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I just sent a PM on this to a fellow A/C'er and afterwards thought that it may be a good idea to "put this out there" to everyone.I was at CAF from Friday through Sunday morning and spent (various amounts of) time in each and every room. I came to the realization that I may have crossed paths with many of you at the show and didn't know it because I've never met you in person before!
Some additional coverage over at Stereophile by Art Dudleyhttp://www.stereophile.com/category/capital-audiofest-2013BTW - still waiting for a picture of those Volti speakers and the Boulder amp that many people seemed to love.
I did not make it to the Volti Room this year but have a picture of last year's room
I just sent a PM on this to a fellow A/C'er and afterwards thought that it may be a good idea to "put this out there" to everyone.I was at CAF from Friday through Sunday morning and spent (various amounts of) time in each and every room. I came to the realization that I may have crossed paths with many of you at the show and didn't know it because I've never met you in person before! All of us forum people need to organize better. Maybe bright obnoxious name tags with the forum name, user name and persons real name would work? We should create and circulate a generic name tag PDF on the forum and have everyone that intends on going to an audio show like CAF print it out and "fill-in-the-blanks" and wear it.Sorry I missed at lot of you... then again, I have no idea if I missed you! SN
You mean you didn't recognize me from that Post Office photo? ...
Sorry, I missed that. Send me a wallet sized photo and I'll save it for next years show!
Phil caught me in mid-dip, damn-it!My first day impressions : I tried to take my time a bit more, but what I visited:504 / Command Performance AV / Raidho / Hegel / VPI Classic 4 / Luxman DSD dac : I'm biased because this is my dealer & I helped to at least shlep things there. Jeff always takes a lot of pains to set up a room so it sounds good, including working with placement / cables / acoustic treatments / etc. He's no slacker & the gear is first rate. Raidho's are eye wateringly expensive, but among the best I've heard and overall the sound is excellent. But hear for yourself.508 / VPI + Joseph Audio (Pulsars). Also featuring VAS EL34 monoblocks. Pulsar's always sound great. My main problem is with room set up. Speakers need to be full across length w/ gear in the back right niche, both to allow more rows / seating in the sweet-spot, and to help tame a bass boom (even after they've used bass traps). Speakers are also set to far apart, creating too much discontinuity. Sound otherwise has great mid-range still with decent detail & PRAT. What you'd expect w/ Pulsar + an EL34 amp.517 / Robyatt Audio. Quad 63's sound awesome. I could find nothing to quibble about, even at the $5K asking price w/ stands (very useful so you can listen at reasonable seating height). I WANT!! Mayajima monoblocks sounded good, albeit at $20K for the pair, quite pricey. Yeah, they're all hand built by a little Japanese elf. Guy running the room is not afraid to stray from the audiophile war-horse tracks, which is refreshing. 603 / Merrill + Channel D + Sanders. Sound was a bit "harder" than I would like. I don't think the Sander's like being driven that hard, or else the Merrill monoblocks need a bit more refinement. Both the Sanders @ $12K and $14K a pair respectively are grossly overpriced. Anyone heard of Magnepan + Wyred4Sound? I learned A LOT from the Channel D guy both about my Pure Music software + other software they have which I'm considering + works w/ Pure Music (to do RTA / EQ to feed Pure Music). PM in memory mode has been the most cost effective digital sound investment I've made.608 / Everything Audio Network. By far the most useful visit so far - worth the admission just for this. They have a "stack of DACs" which includes all the "hot" models : TEAC HDA1, Mytek, Hilo, Benchmark, and even a Parasound ZDAC fed into a Rogue Audio hybrid integrated & Legacy bookshelf speakers. Media server is an Oppo 95. Guy running the room has carefully level matched these DACs. In the room was also Phila + Alan Silverman, the keynote speaker Saturday. He switched between all 5 + the Oppo w/ PCM and mostly redbook (no DSD even those most of these are capable). Conclusion : they all virtually sounded THE SAME! From $400 for the Parasound to up to close to $2K. Both Alan & I had a slight preference for the TEAC, having a bit more "air". I think it's probably due to the Muse op-amps. Fortunately that's also the cheapest DSD dac, at $850 retail (though reports are that +10% discounts are readily available).My take away : if I was starting over I'd get an Oppo 105 both for sound + video & media server. If I didn't need all those bells + whistles : the Teac. I think we all agreed that you need to go to a much more expensive dac w/ a much better analog stage before you really start getting a substantially improved sound. E.g. the $7500 retail Meitner. Gotta say the Auralic dac (not shown but Command AV has it) @ $3500 retail is a very good middle step both for PCM & DSD. Lastly, the Rogue Audio w/ the Legacy speaker + Oppo as server + these dacs sounded damn fine. I could be very happy with such as system.610 / ModWright Instruments. The "budget" room (if you can call a $5K integrated amp "budget"). I always complain about pricing though. Sounded damn fine w/ modded Oppo 105. My slight complaint is sound is a bit too "hard" / "hi-fi". But that could also be a room or ac issue. Very good clean modern sound though.806 / GT Audio Works. Smaller GT Audio hybrid planar + passive dynamic woofer speaker. Very fine sound reminiscent to me of MMG's, but a bit rounder (in a good way) bottom end. Heard gunned MMG's sound more linear, but not go down quite as deep. At the price I'd go Magnepan - but of course as a Magnepan owner I'd say that........Most interesting of all though was absolutely amazing BG Radia subwoofer system. Cleanest, deepest, fastest sub-bass I've ever heard. Investigating these for myself. If it were a bit cheaper, or I was less cheap, would be an automatic buy. 808 / Woo Audio. To me the best made / best value in high-end audio. Too bad I'm not a headphone guy. Beautifully built (in Brooklyn !) + sounding headphone amps at unbelievably low prices. Really gives the lie to those saying that well made high end gear can't be done in the USA at reasonable price. Of all the headphones, the Audeze LCD2 remain my favorites - even over the pricier LCD3. Mini-Maggies on your head! Great set up w/ the laptops w/ same music so you can go around + compare.810 / Synthesis + Pro-Ac. Not bad, but not great : somewhat thin. I think Synthesis does better w/ their cutesy lower power tubes amps both for sound quality, cosmetics, and price. Last year the set-up sounded a bit better with these than the more powerful 100WPC Synthesis they were featuring. Tube rolling issue perhaps?817 / GT Audio, etc. Triode Labs guy comped me a beer, so feel bad slamming the sound, but those GT Audio speakers are WAY too big for that room, causing ugly bass booming / rumble with the TT. The $1800 italian cartridge on the Kuzuma table is SO bright with brass it literally hurt my ears. I'm sure all these things could work so much better in another room. The BSG QOL Signal Completion Stage. I'll just come out & say it : a "loudness switch" scam. And an expensive one at that ($4K!). Shame on BSG and shame on the reviewers keeping this one alive.Have I held your interest this long..........?Whew - didn't realize I had been to so many room until now. And I thought I was taking it easy!
Hey glad you stopped by our rooms. The cart is a Goldenote Boboli HOMC selling for $900. Must agree about a little brightness as the VTA was just not correct . After a minor adjustment with the on the fly VTA it was spot on. The VTA was set for 200 gram LPs at the time not normal thickness. Our bad. It was corrected and we received many accolades from the reviewers.
The BSG QOL comment I just do not get. Recently BSGT cancelled all their dealerships a week before the show. Right Scotdazzle. Still we felt it brought so much to the table we still used it. Actually sold two. Next time you hear big band live take note of the horns. As a trumpet player myself first briht then just right VTA for all oh my !!
We needed a larger room for the GTA-2 in 816 no doubt. However after the preamp swap using the Dodd all was much better. Room acoustics were tricky and late in day two we think we got it better. No excuses just took more time than expected, just like at home.
I would agree that once the VTA was fixed, the sound did improve.It is known about the dB increase, but that was not an issue for me. Did some quick out and in the loop with it, but wish the volume levels when switching could have been matched up. But even with the increased volume, the sound change for the cost of the unit, just did not "do it" for myself. Good to hear some people purchased some hardware.Last year I only attended on Friday and most rooms were still tweaking. With attending Saturday and Sunday this year, we got to hear rooms after some tweaking (Saturday) and final setups on Sunday. Some rooms we heard Saturday did improve on Sunday. But myself and friends all realize the hotel rooms do present an issue to vendors. But all in all most did an outstanding job to display their products in a positive way.Dan
Haven't had a chance to read the thread (back at "work" ), but it was great seeing all the usual suspects (and the unusual ones). Thanks to all who stopped in, had a fun time.cheers,AJ
Hey glad you stopped by our rooms. The cart is a Goldenote Boboli HOMC selling for $900. Must agree about a little brightness as the VTA was just not correct . After a minor adjustment with the on the fly VTA it was spot on. Dizzys' muted horn will give ya a shrill sound, if ya know Dizzy and live horns they ain't mellow. Good observation glad ya noticed and we fixed it. The VTA was set for 200 gram LPs at the time not normal thickness. Our bad. It was corrected and we received many accolades from the reviewers. The BSG QOL comment is puzzling to me however to each his own, no problem from me. Recently BSGT cancelled all their dealerships a week before the show. Right Scotdazzle. Still we felt it brought so much to the table we still used it. Actually sold two. We needed a larger room for the GTA-2 in 816 no doubt. However after the preamp swap using the Dodd all was much better. Room acoustics were tricky and late in day two we think we got it better. No excuses just took more time than expected, just like at home. Doug yes the bass did boom a bit. Too many cooks adjusting the sub gain. Yeah room 806 played some sound effect Cds, I agree more music. Greg of GTA likes sound effect demo. Oye ! MORE MUSUC. Anyway great seeing you all there. See ya next year. charles
