Whether we’re talking World Premiers or North American Debuts at CAF 2025, I enjoy the new and as Bobby Darin sang in 1960, I’ll be there.
With Capital Audiofest 2025 a mere three days away, the emails are coming in announcing the new. And let me give a big THANK YOU to companies like distributor Well Pleased A|V and dealer Now Listen Here for not only providing details of the new but also detailed pricing information for everything that will be on display in their respective rooms. Bravo! There’s nothing worse or the cause of more time wasted when it comes to show coverage than having to hunt down prices.
Command Performance | Democracy Room
Gryphon Antileon Revelation Amplifier ($49,800/per chassis available as Stereo or Mono, pictured up top)
A dual mono, pure Class-A high, current design with “massively Oversized Power Supplies” offering 165 Watts per channel in stereo or 185 WPC in mono in celebration of Gryphon’s 40th Anniversary.
Well Pleased AV / Alma Music & Audio | Room 841
QLN Prestige Three Gen 2 Loudspeaker ($12,500/pair)
First introduced in 2018, the QLN Prestige Three Gen 2 offer a number of upgrades including:
- Upgraded cabinet with rel dual layer Qboard
- New 6dB first-order crossover design
- New cable design with improved isolation
- New adjustable feet
Merason DAC2 ($12,500)
Now Listen Here | Executive Lounge & Suite 319
Acora Acoustics MRC-3 Speakers ($15,990/pair in standard finishes / $23,490/pair in new exotic finish)
Backert Labs Optik Phono 1.1 (two-input, tube phono preamp/energizer for DS Audio optical cartridges) ($11,500)
A DS Audio-compatible phono preamp/energizer to support two optical cartridges.
imersiv D-1 DAC ($12,000)
“Imersiv is a new brand from the pro audio company Millenia Media. This DAC has been in development for the past decade and has resulted in three patents. There is truly ground-breaking technology here which results in an unprecedented 170 dB of dynamic range—that’s 28 bits of actual resolution. This is a 100X improvement in dynamic range compared to the previously best available (~140 dB). The technology is called HDR-A multi-path audio, which is thus named due to its conceptual similarity to the way that HDR photography works. None of this would matter, of course, if the DAC didn’t sound fantastic…and it does. The imersiv D-1 is incredibly natural and resolving but without being clinical. To my ears this is the new benchmark for DACs under $20k.”
Innuos STREAM3 ($8,000)
The new STREAM3 is the top model in Innuos’ entry STREAM series of network transports that offers optional internal storage that can act as a Roon Core.