Personal Best

Any audio show has good rooms and bad. Sometimes those rooms sound good for an all-too-brief period. Sometimes they are consistently good. Here are some of our personal highlights.

High-End Cable: Despite the name, High-End Cable also supplies a lot of audio equipment that isn’t just cable. This system, comprising Aqua La Diva CD transport and La Scala DAC, Norma IPA-140 integrated amplifier, and Scansonic 2.5 tower loudspeakers. Another great system in the room featured an Audience ClairAudient 1+1. 

Music First Audio: Alongside its new headphone amplifier, MFA has also launched its new MM phono stage, which sounded excellent in the context of an AudioNote/MFA/Howes Quad amps/Voxative speaker system. Of course, that lovely Nagra reel-to-reel helped.

The Audio Consultants: This Norma REVO DS-1, APL Pure DSD Reference DAC, Edge NL Signature 1.2 preamp/NL10.2 power amp, and Lawrence Audio Violin SE loudspeakers, all connected with GutWire, all sitting on HRS isolation and all treated with DAAD room treatment managed to sound good in a bad room, and didn’t overawe the sound of the room.

Chasing the Dragon: Mike Valentine’s demonstrations are entertaining, in part because the guy is extremely funny, as this poster outside the room demonstrates.

dCS: We mentioned the new Rossini before, but it was so good it’s worth saying it again! This was our best in show. And we weren’t alone!