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"OMG, it's music" is the first thing I wrote down in this room. "So much of what I've missed at this show is here." On master recordist Peter McGrath's live 24/88.2 MQA recording of pianist Benjamin Grosvenor playing the Sarabande from Bach's French Suite No.5, I heard the natural ring of his piano's top notes resounding and decaying in an uncannily realistic depiction of a large, open venue. Given that plans to attend Grosvenor's performance at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on Saturday night were scrapped due to the musician's strike, this was certainly the next best thing.
In room 504 at the 2019 AXPONA, Minnesota-based Bel Canto partnered with Danish company Audiovector to present a really good-sounding system with a small footprint.
The core of the system is the new e1X DAC/Control Preamplifier ($6500), which takes in data via ethernet, USB, or any of the other common digital inputs, handling data via TOSLINK, AES, or S/PDIF at up to 24/192; via ethernet the e1X can do up to 24/384. DSD is supported, up to DSD128, delivered to the DAC via DoP. The e1X arrives Roon ready and supports full decoding of MQA. There's a headphone amp.
The DAC/Preamp…
It was hard to get a good photo of the Aavik/B?rresen/Ansuz system from Next Level HiFi of Wayne, IL, distributed by Gated HiFi, because the premiere Børresen 05 loudspeakers with D-TC Resonance Control ($120,000/pair) were spaced so far apart. But that spacing certainly didn't stop the system from wowing listeners with its extremely strong bass, which on genuinely danceable party music was vibrating in my gut and propelling the 05s' drivers back and forth. The exhibitors in the conference room underneath may have been cringing, but I ate up my opportunity to receive my first sonic massage of…
Given that I had recently gushed over the pairing, at one of Definitive Audio of Seattle's Music Matters events, of Wilson Audio's Alexx speakers ($109,000/pair), Sub Sonic Subwoofers (two, at $37,500/each), and Watch Controllers (two, at $4000/each); D'Agostino Relentless monoblocks ($250,000/pair) and Progression monoblocks ($38,000/pair), plus Momentum phono stage ($28,000); a dCS and Clearaudio front end; and lots and lots of Transparent Reference XL cabling plus an HRS VXR-19213V-80 rack with two M3x base audio stands ($57,960 total), I didn't know if I would hear much of a difference…
Loudspeakers by Danish manufacturer Dynaudio were featured in two rooms; both demonstrated exactly how clearly, and authoritatively precise, their speakers could sound when driven by amplifiers from the German manufacturer Octave. In Dynaudio's big demonstration room I heard the $5000/pair Evoke 50 loudspeakers (the floorstanders in the photo above) being driven by an Octave V80SE integrated amplifier ($10,500), itself fed by a dCS Bartok DAC ($13,500), with all Nordost cables. Every musical selection made me think, very consciously, that this is the kind of sound 90% of the audiophiles on…
Across the hallway, Paragon Sight and Sound set up a more "modest," albeit hardly chump-change, system that included Wilson Alexia 2 speakers ($59,900 with this special red finish), brand-new tubed Rogers KWM 88 Corona integrated amplifier ($14,000) plus PA2 phono stage ($7300), dCS Bartok DAC ($13,500), Clearaudio Ovation turntable with 9" arm and custom finish ($11,000) and Clearaudio Jubilee cartridge, Transparent Reference and Reference XL cabling, a Transparent Reference Power Isolator ($5995), and Harmonic Resolution System RXR 4V with R3x base audio rack ($9330). Listening to a cut…
On the top floor of the Schaumburg Hotel, retailer GTT Audio assembled an alluring system from many of its top brands. Including three premieres—Kronos Reference Phono stage ($45,000), Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC ($13,400), and YG Acoustics Vantage loudspeakers ($32,800/pair)—the system displayed a finely graded range of colors within a cool color palette. How this particular assemblage of components will sound once its speakers have been broken-in for far more than 48 hours is something I'm eager to find out.
I listened to two tracks: a file of the beautifully recorded "Volver," from the…
In the inner sanctum, as it were, of distributor Axiss Audio, I discovered what I believe were three premieres: Soulution's 525 preamp ($26,500) and 311 power amp ($12,000), and Piega 511 speakers ($15,000). In a brief listen, this system's notably drier, straight ahead, and detailed presentation was distinguished by a smooth midrange core that brought pleasure on both a pop track and Carolyn Sampson's perfume-scented recording of Fauré's "Les Roses d'Ispahan." Contributing to the system's strengths were Soulution's 560 DAC with Leedh upgrade ($40,000), Wireworld Platinum Eclipse 8 and Silver…
No less a personage than Jim Austin suggested that I check out all the new products in the T+A Elektroakustik room, presented by retailer Lone Star Audio. Given that every single T+A product was brand new and pressed into service just 48 hours earlier, and that exhibitors are prohibited from running systems at break-in volumes (if at all) at night, the fact that my brief listening session left such a positive impression makes me eager to hear how everything will sound after it settles in.
Regardless of the lack of break-in, the system did an extremely fine job of capturing bass. The top…
Distributor Axiss Audio's main system, built around Air Tight's ATM-3211 211-tube based monoblocks ($72,000/pair), premiere ATM-2Plus KT-88-based stereo power amplifier ($TBD), ATC-5 tube-based preamplifier with phono equalizer ($9500), ATH-3 step-up transformer ($3000), premiere PC-1 Coda cartridge ($8500), and Opus cartridge ($15,000) took pride of place in an all-analog system whose bottom line was tube warmth for days. That warmth sounded beautiful—absolutely gorgeous—and just right for a track from Chet Baker's LP Chet, played through the premiere outing of Piega MLS 3 speakers ($55,000/…