RMAF 2018
Meh
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
1110 - Triode Corporation Ltd. - Japan
headphone amps- it was set up with speakers
1118 - Fort Collins Audio
Revel speakers f228Be. Lorde, good subbass, but upper bass thin.
2001 - Salk Sound
Just not a very full sound
3004 - Tekton Design LLC
Full towers. Hard to tell. Now familiar with the music. Piano is missing its bite. Bass is nice. Take five sounded good. Still, not overly impressed. Probably needs a bigger room.
3013 - MarkAudio-SOTA
VOD tower. Very clear. $7995/pair. Mids soulsed a little congested to me. Maybe a little too much lower mid
3017 - Serious Stereo
Some old school looks, but not overly impressive. Not bad, but nothing special
4007 - Dragonfire Acoustics
Sucked out mids! Jerry Garcia sounded like he was doing nitrous. Planar. $5k for the speakers. $10k for the whole system. $500 for the sub
4010 - PranaFidelity
Not impressed. Silibant. Possibly worse sounding system at the show.
5000 - Voxativ GmbH
Not impressed. Bright
5017 - Auris Audio
Just thin sounding. Not sure if it’s the speakers or the amp. Good image.
5018 - Synergistic Research Inc.
Nice system. $85k macigo speakers. I couldn’t hear any difference between active items on or off.
Wide angle HFT. I could not tell the difference. Maybe it was louder, but he changed than right when the music got louder
521 - The Sound Organisation
Kii speakers for cspirou on SBAF
The speakers sounded good, but it was a small room for the med/large speakers. Hard to tell how tight the bass was as any muddiness might be room related. Mid centric. I would not call these speaker crisp. BTW, they uses a PS audio amp. Not sure what DAC. I just wasn’t impressed. No sparkle to them. Classical was meh. Jazz was better, but I didn’t get a sense of stage. The speakers were probably too close together in a too small room. In contrast, next door was sanders playing similar jazz, and blew away the Kii
535 - Canton
Ug, lot of bass, but lots of bass reflection. Otherwise full range, with good mid and treble. Balanced, if a little bass oriented. Could be the room. Sitting close removed some of the bass reflections, but still there. Great imaging
551 - German Physiks
Speakers are $38k ($31 at the show)/pair. Room accoustics sucked, really too small for these speakers. Sounded congested
557 - FALCON ACOUSTICS LTD
Falcon GC6500R floor standing speakers. Sounded thin
563 - Riviera Audio Laboratories
Kind of interesting looking speakers, but nothing special in terms of sounds. Not thin, but bass light. Probably the music. Great mids and clear. Good image. Probably need a sub
582 - Analysis Audio
Purty speakers. Giant planars. Typical clear and crisp. Might be thin, but could be the music. Claim mid 20hz for bass. $24-27k/pair. Same kind of clarity we hear in planar headphones, but same challenge with bass. Bass is tight, but you miss the hormonics from the speaker box. Strong mids, great image.
7000 - ELAC Americas
Small, stand mount with AMT. $2k. Nice, but small sound.
7007 - ListenUp
Avant-garde uno fino edition. Clear, good bass, lacks warmth and emotion. But still good. Might just be song they played. $24k
7021 - Alta Audio
Maybe they are good speakers. Music wasn’t great.
8002 - Monitor Audio
Showing the studio monitor. Sound lacks solidity, natural warmth and dynamic expression. $1400/pair.
8009 - Audioengine
Vanatoo was better
9010 - STUDIO ELECTRIC
m4 bookshelf. Pretty full sound. $2400/pair. Pretty balanced for price.
9021 - Kanto Audio
Yuk speaker. Sucked out midrange. Good bass. Any tweeter. Also listened to the $399 speakers. Also yuck.
ATRIUM A14 - Enmusic Inc.
ESS Headphones hybrid. AMT 422. Single ended. Medium comfort. Press o the top of my head. Clear sound. Tight bass, but doesn’t reach low. $199
Rlm173 use wings like AKG, but seem to hold well. Very fun and punchy. $149
ATRIUM A18 - Qobuz
$20 tier for CD quality. Album focused. Looks like it might have more info than tidal. Also, might have a better UI
Blanca Peak - Apex Audio
Some speaker I havent heard of. Really bright. Speakers are piega (Switzerland). Excellent stage.
CANJAM 24 - Dekoni Audio LLC
Blue headphones are ok, but still a bit of a piercing high. Bass is bloated.
Conifer 3 - CLASSIC AUDIO LOUDSPEAKERS
Typical horn brightness, but good, tight bass.