Axpona Chicago anyone?

MangoMonkey posted:

I'm going - first (and probably last) audio show .

Never say last before you did your first..

A good chance that I will be there on Sunday. I decided to focus only on systems that cost more than a hundred grands. I am sick and tired of being a cheap squick.

My brother will be in from New Jersey, and we will attend Friday and Saturday - Enjoy!

Its a good show and I always enjoy attending.  Naim representation limited to one or two dealers ( ProMusica,NextLevel) in the past. Some very large rooms with very large systems- always interesting to hear the newest and "greatest". I have yet to be disappointed with my system after coming home !

ATB,

Mark

Had a great time there today. Few observations
a) several giant system. Too many in fact. Not sure what the appeal is. They don't sound like home audio systems. Not sure what why I would want a PA system at home. Would rather get a nd5xs/naitXS with a harbeth C7 than any of those systems.
b) Vinnie Rossie amps: super friendly designer. Paired with Harbeth. Surprisingly toe-tappingly good. Not super high resolution - $800 DAC module in a $6000 amp. I could see one pairing this with a naim source. PRAT in spades.  Could see one getting this instead of Naim .
c) The new Uniti series - game changing. This is the post black sound.

Special Shout out to my host - Tyler Muller of next level AV. Raidho speakers are awesome!

Mohit,

Give Tyler my regards. Take the time to do a Chicago river tour while you're there.

Oh, and listen to some Wilson Benesch speakers if you get a chance, I'd be interested to hear what you think of them.

Attended AXPONA on Friday with a friend and found the place friendly and well organized. It was fun, the experience not unlike visiting a zoo, walking from cage to cage to observe and listen to a large variety of audio creatures..

Just like MM, I found the appeal of large systems close to zero. The nerds sitting in front on those mega system looked like they were trying very hard to decide if they were hearing someone scratch his behind in the eight row of live symphonic recording.. A lot of rooms played the music way too loud with a questionable track selection which made me think that it was a way to camouflage their systems shortcomings. The general rule through the show was that the better the boxes looked the poorer they sounded.

Best sound for me was the Audio Note room where a moderate system using a tape recorder source sounded very musical and real. A big disappointment were the Hi Fi ish Gamut and Hegel set-ups which I heard for the first time. A very pleasant surprise was the Technics room where their digital electronics and own speakers produced a very opened and warm sound all for a very reasonable price. The most ridiculous set-up was  Audolici Electronics with Michael Green Audio/Room Tune. These guys built a huge wooden stage for their 25 grands Audio Note speakers positioning the tweeters more than a foot above our heads. Miserable sound unless you were a bird.

The humorous room was Schiit Audio first because of their add campaign: 'Schiit Happens' and second because they position a fire extinguisher just next to their tube gear. As we say: Buy with confidence:

Haim

Good to see Tyler getting some love. I wouldn't have the system I have now without his help. 

Another shout out to Jason From Schiit. Made in USA - Dac/Preamp/Amp for under $1600 with a 5 Yr warranty. No bling in sight. Stick equipment straight into wall he said.

Fun laid back guy to talk to. 

Another fun system was analogue audio TT into some Italian amp into Neat IOTA alphas. Fun little system. This from Whetstone Audio. 

Hegel based systems boring. Could've been the fault of the speakers though - nice low noise floor though...

Few things I forgot to mention:

A rule I made myself was to leave any room where they were talking longer than 10 minutes without playing any music. No need to waste time on talk discussing theoretical cables architecture, crazy high resolutions or crazy low floor noises. I can read about it at home. Luckily it happened only twice.

Another good sounding set-up was Burmester electronics fronted by YG's Carmel speakers. Had a chance to play one of my ECM discs there. The presentation was musical and flowing but again, they set up the volume way too high.

The MIAs in the show that I was really interested in hearing were LFD, YBA, Bryston, Spectral and Vitus electronics as well as Kudos, DeVore and Yamaha speakers (I was looking for in particular the LFD LE V integrated amp, Brstyon's new BCD3 CD player and the latest  high end three ways speaker by Yamaha).

It was also surprising not to see there such important manufacturers as Marantz and Rotel.

A picture of what caught my eye more than my ear (the Audio Research room):

 Point of reference

This was the first show I ever attended. Three rooms that I went back to other than Naim/Promusica were David Michael Audio: analog source was Kronos turntable, all Nagra amplification and Graham speakers. This was a great analog setup and brands I had never heard before. The second was Playback Designs where Andreas Koch, the founder, was demonstrating his new digital streaming setup. He was involved with Sony and the development of SACD and his streaming and DAC use all formats up to DSD 4. He played the analog reel to reel tape of the recent Lyn Stanley masters both all analog and then through his A to D and back through his DAC in DSD 4, I could not distinguish. This was the best digital streaming I have ever heard. He used his integrated amp and ATC SCM 40. Finally next door to Playback Designs was Sanoma headphones. These people were also part of the SACD program at Sony. This is a complete electrostatic headphone and amplifier setup. 

I do not know much about the designs of digital systems but this discrete DAC programming versus a chip may be a long term solution. Overall everyone in the rooms I spoke with was very pleasant. 

Feedback I've gotten say the Promusica room sucked with the Dynaudio C60? Most say they suck every year. 

Audio-video Manufaktur into ATC sounds splendid... very well balanced sound. First class-D stuff that sounds convincing.

Actually I believe the fire extinguisher was a joke referring to their prototype Vidar solid state amp. It is the latest version as they try to get the product released. The last show they had it at,  one of the two kept going into protect mode and shutting down, actually leading to a totally new heatsink design (shown at Axpona). 

MangoMonkey posted:

Audio-video Manufaktur into ATC sounds splendid... very well balanced sound. First class-D stuff that sounds convincing.

It sounded good only when they played their large analog amp. Otherwise, their digital amplification, especially the all in one box was  mediocre. The ATC were excellent and the guy was a pleasure to talk to. We spent a long time in this room. He played a piano disc of mine  but that was before switching to the analog amp.

You're right - I didn't realize that the big amp was class A/B.

I had the manager switch over to the single into alone.

Funny - the noise level was actually lower when played through the all in one unit alone. It was great sounding - beautiful sounding even - but the magic reappeared when you went back to the big class A/B amp. 

(I'm in the room as I type)

in comparison, the Harbeths sound fairly depressing. :-(

In the ProMusica dynaudio room. System sound  fine to me. Naim Dac  xp5xs  into some weird looing electronics. These guys know what they are doing.

most rooms suck though - so I don't see any point in calling that out. ;-)

i would go so far as to say this was the best sounding dynaudio room. :-)

MangoMonkey posted:

In the ProMusica dynaudio room. System sound  fine to me. Naim Dac  xp5xs  into some weird looing electronics. These guys know what they are doing.

most rooms suck though - so I don't see any point in calling that out. ;-)

i would go so far as to say this was the best sounding dynaudio room. :-)

MM,

If you have a chance, visit the Technics room (#508) and the Audio Note (#346). If you want to get yourself some great sounding CDs and LPs go to MA Recordings (in the Market Place boot #308) and talk to Todd Garfinkle who is the owner. You can mention my name.

Haim

Agh! Missed the message. Now on my way back to Seattle.

The new Naim Uniti  line is very impressive. The Nova into the Focal - all the system one needs. Big step up from the SuperUniti. 

Attended Friday and Saturday

Favorite rooms for me:

MoFi Distribution with Dr. Feikert, Koetsu; TAD Player/DAC, Pre/Amp; TAD Micro Evoltion One speakers; Various Isotek isolation products; Nordstrom cables. This system, probably owing largely to the the TAD Speakers was in many ways the most impressive to myself and brother. Incredible power and projection from analogue and digital. Isotek power strips, etc. were a/b'd made huge positive contributions in this system.

ProMusica room with ProAc D30's, Naim amplification, and steaming as stated in an earlier post. This this system had a very coherent, and extremely responsive presentation. 

Thinking of an upgrade MM?

Must be at least a week since you last changed your system!

Mango's an enthusiast, same as anyone else.

C.

Haim Ronen posted:

MangoMonkey posted:

I'm going - first (and probably last) audio show .

Never say last before you did your first..

Never say never - but not planning on attending any more shows - in the foreseeable future. Forever is a long time.

The best part was putting faces to names and tasking with people.

Apart from Naim, the electronics that stood out for me were the AVM gear as well as Vinnie Rosso powering the Harbeth SHL+ special edition.

vinnie's design is very interesting / the system is powered by ultra capacitors alone. 1/2 of them power the system while 1/2 of them get charged. And then they switch over. This apparently isolated the system from noisy mains. I learned this today. Toe Tapping was an involuntary reaction to the music playing in his room. Again, no bling - just the Vinnie Rosso all in one into Harbeths speakers. He's ex bell labs - that's some serious credentials.

Best collection of rock music played - must hand this to Brian at whetstone audio. Playing The tiny neat iota alpha speakers.

spurrier sucks posted:

Feedback I've gotten say the Promusica room sucked with the Dynaudio C60? Most say they suck every year. 

ProMusica didn't have the  Dynaudio C60's going through Naim gear, they were going through VTL gear. Thought they sounded amazing! The ProMusica room across the hall was playing Naim and Proac, now that sounded terrible, what a disappointment, N272-250 DR with the Power supply, with Proac D20R speakers, very shrill and in your face sound, not what I'm use to hearing with the pairing.

I thought the Dyns sounded exceptional in the Quintessence room , they also were playing the C60's.

The ATC's sounded better last year for some reason, although they still sounded very good, the Harbeth room I didn't care for, was a little disappointed in the Neat room.

What stood out for me was the Atoll-Atohm room, very impressive, huge sounding speakers, unlimited dynamics, very, very good.