Initially, the sound was far too quiet to appreciate, but when it was turned up, I discovered a midrange-strong system, albeit with a…
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Disorder was the order of the day as everyone and their father ogled and chatted about the VAC Statement 450i iQ integrated amplifier ($150,000). During my relatively brief visit to this free-for-all space, in which demonstrations alternated between two systems, there were up to six people standing in front of the one I tried to hear. At one point, someone blocked the speaker on one side while a company rep chatted it up with someone on the other.
Despite the challenging acoustics of air-walled conference rooms, retailer Audio Video Interiors produced extremely satisfying sound. True to McIntosh Laboratory's sonic signature, the company's C-1100 preamp ($14,000), relatively new 600Wpc MC-611 monoblocks ($15,000/pair), and MPC-1500 line filter ($5500) produced a beautiful, strong midrange and mellow top. On Steven Strauss's "Old Crow," for example, the clangy metal of electric guitar took second place to the smoothness of the instrument's midrange core. Ditto for a recording of a medieval-sounding "Hopper Dance" from an old (as in olde…
Spying the Scaena (pronounced Sane-a) room, I was happy to hear their fabulous sounding speakers once again. This time it was the Scaena Model 3 ($90,000 pair including the two big subwoofers), driven by a High Fidelity Cables MA-1 amplifier ($30,000), fed by a four-stack dCS Vivaldi system ($114,996 total) and connected by High Fidelity cables.
Surprise of surprises, this room only played those good old silver discs. After seating myself nearfield, I offered up my Channel Classics SACD, Perla Barocca, with violinist Rachel Podger and friends playing Bertali's rollicking Ciacona. The…
I turned up at Mike Jbara's Master Class presentation Friday afternoon, "Achieving Authentic Studio Quality Sound," expecting fireworks. Jbara is the chief executive of MQA and many internet denizens had declared that they would be attending his presentation to oppose what he would be saying. But all was quiet during Jbara's 45-minute talk on what he regards as the benefits of the controversial codec to both the music industry and to audiophiles. Another MQA-related Master Class takes place at AXPONA Saturday April 13 at 12 noon. Moderated by Besflores Nievara Jr., Brand Ambassador for Music…
Check this out, Herb Reichert. Oklahoma City-based Great Plains Audio grew from what was left of the Altec Lansing corporation in 1998. It focuses on manufacturing the classic high-sensitivity drive-units and speaker systems from the legendary company. Located next to the AXPONA Master Class Theater, the Great Plains booth featured their version of the classic coaxial drive-unit that was introduced in 1944 and powered recording studio monitors in the 1950s and '60s.
On my way to AXPONA's Master Class Theater to catch Rob Robinson's seminar on current-mode phono preamplifiers, I was buttonholed by David Janszen. The Janszen name is synonymous with electrostatic drive-units—the midrange unit in the legendary Wilson WAMM was based on Janszen technology—and at AXPONA David was demonstrating prototype electrostatic headphones, the Lotus. The 1150V polarizing voltage for the electrostatic diaphragm is supplied by a battery and voltage multipliers—David says that the battery will last for a week and an half before needing to be recharged. To avoid having to use…
I'm a little old to be a fan (but I am), and some say singer-songwriter Billie Eilish is a little young (just turned 17) to be as famous and successful as she is. But hey, what's-his-name from the Jackson Five was only five years old when he was that famous . . .
It doesn't matter. If you could have heard Eilish singing "Bad Guy" and "Bury a Friend," from her album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, as I just did, you would understand: Billie Eilish is on her way to being the 21st Century's first great chanteuse.
Billie Eilish's moody, exotic vocals were perfectly matched…
Celebrating 21 years of affordable Music Hall turntables, the irascible Roy Hall (right) was in fine form on AXPONA's opening day, offering show specials.
In front of the room sponsored by GoldenEar Technology and PrimaLuna USA, I saw tube maven Kevin Deal (above)—the latter company's Primary Dude—displaying the insides of a PrimaLuna amplifier. PR man extraordinaire Anthony Chiarella was sitting next to him saying, "Its built like a Fabergé egg." Which indeed it was.
The tall guy standing next to me whined, "But it's built in China." I reminded him that most of the parts were manufactured in Europe and Japan, and challenged him to name a single American-made amp built to this level of craftsmanship.
In the room I…
Getting ready for the first day's visitors in AXPONA's Ear Gear Expo, Ayre's vice president and CTO, Ariel Brown, was busy setting up the Colorado's company's QX-5 Twenty D/A processor ($8950, right) Codex D/A headphone amplifier ($1795, hidden in center, and the new QX-8 D/A processor ($4450 with S/PDIF inputs, $4950 with asynchronous USB input, $5450 with USB and Roon Ready Ethernet, left). Similar in its form factor to the EX-8 "Digital Hub" integrated amplifier that I reviewed in February 2019, the QX-8, like its siblings, offers both balanced and unbalanced headphone outputs and use Ayre…