new and more “affordable” SS-NA2ES floorstanding loudspeakers ($10,000/pair) through Pass Labs amplification. Last year’s system impressed me thoroughly, striking a balance between romance and detail. This year’s system favored speed and attack accenting flourishes I had never heard before in SRV’s Hendrix cover but sounding a bit cool on “Breaking Silence” by Janice Ian.

The Sony crowd listens attentively in the well-lit room…

Sennheiser Shows off their Cans

Sennheiser had the largest presence at the constantly buzzing Headzone section at this year's New York Audio Show.

Dupuy Acoustique Daisy Reflector

Dupuy Acoustique, a brand relatively new to me, gave an effective demonstration of its Daisy Reflector ($995; patent pending), first seen at SSI in Montreal&#151a “phase-restoration device,” whose internal cabinetry and foam have been computer-modeled and CNC-machined for optimal performance.

When placed so that it aligns with the acoustic center of the partnering loudspeakers, in this case Dupuy’s own Conga, the Daisy Reflector is meant to capture deleterious reflections and correct timing errors. With the panel in place, I noticed a larger and more stable soundstage with cleaner…

Robert Lighton Plays Good Music

Canned jazz: that inoffensive blend of 80s synths, smooth sax, and punchy bass guitar. There was a lot of this at the New York Audio Show.

That’s why Robert Lighton’s room was such a delight. On his nightstand were fat stacks of R&B, African beat, and international jazz records. Real music with real soul, and while the bass response from Lighton’s $20,000 floorstanders was a bit wolfy, as I heard last year, there was a heartfelt expressiveness to the music beyond the composition. Electronics were provided by Audio Note, which Lighton also sells in his New York City store.

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Innovation from VPI

Mat Weisfield was ultra-stoked to tell me about VPI's new 3D-printed tonearm. I'll let Art do the explaining, but when I heard the VPI room, images were rock solid and full-bodied through the 3D printed tonearm and nascent VPI Classic Direct. A turntable created out of happenstance, when the chassis for the planned direct-drive Vanquish was not ready for the show, they stuck the Vanquish parts into a Classic chassis and the VPI Classic Direct (approximately $20-25k) was born. Resourceful, those VPI fellas.

Audio Loft and Coincident Speaker Technology

Coincident Speaker Technology and NYC dealer Audio Loft demonstrated a system made of Coincident’s Pure Reference Extreme loudspeakers ($26,800/pair) driven by Coincident’s 75W Dragon 211PP monoblocks ($10,999/pair), Statement Line Stage ($5499), and Statement Phono ($5999). Source was a VPI Classic 4 ($8000) with a beautiful rosewood base and HR-X 12.7 tonearm mounted with a Dynavector DRT XV-1t cartridge. Cables were Coincident’s own, and the gear was supported by a Steve Blinn Designs Monarch equipment rack.

A blues track with guitar, voice, harmonica, and drums sounded impressively…