When I entered the room, I encountered some poorly recorded, edgy rock. A recording of the kind that might convince many a showgoer to forego this room, never to return. But because I’ve…
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The cynical amongst us might say that I began my coverage of Warsaw’s Audio Video 2024 with Polish audio company Ferrum because they were also taking me (and a huge bevy of other press people) out to dinner. While I won’t deny that one of many ways to an audio critic’s heart is through their stomach, my gut reaction to Ferrum has far more to do with its “amazing for the price” sound than its perks.
All prices in CA$
Monitor Audio was displaying two systems. The first showcased a pair of the company's Studio 89 monitors ($2999/pair, + $799 for Studio 89 stands) and Anthra W12 subwoofer ($3700), fed by a 140Wpc, class-A/B Rotel RAS-5000 integrated amplifier ($3999), while cabling and the component rack, in systems 1 and 2, were by Audience and Norstone, respectively.
On a Roon-supplied high-res file of an Eric Clapton and B.B. King track taken from the duo's Riding With the King release, Clapton's and King's vocals were transparent, throaty, and expressive,…
All prices are in CA$.
Some products at audio shows create a buzz. They get people excited and raving about them in the venue’s corridors. One such product at this year’s show was the Elac Concentro S 503 standmount speaker ($12,000/pair).
On its website, Elac calls the S 503 a bookshelf speaker, but I feel “bookshelf” doesn’t do the speaker justice—in looks alone; when I saw the S 503 as I walked into Winnipeg-based retailer Altitudo’s exhibit room, I thought, "what a smart-looking speaker". It looked distinguished with its trapezoid-shaped, beveled cabinet in its high-gloss…
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At every Toronto Audiofest, EQ Audio Video hosts the same room and it's easily the biggest one at the show—it's the size of a palatial Austrian ballroom—which the retailer subdivides into several closed-off demos that play at different times. EQ Audio Video owner Ed O'Herlihy knows how to put demos together so they always sound impressive, and this year I got to hear two of the best systems, not only in the EQ room, but at the entire show.
The first system I heard was centered around Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista electronics, including a 300Wpc, fully…
The Toronto Audiofest 2024 was a fun show, and by all signs, the audio hobby still beats with a vital, passionate heart.
Takeaways?
First, if what I saw of this year's inaugural Earvanafest was any indication of the high-end headphone industry's general health, it must be doing very well. The couple of times I stole a gander at the event, it was teeming with activity. It might explain why this year the Audiofest organizers decided to host the headphone component of the show in a much bigger space than usual, and call it Earvanafest!
Second, ribbon-based tweeters are…
VPI Industries, the New Jersey–based high-performance turntable maker, has introduced the Model One as the first offering in its new Forever Series. The new design emphasizes modularity and upgradability, allowing users to adapt their systems over time.
Motor Drive and Platter Module
At the heart of the Model One is the Motor Drive and Platter Module, designed for both high performance and flexibility. Mounted on an aluminum plate with a resonance-damping layer, this module minimizes vibrations. It features a 300rpm belt-drive motor (500rpm in regions with 230V power) equipped with…
A new Polish turntable brand, BennyAudio, is poised to enter the United States via the Supreme Acoustic Systems distributorship. Given what I heard in BennyAudio's room at Audio Video Show 2024, aka The Warsaw Show, my audiophile buddy Scott might have gone to heaven and back if he’d been able to join me.
For Scott, cymbals are one of many litmus tests for a sound system. If he'd heard how fabulously BennyAudio’s Odyssey turntable, which is equipped with a short belt drive, one arm, and a van den Hul Frog Gold cartridge, reproduced the sound of cymbals. On "Dating" from E.S.T.…
Polish company J. Sikora belatedly premiered in Warsaw what they had unveiled at Chicago’s AXPONA six months before: their new Standard Max Supreme turntable. Only one table below the company’s top of the line, Standard Max Supreme reproduced music with the help of J. Sikora's Kevlar tonearm and an Aidas Mammoth Gold cartridge from Lithuania.
The Standard Max Supreme exemplifies J. Sikora’s underlying philosophy of addressing resonances by combining different metals and alloys in different proportions. Fifteen years of experience with metals and machining have passed since the initial…
Calling Elvis Presley the king of rock'n'roll may seem hyperbolic today, but that's what he was during 21 years in the hot pop culture spotlight. His recording career began and ended in his hometown of Memphis. From a bright cultural comet heralding something new to a depressed drug addict mailing in middling performances from his mansion's den, Sony's box set, Memphis, captures all his home-turf recording sessions.
The box has five CDs, each holding a different set of Memphis recordings. Disc 1, Sun Single Masters, contains those musical lightning bolts captured at Sam Phillips's Sun…
No one I know enjoys dating. Some friends detest it so much they won't go near it. Maybe they believe the love of their life is waiting to be discovered at a Zumba class or in line at the King Kullen. Or maybe they've quietly given up. Admit it: Dating offers a low probability of success, and if you think too much about just how low, the whole thing begins to seem ridiculous. Yet how do you meet a potential partner without, well, meeting them?
My first exposure to the perils of dating happened when I was 12. For my mother's birthday, my grandparents gave her a membership in a computer…