Also read: Q&A – Bricasti Design M21 DAC. Since reviewing the Audio Note UK Fifth Force/Fifth Element DAC system and the Esoteric K-01XD SACD player/USB DAC in Summer 2020, I have auditioned half a dozen more DACs ranging from sub-$1,000 to over $20,000. Many of them relied on the ESS Technology Sabre Pro chipsets but […]

SYSTEM DETAILS (back to MAIN page) Lobby Pavilion Lobby Platinum Ballroom 12th Floor: Parlor Suite 1211 Room 1215 (Two days only for this Exhibit: Fri, 9/22 and Sat, 9/23) Room 1222, 1223   Updated: 9/20/23

EQUIPMENT LIST (back to MAIN page) A Aaudio Imports. Lobby Pavilion Audio Note UK. Room 1222, 1223 Audio Realignment Technologies. Lobby Pavilion Audio Reference Technology. Lobby Silver Ballroom. B Bricasti Design. Lobby Silver Ballroom G Gestalt Audio Design. Room 1211 H HB Design. Lobby Pavilion P Pink Faun. Lobby Pavilion Pranawire cable system. Room 1211 […]

Lotus Group system details Room: 12th Floor Parlor Room 1211 System details: Electronics from SW1X of England SW1X cable system SW1X DAC IV Special SW1X Level III Balanced Phono Stage SW1X Titan DHT SET integrated amplifier SW1X VDT IV Special Digital Source Wolf von Langa London field-coil loudspeakers, $59,995/pair – full-range field-coil two-way dipole main […]

Bricasti Design CEO Brian Zolner opens up on the company’s flagship product, the M21 dual-mono DSD DAC. As I am about to publish my findings on the Bricasti Design M21 DSD DAC, the complexity of the $21k DAC is such that Brian Zolner, CEO of the company, and I conducted many correspondences on the subject. […]

  Aaudio Imports system details Room: Lobby Pavilion Music system: Audio Realignment Technologies electromagnetic treatment (USA) 6Xs. $4,500 22X. $7,000 Pink Faun 2.16 Ultra Music Server Streamer HB Design (Germany) PowerSlave Marble MKII Power Distributor. $21,500 Stacore (Poland) CLD Footers. $1,080 set of 3 Stage III (USA) Ckahron (pronounced KAI-RON) XLR Interconnects. $16,500/pair Kraken AC […]

FinkTeam KIM  Ah yes, I remember it well. February 2018 found me in Bristol, England at its eponymous HiFi Show. The show, a warhorse of sorts, has been in existence for decades, and I daresay it will persevere for yet a few more. It was there, in the pub (bar for the Yanks) I met […]

The CAS is the only show in which attendees and reviewers can vote for companies to be recognized for their best efforts at the show. Vote count: 2 – per Member of the Press, 1 – per Attendee Vote allowance: 1 vote allowed per Type per person. Best Sounding Room Award. Most Innovative Product Award. Best Value Component Award. […]

Prize Winners Announcement (back to MAIN page) Congratulations to the following attendees for winning the prizes! Craig W., Audio Note UK DAC 0.1x Kelly S., Millennium Protractor Set Steve B., Millennium Protractor Set   Each ticket qualifies as one entry. No maximum ticket limit. All tickets eligible to win. Winning ticket to be drawn at […]

EXHIBITORS (back to MAIN page) LOBBY: Aaudio Imports. Room: Lobby Pavilion. System details. – Audio Realignment Technologies electromagnetic treatment (USA) – HB Design (Germany) – Pink Faun (Netherlands) – Stacore (Poland) – Stage III Concepts cable system (USA) – Wilson Benesch (UK) – Ypsilon Electronics (Greece) A.R.T. cables / Bricasti Design / Sound Lab: Lobby […]

MAIN PAGE    SHOW REPORTS Lobby Gold Ballroom: Sound Lab, Dr. Vinyl and MA Recordings | CAS 2024 Dr. Vinyl joins Sound Lab in Lobby Gold Ballroom   Room 1120: Audience AV And Atma-Sphere | CAS 2024 Audience AV and Atma-Sphere in Room 1120   Room 1218: True Sound to represent Audio Note UK in […]

Introduction We are all no doubt familiar with the reality of dwindling number of brick-and-mortar audio shops. The loss is a real problem for two reasons: (1) it makes it a great deal more difficult to audition equipment that could have potential for purchase; and (2) it makes it harder to determine which combinations of […]

  Entry points to this article If you are unfamiliar with the PureAudioProject brand of speakers, I encourage you to explore the other articles I have written, as a great deal of background and discussion of their sound quality is contained those reviews. Those reviews are here at Dagogo.com: Trio15 TB (featuring the Tang Band […]

  Introduction: super tweeters I’m sitting here listening to Al DiMeola’s Dinner Music of the Gods and thinking, “Wow, this sounds great!” But does it sound great without the TAKET-LIVE super tweeter and WHD PURE “woofer-high definitioner”? I unplug both of those satellite speakers and, sure enough, my system sounds really good but not as […]

Do not rush. (16.20) In unhurried motion. Without haste. (9.32) Restful. (20.06) Very comfortable. (8.25)   4th movement: We enjoy the heavenly pleasures, so we avoid all earthly things. No worldly clamour is heard in Heaven! All live in gentle peace! We lead an angelic life, yet we are quite merry withal! We lead an […]

The performance of many cables is very similar and comparable to each other, and some cables continue to employ original designs of others dating back to the early two-thousands. I have therefore endeavored to seek out more original designs and that often entails products over $10,000. Like everything else, cable systems manufactured per budget allocation […]

Recently, I published an article about one man’s quest for the best sound possible in a large room using state of the art gear. Most of that gear was at price points many would not likely consider. Nevertheless, the gentleman’s journey was — to me — a fascinating one. Reader response suggests that I was […]

Iconoclast Cables already proved they have a serious design worthy of the finest systems, but Iconoclast’s designer, retired Belden Cable engineer Galen Gareis, has taken his initial work further with the development of the Series 2 SPTPC speaker cables. Most of the design parameters for Series 2 speaker cables remain the same from the extensive […]

I recently was introduced to a superb but very expensive add-on product known as a “super tweeter” designed and manufactured by Kan Sound Lab in Japan. I was not even familiar with this type of transducer or what it purports to do, and was quite surprised when it was first inserted into my main system. […]

Also read: Part 1   The range of hybrid speaker products For many years I asked Bruce Thigpen of Eminent Technology to make a bigger, more capable version of the LFT-8B, which would have been a terrific affordable solution for persons seeking a bigger slice of hybrid sound. Prior to reviewing I had owned the […]

Note to reader: As I have invested time in reviewing the  Aspen Acoustics Lagrange L5 MkII published at Dagogo.com and the speaker under consideration here is a new model built using the same principles, I will not be revisiting previously discussed background of Scott Kindt, Aspen Acoustics owner and designer, or my discussion of DLT […]

HEAVEN AND EARTH Cappella Romana John Michael Boyer, associate music director & conductor, with 45th Parallel Universe Ikon of Light Sir John Tavener | Heaven and Earth: A Song of Creation Matthew Arndt · John Michael Boyer · Alexander Khalil · Kurt Sander · Richard Toensing · Tikey Zes   DISC 1 – Ikon of […]

Initial suspicions One afternoon I find myself sitting in my listening chair, listening to music playing from my main audio setup. The only new things are two 10-lb 111/130/192 (H/W/D) mm boxes sitting on the floor next to my Vivid Audio Giya G1. Nonetheless, I’m thinking to myself “What the heck just happened?!” The two […]

I recently reviewed the Music Hall mmf-1.3 turntable, and as good as the turntable was, I did feel the included $30 Audio Technica AT-3600L phono cartridge prevented the turntable from performing as well as it could. After discussing about using a better phono cartridge with both Roy Hall of Music Hall and the folks at […]

The Ziering-Conlon Initiative for Recovered Voices at the Colburn School 1. Concerto for Piano and Small Orchestra, Op. 43 (21:05) Molto sostenuto Sostenuto Allegro alla jazz Dominic Cheli, piano RVC Ensemble James Conlon, conductor Five Pieces for String Quartet (15:29) 2. Alla valse Viennese (2:03) 3. Alla serenata (3;39) 4. Alla czeca (1:45) 5. Alla […]

I had two turntable goals at the beginning of this year. The first was to find a reasonably priced turntable to review. The second was to be able to play the 78 rpm records that I inherited a number of years ago. I have not played any 78s since I was a very young child. […]

Lorenzo speakers with Goldmund sounded quite nice – Big but cohesive. Gobel and Riviera – Another one of the better sounding rooms at the show. I always seem to enjoy Tannoy speakers. And the big Westminster’s didn’t disappoint. They brought their apartment sized models as well. Audio Physic and Gold Note sources and Analog Domain […]

The best sound of the show for me came not from stereo systems but from Steinway & Sons Pianos and their SPIRIO/r set-up.  The player Piano has now become “elite”. The version I heard was the 38th model of Lang Lang’s 88 models of Steinway & Sons (8 is a lucky number in Asia and […]

One of the more relaxing sounding rooms was from Western Electric with speakers older than me, the 753C speakers.  Western Electric had their new SET amplifier on display.  The sound was smooth and one of my favorites.  I would be interested to hear the speakers on stands or tilted up to perhaps improve the image […]

This is a story about evolution: How I became a better listener, how the product I’ve been listening to improved, and how my experience improved as I got to know the product. The product central to this story is the Audience ClairAudient 1+1, an eight-inch tall, eight-pound dual full-range driver monitors from a southern California […]