Certified Crispy – Best of the New

Here’s some gear that’s sure to bring hype into the audio space. We thought the demonstrations were straight-forward, convincing, and clearly illustrated the benefits of the product. Since many of these manufacturers will be sending these products in for review, we’ll be able to take a closer look very soon.

• Innuos Zenith Statement Music Server/Streamer
  • Featuring a double-enclosure linear power supply with eight independent power rails. Also includes a custom USB board with the higher precision OCXO clock. Innuos had a Zenith SE in for direct comparisons. The results were stunning and the two sounded like completely different servers. In comparison, the SE sounded dimensionless, fuzzy, and less refined/detailed. The Statement is MUCH quieter with much better realism in its contouring of voices and instruments. The fact that the SE is the best sounding server I’ve heard so far, this says a lot. Innuos were a bit obsessive with the Statement…and it paid off. Pricing TBD but will be around double that of the SE.

• Synergistic Research HFT Wide Angle
  • Enormous soundstage and clarity – With just six tiny HFT Wide Angles in one of the largest spaces at AXPONA.

• Gingko Audio – The Line of Denafrips DACs
  • The world premiere of the full line of Denafrips R2R DACs (Ares, Pontus, Venus, and Terminator). One of the rare chances to listen to an entire line of DACs in the same room.

• Aqua HiFi La Voce S3
  • Located in the Well Pleased Audio Vida room, this DAC is potent. I’m hoping to get one in for review soon.

• Harbeth P3ESR 40th Anniversary
  • Harbeth is for music lovers and the P3ESR made quite a statement in the listening room. It had such a huge sound, we thought we were listening to the 40.2s. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a good seat (even on a revisit) but its rich and inviting musicality was made known to everyone in the room. We’ll have to get this beauty in for review.

• Furutech
  • I have a feeling their DPS-4.1 power cables and NCF Booster connector/cable holder will be products that will make their way into more and more systems.

• Gayle Sanders Eikon Loudspeakers
  • An all-in-one high-end active speaker solution? The Gayle Sanders Eikon might just be your ticket.

• Pneupod
  • Penuance Audio, has created a new way to mechanically isolate your components. Where the competition isolates only in the vertical direction, the NP-1s isolate in both the vertical and horizontal directions. Interestingly enough, it uses air compression so you’ll actually use a pump. It was very convincing (and “cute”) demo. One thing I noticed with most isolation products…they usually uplift the sound to create a quieter background at the expense of thinning out the sound. The NP-1 seems to be able to do this while keeping a full-bodied sound with a natural timbre.