Herb Reichert

TAD Evolution E1TX-K Loudspeakers, Wolf Audio Alpha 3 Server, Audience SX Cables
AXPONA 2019
Herb Reichert  |  Apr 16, 2019  |  3 comments
My personal selection for Stereophile's 2018 Product of the Year was the super-resolving, highly-involving TAD Micro Evolution One loudspeaker ($12,495/pair). I heard it first at a MoFi demonstration at an audio show. Wherein I repeated the words "wow" and "my god" over and over. Think goosebumps and awe. But I never thought, or imagined, how much more fleshed out and expansive the ME1s could sound with another octave of energy at the bottom. This year, in the second Tenacious Audio room, the $27,995/pair TAD Evolution E1TX-K loudspeakers produced a much larger and more forceful energy field—with an enhanced octave to octave tonal balance. The E1TX-K's dual 7" woofers and CST coaxial mid-tweeter array delivered an extremely beguiling transparency.
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Gershman Grande Avant Garde Loudspeakers, VAC Master Preamp, Nordost Cables
AXPONA 2019
Herb Reichert  |  Apr 16, 2019  |  3 comments
Look at that photo and notice the elegant wood grille on the Gershman Acoustics Grande Avant Garde loudspeaker ($13,000/pair). How good does that speaker look in person? I put a high value on imaging and what an orchestra looks like between the speakers. Therefore, I prefer speakers with grilles: Exposed drivers distract me from the sound and the illusion . . .
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Laufer Teknik The Note Loudspeakers and The Memory Player Transport/DAC
AXPONA 2019
Herb Reichert  |  Apr 14, 2019  |  2 comments
The new (world premiere) Laufer Teknik The Note loudspeakers ($29,950/pair) are very hard to photograph because they are very thin line arrays comprised of 48 little metal drivers each in a 87"-tall, 2.5" deep, 2"-wide aluminum enclosure that's heated—it is warm to the touch. They disappeared into space while I listened. Their soundstage went out through the wall behind them while the $1600 SVS SP-4000 subwoofer pushed tight bass down through the floor to the basement. Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor rattled the walls, but I couldn't "see" the speakers. Think: Skinny speakers make giant sound.
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EgglestonWorks Nico Evo Loudspeakers, Primare I35 Prisma Amp, Audience Ohno II Cables
AXPONA 2019
Herb Reichert  |  Apr 14, 2019  |  0 comments
I admit up front I've been behind the curve in understanding/appreciating the EgglestonWorks house sound. I'm a slow learner, but whenever I finally get something—I've got it. Today, in the room sponsored by retailer Tenacious Sound (with stores in Syracuse, NY, Augusta, GA, Jacksonville, FL, and, soon, Louisville, KY), during the world premiere of EgglestonWorks' very beautiful Nico Evo standmounted speakers, I realized why so many people love this brand . . .
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Magnepan LRS Loudspeaker
AXPONA 2019
Herb Reichert  |  Apr 14, 2019  |  10 comments
Ever since Magnepan's Wendell Diller married this beautiful former Soviet spy (aka Agent G), he's been doing everything on the down low, hush-hush, totally covert. (Though I must say he does look good in dark glasses.)

This year at AXPONA he has a secret room, at the end of an obscure hall, with no signage. Agent G watches the door from a distance, and you must knock the secret knock to enter.

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Dynaudio Confidence 20 Speakers, Octave Jubilee Amplifiers, VPI Avenger Reference Turntable, Cardas Clear Cables
AXPONA 2019
Herb Reichert  |  Apr 13, 2019  |  0 comments
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 the planet would be proud to show off in their homes: well-voiced, properly punctuated, tight as a drum head, and clean as fresh snow.
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PrimaLuna EVO 400 Preamp and Amp, GoldenEar Triton One.R Speakers
AXPONA 2019
Herb Reichert  |  Apr 13, 2019  |  1 comments
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.
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Woo Audio WA11 Topaz Headphone Amp-DAC, WA33 Headphone Amp, and Mysphere 3.1 Headphones
AXPONA 2019
Herb Reichert  |  Apr 13, 2019  |  6 comments
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 . . .
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Cube Audio Nenuphar Speakers, First Watt SIT-3 Amp
AXPONA 2019
Herb Reichert  |  Apr 12, 2019  |  3 comments
I am not a bot. I measure my own DIY audio gear. But as an audio-show reporter, I'm only interested in those biologically significant sounds that connect my mind as directly as possible to the music being played. I want to see and feel some inkling of a real orchestra floating between the speakers. I found that connection right away in the room sponsored by retailer-distributor Refined Audio.
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Herb Sez: Get the AXPONA App!
AXPONA 2019
Herb Reichert  |  Apr 11, 2019  |  0 comments
Last year, American audio shows felled more than ten million 100'-tall trees—just for their ink-on-paper floor plans. They had to reopen two nuclear power plants just to keep the elevators running in Las Vegas. The Chicago River backed up like a toilet—clogged by discarded show guides. This year, all you need is a smart phone, the the AXPONA app—and the stamina to visit almost two hundred rooms filled with some of the world's finest, most exciting, new audio products. Are you ready?
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