Tim's 2016 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest Report

[MiTT]

Legacy speakers driven by Raven electronics. I've never been a huge fan of Legacy, maybe because I just don't care for their aesthetic. The sound was fine, but not memorable. The Raven electronics were very nice looking, they have stepped up their fit and finish since the last time I saw them.

 

[MiTT]

Vinci Rossi's modular integrated amp continues to evolve and sounded better than ever. I always liked the look of his former company (Redwine Audio), but this product seems more detailed and refined.

 

[MiTT]

Neat was showing their impressive line of speakers. The diminutive floorstanders shown here I believe sell for about $1,500.00, and sounded better than many speakers at 4 times the price. Very impressive and musical.

 

[MiTT]

Bricasti Design electronics paired with Tidal speakers for an impressive showing - relaxed, yet authoritative at the same time.

 

[MiTT]

I can't recall the electronics, but loved the triple tone arm VPI turntable in this room.

 

[MiTT]

The Bel Canto Black integrated amp was paired with the Latest iteration of the Verity Parfaisel speakers and it sounded lovely. Very lush and possessed of an expansive soundstage. Very nice.

These Dynaudio standmounts were also impressive for their size and price, about $2,600.00 if I recall correctly.

 

[MiTT]

The big Danish Raidho speakers were driven by a gorgeous Danish Aavik integrated amp. I loved the look of this amp, but the sound coming from the Raidho's seemed to bright and etched to my ears.

 

[twich54]

Mr 'B', thank you (again) for your nice review of RMAF !

 

[R.I.P]

Tim many thanks for making the effort to provide great images of audio equipment at the RMAF.

Thanks once again.

Have fun listening to music!

 

[timm]

Awesome Tim. Assuming ps audio had their DMP (direct memory player). Would be hard to tell what it did for sure. Hey - did u actually hear any of the tape decks running at 15ips?

 

[RCHeliGuy]

I looked at the Devialet dual mono a bit closer. I like the concept. 400W Class A / Class D hybrid integreated amp with DAC for streaming or audio server use. What I found interesting was that it had profiles for different speaker loads. Given the how flexible Class D can be, that is an interesting direction. They could potentially compensate for different loads at different frequencies and keep phase alignment across the whole frequency spectrum. They can actually do many more things than that. They could model the sound of tubes or anything else, but given their THD + noise 0.00025% I doubt they are going in that direction.

This concept is very clean and elegant. In the future we will see a lot more like this at lower price points and if it can optimize the performance of speakers all that much better

I realize that many of you love the look of enormous tank like amplifiers, but the Dual Mono looked beautiful to me. At ~$16,000 I'll pass for now, but it looks right on a lot of levels.

A lot of the other stuff looks huge, boxy, and wasteful of space, heat, and energy use. I have trouble not looking at much of it as being a relic of the past already.

 

[Rich]

Great coverage, as always, Tim. Thanks for sharing with us. Wish I could have been there this year. It is such a great show.

 

[User211]

Good pics Tim. Your best so far Enjoying it if you have more please post!

 

[MiTT]

Glad folks are enjoying the thread. I do have a few more...

Esoteric was showing with Canton. Beautiful looking gear, and good sound overall, if a bit dry.

 

[MiTT]

I got to spend some time listening to my dream headphone amp , the Woo Audio WA-5 SE, with both the Abyss cans as well as my recently acquired top shelf Campfire Audio Andromeda IEM's. Man is it a great amp! Likely to be my next Audio purchase.

I also got to listen to the top of the line Woo SET monoblocks. Simply beautiful and amazing sound, but far out of my price range.

 

[MiTT]

Wavelength Audio electronics with Vapor speakers. Subtle and relaxed.

 

[MiTT]

Margules Audio had some very interesting Industrial Design, case in point the curved turntable plinth in the photo below. The rest of the electronics were similarly interesting.

 

[MiTT]

Yipsilon was showing with Wilson Bensh, including the always intriguing Torres sub. Very good sound actually, much better than when I last heard WB speakers, driven in that instance by Chord gear.

I forget the name of the turntable manufacturer, but it was battery powered.

 

[User211]

I got to spend some time listening to my dream headphone amp , the Woo Audio WA-5 SE, with both the Abyss cans as well as my recently acquired top shelf Campfire Audio Andromeda IEM's. Man is it a great amp! Likely to be my next Audio purchase.

I also got to listen to the top of the line Woo SET monoblocks. Simply beautiful and amazing sound, but far out of my price range.

I think that is probably the LE WA5, non? Headphone only as distinct from headphone and speaker amp.

Nice casework always loved Woo aesthetics. Had a WA3 in a second system for a while.

 

[amey01]

Yipsilon was showing with Wilson Bensh,

The Ypsilon stuff always sounds really nice.