Forgive me brothers for I have sinned. It's been over a year since I've done anything audio-related and for the longest time that I can remember there's been no music in my heart.
It didn't help that the past year was the most challenging in my IT career, robbing me of weekends, family events and holidays. Now that my work contract has expired, I'm taking a month or so to rehabilitate but getting back to audio isn't part of the plan. To be honest, I wasn't going to attend this show but a couple nights ago, received an email from Jack Wu of WooAudio offering free passes. I figured, might as well go and see old friends. But, I beg your pardon in advance if after this show report, I disappear again
So, armed with a camera I haven't used, no carry-on music whatsoever, just my "re-virginized" ears, I head off to the New York Audio Show at the Brooklyn Marriott Hotel. One benefit, I thought, of having been away this long is that I get the privilege of feeling like a beginner all over again! Put another way, I'll be listening to what's being done right, rather than what a system is doing wrong because, like a beginner, I won't have the "practiced," jaded audiophile ears and see and hear these exhibited systems the way regular folk would. At least, that's the idea
I was expecting long queues and the typically harassed/aggressive NY vibe on registration but this felt laid back. Perhaps the move to Brooklyn or opening day coinciding with Rosh Hashanah did the trick. Event security was quite lax and nobody was checking whether attendants had passes.
My first visit, naturally, was to my benefactor, Jack Wu, who was my officemate at a dotcom a decade ago. Jack runs WooAudio fulltime now and has the proverbial enviable dream job, doing exactly the thing that makes him happy. I couldn't be prouder for him.
I sampled all the amps and most of the headphones in the WooAudio room. There is definitely a house sound that starts with the WA-2 (not shown), through the WA-5, culminating with their statement product, the WA234 MONO. Interesting "branches" off this main trunk would be the WA7 Fireflies below and the WES, with the WA7, imo, as the sweet spot in the entire lineup. I listened to the HD650 on the WA-2 and the Audeze (don't know the model) on the Fireflies.
I'd heard the WA234 monos before and really enjoyed them but the WES took me by surprise! Paired with the STAX SR-009 this was a fantastic combo. I'd like to put in the usual audiophile adjectives here but suffice to say, if I had to buy a headphone setup, on the top end it would be these electrostat pairing, on the lower tier, it would be the Fireflies with one of the planar magnetic Audeze cans.
Jack explaining to another friend BobM the "keys" used to change the character of the WA234. The headphones used with the WA234 is the
Abyss.
The "middle child" product WA-5 and a new prototype product (inset) shown below complete the WooAudio products I listened to today. The un-named prototype (possibly WA-8) will be a very portable, battery-powered amp that has a built in DAC and sounds closer to the Fireflies than the WooAudio "house sound."
Then Jack took me next door where they have a WA234 paired with OWA standmounts and MA Recordings. My immediate impression was that I could spend hours listening to this show setup especially as Todd of MA Recordings was really curating the music to showcase this combo. Also thought that if I left the show after listening to just these two WooAudio rooms, I wouldn't feel shortchanged and would have gotten my fun. Then again, I didn't know the size/amount of exhibitors and there was really just one other product I was curious about (last mentioned in this post).
Down the hallway from Woo, I got called by another friend Paul Kaplan to his room where they were exhibiting VAC with Alta Audio and Kaplan Cables. Surprisingly, these huge "statement" speakers weren't overwhelming the room although I really didn't get to listen much as I had a lot to catch up with Paul. So off we went into the hallway to chat, when along comes Henry Wilkenson and we all head off to visit Wes Bender.
Earlier while Paul and I were chatting, I could hear a "room" I thought was playing too loud but not sounding too good. I had my back to it but on the way to Wes' room realized it was actually a live performance
Amplified acoustic instruments which sounded no better than reproduced instruments playing in these rooms.
Wes Bender is another good friend whom I haven't seen in over a year. Spent more time chatting with Wes than listening,
Wes seems to have stuck with Zesto but I don't remember what was playing. Having heard Wes' home setup from his Innersound Kayas to the Hansen Princes, Wes is one of those guys that can set things up masterfully.
One thing I did note was that the rooms were okay acoustically. Isolation between exhibitors was decent and I didn't feel like it would've been challenging to setup. Then again, as an outsider we never get to see the fun behind the scenes. If these rooms are allowed to play late, most of the fun in shows like these happen after exhibition hours.
Jeff Catalano of High Water Sound, another close friend whom I haven't seen in a while. Where Wes and I would chat all day long catching up on news, Jeff and I know each other so well that we would just sit together and share silence... and for the most part we did just that.
This room had High Water Sound co-exhibiting with Verity and Audia and sonically, it was very enjoyable even as I felt a sense of "cognitive dissonance" hearing Jeff's music played on a completely different system.
Dropped by the Audioengine room and saw their white monitors, immediately thought if my wife were here, she'd probably pick these to pair with her Macbook on our white standing desk. Cute.
Bache Audio and Alexus Audio are completely unknown to me but were quite nice. They were new to the exhibition game and were playing the usual audiophile standard fare but I stayed and listened. There was no one else in the room except for the exhibitors who were also the manufacturers. This was the first room where I felt I should've brought some music.
Alexus Audio is an interesting newcomer but has these Parallel 6C33B SETs with a 300B driver. Very interesting!
When I sat down in the Hegel room, I immediately regretted it as the exhibitor started a marketing spiel. But a few minutes in, I thought she was doing a pretty good job explaining the Hegel innovations on feed-forward vs feedback designs. I had heard Hegel before and was very impressed so I didn't at all feel my time was wasted listening to more spiel than music. I just didn't feel the speakers were on par with the electronics but otherwise would consider Hegel the new Naim
Whaddya know, all the rooms so far are sounding great! That's what I thought when I got to the Gamut room and, in the past, I've always thought this brand to be too cool for my tastes. Overall, I was also feeling a vibe of "maturity" in that exhibitors are opting to show smaller scaled systems to match the venues and reaping the benefits. The audio industry must really be evolving if one can get surprised like this.
Well, that feeling lasted until I got to the next room, AudioNote UK, which sounded exactly like all the other times I've heard this brand in shows. Sometimes change is a good thing but this is same old same old.
Robert Lighton, who also carries AN, I believe, actually seems improved. Again, scaled back, properly sized for the room and overall enjoyable even if I know this is about as far it gets from my cup of tea in the "warm" side of the spectrum.
The Lampizator room. I'd heard the hype from years back and was looking forward. Noticed the GM70 amps immediately and sat in the sweet spot (as I did in almost all the rooms). Cue music-- the Police's "Don't stand so close to me" -- and I started to feel, "ooh boy, this is gonna be special" -- the Lampizator doing an excellent job on everything on the intro... but hold on, as soon as it got to the bass... Oh crap, I dunno if there's any special reason they have to use these speakers but I honestly think that Lampizator is shortchanged by them. Left disappointed.
Oh well, say cheese there cuite pie.
Another brand that I would've otherwise ignored years ago, Audes was actually sounding quite good. Sat on the sweet spot, didn't mind the audiophile standard selection and noted that a couple newish audiophiles were actually interested in this setup. Good for them, this is a great starter but can hold its own long term if need be.
Volti Audio loudspeakers driven by Raven Audio electronics sounded like an evolution of Atmasphere paired with Classic Audio. I enjoyed listening here but noticed the soundstage projected downwards, as if you're listening in the balcony section. Perhaps that was due to my standing rather than sitting in the center spot.
Joseph Audio sounding very nice and I go WTF?? I'm starting to hear a pattern here. Technology has perhaps improved enough to allow manufacturers to significantly reduce the sins (of commission) a few years ago or exhibitors are getting very savvy about coupling their systems with showrooms... or I've become an impressionable beginner all over again!
I vote on the last
The VPI room also sounded very nice and if you can imagine how a system sounds from how it looks, this system sounds exactly like it looks, including the plants on to
Having heard McIntosh speaker walls on shows and Stereo Exchange, I usually can't last an entire track in their showrooms but here I stayed a track or two.
Nola with VAC was another empty room with a couple in the front row requesting their music. Open back/baffle speakers have a distinct "breathing character" if you will and Nolas are excellent at that unconstrained feeling. The request was to play the Finale from Firebird so, okay, I sat down second row center and patiently waited for the boombahs...
Except the guy who requested the track started channeling Gustavo Dudamel, gesticulating and rocking in his chair... and yes, the cup overfloweth below, so I left before the final tutti collapses the chair onto my bad knee. 4 stars for Nola though.
Okay Zu. I've heard you a few times, the music selection, the attitude... for good or bad, perfectly "Hipster." Moving along now.
Vandersteen was showcasing his new
liquid-cooled M7 amplifier. Overall, the room sounded very nice. Basis turntable, Audio Research electronics. SRV wailing a crowd pleaser. Mainstream hifi.
The Naim Statement juggernaut amps behind these Focal Utopias looked intimidating. I didn't hear them at their best due to music selection but think this, along with Vandersteen, represents the mainstream hifi contenders in the show (at least those I've seen so far).
I'd love to know if there are reviewers out there who would take on the challenge of doing a planter speaker shootout as apparently there is a whole genre of speakers of this type
I don't remember how I heard of MUR Audio since I've dropped my Sterophile and TAS subscriptions and don't read the forums. But somehow I was aware of this speaker and this is the product I came to hear. MUR Audio makes an omnidirectional electrostat and being a fan of both 'stats and omni's, I was curious to hear what character would prevail. As it turns out, the result is an electrostat that manages to elminate beaming. Coherence is not an issue although it's not an MBL killer in the sense it doesn't pressurize the room much like an MBL nor has the feeling of limitless jet-liner-during-takeoff dynamics. I'm also not a fan of the amps used (Bryston) but overall, I think this is a very promising design.
The exhibitors/manufacturers mentioned their favorite way to listen is nearfield and this brought me back to when I listened to my omnis nearfield as well.
Show impressions so far-- the rooms sounded very good and, except for outliers like Audio Note, seems to be converging on a similar sonic ideal. On the exotic speaker category, MUR Audio was the standout but compared to my last show favorite, I'd take the Leonardo's. From that show, I would also pick the Robbyatt Audio restored Quad 57s and Miyajima OTLs over the Woo + OMA in the "most enjoyable room" category. Finally, if I had to pick a most coveted product, this time it would be a pairing of the WooAudio WES and STAX SR-009.
The New York Audio Show will run for the next two days and if I manage to return, shall continue this show report. Thanks for reading!