I'll post a seperate post on my Rowland trip. Wow.
Show is winding down. Day 3 is always quieter.
Some quick thoughts:
If anyone is interested in a crazy good system (speaker, amps and preamp) for under $10k then look no further then Oddysey! His room was musical, engaging, huge deep soundstage and just engaging.
The Vapor room lost its amp late yesterday (the Lampy amp died for whatever reason) and since Rowland was on the same floor they were asked and Jeff graciously provided a brand new 625 S2. It was a revolutionary improvement in the system. Today, the room was awesome. They also hooked up their Nimbus White in a different room either last neither or today and I got to hear that as well. What I learned is that they are serious players and make some good damn speakers. I have now heard both the Vapor and the similarly designed Salk and I think I prefer the Vapor, although I still haven't heard the Joule, which is the model I would have the most interest in.
Nola came it with a new speaker that appears to be the top of their lower range and it's musical and engaging as well. They had a big room and it filled it with no problem. I like Nola and their open baffle design really helps to throw a huge soundstage. Speaker is around $14-15k if I remember correctly.
Usher has a their X-Towers and they sounded great. I've always like Usher and these do more things better then any of their previous models. I did think they lacked that last ounce of driver integration that some other speakers have. At around $15k it's also a sweat deal.
Jl Labs new Utopia Sopra line is another great offering in the $14k range. They give the same voicing and style with less grace and scale then the big Utopias. A tough call for $15k between Vapor, Nola, Usher and JM considering the level of performance now offered. And there are many others in that range that also are killer value. It's all good and a great opportunity for the consumer. Especially since many of these speakers easily drop sub $10k on the pre-owner market.
Sakura'son gave me a wonderful audition of his all Sakura, and I mean ALL (transport, DAC, pre, amp, power supplies, speakers, turntable, cables, everything). I would jump at it for rock or punchy modern music but for soft classical, jazz and the like it's simply stunning. And his turntable is just masterful in mechanical engineering and implementation. Industrial art for the eyes and the ears!
Greg from Volti has 2 great speakers and they did an amazing job together with Boarder Patrol. You need the space and an understanding wife, but they really are musically engaging.
I'm sure I missed a room that deserved to be mentioned. But those were my favorites. I think the rooms sounded pretty good overall compared to come other shows I've been to. Few CD players, lots of music servers are popping up and I'll post seperate my about that. And what's incredible it that LP seams to be winning the format war for solid medium by default. You just can't download a record..... Not yet. ;)
Show is winding down. Day 3 is always quieter.
Some quick thoughts:
If anyone is interested in a crazy good system (speaker, amps and preamp) for under $10k then look no further then Oddysey! His room was musical, engaging, huge deep soundstage and just engaging.
The Vapor room lost its amp late yesterday (the Lampy amp died for whatever reason) and since Rowland was on the same floor they were asked and Jeff graciously provided a brand new 625 S2. It was a revolutionary improvement in the system. Today, the room was awesome. They also hooked up their Nimbus White in a different room either last neither or today and I got to hear that as well. What I learned is that they are serious players and make some good damn speakers. I have now heard both the Vapor and the similarly designed Salk and I think I prefer the Vapor, although I still haven't heard the Joule, which is the model I would have the most interest in.
Nola came it with a new speaker that appears to be the top of their lower range and it's musical and engaging as well. They had a big room and it filled it with no problem. I like Nola and their open baffle design really helps to throw a huge soundstage. Speaker is around $14-15k if I remember correctly.
Usher has a their X-Towers and they sounded great. I've always like Usher and these do more things better then any of their previous models. I did think they lacked that last ounce of driver integration that some other speakers have. At around $15k it's also a sweat deal.
Jl Labs new Utopia Sopra line is another great offering in the $14k range. They give the same voicing and style with less grace and scale then the big Utopias. A tough call for $15k between Vapor, Nola, Usher and JM considering the level of performance now offered. And there are many others in that range that also are killer value. It's all good and a great opportunity for the consumer. Especially since many of these speakers easily drop sub $10k on the pre-owner market.
Sakura'son gave me a wonderful audition of his all Sakura, and I mean ALL (transport, DAC, pre, amp, power supplies, speakers, turntable, cables, everything). I would jump at it for rock or punchy modern music but for soft classical, jazz and the like it's simply stunning. And his turntable is just masterful in mechanical engineering and implementation. Industrial art for the eyes and the ears!
Greg from Volti has 2 great speakers and they did an amazing job together with Boarder Patrol. You need the space and an understanding wife, but they really are musically engaging.
I'm sure I missed a room that deserved to be mentioned. But those were my favorites. I think the rooms sounded pretty good overall compared to come other shows I've been to. Few CD players, lots of music servers are popping up and I'll post seperate my about that. And what's incredible it that LP seams to be winning the format war for solid medium by default. You just can't download a record..... Not yet. ;)