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NY Audio Show 2014

Posted by layman (A) on October 6, 2014 at 10:47:10

I was delighted to attend this year’s NY Audio Show in my home town of Brooklyn, NY. This was my first time attending the NY Audio show and I was informed that this year’s show was smaller than previous NY Audio shows. This may have contributed to the ease with which I could navigate between the various sections and the ease with which I could spend time in rooms that caught my interest. Most rooms were full but not overcrowded. Everything was neatly arranged on only two floors.

I was surprised to find so many Brooklyn based companies. I did not know that the city has such an interesting assortment of "artisanal" manufacturers. Artisanal audio seems to be a major trend at this year’s shows and it’s great to be able to hear products that do not enjoy wide distribution.

I started exploring in the KEF room. Most of the speakers were on static display but the ones that were playing (a new version of the Blade) did not seem to be fully on-song in the room they were in. They sounded disjointed and hi-fi-ish with a bright sheen across the top and over-emphasized transients.

Next I entered a room full of software (vinyl, SACD and downloads) and encountered the friendly people representing Analogue Productions, Marc Sheforgen and Chad Kassem. I praised them for bringing back some Sony SACDs that are now out of print as DSD-downloads and praised them for their ever growing catalogue of beautifully mastered re-issues.

The idea behind the re-issue program seems to be to offer limited editions of these recordings as vinyl and SACD (physical) products before the recordings later appear as DSD-downloads. I took this information as encouragement to go ahead and buy all the Analogue Productions physical recordings that I want (while they are in print) as Chad indicated that licensing is expensive.

Analogue Productions brought a nice sampling of their catalog of recordings to the show and I took advantage of the opportunity to snag a few choice titles. The first one I listened to, a Living Stereo re-issue of Fritz Reiner conducting Prokofiev’s Lt. Kije Suite and Stravinsky’s Song of the Nightingale sounded absolutely superb.

I also noticed a nice selection of Chesky recordings in the software room and was glad to see the company represented.

Around the corner from the software display, I discovered a room in which a live cellist played a duet with a recorded track. I could not quite understand the purpose of this exercise except perhaps to demonstrate that live music sounds so much better than recorded music. Yet perhaps that was the point after all…to underline the purpose of hi-fi…fidelity to live music. Some products get closer than others.

I went upstairs and discovered a room featuring the Kronzilla VA-6801 Integrated, Allnic D/A convertor, MAD Baron Speakers and a very interesting product from CARE Audio of New Jersey called the Maximizer Subwoofer(s). The very friendly CARE representatives, Sunil Lekhi, his wife and son, explained that the Maximizers were designed to turn small speakers into full range ones. This was borne out beautifully by the demonstration and by the presence of a pair of full-range loudspeakers, Focal’s Grand Utopia BE speakers, in the next room.

The Grand Utopia’s driven by VAC amps and pre-amps and Esoteric digital players sounded absolutely superb. I did not hear the drivers or the boxes as separate from the music. The giant speakers effectively disappeared. The VAC equipment lent the (sonic) proceedings an air of poise, calmness and subtlety. I was impressed.

I wandered into the Sony room next. The products on static display looked interesting but the speakers sounded small and hi-fi-ish. I did not stay long.

The Vandersteen Model 7 in another (crowded) room sounded really good, so much so that listeners staid glued to their seats and would not allow newcomers such as myself the opportunity to sit and really enjoy the proceedings. That these speakers were highly thought of was also evidenced by all the pushing and shoving in that room. I came out bruised but enlightened.

Across the hall, I noticed Koby of Hifilogic, the distributor for Zu Audio, Music First and Atma-sphere (amongst others), whom I had met previously at the Capital Audiofest in July. He remembered me and asked me to listen to his budget set-up featuring Zu Audio Soul Supreme speakers, Peachtree Nova Integrated amp and VPI Nomad Turntable. The budget system sounded almost as good as the more expensive one that I heard in July and left me with a big smile on my face. Koby really seems to be a room set-up whiz. He also has great sounding products to work with.

The next room to impress me featured Totem Fire loudspeakers and the Devialet 120 Integrated amp. I was shocked that class-D could rival class-A when it came to tone color, palpability and realism. The speaker’s sounded very subtle and composed as well. This system came closer to live than many others.

Next, I met the representative of (Brooklyn-based) Bache Audio. The room featured Bache Audio 001 speakers being driven by Aluxus Audio tube monoblocks, line and phono-stages. This room sounded very realistic and zesty and I was impressed that Brooklyn-based audio could compete with the best the world over.

I was mightily impressed by the OMA Mini two-way loudspeakers that married a horn tweeter to a full range driver in a bamboo enclosure. These were being driven by Woo Audio WA 234 (integrated) Monoblocks. This system sounded exceptionally realistic, subtle and refined and was an immediate candidate for best of show recognition.

Wandering around a little more I discovered Audes loudspeakers being driven by a mountain of beautiful looking tube electronics. It sounded like Ella Fitzgerald was singing live in this room and she brought a (broad) smile to my face.

Ella performed the remarkable trick of performing live in two different rooms at once as she was also featured in the room next door. This room demonstrated the Volti Vittora loudspeakers with Raven Spirit 300-B Reference amps, Meitner transport and DAC. The proprietor of Volti Audio said that his goal with the Vittora speaker system was full range musicality (without anything sounding the least bit hifi). Goal achieved.

The final room to really knock my socks off featured the Lampizator Big Seven DAC, Lampizator tubed pre-amp and mono-blocks and some unusual floorstanding speakers with cabinets made of stone. I sat down with mouth agape. I have never heard digital re-play this present and realistic before. It was not analog-like but rather close to live music. That’s something that digital playback has long struggled with.

My joint Best of Show: the OMA mini horn speakers , which I found exceptionally refined and realistic sounding and the Lampizator DAC , Pre-amp, and Mono-block system, which I found exceptionally vivid, present and close to live music. The products represent artisanal audio at its very best.

If I could combine the Lampizator Electronics with the OMA mini horn speakers, I think I would have a very, very satisfying, realistic, subtle and startling sounding system.

I was really impressed with the quality of audio at this show and would like to thank all the organizers and exhibitors for an enlightening and enjoyable experience.

Edits: 10/06/14

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