A Full Active Gryphon System Wows
There are times when a music critic gets so upended by a recording of well-loved music that their previous plaudits for a different recorded version demands reassessment.
AirTight, Reed, and Franco Serblin Make Joyful Music
What better way to start the first day of an audio show than with some light joyful music? In this case, it was with a 1974 LP, Heinz Holliger: Famous Oboe Concertos, on which the famous oboist joined players of the Dresden State Orchestra under Vittorio Negri for, among other works, Leclair’s Concerto in C for Oboe, Strings, and Continuo, Op. 7. In the first movement, the lively presentation complemented equally lively music, which cheerily zipped along.
Ampsandsound, Auralic North America Inc., SME
Ampsandsound’s Justin Weber brought a big pile of black vinyl to Chicago, lining the small room’s walls with album jackets. He had me at Sphongle, an electronic industrial act that churned out of the world-debut Ampsandsound Hudson 3-Way speakers ($18,000/pair) like dirty psychedelic water erupting from a broken sewer pipe.
Artisan Fidelity’s TIDAL room with Garrard, Schroeder, VDH, and Signal Projects
TIDAL made a fine showing in the room sponsored by one of its three US dealers, Christopher Thornton’s Artisan Fidelity. Totally drug-free I swear, I melted into the exceptional smoothness and beauty of “The Girl from Ipanema” on vinyl.
Audio Note (UK)
I typically attend Audio Note (UK) rooms not just to listen, but to learn.
AXISS impresses with Gauder Akustik, Soulution, Innuos, Accuphase, Transrotor w. DS Audio, and more
The all-out AXPONA push by AXISS Audio of Nashville, now headed by Cliff Duffey, encompassed four rooms. The biggest presented three new headliners: Gauder Akustik’s DARC 25-0 Mk II 4-way Reference Loudspeaker ($249,975), Soulution’s 727 preamp with phono module ($89,950; review forthcoming), and Soulution’s 757 deemphasis EQ preamplifier phonostage ($84,975).
AXPONA 2024 in the Rear View
Photo: John Atkinson
If buying a hi-fi product from an internet retailer is like an arranged marriage, a hi-fi show is like speed dating. Not everyone, I realize, approaches hi-fi shows (or speed dating, for that matter) the same way, and anyway, the analogy between hi-fi and dating is far from perfect. Speed dating is how this year's AXPONA, America's biggest hi-fi show, held at the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Convention Center (above) near Chicago in April, often felt to me as I moved from room to room. Every new system I heard had the potential to become a long-term relationship. Could I live with this one forever?AXPONA Coverage Resumes: Clarisys Audio USA, Convergent Audio Technology, Black Path Audio, and Essential Sound Products
In the Nirvana C ballroom, Nguyen Phuong of Clarisys Audio USA played his range of Clarisys Audio Panels, of which the smaller Minuet panel had so impressed me at the recent Florida International Audio Expo.
AXPONA Revs Up for the Big Open
Bayz Audio, Chord Electronics, Aurender, Shunyata Research
Going to an audio show is a bit like being a finalist in that old Monty Hall show where your prize is behind one of three identical doors. At AXPONA, there are more than 200 identical doors.