I enjoyed SWAF. There was a good variety of products/systems showcased. The hotel is a great venue for an audio show with a very spacious lobby, large rooms and fast elevators. The number of attendees was really low. The headwinds being weather, St. Patrick’s Day, probably promotional. I hope they come back next year.
What I thought was interesting the new compact range from Soundlabs. They sound really nice. There was no mid-bass bloat in such a small room.
Voxativ demonstrated the return the Ampeggio. A rare move in audio, the new price is reduced is $14k, much less the old ~$30k. The demo pair was only $6k!
Ayre demoed their separates with a YG Summit Speaker. Big thumbs up.
Songer Audio had a SET powering their S1x speakers along with a Lampizator Poseidon DAC and I think an Innuos Statement. The sound was special. I like speakers without tweeters in a way. The dynamics and tone was quite something. Unfortunately The ’x’ is $45k, instead of $37k. German Physiks with Accuphase was awesome. I would like to hear these speakers in a better room, though. There some upper midrange and bass issues in a number of rooms.
My favorite was probably Daedalus with LTA electronics. I am saving my money. I think Daedalus Apollo 11 may be the best regular, wood-cabinet, multiway dynamic I know. LTA is affordable and was just terrific in tone, resolution...you name it.