Thread: Best of show opinions......

I must say, the Quintessnce room with SF/Boulder was outstanding, also the Estelon/Vitus room was extremely nice..CAT/Magico was nice but not close to the two mentioned IMO

Aside from our two Clarisys Audio/Hegel/Shunyata/Constellation rooms, which I really did feel sounded out of this world good and the great partners with Hegel and Shunyata, I would say I also liked:

The new Magico S3 with CAT
The S5 mk2/CAT room
Rockport with Vinnie Rossi
The new Rethm speakers
Luxman with Magico S5

But the show for me is so much more than the rooms. It’s seeing all my great friends and customers after 2 hellish years of Covid craziness and sharing laughs and good times.

I cannot say enough about the awesome team of Anders, Brad and Eileen from Hegel and Caelin, Grant and Richard from Shunyata and Mike, Matt and Florián from Suncoast/Clarisys.

And as always, great to see all our customers and discuss all things audio and life!

What a fun show! Can’t wait for Munich.


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^luxman/magico was nice, i agree

I wouldn't say these were the best of show but - for one reason or another show standouts: (in no particular order, and I was there Fri and Sat, so no clue how things sounded Sunday)

The Audio Note room - best I've ever heard them.

Avant Garde sounded pretty good Saturday but sucked Friday

The Carver room sounded pretty good

The various Clairisys rooms sounded really good

The Klipsch K-Horns sounded way better than they should have in the tiny room they were in.

The new Magico S sounded really good - almost M like (90-95% M like) (for example - I have some M2s and wouldn't spend the extra money over the new S)

Volti room - they always seem to get good sound at shows

The MBL room was OK but their room with the little MBLs was really good.

Most of the big big rooms just weren't good - I hope for their sakes since it was all of them that it was the rooms that were bad.

The Mofi room with the Falcon LS3/5a Gold Badge 50th Anniversary sounded good

The granite speakers - well let's just say, with all of the hype they got in Florida, they were disappointing. They were good looking tho. They were in one of the big rooms so again I assume/hope it was the room

Vinni Rossi room was sounding good on Saturday. I think he was using Rockports but I forgot to ask to make sure

I'm sure others will come to mind.

Hey Mike, you mention Luxman with Magico S5; was luxman using the M-10X amp C-10X preamp?

Vivid with Audionet
Avantgarde Duo (active)
The Magico rooms were all pretty good but the big room with CAT was exceptional
Rockport and Vinnie Rossi

Originally Posted by mxk116

Hey Mike, you mention Luxman with Magico S5; was luxman using the M-10X amp C-10X preamp?

M-10X mono’s and c900u pre

Originally Posted by MPW

Vivid with Audio Note
Avantgarde Duo (active)
The Magico rooms were all pretty good but the big room with CAT was exceptional
Rockport and Vinnie Rossi

Vivid was paired with Audionet electronics.
Audio Note was their speakers and electronics.

The Magico room with the Blue S-3's was excellent. The Rockport Atria AII's/Vinnie Rossi was excellent. I also liked the YG Talus and Descent sub. Think it could have been even better with some differnt electronics. I felt the bass was a bit boomy in the Boulder/SF room, and frankly felt the Quintessence Wilson rooms were better. The Rockport Cygnus sounded amazing. Couldn't get a good feel for the PS Audio speakers due to crowds/presentation/background noise, but sounded pretty good and represent quite a value. The new small Mofi was impressive, and might find a place in my office.

Originally Posted by Audio 1

Vivid was paired with Audionet electronics.
Audio Note was their speakers and electronics.

Oops - you are correct!

Vivid Room was playing orchestral music when I was in there. Very nice, airy soundstage, fitting for the material. I don't think I could live with the aesthetics of either the Vivid speakers or Audionet. One utterly too fantastic, and the other the exact opposite.
The MBL room was nice. And that is about it. Nice and polite. Not sure those speakers are my cup of tea.

Originally Posted by mxk116

Hey Mike, you mention Luxman with Magico S5; was luxman using the M-10X amp C-10X preamp?

Yes. And I met all the reps from Luxman japan. I asked them about the infamous class A integrated. They laughed and said “if we ever did one again, it would only be for a short run commemorative edition or something.”


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Of the big rooms I liked CAT & Magico, Karan & Wynn Audio, Piego & BAT. The Doshi room was also good. I thought Bending Wave's room was good this year the ARC was a good match with the Gobel.

I saw two Alta Audio rooms that were good. There was a Bel Canto room with I think Audio Vector speakers that was very good, I think what helped was their room treatments. Another smaller room I thought stood out was Unison Research with Opera speakers, 845 tubes sounding good. I heard a very impressive room with the A1's but it was Friday and I can't remember the electronics. Dr. Vinyl's room was very good Socorro TT, Magari electronics with Usher speakers. One of the Alta was with Infigo Audio, good sounding room.

Clairisys rooms were good, I preferred them with Constellation. (Brian, Larry, Jack from PA or anyone else who used to be on AR, Florian is the same guy who used to post with us. He is a really nice guy and it's very cool to see what he has done for himself. I also ran into HarleyGuy there aka Doug.)

Did anyone see the Orchestros speakers? I think they were the only audio room with a video monitor. The speakers had the drivers on arms. Not being able to see them I can't explain them. I do know they sounded good especially considering they were only driven with a Vincent integrated with built-in DAC. The guys were extra friendly and had quite a sense of humor.

I also liked the MSB who was using Magico speakers, M2's. My first visit they were playing a Steely Dan track I know very well, there was so much fine detail revealed but it was in a musical way, inner woven in the performance, not at all analytical.

I thought the Acora with VAC sounded good.

Since my statement last year caused such a stir when I mentioned playing turntables, this year I counted and at least a dozen rooms were playing or played a
turntable when aske considering the numbr of overall rooms not a good percentage

I did check out some headphones, became a Dan Clark fan.

I need to find my card so I can provide more info, I saw a anti vibration board for turntables made of wood but the top has a groove around it which fits an acrylic top. This is very reasonable and a great find for Rega, Clear Audio or others who do not supply a dust cover. The entire package is cheaper than most just covers I've price and they look like good quality.

For my taste the Clarisys Audio speakers were the speakers I would buy if I hit the lottery.
When you walked into the room you were enveloped in a wave of sound. Just as at a concert.
Big, full, impactful. Totally inviting and immersive. WOW.

Originally Posted by jadedavid

For my taste the Clarisys Audio speakers were the speakers I would buy if I hit the lottery.
When you walked into the room you were enveloped in a wave of sound. Just as at a concert.
Big, full, impactful. Totally inviting and immersive. WOW.

Thank you. We agree!


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Butcher Block Acoustics is the company making the turntable platform with a dust cover for turntables sold without a dust cover. I was excited to see this since my Clear Audio has no cover and the product is very reasonably priced.

I forgot about the CAT / Magico room. It did sound good.

I forgot to mention the Aurender AP20 with Wilson Sabrina. This room sounded great. The AP20 is an all-in-one solution, just need speakers, 200x2.

I found this amusing, Friday I wondered into the room with Westminster & VS, Horison DAC, they were playing some sleepy audiophile music, I notice the guy with the iPad inputting a song that was requested, I asked, "are you taking requests?" After this song, then he hands the iPad to my friend who I asked to input Night Verses, song Copper Wasp, energetic song with some fast kick drum in the beginning. I thought the guy running the room was going to have a heart attack, He's like can I change this and acting like the system was going to blow up or something.

From a newsletter Aurender sent me they were going to be in 25 rooms that they knew of.

Also from the newsletter regarding the AP20:

"New Model Alert - catch a special sneak preview of Aurender’s forthcoming all-in-one model, AP20. AP20 is a bona fide ultra-high-performance Integrated Amp. However, unlike other Integrated Amps that include a DAC and support for streaming, AP20 benefits from Aurender’s industry-leading Digital Source Component audio performance and user experience. In true Aurender fashion, the power supplies, DAC, preamplifier, power amplifiers, inputs & output sections are all being done in an extremely high-end way. Come get the scoop on this exciting new product!"

Originally Posted by Dizzie

...Also from the newsletter regarding the AP20:

"New Model Alert - catch a special sneak preview of Aurender’s forthcoming all-in-one model, AP20. AP20 is a bona fide ultra-high-performance Integrated Amp. However, unlike other Integrated Amps that include a DAC and support for streaming, AP20 benefits from Aurender’s industry-leading Digital Source Component audio performance and user experience. In true Aurender fashion, the power supplies, DAC, preamplifier, power amplifiers, inputs & output sections are all being done in an extremely high-end way. Come get the scoop on this exciting new product!"

This sounds extremely interesting. I read an estimated price of $22k, with 200W into 8 ohms. I'll look forward to it coming out later this year.

Originally Posted by 4N6

This sounds extremely interesting. I read an estimated price of $22k, with 200W into 8 ohms. I'll look forward to it coming out later this year.

It sounded great.


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From their website and FB page, it looks like Vinnie Rossie no longer sells somewhat affordable gear?? I am sure these new pcs are fantastic, but so was the Lio.

Originally Posted by Shadowfax

From their website and FB page, it looks like Vinnie Rossie no longer sells somewhat affordable gear?? I am sure these new pcs are fantastic, but so was the Lio.

True. A great topic for discussion.


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Originally Posted by Mike

It sounded great.


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In a somewhat apples to oranges thing, it would be interesting to compare the upcoming Aurender AP20 to a Lumin P1+Amp combo. Similar price and both with a streaming/DAC/amplification set-up. Something tells me that both would be terrific, simply personal preference with one's own speakers making the call.

The new Magico S sounded really good - almost M like (90-95% M like) (for example - I have some M2s and wouldn't spend the extra money over the new S)

I have to admit this speaker has sparked my interest. The A5 seems to me to more of a lateral upgrade to my listening setup. I'm looking forward to hearing this speaker in person. It isn't a cheap speaker by any means. But, with the newest technology and experience from Magico. I think this could be really worth considering. At least by me.

I loved the show honestly many great rooms
it makes me wonder if we seem to be very diverse in loves verses dislikes who has it correct ?
I love panels all there I felt were good to great.
when I walked into the 3 floor sun coast it was a Throw back many years in the past for the app sound. but the Clarisys were much better then my memories of the many apps I’ve heard.
I own a set of old Maggie’s 3.6r and I felt the 3.7 were behind mine. Am I correct or is it I have mine and are used to them.
I can’t say any rooms were bad but clearly liked some way more.
over the next day they or so I plan to play some 79 videos to better clarify my thoughts and will post.
a big thanks to sun coast and all the kind reps in rooms.
One thought auralic excuse my spelling was playing techno I hate techno lol
but when I asked the rep to play a nice piano tune he did. The room filled
When it was over he went back to techno and the room emptied hahaha. Maybe I’m
Old but good piano In a small jazz club is to me
What this hi end is about as a start.
And when he did play some jazz honestly
It sounded pretty good.

There definitely was a wide variety of music being played. Sometimes you just have to come back to the room and hope they have changed it up.

Shows are a blast to go to. I never think bad about any product at a show because of its sound. Rooms are hard to get good sound out of in the short amount of time they have to set up. I heard that at AXPONA, the manufacturers could NOT start seting up their room until Thursday morning. That's a lot to do in 24 hours. If there is any hiccup at all, they don't have a chance in getting good sound.

All that being said - it's fun to talk about which rooms sounded good and bad.

Originally Posted by Alrainbow

I loved the show honestly many great rooms
it makes me wonder if we seem to be very diverse in loves verses dislikes who has it correct ?
I love panels all there I felt were good to great.
when I walked into the 3 floor sun coast it was a Throw back many years in the past for the app sound. but the Clarisys were much better then my memories of the many apps I’ve heard.
I own a set of old Maggie’s 3.6r and I felt the 3.7 were behind mine. Am I correct or is it I have mine and are used to them.
I can’t say any rooms were bad but clearly liked some way more.
over the next day they or so I plan to play some 79 videos to better clarify my thoughts and will post.
a big thanks to sun coast and all the kind reps in rooms.
One thought auralic excuse my spelling was playing techno I hate techno lol
but when I asked the rep to play a nice piano tune he did. The room filled
When it was over he went back to techno and the room emptied hahaha. Maybe I’m
Old but good piano In a small jazz club is to me
What this hi end is about as a start.
And when he did play some jazz honestly
It sounded pretty good.

Did anyone see the Orchestros speakers? I think they were the only audio room with a video monitor. The speakers had the drivers on arms. Not being able to see them I can't explain them. I do know they sounded good especially considering they were only driven with a Vincent integrated with built-in DAC. The guys were extra friendly and had quite a sense of humor.
i did i think your comments are spot on , filled with honesty . from outside in the hall i had to go inside . it was good but did have some odd parts, but not offensive. there english was very tough for me and i did ask all the questions. it was amazing given it had optical from a laptop to the receiver and had HDMI video at the same time . i aksed him to play a cd and he did it got a little better .

Originally Posted by Mike

... after 2 hellish years of Covid craziness and sharing laughs and good times.

Retailers here made a killing during Covid. Massive profits. Stock prices soaring to record levels.

Was Esoteric represented at the show?

I'd like to know what is replacing G-01X and G-02X. G1X can't be its only master clock offering going forward.

I saw them in one room showing with Klipsch. I was hoping to get a listen to Esoteric but I'm not sure if that was the best match for synergy. Although the sound wasn't bad it did come off a bit brighter than I prefer. I could blame the speakers but again that's sort of my impression of Esoteric.

What got me interested was hearing a Teac DAC against supposed better DAC, the better DAC did have a bit more detail but for my listening pleasure I'd prefer the Teac.

Originally Posted by brodricj

Retailers here made a killing during Covid. Massive profits. Stock prices soaring to record levels.

Was Esoteric represented at the show?

I'd like to know what is replacing G-01X and G-02X. G1X can't be its only master clock offering going forward.