Tír Na HiFi

Just back from RMAF 2013. Here are some short notes:

• The attendance seemed to be significantly down from before.
• It was a little annoying this year in that many many rooms either had vinyl or fixed music servers for playback. There were a large number of rooms where they were unable to play CD or music from USB thumb drives
• There were a few annoying asses around which I didn’t encounter before. Press guys and zealots hogging systems listening to their esoteric collections
• Meet some press guys I liked (Dagogo) and some I didn’t – (TAS and EnjoyTheMusic)
• Rooms I liked
o Doshi amplification and Wilson Audio Alexia.
o The TAD room with the C600 pre-amp and M4300 mono blocks
o YG with Mola Mola (Hypex NC1200)
o Merrill Audio (really nice guy) with the Veritias mono blocks (NC1200)
o The Devialet room (nice guys) but the Focal speakers (a lower end model) were a weak link
o Bryston room (guys were nice) and they were playing heavy rock which was a nice change
o Audio Research room (can’t remember the speakers at the moment) but good sound from Ref 75s.
• Had an interesting listening session with Wilson Audio Alexandria XLF and 2 Thor’s hammers with VTL amplification. They presented a number of set pieces, some rare Dave Wilson recordings, and they system was certainly decent but since I didn’t know or like any of the pieces it was hard for me to connect with it.

My wife preferred the Merrill Audio Veritas (with TAD Evolution 1) over the Mola Mola’s (with YG Sonja 1.3), I couldn’t quite decide as the speakers and room setup were very different. Note: I was not impressed with the Bel Canto Black system which also used NC1200s but their room setup was really poor.

Very interesting HFF, I'd love to go to RMAF some day myself. Sounds like you heard some great gear -- I'd very much like to hear some YG and TAD, and of course the big Wilsons.

Some great systems there. It always seems as if that show is more down to earth than Munich.

HiFiFan, did you get to hear any Rockport speakers? I have this thing about Rockport speakers but I've never even heard them. I want a pair, any pair, but I've no idea what they sound like!

These would do: http://parttimeaudiophile.com/2013/10/1 ... e-i-wants/

I’m sorry to say I didn’t. But now you have me interested in hearing the Rocketport Arrakis.

On the previous visit we had the full 3 days and were interested in speakers and must have visited every room. This time around we had only 2 days and were interested in amplifiers and we probably only covered a third of the rooms. My wife and I had less energy this time round (comes from too many early mornings and a new dog) so later starts and earlier finishes per day and a bit more socialization.

I was sitting behind a guy wearing a “part-time audiophile” t-shirt, thought it was a great title and hadn’t heard of the website before.

It is interesting as I read some of the show reports to (a) see what I missed and (b) reading between the lines as to what is not being said for certain rooms

Did you hear the Audiokinesis speakers?
Sounds like an interesting & new approach to the soundfield illusion
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=120162.0

I used to read the part time audiophile site religiously, but he's recently started to have other people write articles for it and it's become too much for me. Still, I enjoy it and I think the reports are frequently very good. He's a guy who's more interested in the good about stuff than the bad, but his enthusiasm really shines through.

And yes, I really want to hear the Rockport Arrakis too.

Did you find it difficult to get a flavour for amps at the event? I always think that's the hardest thing to get a handle on in a strange system.

jkeny wrote:Did you hear the Audiokinesis speakers?
Sounds like an interesting & new approach to the soundfield illusion
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=120162.0

Hi, I do remember these because they were different. Rooms are already merging together in my head but what I distincly remember was a great soundstage, as good or better than MBL speakers.

Diapason wrote: Did you find it difficult to get a flavour for amps at the event? I always think that's the hardest thing to get a handle on in a strange system.

I sure did. For me anything other than speakers (and even then it is not always easy) at a show is difficult to really get a flavor of. I tried to limit myself to where the amps were being used with speakers I was already familiar with and always with my own music. I was also lucky enough in 2 cases to have the DAC match my current setup.

I primarily looked for soundstage, detail, attack and the amount and tightness of bass. The problem of course is that where things break down you have no way of knowing where in the chain it is happening. The Devialet room was like that, I could see some strengths but a number of deficiencies. Based on what people have said I believe the amps were much more capable that what I was hearing and that the limitations were with the particular Focal speakers being used.

All in all I believe I was able to eliminate a few amps from my list but any purchase would need a home trial or more detailed showroom trial.