Founded in 2004 by former members of Marantz Japan, Soul Note is a subsidiary of CSR, Inc., headquartered in…
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The Listening Room and Perlisten Audio's Erik Wiederhotlz assembled a fine-sounding room, its front end including the revised Michell Orbe SE Turntable with an inverted, oil-circulating main bearing, freestanding motor, and massive platter ($6999 w/o tonearm; $8495 w/Technoarm 2), Innuos Statement Music Server and Streamer, Soul Note D2 DAC ($8999), Soul Note E2 MM/MC Phono Equalizer ($8999), and Soul Note S3 SACD player ($19,999). Amplification consisted of more Soul Note!
Albert Guerra of AGD Productions (left) and Michal Jurewicz (right)
Running into my Brooklyn buddy and Mytek head honcho Michal Jurewicz at the local Safeway (hotel food: $$$), he invited me to an after-hours shootout between his forthcoming GaN FET-powered, Empire monoblocks ($19,990/pair, below), which are specified as offering 400W into 8 ohms and 800W into 4 ohms. His dueling partner in this shootout was Albert Guerra of AGD Productions, who brought his GaN FET-operated Gran Vivace Monoblocks ($18,500/pair).
Streaming Qobuz to Mytek's Empire Streamer ($24,995, above)…
Alma Music's Fabio Storelli and On A Higher Note's Philip O'Hanlon tempted me with promises of serious sound, female entertainment, and triple-distilled whiskey. I fell into their room and almost spent the night.
O'Hanlon had the brand spanking new Graham Audio LS8/1 Limited Edition standmount loudspeakers ($9700/pair, with stands). When I told him I owned a pair of the Spendor BC1s, upon which the Grahams are based, O'Hanlon fiendishly poured more whisky down my throat, wrestled me to the carpeted hotel floor, and introduced me to golden Montreal harpist, Isabeau Corriveau (bottom photo…
I have a theory about Greg Roberts, Gary Dews, and Pete Grzybowski, respective owners of Volti Audio, BorderPatrol Audio Electronics, and Triode Wire Labs. I knew guys like these three in high school, whip smart dudes who had the best music, stayed up late playing that music, but were somehow at school the next morning before anyone, pushing their grades to the max. Me? Slacker.
That's why the Three Volti Musketeers always play music loudly, pre and post show hours, checking the rig, always experimenting. I can attest to this phenomena, as I was up early and late, researching room…
Literally everything in this room, except Doug White of The Voice That Is and Vinnie Rossi, was new.
This room gets my vote for the most beautiful looking system of the show. A stunner.
Tidal Audio's new The Piano G3 loudspeakers ($64,000/pair), in piano black finish, were a knockout, and Rossi's new Brama "collection" of components were at once, sleek, and statuesque.
Regarding Tidal Audio's The Piano G3s, the press release, paraphrased, stated "The cabinet is even more silent and rigid, all new drivers, the new diamond tweeter has no hard contact to the cabinet, new…
Andrew Jones enthuses about his new MoFi SourcePoint 10 speakers
CAF 2022 was all abuzz with news of Andrew Jones's new MoFi Electronics 10 standmount loudspeaker, the SourcePoint 10 ($3699/pair, Stereophile review by John Atkinson scheduled for the February 2023 issue). With a specified sensitivity of 91dB/2.83V/m and an impedance of 8 ohms, the two-way, reflex-loaded speaker features a 1.25" soft-dome tweeter concentrically mounted in a 10" woofer. But that's not all that was on display and in use in the MoFi room.
In the listening room, in addition to Jones' speakers…
Val Acora returned to CAF with his new quartz QRC-1 and QRC-2 two-way Scanspeak driver-equipped loudspeakers, the quartz cabinet material a variation on his former granite-enclosure models. Why quartz? Acora said quartz is more forgiving, easier to work with, provides a more rigid material that holds drivers more securely, and has better sound.
Spinning a vinyl disc on big system one, the RCA Living Stereo version of Ernest Ansermet's The Royal Ballet Gala Performances including the The Nutcracker, the music floated, apart from the hi-fi system, with excellent detail, resonance…
Steve Jain, Managing Director & cofounder of New Jersey's Fidelity Imports had [edit] six rooms (!) at CAF, all packed with enough hi-fi goodness to make my North Carolina grandmother give-me-my-inheritance-now to buy more gear!
My CAF running buddy (and superior artist, journalist, and fine fellow), Michael Lavorgna, of must-read audio site TwitteringMachines.com, corralled me (after two refreshing Sazeracs) into the Fidelity Imports room, where the French-made Diptyque DP107 speakers ($7999/pair) were making fast, streamlined, thrilling music. The 86dB/W/m, 6 ohm Diptyque DP107 is…
India's Rethm loudspeakers, California's Ampsandsound, and China's Auralic combined forces to make unique sounds at CAF 2022.
Stereophile, I'd not heard Jacob George's Rethm Maarga speakers. But I have heard, drooled over, and yearned to review Justin Weber's Ampsandsound amplifiers (Jim Austin, are you reading this?!) after covering them at the last NY headphone show. Justin brought his new Black Pearl 300B stereo power amplifier ($16,000) and The Preamp ($1850, both available…
Legacy Audio founder and designer Bill Dudleston (center) brought his Aeris and Calibre loudspeakers to CAF, joined by Now Listen Here's James Thompson (left) and Aaron Sherrick (right).
Their system included an Innuos ZENmini server w/LPSU ($2498), a Bel Canto Black e1X DAC/preamp ($13,500), a Bel Canto Black e1X amplifier ($10,500), with Legacy Audio Aeris speakers w/Wavelett II processor/DAC/preamp ($27,792/pair), and Legacy Audio Calibre speakers ($6050/pair). Transparent Super speaker cables ($2000/pair), Transparent Super XLR interconnects ($1500/pair), Transparent Premium…