Pacific Audio Fest

I was there for all 3 days. The Borrenson book shelf speakers impressed me the most. Only a 5"" driver and wow what a huge musical soundstage. Preferred them over there 100k bookshelf and floorstanding speakers. Clearly my favorite room BUT 60k for  bookshelf.

I was disappointed with the Kef Blade metas running on the new Parasound monoblocks and I am a kef blade owner. Surprisingly, the Magicos with convergent amps sounded very good and musical. Generally not a magico fan. Genesis never played the music loud enough for me.

The VS and Vac room was awe inspiring and impressive.  Well you have my 2 cents.

No doubt the Borrensons are impressive...I wonder what they sound like when they aren't being driven with a $60k front end that probably has been optimized to make them sound their best?

During Pacific audiofest, I enjoy sound from vinyl than digital source.

This modest priced Modwright component with vinyl give very musical sound.

But I had quit vinyl 25 years ago, no turntable, phonoamp and vinyl.

Alas it may be too late to go back to vinyl.

I was there about 8 hours on Friday and about 6-7 hours on Saturday. It was a ton of fun - so glad to finally have something like this in the PNW! My observations  match several that I've read in the above posts. Some standout impressions:

Genesis - the sheer size of the setup in this room was impressive, and it sounded great - plus Gary Koh is such wonderful guy and an avid supporter of our hobby.

Acora Acoustics - I'd never heard of these, but was very impressed with the sound - rich, seamless from top to bottom, really nice.

Vanatoo - Wow - an absolute bargain and very pleasing sound and energy.  I brought a friend who's on the market for an inexpensive system with me on Saturday so he could hear these.

Linkwitz - Several have mentioned these above and also mentioned their unconventional look. I actually really liked the way they looked, but more importantly, I loved the sound. Sonically, I think this was my favorite room. This is not scientific, but I judge a system by how "real" it sounds to my ears, and the Linkwitz room was the one that did that for me more than any other.

I'd never been to an audio show before, so I can't compare it to others around the country, but I'm just glad it was here (I live in the Seattle metro area) and hope it was successful enough to be an annual event.  My only minor disappointment is that there weren't more records for sale. In looking back over some early promotional material, I think the organizers were hoping to use a big room for music media sales, but apparently it didn't work out. (Just as well - I just would have spent more money!)

One of the component that I am eager to listen to is Lamphi Horizon Dac.

Von Schickert speaker driven by Vac amps with source of Lamphi Horizon Dac sounds clear and musical.

Then I asked the gentleman to play vinyl for comparison.

Wow vinyl sounds much more convincing from Cronus turntable.

Thus i got the feeling that as good as Lamphi Horizon Dac sounds,, it does fall short of best vynil playback in analog ease

But I do not mean that Lamphi Horizon Dac does not sound good.

Acora speaker driven by Vac amps with source of Lamphi Horizon Dac sounds clear with nice impact.


About 4 years ago, I had done comparison between MSB Select II and Cronus turntable in the same set up using same music.

MSB Select II match analog easeness of Cronus turntable at that time.

The only two Dacs that match best analog to my taste are Wadax and MSB Select II.



In the meantime you can tune the sound of Lamphi Horizon Dac through tube rolling.

Thus I will keep watching Lamphi Horizon Dac .