Starting the thread for this year‘s fest for anyone who gets to attend to share their collective thoughts in one place.

I plan on going there for one day tomorrow. Some of the things I look forward to include checking out Caladan speakers by Clayton, pure audio project trios with their new 10 inch coaxial drivers, all the various rooms including youTuber OCD Mikey (I recall he’s bringing a few SET tube amps).

Speaking of YouTubers, audiophiles junkie and Jay’s audio lab are already here today covering in case anyone is interested.

I thought the following video by audiophile junkie might be of interest to tech members:

https://youtu.be/sTuO4cuapiw?si=S3xvh-SRQnpuBDgx

Color me intrigued but I’m also surprised that audiophile junkie was not familiar with Lii Audio/Song drivers. These are not unknown drivers on YouTube. Thought that was weird for a person as knowledgeable as Jason and also into open baffles.

I had a good time yesterday at the event.  Spent 5 hours and change visiting a few rooms and speaking to few manufacturers and vendors…and unashamedly, taking selfies with some of the YouTube stars including Jay’s Audiolab and Audiophile Junkie.  I also saw Cheap Audio Man for a brief second—as I was getting off an elevator, he was getting in and I was like why does this guy look familiar, and then it hit me! By that time, the door had closed and I wasn’t going to stalk him to see which level he was going to, lol.  Also saw Dr. Weaver and Michael Lavorgna talking to each other outside the hotel.

First, I’ll say that Caladan Speakers by Clayton Shaw sounded excellent.  I also had a fantastic discussion with Clayton outside his room for a good 20 min.  He’s overloaded with orders—if you were to order one today—you’re looking at a Feb delivery.  The woofers are from a Spanish manufacturer—all assembled on a fully robotic line with no little to no human interaction.  Not sure if that is a good or a bad thing, but Clayton is really happy with them and they do down to 25Hz.  

Sharing a picture and video below;

https://share.icloud.com/photos/08f9URE4bI1IkzmZJa44CIoGg

OCD Mikey’s room with Fischer & Fischer Slate speakers and playback designs DAC ($23K!) and streamer.  I think the big ones were playing when I was there and at that moment in time and track, it sounded a tad boomy to me even with his tube traps.  Didn’t spend enough time in the room to form a better opinion.  

Von Schweikert Audio’s new VR-55 speaker paired with a Lampizator DAC was another standout.

Had a good listen to the PAP Trio with their coaxial driver.  Really enjoyed the presentation.  Since Dominique Fils-Aimé’s song ‘Birds’ had been playing in the Caladan room (and most other rooms), I asked Ze’ev (the owner) to play it here too for comparison.  He more than obliged and played the same song on Vinyl and digital for an extra comparison between the two formats.  It was a superb presentation and the vinyl version won hands down.  We are all awed. And he wasn’t using mediocre digital gear either—a combo of Pass Labs amplification and Denfrips flagship Terminator DAC.  Really wanted to hear the Voxativ drivers, so Ze’ev asked me to visit their dedicated room to get an idea of German drivers’ sound signature.

Here’s a pic I took and a video that Audiophile Junkie made yesterday, with Ze’ev giving an excellent presentation.



https://youtu.be/3l3myAMaO68?si=c9xiPHsNAAeK9Ooy

Thanks for the updates Kamran. Way back in the day, when I still lived in LA my buddy and I went to one of the early audio shows, it may have been run by Stereophile but I don't remember the name. And I was just overwhelmed by all the people, and a lot of really mediocre sound from (at the time) really expensive gear. And I've never felt the need to actually attend another one of these events even though I'm (academically) interested in all the latest tech. Which is just a roundabout way of saying, for me at least, your write up is better than being there.

I went to a show once and everything was hunky dory, just listening to different things and enjoying myself.

Then all of a sudden I had a thought that freaked me out.

Since all of the rooms were in hotel, I started thinking what was the most perverted thing that had went on in those rooms.

I'm pretty sure I saw Shetland Pony hoof marks on the ceiling in one room.

Now you will never be able to get that image out of your head the next time you go to one of these shows!
You're welcome.

Met Sean Casey from Zu Audio in his room.  Cool dude and very laid back vibe.  He just brought with him a bunch of records from different genre’s so couldn’t take specific requests.  The Definition 6 speakers were playing.  Didn’t stay long enough to form an opinion one way or another.

Thanks for your efforts, Kamran.

Pretty awesome stuff!!!

Thanks Geno.

Thanks HK—Yes, my plan (unlike last year), was to visit specific rooms and keep my sanity in check.  You and CAJames have now both touched on mediocre sounding but uber priced gear at these shows. I don’t disagree, but will expand on my experience in a separate post.

TrackingAngle interviews Clayton Shaw:

https://youtu.be/pG-HN3hl7JI?si=Cb8CUrE9Smpce8pG

Thanks for the rundown K.

I go to Axpona each year and it always surprises me how bad some of the rooms sound.  That said, in recent years, the number of rooms with sound treatments has increased.

I don't know how long the price will remain low on those Caladan spearkers but those peaked my interest.  I watched an youtube review (sorry forget who it was) and they were very high on them.