Amir's 2023 Pacific Audio Fest Report

[ta240]

I feel one of these days we're going to have to have a serious talk about the prudent use of natural resources and sustainability in certain industries.

Hmm, very limited production items that will likely exist for decades and are expensive enough to make it viable for repairing them -vs- mass produced, cheap items that are pushed by everyone with a youtube channel so that they are bought in huge numbers where they then either die within a few years and end up in the landfill or are set aside much sooner when the next 'greatest' item is released and purchased in staggering numbers so the cycle can repeat.

 

[GaryH]

 

[Soniclife]

I like how they have build a scalextric track around the room.

 

[nonnyno]

After looking at the images of all the snake oil (errrr I mean the cabling). I'm wondering why the industry hasn't adopted the python or anaconda as the standard. After all every now and again you'd have to feed it and then it would be even thicker for a month or so (clearly a measure of the quality). You could could have innovative pricing regimes whereby you buy them as tiddlers for not much on a lease, and as they mature for YOUR environment and "burn in" or "acclimatise" and grow you could pay more. You could persuade it to move from time to time and it would eat anyone who dared criticize your setup plus it could be rather more beautiful than the soulless grey things that they put on show. Even better we could have anew audio description. I don't like the tone of the hiss! Plus its too ssssssibilant.

... and the bonus which I forgot - dispense with cable lifters - they'd lift themselves.

Love the way you've done the show interspersed with the music you heard which has all been good. Thank you muchly for your write up.

 

[rubinken]

Appreciate all your musical track acknowledgements. I'm always hunting for new, emotionally moving music. Curious to read your take on the Dutch & Dutch 8c's there

 

[Sokel]

Nice to see my absolute favorite Scheherazade by Reiner and CSO.

Thanks Amir!

 

[solderdude]

In this business it seems no one will take a manufacturer/seller serious when they do not have:
Huge and exotic vinyl rigs
Huge amplifiers
Thick cables (interlink, speaker and power supply)
Big speakers
Cable risers
Extremely huge wallets with money waiting to be used rather than given away in the form of taxes.

None of it will likely ever end up on Amir's test bench.

 

[DWPress]

I'm happy to say that there's very little here that tempts me in any way and most of it evoked flat out laughter. Huge cables and the predominance of turntables, tubes and other exotics may be standard fare for these shows and the people they attract but the cost of the bling is unreal. The Triangle Art stuff needs a new badge, looks like the entrance to a fallout shelter. What's with all the dot matrix retro displays?

Thanks for the awesome photos and music infusion!

 

[AdamG]

I did my best to recreate the Apple Music Playlist of Music-Songs as presented in the first group of posts by Amir. Enjoy!

 

[DWPress]

Thanks @AdamG247! Maybe worth trying that Apple Music trial now, is there a way to export it into a Tidal playlist?

 

[blueone]

With exception of the Revel speakers, I don't think there was anything else at the show I would ever consider buying. I don't think I would take any of it for free.

 

[raceskier]

I was there yesterday as well. This was my first hifi show of any kind, after nearly fifty years in the hobby(?) A couple comments. As several others mentioned, my impression was one of overpriced opulence. Also snake oil seems to be alive and well. The demographic of the crowd was more than a minor indication of why this hobby is in decline. Almost all older men. Very few young people, almost no women. I was hoping to see/hear some affordable products from at least large manufacturers. It was pretty sad when the most affordable item I heard were the $4K Mofi Sourcepoint 10's, which did sound great. The show organizers' website and the assembly of the printed program were a total mess. One of the few worthwhile items was Arthur Noxon's TubeTrap presentation. I was quite disappointed that Andrew Jones' speaker design presentation was replaced by one a vinyl washing machine. I had been considering traveling to one of the larger shows, but PAF really left a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[pma]

Big speakers

From your list, this is still important, you need big membrane to get powerfull undistorted low bass. Still old school physics, Kii3 is not an option.

 

[Prana Ferox]

I am fairly sure they didn't bring enough cable lifters and some of these are just juice cups from the refreshment stand.

 

[rubinken]

With exception of the Revel speakers, I don't think there was anything else at the show I would ever consider buying. I don't think I would take any of it for free.

Did you listen to the Dutch & Dutch 8c's there?

 

[nonnyno]

Is the "vac" in the above image short for vacuous? Those are just big distortion boxes and room heaters arent they?

 

[Billy Budapest]

Most of the electronics look incredibly silly.

 

[AdamG]

Thanks @AdamG247! Maybe worth trying that Apple Music trial now, is there a way to export it into a Tidal playlist?

Give me 15 mins and I can do that.

Edit: Done.

Tidal Version of PacAudio 2023 Playlist:

 

[Purité Audio]

From your list, this is still important, you need big membrane to get powerfull undistorted low bass. Still old school physics, Kii3 is not an option.

Displacement, whether you choose one large or multiple smaller units, I am sure there are advantages/disadvantages for both.
Keith

 

[AlexHRider]

I fixed the Revel speaker pictures. Any others you can't see?

Everything fine now