Jason Victor Serinus

The characteristic—perhaps I should say inimitable—Vandersteen midrange was in evidence in a system that paired a Brinkmann Audio front end and amplification (detailed below) with Vandersteen ($63,999/pair). The top was quite lively, which made for an extremely exciting listen to an LP of Jeff Beck's extraordinary "Brush with the Blues." Highs were also haunting on the vinyl version of Lou Reed's hilarious (to me) 2003 recording "Vanishing Act." I didn't write down which digital tracks were played, but a return to vinyl with Vanessa Fernandez's "I Want You" revealed that the system also had excellent slam.

Given the background noise, it was a little difficult to focus on the music from Yello and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd in the system from Vienna Acoustics and Vincent, but this little system's ability throw a large, ear-catching ambient soundstage was its strong point. Speakers were the Vienna Acoustics Mozart (€1800/pair). Vincent electronics included (I think) the new DAC-7, which handles up to 32/384 and DSD256 and has a tube output stage, along with the SA-T7 preamp (€2499), SP-T700 mono hybrid amplifier (€1999/each), CD-S7 hybrid CD player (€2199), and PHO-701 phono stage (€649). Cables were from Vincent and Pangea.

Thanks to Michael Fremer, whom I ran into at the MOC while we both waited for the show to open on Day 3, I ended up at a private listening session in the PMC room. There, after Michael pulled out his video camera and engaged in a thorough, only-Michael-would-know-enough-to-ask-such-questions Q&A with PMC's Maurice Patist—it will appear at AnalogPlanet.com—we listened to two revivified tracks from Miles Davis's iconic Kind of Blue that have been given the full Dolby Atmos surround treatment.

The "Ocean Mystery" colored Estelon Forza loudspeaker (€110,000/pair) made quite a statement all by itself. Paired with a Kronos Pro turntable (€37,600) with SCPS1 power supply (€13,500), Black Beauty tonearm (€8400), and ZYX Universe 3 cartridge (€8100); Bassocontinuo racks; Kubala-Sosna Realization cabling; Audes ST-3000 power conditioner (€3900); and Furutech NCF Booster-Signal (€2780), it conveyed electric guitar with natural bite, relayed all instruments except Eugene Istomin's somewhat tinkly piano on the Reference Recordings' LP of Mozart Piano Concerto No.21 with natural timbres and a strong midrange, and, on my Channel Classics SACD of the Mahler Symphony No.2, nailed the great expanse and natural timbres of the Budapest Symphony Orchestra, along with some brightness on top.