HiFi

Michael Vamos of Audio Skies is the importer/distributor for Ideon Audio—I reviewed their impressive Ayazi DAC and Black Star Clock—and JMF Audio, a company that’s new to me but dates back to 1985 with deep roots in the pro audio world, among others.

Vinnie Rossi revealed his new BRAMA collection of audio components back in October, and the buzz has persisted and steadily grown in anticipation of the first live performance at Axpona 2022. The wait, is over.

When I heard that the Rockport Atria II speakers were playing in the Stillpoints room, I had to hear them, again.

NAD, PSB, Dali, and Bluesound all sit under the roof of parent company Lenbrook who have built a fine house, filled with brands that offer the latest tech, excellent performance, and reasonable price tags. Bravo!

Some people get real worked up over cables, especially power cords (and Ethernet and USB cables). They use faulty science to explain why power cords cannot possibly make a difference, then make wild unsupported claims to explain away empirical evidence.

Speakers that don’t look like every other speaker can be polarizing—some people like ’em, some don’t. Which is all well and good until some nitwit with a keyboard believes they get to decide for everyone.

Aretai, founded in 2018 by Jānis Irbe and Edgars Zvirgzdiņš, showed off their Contra 100S Stand Mount Loudspeakers ($7500/pair) that do a wonderful job of  incorporating a horn-loaded tweeter, both aesthetically and sonically, with front and rear firing 6″ woofers.

Florida-based Dealer and Distributor Bending Wave USA combined a number of blue-chip brands in a big room for big sound.

NJ-based dealer, and nearly-a-neighbor, GTT Audio premiered the new YG Acoustics Summit Loudspeakers along with a host of gear that made for some captivating sounds.

That’s one half of the Avantgarde Acoustic Trio G3/iTron/Spacehorn Active Speaker system in the Presidential Suite Alexander and if I stretched my legs out from the couch where I sat and listened, I could nearly touch ’em.

Vivid Audio Gaya G1S Loudspeakers ($86,000/pair) in the Audio Skies Room.

Oh Luxman, How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

Auralic had a full stack of digital gear on display paired with a pair of active ATC speakers for a nice twist on system-building.

The next room on my first day morning tour was about as far from silent as you can get, and the VTL/Stenheim combo produced some of the most captivating sound at the show, at least according to my big mojo detector.

The first room I entered for Axpona 2022 was silent.