Merkel Acoustics R&D – A fun and immersive room where we made beats simultaneously while having our work revolve around us.
Auralic’s new Vega G2 streaming DAC
Composing our next hip-hop album…
The elegant sounding Ryan R620s
Auralic’s new Aries G2
Voxativ Hagens: These may be my next set of near-fields…absolutely gorgeous.
2 Giant Speakers, 1 Small Room. Troy Audio Hellena loudspeakers ($100,000/pair). These 300+ pound monsters deserve a larger room.
The Lumen White Kyara ($49,900/pair) and Ayon Audio Orthos XS Gen 4 mono blocks ($29,000/pair) were one of the best sounds from the show. The soundstage was unbelievably wide, stretching way beyond the boundaries of the small hotel room. There’s also a level of resolution and air not present in most of the setups at the show.
Auralic’s new and gorgeous Vega G2 streaming DAC and Aries G2 streaming transporter. With 50% faster-processing power, a browser-based interface, and user-replaceable hard disks, this streaming DAC and transport are quite versatile. I couldn’t really judge on sound as I believe this system really needed a power conditioner but I found it to be quite resolving.
GamuT Zodiac ($149,000/pair)
Salk Song3 ($2,895/pair), Schiit Yggy DAC ($2,299), Saga ($349), pre Freya ($699), Vidar ($699), Streamplayer Gen III ($1,695). I blame the room for the sharpness of this system. 🙂
Ryan R610 ($2,000)
Burwell and Sons Plain Jane loudspeaker, VPI Avenger, Transparent Ultra, and more. Click for full component list.
Bang & Olufsen BeoLab 50 ($40,000)
Auralic POLARIS wireless streaming amplifier. 120 watts per channel @ 8 ohms
Ayon Orthos XS monoblocks
Schiit and Salk
Sonus Faber with McIntosh stack
Thank you for the Kind words about our room being the biggest surprise! Quicksilver amps as an important part of the system! The Spendor speakers are A4 not D4 – they are a fun captivating speaker. Sorry we did not have any components with zirconium !
I’ve corrected the typo. Thank you for setting up such an enjoyable listening experience. 🙂
Beautiful photo’s, thanks!
Amazing show report – so many pictures!
Agreed, Stereophile writers are so full of themselves with their blathering prejudicial adjectives, which room, music or presenter didn’t strike their fancy, not giving systems a chance to redeem themselves, lousy photography, plus the endless model numbers and price listing’s make for a difficult translation of experience.
Your approach is uplifting and positive for it’s been said “a picture tells a thousand words”.
I appreciate that David. I think these show reports are complementary across all the other publications. We’re just trying to paint an insightful picture for our readers. Luckily I don’t have “assignments” and post whatever I think will bring more value to my readers. I personally feel it’s difficult to isolate which component you’re hearing in the room. I could make a speaker sound warmer or brighter with a swap of a power cable. That’s why the Synergistic Research and Nordost demos were so enlightening, adding/removing one component at a time. This also applies to headphones. However, when a system sounds great notwithstanding these show conditions, that’s when I zoom in. 🙂
Great photos! I appreciate all the details as well. I hope you don’t mind if I repost a few with credit.
Be my guest, Will! Really enjoyed the ZOTL10 Mk.II at this show and your headphone amp with the ZMF headphones and HD650s at a previous show. I believe it was a San Diego cable booth.
I was at the show and thought the best speakers were the Lumen White, Monitor Audio, Tekton DIs, Revels, and the B&O powered speakers. The Micromega all in one system was very impressive. Thanks for the nice show report.
Thanks, Rob. I spent a bit of time in the Micromega room as well. Impressive sound for such a minimalistic setup. He also demoed the effects of the IsoAcoustic Gaia(?). The Lumen White had a realism I didn’t hear in most rooms.
Hi,
Just to say sincere thanks for all your efforts – the best coverage of RMAF so far.
I do some reviewing myself (for 6moons) and I would love to have been there myself, but the 4.5k miles that lie between Glasgow and Denver proved a flight too far, at least this time around.
Interesting too to see Gryphon touching down in the States. I worked at their sole UK dealership for six years so I know the brand inside out. Also, it’s always nice to read about Tannoy sounding good in far flung places, because the factory is just a ten minute stroll from my front door.
Finally & coincidentally – we share a favourite in Springbank 21; seriously it’s been my #1 dram for many years. Although I more often ‘make do’ with the 15yr old if funds are tight, which is to say usually!
All the very best.
Hey Bill, you know what they say, great whiskey palates have great ears. 😉 I was impressed with rich textures of the Gryphons at the show. Tannoys have a similar sweet and meaty tone. Never been to Glasgow but you’re very close to ALL the whiskey action. I’ll plan a trip to Scotland one of these days. Let me know which show you’ll be attending next and we’ll hang.
Any trip to Scotland and I’ll happily be your whisky guide, absolutely. And if I do make it to the States I will definitely give you a shout. Keep up the good work. All the very best.
Jay
Your observations and kind words for the Merging Technologies room reflect some of the same comments we received from many music lovers as they visited our room. Thanks for taking the time
Mike
HI,
On behalf on VANA, the North American Distributor for Audio Physic, thank you for visiting our room and pointing out the beautiful Avantera III Loudspeakers:)
Nancy Weiner
Managing Director
VANA, Ltd
and the CODEX!