I’ve commented on this combination so often—five of these eight brands occupy my music room—that I didn’t linger long in Quintessence Audio’s excellently assembled “Knowledge” room. That didn’t stop me from admiring the contrast between the riveting yellow finish of Wilson Audio’s Chronosonic XVX loudspeakers ($387,000/pair) and the bold black-and-copper livery of Dan D’Agostino Master Audio Systems’ Relentless M800 monoblocks ($195,500/pair). I began to wonder if the lovely blue of my Wilson Alexia Vs is a bit too sedate. When I chose my speakers’ finish I almost opted for the perfect…
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Mike Stephens of Farmersville, Texas’s Western HiFi presented one of the show’s top five systems at AXPONA. Built from modestly priced gear, it stopped people in their tracks and kept them planted in their seats—including me.
The system’s vinyl front end featured a Well Tempered Lab Amadeus Jr. turntable ($3350) with the matching Ctrl motor controller ($450) and a Dynavector XX-2A cartridge ($2250). A Lejonklou Entity 1.2 MC phono stage ($2795) amplified the signal.
Western HiFi, which recently reintroduced Consonance by Opera Audio to the US market, also…
What I thought would be a quick hello to distributor Wynn Wong of Wynn Audio—accompanied by his wife, Candy, and their adorable 15-month-old daughter, Victoria—turned into a tour of premieres from three companies. Technically four, if you count Victoria’s AXPONA debut.
On passive display were Métronome of France’s just-released DST transport ($5800), DSS 2 streamer ($5500), and DSC Mini DAC ($5700)—three compact components that look tailor-made to work together, though they can be used independently.
Wong then introduced me to Felix Avalos, who presented…
The Palm Ballroom and adjacent rooms hosted systems from Acora Acoustics, Scott Walker Audio, and VAC—an ambitious collaboration by Valerio Cora, Scott Walker, and Kevin Hayes. The trio presented a range of well-curated systems.
Four systems were up and running. Let’s take a closer look.
System One featured a VPI Avenger Direct Statement turntable ($36,000)—including a VPI Fatboy Gimbal 12" 3D tonearm—and a Hana Umami Red MC cartridge ($3,950). The signal flowed through a VAC Statement phono stage ($82,000) and VAC Statement line stage ($82,000) into the world-…
At AXPONA, Nagaoka’s Miyuki Nishii and Jie Ma joined Technics’s Bill Voss to present the full line of Nagaoka cartridges. The Japanese manufacturer is currently seeking US distribution, after years of limited availability in the American market due to a less-than-responsive distributor.
Nagaoka’s full cartridge lineup was on display, each model supplied with an included headshell: MP-700H ($1499), MP-500H ($999), MP-300H ($859), MP-200H ($549), MP-150H ($439), MP-110H ($209), MP-100H ($173), and the Jeweltone JT-80BK ($699) and JT-80LB ($279)(80BK and 80LB, cartridge only).…
Room 1230 featured a collaboration led by Rhythm Distribution and joined by Qobuz, Silent Angel, AudioQuest, Focal Naim America, Vicoustic, and HRS—an all-star cast giving a confident performance.
The analog front-end included a Goldenberg Maestro MC phono cartridge ($6000) fitted on a Garrard 301 Advanced turntable via an SME V tonearm ($54,900), feeding a Goldmund Mimesis PH3.8 NEXTGEN phono preamplifier ($48,000). For digital playback, a Goldmund Eidos Streamer ($27,000) was paired with a Silent Angel Bonn NX network switch ($3999).
Amplification came from Goldmund’s…
Cliff Duffey, TJ Goldby, and Steve Huntley of AXISS Audio aren’t just savvy representatives—they’re passionate advocates for the high-end brands they carry. Their rooms at AXPONA reflected care, from product selection to well-curated playlists that demonstrated a serious grasp of what makes music sound alive.
Room 1130 was my kind of space—tubes and turntables!
An AirTight PC-1 Coda MC cartridge ($10,975) was mounted on a Transrotor TRA-9 tonearm ($1495), itself installed on a Transrotor Dark Star turntable ($4595). The signal passed through a Transrotor Phono 8.2 MC Symmetrical…
Craig Hoffman, co-founder and managing director of Rhythm Distribution, presented a system in Room 1229 built from components sourced across Switzerland, the UK, Sweden, and Japan.
It featured a Goldenberg Brilliant MC phono cartridge ($4250); a British Garrard 301 Classic turntable with an SME M2 tonearm ($37,900); an Engström M-Phono Mk II preamplifier ($35,000); and two digital sources from Luxman—the NT-07 streamer and the D-07X DAC, priced at $7495/each.
The system also included Scandinavian electronics: an Engström MONICA Mk III preamplifier ($70,000) and Engström ERIC…
I signed up to cover several Fidelity Imports rooms at AXPONA, expecting to find components that overdeliver on performance and value. I wasn’t wrong.
That happened in Room 1209, where Fidelity Imports founder Steve Jain and his team curated a system of genuine overachievers: an Aurender A1000 music server/streamer/DAC ($3500); a Geshelli Labs Torc DAC ($2499); a Unison Research Unico Primo integrated amplifier with built-in phono stage ($1999); Q Acoustics 5050 floorstanding speakers ($1999/pair); and, making its global debut, the Q Acoustics Q Sub100 10" subwoofer ($1049).
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Texas-based Bandwidth Audio brought a suite of handsome, industrial-style, tube-based amplifiers to AXPONA. Consumers can buy direct from the manufacturer.
Founder Matthew Beardsworth, an electrical engineer with a background in semiconductor design, spent years building tube guitar amplifiers before deciding it was time to create a hi-fi amplifier. “The goal,” he writes on the Bandwidth Audio website, “was to build an amplifier where most of the cost is spent on things that matter: component quality, circuit design, and mechanical ruggedness—the fundamentals of a great-sounding product…