search

It's a Wrap: AXPONA Reflections

Exciting. Engrossing. Exhausting. Enjoyable. Nothing but e-words from me. I could go on, but not without breaking out the thesaurus. —Rogier van Bakel, Stereophile's newest Contributing Editor

Numbers are one thing. At AXPONA 2022, those numbers included 7498 unique visitors, plus 98 incontrovertibly unique members of the press, 138 active exhibit rooms, and a large number of Ear Gear and marketplace exhibits. 220 showgoers attended Friday's 8pm Blues Night with Toronzo Cannon, and 300 defied expo burnout to enjoy Lori Lieberman on Saturday at 8.

But numbers mean only…

Bending Wave USA: Göbel Audio, CH Precision, Wadax

A large, almost loft-style suite on the 16th floor housed a big, all-out system presented by Bending Wave USA, the Florida-based distributor/dealer for Germany's Göbel Audio (among other brands); their name nods to Göbel Audio's bending wave drivers. At the end of a no-holds-barred chain, a pair of glossy black Göbel Divin Marquis speakers (see John Atkinson's review; $90,000/pair) pumped out soundwaves. Their bold geometric form with all its angular surfaces kind of resemble a robot; I mean that in a good way: They're neat-looking.

An AMT tweeter—a heavily modified Mundorf…

MoFi Distribution, Part 4: Wharfedale, BAT, MoFi x Fender

The MoFi Distribution classic gear fun continued in Suite 346, with two pairs of Wharfedale Heritage Linton speakers ($1799/pair), stacked, with the one on top inverted so that the two tweeters were in the middle. One Wharfedale Linton stand ($399/pair) supported each side's stack.

MoFi showed so much that it'd be nearly impossible to cover it all, but I want to mention a few new introductions from Suite 346. I wrote about the MoFi Electronics x Fender PrecisionDeck turntable ($3495) in the December 2021 issue's Industry Update, and I had seen photos of it, but the limited-…

Verdant Audio: Wilson Benesch, Canor, Weiss, Antipodes, AVM, Puritan

Dealer/distributor Verdant Audio's room included a few important debuts, including the new Wilson Benesch Geometry Discovery IIIZ standmount loudspeaker ($31,000). The speaker updates the English company's Geometry lineup, and it's the second model with its monocoque enclosure incorporating the recently developed A.C.T. 3Zero material, a "greener" carbon-fiber alternative that's said to be almost entirely free of petroleum products: Even the resin has been replaced by a "bio resin," Verdant Audio Founder Scott Bierfeldt told me. It's also said to require about half the amount of energy to…

Gramophone Dreams #60: Denafrips Terminator Plus, Denafrips Gaia, HoloAudio Spring 3

The week before Christmas, I invited my artist friend Joe to visit my studio to see my 2021 paintings. To spice the invitation, I told Joe that while he was looking he could audition the newest flagship DAC from Denafrips, the Terminator Plus.

Joe is an all-in Denafrips guy (footnote 1) who currently uses an Ares II in his bedroom system and a Terminator in his big studio system, to which he listens while he works, typically for 10 hours per day. He paints his car, dog, and horse pictures while listening through a pair of dusty, paint-spattered Klipsch La Scala horns sitting on cement…

Gramophone Dreams #60: Denafrips Terminator Plus, Denafrips Gaia, HoloAudio Spring 3 Page 2

When I played Music for the Qin Zither for Vlad and Li, Li exclaimed, "I can see the qin! Look! It's right there!" as she pointed to a place between the speakers. Li was responding to one of the Terminator Plus's most dominant traits: its high acuity-factor.

Hoping to impress Vlad with the Terminator Plus's ability to express the qin's full harmonic spectrum, I played Xia Fuxi performing "A Fisherman's Song" from Chinese Traditional and Folk Music: Guqin Vol.3 (16/44.1 FLAC, China Record Corporation/ Qobuz), a demonstration-quality guqin recording. The sound was so ridiculously tangible…

Re-Tales #20: You never forget your first gorilla

You never forget your first time. Ask any audiophile about that first moment hearing music through a good hi-fi system—how it rocked their world and changed their life. Maybe it was at a friend's parents' house when they were a kid. Often, though, it was the first time they found themselves in a hi-fi dealership, back in the day.

Yes, back then, hi-fi dealerships played a critical role in exposing people to good sound. According to industry stalwart Anthony Chiarella, they still do—indeed, they must. The industry, though, faces serious challenges—including continuing to introduce…

AudioPraise VanityPRO HDMI audio extractor

The increasing prominence of Blu-ray explains why a device to extract audio from an HDMI stream has become necessary. At first, Blu-ray players had HDMI outputs for video and audio, but to speed their adoption, they also sported analog audio outputs to help users who had older AV receivers (AVRs). Bye the bye, those audio outputs were pared off. First, the multichannel jacks, then the stereo jacks, and finally the S/PDIF jacks were eliminated. In parallel, dedicated SACD players began to disappear, except at the very high end. The result: Most players, including so-called universal disc…

AudioPraise VanityPRO HDMI audio extractor Specifications

Sidebar 1: Specifications

Description: Digital breakout box that extracts multichannel or stereo audio data (PCM or DSD) from HDMI sources. Inputs: HDMI 2.0. Supported input formats: PCM (up to 24/192), DSD64. Outputs, multichannel version: HDMI 2.0 and choice of 4 AES3 (XLR), 4 S/PDIF (RCA or BNC) outputs. Stereo version: one each AES3, S/PDIF, and TosLink. Output sample rates: up to 24/192kHz (from PCM) or DoP (from DSD64). Word clock and Super clock outputs. Separate power supply for HDMI and audio circuitry via dual USB-C connections. Supplied accessories: two 5V/1A DC power supplies…

AudioPraise VanityPRO HDMI audio extractor Associated Equipment

Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment

Digital sources: Oppo Digital UDP-105 universal disc player, custom Baetis Prodigy-X4i music server running JRiver Media Center v28 and Roon 1.8, Mytek Brooklyn+, exaSound s88 streaming DAC and Okto dac8 PRO D/A processors. QNAP TVS-873 NAS.
Preamplifier: Coleman Audio 7.1SW for source switching.
Power Amplifiers: Benchmark AHB2, NAD C 298.
Loudspeakers: Revel Ultima2 Studio with IsoAcoustics Gaia I isolation feet. Revel Performa3 f206 for surrounds. Two SVS SB-3000 & one SB-2000Pro subwoofers.
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest Coffee USB,…