There were several rooms that stood out in my mind that I would like to mention here
Having attended the Hong Kong Audio show last year and then spending a week in Manila where I heard many spectacular systems I have stated that for my ears the finest system I have ever heard anywhere was that of member here "jimmy" who not only had the most amazing room full of gear but so also a one off speaker made by Von Schweikert Audio. I came home with a desire to try to achieve some of the things Jim has achieved but honestly I don't believe that anyone will equal. His room is so one of a kind that I feel I can make such a bold claim about his room. His brother JackD201 had the second best system I have ever heard even though their only major commonality were speakers made by VSA.
Now along comes the upgrade to Jack's speaker the Ultra 11 which to my ears brings the sound so close to what I heard at Jim's house that these new Ultra 11's are a major contender. This is a tall one box system that comes with all of the rear speaker toggle switches that allows the user to shape the sound to fill the room proper for that room. I first heard this speaker just prior to the Singapore Audio show where it was launched and I was very impressed art the time.
To hear it yet under somewhat better conditions yet far from ideal and to hear it with the exact top of the line VAC amp, preamp and phono stage, along with a full loom of Masterbuilt Ultra cables I felt this was one that came close in majesty to that which I heard at Jim's. Even though this was only a 2 box standard speaker it has IIRC 17 drivers. There was a report out of one of the show's that suggested a larger than lifelike soundstage. I definitely never heard that at Jack or Jim's houses so I felt this could be something I needed to listen for. I was in the room 4 times and always enjoyed a lifelike presentation with a soundstage to die for. The bass was tight but not boomy. The top end was not bright and to my ears everything in between sounded just right. Nothing stood out. It was just music that to my ears sounded fabulous. I do have some bias here as I have drunk the Kool Aid on these cables and the sound I heard last August was to my ears something by which I judge all others
So for me the Best Of Show was indeed the Von Schweikert Audio Room. There were issues with every room and this was no exception. Comments were made previously that imaging wasn't ideal at Axpona. I wasn't there so I can't comment but I can about this show and for my ears this room topped the list
Very close runner up, and again just to my ears was the Vivid room where Philip O'Hanlon and Joe Cali were highlighting the new Vivid Spirit, the new flagship of the company
I have known Philip for at least 15 years and we ar close neighbors. I have heard every iteration of the Vivid in his large listening room and have always had jaw dropping experiences but for one thing and that was with the previous flagship, the G1 where I always felt that the tweeter was too high and as a result the speaker imaged tall. Not so with the Spirit where the tweeter is 4" lower. The subs are also far better, even though the G1 had enormous bass.Well the Spirit in my mind was far more "natural". Imaging IMO was perfect. Pitch, tone, timbre was as good as it gets. I felt there was an ease to the presentation that this speaker gave that the G1 lacked. This is a brute of a speaker and for this who thought the G1 was the goods, you need to hear the Spirit as it is so much better
My next room that was in my top 3 was that of Jonathan Tinn with his new Evolution Acoustics speaker along with his wonderful Wave Kinetics NVS TT, Durand arm and the working version of the pending tube DAC by Joel Durand
I honestly don't ever think I have been in a room done by Jonathan where I left disappointed and this was no exception. I never expected a new speaker by Jonathan and designer Kevin Malmgren so I stuck around and as in the sweet spot for a fair bit. Kevin told me the name of the speaker and I have forgotten all except it starts with "M" and is a musical term. The room not only looked great but sounded beyond what anything I would have expected. The external outputs I gather are similar or identical to the top of the line MM7. This speaker was a true surprise and I would bet anyone who heard this room came away smiling and shaking their heads. I loved the room. Kudos to Jonathan and Kevin. You can make end tables of those external crossovers. The sound was fabulous
Best Dac MSB Select
I said this last year and I'll say it again this year that the MSB Select Das with the dual power supply trumps anything that I have heard when it comes to DAC's. This DAC delivers the most "natural" digital sound I have ever heard. Last year I was played a CD with a piano claying and it was the most natural sounding piano I have ever heard. Tp my surprise not only did he play that track again for me but he showed me it was a piano album on the TBM label but remastered by Winston Ma and his FIM label. It is the first cut on the CD. I took a picture of the CD which is in my photos of the show
The newly redone MSB Reference DAC was also there at half the price and the entry level DAC at $9K is a steal
In my top 5 was room by Bill Parrish with his YG Acoustics 1.2, Kronos Pro TT with Black Beauty arm and the new top of the line Kubala Sosna cables. This room was beautiful, with a huge and very natural sound stage
I'd like to say that based on my bias that I would put a Wilson speaker in the top 5 but this is probably the first year I haven't. The big room by Sunnil with the new Alexx speaker was certainly a runner up as I enjoyed the demo by Peter McGrath and MQA. The room was far from ideal and too much idle chit chat that ruined an otherwise well intended demo. The Alexx as we know has much of the trickle down technology of the new Wilson WAMM and could be the reason Fremer who has XLF's is selling them to downgrade rot the Alexx which he considers a better speaker
Surprise Of The Show
This goes to Wynn Audio which is a high end store in Toronto Canada owned by Wynn Wong
Here is the system which consisted of a small bookshelf size of Japanese speakers that was throwing an image as big as any of the bigger speakers and I have no idea how
These speakers list for $10K. Much to my surprise when I had a close up look of the rack as it appeared to be a version of mine on steroids, did in fact prove to be the new flagship of Joe Lavrencik at Critical Mass Systems. I had seen pictures of the prototype several months ago that Joe shared with me and close up and personal was even better. Wynn turns out to be the Canadian distributor for CMS and brought the very first one to the show. Even Joe who was around the corner from this room didn't know he was there. I was also amazed that this speaker were so toed in that there should never have been a sweet spot let alone an image this life like
Hats off to you Wynn
CD/DAC: Metronome CD8S CD Player
Pre/Amp: Einstein The Amp Ultimate (Hybrid design, balanced integrated amp)
Speakers: Kiso Acoustic HB-1
Cables: ZenSati Seraphim
Rack: Critical Mass Systems Olympus
The Most Realistic Sound in an otherwise crappy room that gave me a glimpse of things to come in the TechDas stable was done by Danny Kaey from Einstein and TechDas with Bob Graham. Along for the show was none other than the master himself, Nishikawa San. There were Einstein Speakers (which I have never heard) and Einstein electronics including an Einstein tone arm and cartridge
On rotation was an AF 3 as well as an Air Force One Premium with the update controller which has an automatic self level, new spindle, firmware etc. The killer demo for me however and ddk who sat next to me was when Nishikawa San himself did the following demo to give us a glimpse of the AF Zero. He brought along the new beast of a motor that has 2 amps to drive it as it is spinning the new tungsten platter that must have weighed 35 lbs. The demo was in Japanese and interpreted by his aide Motofumi. Nishikawa put the icing on the cake by taking out two never played lacquers of Japanese music. I van tell you it gave me goose bumps and made the hair on my arms stand up as it was so real. I think David was just as impressed as me. David commented that it was finally like the old big Micro Seikei's of days gone by also designed by Nishikawa
I can say that I personally have never heard vinyl as good as this. Certainly the new lacquers played a big role as well. The sound was mesmerizing
So for those saving for the next year release of the AF Zero I say start saving your shekels as rumor has it that it will be in the $300K range
I could have listened all day to what he played
??????????
Omedet?gozaimasu Nishikawa San
Having attended the Hong Kong Audio show last year and then spending a week in Manila where I heard many spectacular systems I have stated that for my ears the finest system I have ever heard anywhere was that of member here "jimmy" who not only had the most amazing room full of gear but so also a one off speaker made by Von Schweikert Audio. I came home with a desire to try to achieve some of the things Jim has achieved but honestly I don't believe that anyone will equal. His room is so one of a kind that I feel I can make such a bold claim about his room. His brother JackD201 had the second best system I have ever heard even though their only major commonality were speakers made by VSA.
Now along comes the upgrade to Jack's speaker the Ultra 11 which to my ears brings the sound so close to what I heard at Jim's house that these new Ultra 11's are a major contender. This is a tall one box system that comes with all of the rear speaker toggle switches that allows the user to shape the sound to fill the room proper for that room. I first heard this speaker just prior to the Singapore Audio show where it was launched and I was very impressed art the time.
To hear it yet under somewhat better conditions yet far from ideal and to hear it with the exact top of the line VAC amp, preamp and phono stage, along with a full loom of Masterbuilt Ultra cables I felt this was one that came close in majesty to that which I heard at Jim's. Even though this was only a 2 box standard speaker it has IIRC 17 drivers. There was a report out of one of the show's that suggested a larger than lifelike soundstage. I definitely never heard that at Jack or Jim's houses so I felt this could be something I needed to listen for. I was in the room 4 times and always enjoyed a lifelike presentation with a soundstage to die for. The bass was tight but not boomy. The top end was not bright and to my ears everything in between sounded just right. Nothing stood out. It was just music that to my ears sounded fabulous. I do have some bias here as I have drunk the Kool Aid on these cables and the sound I heard last August was to my ears something by which I judge all others
So for me the Best Of Show was indeed the Von Schweikert Audio Room. There were issues with every room and this was no exception. Comments were made previously that imaging wasn't ideal at Axpona. I wasn't there so I can't comment but I can about this show and for my ears this room topped the list
Very close runner up, and again just to my ears was the Vivid room where Philip O'Hanlon and Joe Cali were highlighting the new Vivid Spirit, the new flagship of the company
I have known Philip for at least 15 years and we ar close neighbors. I have heard every iteration of the Vivid in his large listening room and have always had jaw dropping experiences but for one thing and that was with the previous flagship, the G1 where I always felt that the tweeter was too high and as a result the speaker imaged tall. Not so with the Spirit where the tweeter is 4" lower. The subs are also far better, even though the G1 had enormous bass.Well the Spirit in my mind was far more "natural". Imaging IMO was perfect. Pitch, tone, timbre was as good as it gets. I felt there was an ease to the presentation that this speaker gave that the G1 lacked. This is a brute of a speaker and for this who thought the G1 was the goods, you need to hear the Spirit as it is so much better
My next room that was in my top 3 was that of Jonathan Tinn with his new Evolution Acoustics speaker along with his wonderful Wave Kinetics NVS TT, Durand arm and the working version of the pending tube DAC by Joel Durand
I honestly don't ever think I have been in a room done by Jonathan where I left disappointed and this was no exception. I never expected a new speaker by Jonathan and designer Kevin Malmgren so I stuck around and as in the sweet spot for a fair bit. Kevin told me the name of the speaker and I have forgotten all except it starts with "M" and is a musical term. The room not only looked great but sounded beyond what anything I would have expected. The external outputs I gather are similar or identical to the top of the line MM7. This speaker was a true surprise and I would bet anyone who heard this room came away smiling and shaking their heads. I loved the room. Kudos to Jonathan and Kevin. You can make end tables of those external crossovers. The sound was fabulous
Best Dac MSB Select
I said this last year and I'll say it again this year that the MSB Select Das with the dual power supply trumps anything that I have heard when it comes to DAC's. This DAC delivers the most "natural" digital sound I have ever heard. Last year I was played a CD with a piano claying and it was the most natural sounding piano I have ever heard. Tp my surprise not only did he play that track again for me but he showed me it was a piano album on the TBM label but remastered by Winston Ma and his FIM label. It is the first cut on the CD. I took a picture of the CD which is in my photos of the show
The newly redone MSB Reference DAC was also there at half the price and the entry level DAC at $9K is a steal
In my top 5 was room by Bill Parrish with his YG Acoustics 1.2, Kronos Pro TT with Black Beauty arm and the new top of the line Kubala Sosna cables. This room was beautiful, with a huge and very natural sound stage
I'd like to say that based on my bias that I would put a Wilson speaker in the top 5 but this is probably the first year I haven't. The big room by Sunnil with the new Alexx speaker was certainly a runner up as I enjoyed the demo by Peter McGrath and MQA. The room was far from ideal and too much idle chit chat that ruined an otherwise well intended demo. The Alexx as we know has much of the trickle down technology of the new Wilson WAMM and could be the reason Fremer who has XLF's is selling them to downgrade rot the Alexx which he considers a better speaker
Surprise Of The Show
This goes to Wynn Audio which is a high end store in Toronto Canada owned by Wynn Wong
Here is the system which consisted of a small bookshelf size of Japanese speakers that was throwing an image as big as any of the bigger speakers and I have no idea how
These speakers list for $10K. Much to my surprise when I had a close up look of the rack as it appeared to be a version of mine on steroids, did in fact prove to be the new flagship of Joe Lavrencik at Critical Mass Systems. I had seen pictures of the prototype several months ago that Joe shared with me and close up and personal was even better. Wynn turns out to be the Canadian distributor for CMS and brought the very first one to the show. Even Joe who was around the corner from this room didn't know he was there. I was also amazed that this speaker were so toed in that there should never have been a sweet spot let alone an image this life like
Hats off to you Wynn
CD/DAC: Metronome CD8S CD Player
Pre/Amp: Einstein The Amp Ultimate (Hybrid design, balanced integrated amp)
Speakers: Kiso Acoustic HB-1
Cables: ZenSati Seraphim
Rack: Critical Mass Systems Olympus
The Most Realistic Sound in an otherwise crappy room that gave me a glimpse of things to come in the TechDas stable was done by Danny Kaey from Einstein and TechDas with Bob Graham. Along for the show was none other than the master himself, Nishikawa San. There were Einstein Speakers (which I have never heard) and Einstein electronics including an Einstein tone arm and cartridge
On rotation was an AF 3 as well as an Air Force One Premium with the update controller which has an automatic self level, new spindle, firmware etc. The killer demo for me however and ddk who sat next to me was when Nishikawa San himself did the following demo to give us a glimpse of the AF Zero. He brought along the new beast of a motor that has 2 amps to drive it as it is spinning the new tungsten platter that must have weighed 35 lbs. The demo was in Japanese and interpreted by his aide Motofumi. Nishikawa put the icing on the cake by taking out two never played lacquers of Japanese music. I van tell you it gave me goose bumps and made the hair on my arms stand up as it was so real. I think David was just as impressed as me. David commented that it was finally like the old big Micro Seikei's of days gone by also designed by Nishikawa
I can say that I personally have never heard vinyl as good as this. Certainly the new lacquers played a big role as well. The sound was mesmerizing
So for those saving for the next year release of the AF Zero I say start saving your shekels as rumor has it that it will be in the $300K range
I could have listened all day to what he played
??????????
Omedet?gozaimasu Nishikawa San