Who is excited about Capital Audiofest 2023?

Oh, and getting out of the parking area under the hotel at the end of the day was a total cluster you-know-what. It took hours. 

Most Musical: Cessaro Wagner 

Most Impressive Soundstage: Borenssen Flagship Model

Honorable Mention: Acora, Kharma, Cessaro bookshelf model, Wolf Langa

My Favorites:

Von Schweikert Endeavor SE's with massive VAC equipment; these smaller reasonable VS's were amazing in that room.

VS VR-55 mkII with Westmisterlab REI mono's and Lampi Horizon.  Wow.  These class A amps are small and run cool.  Having the powered woofer option in the VR-55 allows blending of bass with the room - for example it was turned DOWN for this room..contrary to simple thinking that the powered woofer adds bass.

The Songer S1 Field Coil single driver speakers were amazing, shown with Taiko 
Extreme and switch.  I wuold never consider this type of speaker but maybe I should!

The Borrensens, from X2 all the way up to M1 are a bit over etched for my liking.  Amazing at first but then hurt my ears.  I did not think the imaging was amazing, the speakers did not disappear.  But they sure are resolving.

Soulnote electronics were in several rooms, and sounded very sweet to my ears.

I kind of close my eyes to expensive tube stuff...

And Lubomir from M101 cables demonstrated the positive effects of his cables, especially his ethernet cable.

Bill Parish from GTT had a wonderful small room, with Mola Mola Mauka w Tambaqui, MM's new class D amps, a new audiophile switch he has developed, and his Vivid Giya 4 speakers. Smooth and wonderful.

Markmuse,

Any listening thoughts on the Caladan's? I've got mine purchased based on reputation alone. What electronics were used, and what did you find lacking?

I Purchased the BACCH4Mac earlier this week, not the universal, but the one step up so that I can use the optional in ear mics… 3-4 week lead time.  I plan on visiting booth 549.  
 

The rest of my system is solid, and I’m very happy with the sound in my basement…. so will be looking for generally interesting, and innovative products and concepts versus trying to solve a specific problem  

This will be my first show in a decade.