Analog sources: OMA K3, SAT XD-1 turntables; SAT CF1-09, CF1Ti-09, Schrìder OMA, Kuzma 4Point tonearms; HiFiction X-quisite ST, Lyra Atlas Lambda SL, Ortofon MC Century, Anna Diamond, A95, A90, Grado Epoch3, Miyajima Labs Infinity (mono), Grado Epoch (mono) cartridges.
Digital sources: dCS Vivaldi One SACD player DAC; Lynx Hilo A/D-D/A converter; Roon Nucleus server; Pure Vinyl and Vinyl Studio software.
Preamplification: darTZeel NHB-18S, Ypsilon MC-10L, MC-16L, and MC-20L and X-quisite SUT X-20 step-up transformers; Ypsilon VPS-100 phono stage,…
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Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Sidebar 3: Measurements
As with the Wilson Chronosonic XVX that Michael Fremer reviewed in the May 2021 issue, it wasn't possible for us to maneuver one of the large, heavy Estelon Forza loudspeakers onto a dolly and wheel it into his driveway for the measurements. I therefore had to perform the measurements with the loudspeakers set up in Michael's room. The proximity of the room's boundaries meant that I performed my farfield frequency response measurements at 1m rather than my usual 50"; the goal is to push the reflections from those boundaries as far back in time as possible. The…
What would it be like to attend an audio show?
It's a reasonable question coming at the light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel tail-end (fingers crossed) of a worldwide pandemic.
I'm about to find out because I'm at the 2021 Toronto Audiofest, held at the Westin Toronto Airport Hotel from October 22–24.
I don't know what to expect except that I already know it's going to be smaller than the prepandemic Toronto show I attended in 2019. Will it be different in other ways? Will it be awkward? Will people stay close to the walls to avoid close contact? Refuse to shake hands with old…
(All prices in Canadian funds unless otherwise noted.)
“Hello Toronto Audiofest! It’s good to be back!”
That was my first thought when I entered the Westin Toronto Airport Hotel, the same venue used for the previous, and first ever, Toronto Audiofest in 2019. It was also the thought I had inside the first exhibit room I visited, sponsored by importer Wynn Audio and helmed by the amiable Wynn Wong.
A minute into listening to a CD through the Metronome AQWO SACD/CD Player ($26,000)—by Junko Kimura’s jazz trio, with its fat tones, flailing limbs, and gusts of air—I just knew…
Next up was another great-sounding room (it felt so good to be back!). Hosted by Mark Elias, owner of retailer Soundstage Fine Audio, this room boasted some high-grade gear, starting with Vandersteen’s new, dark, and handsome KĒNTO Carbon speakers ($49,000/pair), which Vandersteen representative Brad O’Toole seemed rightly proud of, as well as of the company’s 150Wpc solid state, zero feedback M5-HPA High-Pass monoblocks ($21,500/pair), which were powering the KĒNTO's higher-frequency drivers. (The KĒNTO's bass drivers are powered by onboard amplifiers.) Across music tracks that included a…
(All prices are in Canadian Funds unless otherwise indicated.)
My third room belonged to audio importer Motet and Winnipeg-based retailer AltitudoAudio. The gear in this room was more modestly priced than in previous rooms, but it delivered the musical goods.
At the heart of the system was an Auris Fortissimo integrated amplifier ($15,000). Source duties went to an Earmen DAC ($800) and streamer ($1500), a brand you may not have heard of because it won’t be sold to end-users for another month or so. But let me say this: from what I heard in this room, and in another room I’ll get…
Another fun room was the one sponsored by Centre Hi-Fi, a Montreal-based audio dealer that decided to add a flagship division called Genesis that offers higher-performance and higher-priced products than it normally sells.
It’s under the new Genesis banner that I heard a system that included a pair of standard-version Marten Parker Duos in Piano Walnut ($17,550/pair)—standard version meaning the ones with the ceramic tweeter and not the more expensive Duo Diamond Edition with the diamond tweeter. (See John Atkinson's review of the larger Parker Trio Diamond Edition, here.) The…
(Prices are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated)
Okay, so what next?
BIG speakers, namely the 3-way PMC Fenestria ($90,000), which loomed tall in the second Motet room. Upstream components included an Accuphase A75 amplifier ($25,600), Accuphase C2850 preamplifier ($25,000), Lumin U1 streamer ($10,000), and—get this—an iFi Diablo DAC that retails for $1200!
Here was another room using a budget source to deliver music to an otherwise megabuck system. But the music coming from this system didn’t sound budget: It was lively, delicately rendered, and finely textured…
(Prices are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated.)
They say staring is impolite, but as I listened to the music from this system in the American Sound room, it was hard to keep my eye from wandering to gaze lustily at the assembled gear, including the Estelon Forza speakers in Black Pearl Gloss, ($195,000/pair), the class-A, 600Wpc Boulder 2160 power amplifier ($78,000), the VAC Statement preamplifier ($80,000), and the digital duo of the Wadax Reference server ($90,000) and Wadax Reference DAC ($190,000). That's a combined retail cost of $916,250 with the HRS stands and…
(All prices are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated)
In the mood for an under $20,000 audiophile-grade system? Excellent, because I found one in the room sponsored by Wired with Sound. There, I met owner James Drew, a chap I liked as soon as he’d offered me a beer (which, for the record, I politely declined). On display was a simple (but potent) little system comprising a pair of 3-way Definitive Technology Demand D15 speakers ($3999/pair), the 100Wpc class-D Marantz Model 30 integrated amplifier ($3999; see Herb Reichert's review, here), and 30N SACD-streamer ($3999), with…