RMAF 2018

Good

Here are my impressions and images from the Rocky Mountain AudioFest 2018. There is too much to see, so I wasn't able to visit every vendor. I made my list and visited the venders that interested me.

First, stuff I was pretty impressed with
Then there was stuff I just thought was good
There was some I was less impressed with (meh)

Items are presented in room number order

1024 - Raidho Acoustics & Scansonic HD

Listening to the MB-5b from scansonic. Good, but they are not Raidhos. The speakers are just missing something. Still sound good, but I think there are better. Might just be room and sweet spot. I moved and the sounds got better. Pretty good image (excellent) , but the speaker were pretty wide. Might be worth $5000 good bass punch, emphasis on upper bass lower mid. Just doesn’t sound “full”.

1025 - Soundkaos Audio

Very full sounds pleasant. Balanced. Good bass (15” woofer).

1030 - Rockport Technologies

Very present. Great image tight bass. No room treatment! $62k speakers.

1107 - MartinLogan Ltd.

Neoliths! Bright. Crisp. Good bass. Sweet spot dependent. Transparent.

1130 - MBL North America Inc.

Certainly very unique looking speakers. Sound very nice. Good tight bass. Lush mids clear treble. Requires lots of room treatment, from what I can see. Very nice female vocals. Very nice image. Actually, I really liked these speakers, but not necessarily my favorite.

2004 - Audioengine

A5. Sounded pretty good

2007 - Vanatoo

Vanatoo encore one. On stands. Sounded pretty good. Pretty good bass. Something is missing compared to large speakers, but for $599 pretty damn good.

2018-Al Stiefel Legacy Room - SL Speakers (Speaker Lab)

Sounds pretty good. SUPER SEVEN T-c. $6k pair

2021 - Nola Speakers (Accent)

Sounded pretty good despite incredibly stupidly set up suite. I think he said $40k gold collection reference gold 2

3000 - Salk Sound/Schiit

Good imaging. Some room resonance. Song 3 encore speakers. Schiit stack electronics. There just some resonance I don’t live. Very probably the room. $6k/pair

3018 - Spatial Audio Laboratory

Open baffle. Nice looking. Two bottom speakers on each tower are subs. Top is mid and tweeter coax mounted. $20k lumina L2. There are less expensive models, but not with an active sub.

Sounded very good.

4018 - Dynaudio

Great sounds. Great bass from relatively small speakers. Sounds full range. Dynaudio confidence 20 $12k with stands

5002 - McIntosh Laboratory Inc.

Elekta Amati 3 (I think). Sounds full range $10k with stands. Pretty damn good. Not as precise /clear / crisp as some. Just missing treble sparkle. Warm.

5013 - AYON AUDIO USA

Gorgeous speakers. Sounded great. Good image. Maybe a little laid back and warm $50k for the speakers

529 - Sanders Sound Systems

Very clear, open, and crisp. Bass muddy, but likely the room. Must be in the sweet spot. Sold as a system with mag tech amp. $17000-$22500. DSP room accoustics included

539 - Todd The Vinyl Junkie

Dynaudio contiur 60 floor standers. Sounded very full and balanced. $10000 list, but can do a deal

542 - PBN Audio

Great speaker for rocking out

559 - FALCON ACOUSTICS LTD

Very impressive sound from such small speakers. 2500 euro. More bass than you would expect from such small speakers, but kinda one note bass

570 - Haniwa Audio

Little round speakers. Good bass. Crisp. Good image. Stylish. $24k for the system.

7004 - Dali

Oberon 7. 999 euro. quite good for the money

7010 - GoldenEar Technology

Sandy gross in the house! Pretty good, but room too small for these giant speakers. Still, great job with room treatments and sounded impressive.

7018 - TIDAL Audio GmbH

Very good, but $30k! Very full sound. Emotion and warmth. Good image. Maybe a little warm.

7032 - Ryan Speakers LLC

Crappy music, but speakers sounded great.

9009 - JERN ApS

Listening to the $5k white speakers with subs. They need a good, musical sub (90hz) but sound very balanced. Good image. The $3000 go to 60hz, and need to be near a wall. White ones were much better.

9013 - Ayre Acoustics

Room sounded pretty good. Vivid audio kaya 45 speakers.

9025 - ELAC Americas

Self powered $2000. Impressive, but a little thumpy/think bass. Not warm like B6v1 Very pretty. Very impressive sound.

9028 - ELAC Americas

Adante AS-61. Big stand mounts. Good imaging. Holographic. Nice tight bass. Way better than the other self powered speakers. Very balanced. Maybe a little shouty with female vocals, but only listened to one song. There was a sub crossed at 40hz

ATRIUM A05 - Butcher Block Acoustics

Jim, owner, really nice guy. Blocks are very pretty and smooth. Reasonably priced. Some have premade holes for isoacciustics or other feet.

Bluebell - ESD ACOUSTIC (HANGZHOU) CO. LTD

Giant speakers! Basically a resiculous set up, but fun. Very realistic sounding.

CANJAM 12 - Questyle North America Inc.

Spirit twin pulse. Two drivers per channel. Look like grados. Driver supposed to sit right on the ear. Actually, the bass is pretty good. Tyll actually turned me onto them. They sit very lightly on the ears, so they can actually fall off with sudden motion. They are not worth the money, IMHO. Bass is just not as dynamic as I prefer. Horrible plastic sleeved cable

CANJAM 20 - HeadAmp Audio Electronics

GS-X mini. Nice form factor and features. Powerful. Two versions, alps and DACT pot. Balanced or SE input seems to amplify well. No color.

CANJAM 29-30 - Sennheiser Elec Corp

HD820 not as bad as I thought. Comparing directly to HD800s in the same HDV 820 amp, the 820 sounds pretty good. There is some isolation, but to tone (vocals) is different. 800 is more accurate and better sounding. Maybe it’s just the isolation. Hard to tell on the show floor. Bottom line, not horrible.

CANJAM 3-5 - Focal North America

Elegia. Same comfort as utopia, digs right into the top of my pointy head, soft pads. Mids, male vocals, sounded a little congested to me. Utopia, made 10 stock cables and blind tested. Wire is sommer, but custom to focal. Lemo connectors, the black ones, are expensive.

Listening to the Eligia at TTVJ later, quietly in the hallway, though iPhone, and with a beer, and it sounds better! I would call it a little warm; others may not. Maybe it’s a bit thick, but my closed back is the ether c. For some reason (beer) the headband wasn’t uncomfortable.

CANJAM 31 - Auris Audio

Very nice looking amps! Seems to sound good. Buy for looks. Not cheap! $2k-$8k euro

CANJAM 39 - RAAL-requisite

Open baffle. Basically ear speakers. 0.2ohm. Uses interface box to speaker amp (provides proper load). They will add some padding on the metal part. Way too hard to hear in the noisy room. Not bass rich. Crisp, as expected. $3500 , includes travel case.

CANJAM 53-54 - Fostex

Open th-909. Very comfortable. Got that fostex bass! Not as shouty as the 900, but still a little v shaped. Show too loud :-( fostex has a contender here. Blue 900 is tuned a little differently from the red. Green and red are the same. 909 is not nearly as forward and shouty as the 900. But 900 sounds “cleaner” than the 909. Hard to identify differences, there are significant mid and treble differences between the 909 and 900. T60RP tuned a little bright. 610, still very nice, and easy to recommend.

CANJAM 63 - RHA

Can be powered out of iPhone 8+ wired, but volume iOS pretty high. Amp recommended, but not required unless you like it very loud. Good image. Good bass. Balanced. Comfortable. Maybe a litttle bass heaven, but many will like that. It a very emotional lush sound. Not a typical thin planar

CANJAM 71 - Manley Laboratories Inc.

Volume is very smooth. Neg feedback knob appears to increase the volume, but also the distortion (as expected). I really could not hear the distortion. Push pull vs SE, hard to tell difference. Overall, very nice. Complicated music wasn’t mushy. Bass well defined. Smooth “tube” sounds. Hard to listen for stage at the show.

CANJAM 76 - MEZE AUDIO

Empyrean headphones. Crisp upper Mids and highs, Comfortable. Deep bass. Needs a good amp $3000. Leather pads more bass, maybe some bleed. Microfiber were cleaner, tighter. Includes a suitcase!

CANJAM 9-10 - Woo Audio

quad headphones-meh

Prototype wa11 passport . Solid state. Battery powered. Able to drive the HD820 to good volume. Usb-c connection for DAC. $1400

Conifer 1 - Rockport Technologies

Great image, lots of room treatments, but still reflections and some muddy bass. A little bright. Rockport adior2

Cottonwood - Revel

Full range speakers. Revel salon 2. Great stage. Great bass. Clear sounding.

Evergreen Ballroom A - Legacy Audio

Always good to visit these huge speakers! Amazing to hear real bass, yet the speakers are still forward and holographic. .

Iris - G??bel High End

More big ass speakers. Great image, but requires sweet spot. $240k for the speakers

Larkspur - Wilson Benesch Ltd.

Another great sounding system. Bass not as tight as it could be, probably the room. Still, visceral bass and clean everything else.

LOBBY 01 - AudioPrism

Big ass headphone amps!

LOBBY 17 - VK Music

I visited with victor and am sorely tempted to get the 8600

Lupine - Kyron Audio

Great sub bass. Clear. Open baffle. 150k as shown. Included sub, speakers, amp, and deox room correction. These are the bottom of. The line.

Pikes Peak - Zu Audio

Druid mk6 speakers. Nice, but a little warm. Great bass. $10k/pr. Good image, but it’s a large room and they have good speaker placement.

Ponderosa - VANDERSTEEN AUDIO

Great system. Vandersteen 7 and dual subs vandersteen 9. Actually would a little warm for my tatste. Could simply be tuning.

Primrose - Verity Audio

Another fancy system. Playing boring piano music. Sounded good, but hard to tell. $1M+ system! Playing symphony now and sounds very realistic. No congestion. Very crisp. Feel it bass. Maybe a little forward, but that’s a nit.

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