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Capital Audiofest 2025; November 14th-16th

PristineSound

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I know it's still early. Anyone here going this year?

Anyone interested in meeting up? Would love to meet some ASR members and make some friends, maybe even break bread and shoot the breeze over dinner and talk about the gears on exhibit.
 
As mentioned in a separate thread, Sigberg Audio will exhibit the Manta System in collaboration with DreamScapes A/V, first time we are at a show in the USA! I will also be one of the keynote speakers on Friday. :)
 
I am partnering with SVS to showcase a 5.2.4 Dolby ATMOS system.

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Someone at CAF2025 has a 'get them while they are young' room and 'activity book' to bring young folks into the hobby. Someone please stop by and see what sort of material is being provided to youths to grow the audiophile hobby.

This CAF2025 room is promoted on the Audiogon and What's Best forums, so I kinda doubt anything about honesty, math and measurements will be mentioned, but you never know. For some reason, the word 'grooming' now roams around my brain.... :rolleyes:

Please post photos of the activity book. And the 'Certified Audiophile-in-Training' badge, of course. I am really curious as to what sort of information they provide to the age group I educated professionally for 31 years.

I'll go ahead and paste the Audiogon post below (MODS - let me know if I that's a no-no). All bold/italics as in original post.

"Every year, we gather at audio shows surrounded by extraordinary sound systems, passion, and artistry. Yet when I look around, I see mostly adults, and realize how rare it is to see a child or teenager experiencing this world with us.

If our goal is to keep music appreciation and high-fidelity listening alive, we have to open the door to the next generation. These shows can be more than extravagant displays of equipment; they can be classrooms of curiosity, places where parents and grandparents pass on what made them fall in love with sound in the first place.

That is why this year at Capital Audiofest 2025 (Room 726), I am launching Passport to Sound™, a free educational activity book designed for ages 8–16. It turns the show into a hands-on exploration of music and audio discovery. Kids complete fun listening challenges, learn how systems work, and earn their Certified Audiophile-in-Training badge.

I invite every exhibitor and attendee to join this movement to help make audio shows inclusive, welcoming, and inspiring for young listeners. Bring your children or grandchildren. Let them see, hear, and feel what real sound is like.

If you are attending the CAF show, I would love for you to stop by and talk with me in Room 726. We need to come together as a community and collaborate to make this even better for the future.

Because if we want this hobby to have a future, we have to share it.

(Full disclosure: I am a family member of an exhibitor, but this initiative is independent and educational.)"

Addendum: Passport to Sound™ is headquartered in a cable manufacturer's room, m101 cables. Their website explains their cable "technology" (I added bold and red to what they know is "unambiguous"):

"Engineered for MHz — where audio electronics actually operate

Your music lives between 20 Hz and 20 kHz.
But the electronics that reproduce it operate far beyond that range — deep into the MHz domain.

Inside your components, every stage interacts at higher frequencies:

Where MHz directly matters
  • DAC master clocks: 10–50 MHz
  • Digital streamers and processors: MHz domain
  • Switching power supplies: 50–500 kHz with harmonics extending into MHz
Where MHz exists internally
  • Op-amp circuits: 10–100 MHz bandwidth
  • Feedback networks: operate in MHz even when the audio signal doesn’t
  • Rectifier switching: produces MHz harmonics
The audible signal doesn’t reach those frequencies, but the systems that shape it do.
That is where M101 focuses its engineering.

Boundary Condition Stabilizer (BCS)

Conventional cables are built for 50/60 Hz power delivery.
We design for the MHz range, where component behavior is actually defined.

Our patented Boundary Condition Stabilizer (BCS) platform is engineered to control electromagnetic boundaries at the cable-to-component interface — the point where most signal instability begins.

BCS modifies how fields behave in this critical region, reducing unwanted reflections and improving energy transfer in the MHz domain — the same range where clocks, converters, and amplifiers interact.

What We Measure

Three independent experimental methods confirm that BCS creates measurable, reproducible physical differences:
  • RF transmission characteristics — improved energy transfer and reduced loss at MHz frequencies.
  • Electromagnetic field mapping — visibly altered field structure around the cable and connector boundary.
  • Precision instrumentation response — consistent, quantifiable changes in electronic performance metrics.
All measurements were performed under controlled laboratory conditions with less than 2 % variance.

Honest Engineering

We measure the effects clearly.
The exact mechanism connecting MHz-domain optimization to audible improvements is still being explored — as it is throughout the cable industry.

What we know is unambiguous:
  • Audio electronics operate in the MHz range.
  • Boundary conditions influence their stability and precision.
  • BCS directly controls those boundaries.
The data show physical change.
Listeners report audible benefits.
Your system — and your ears — decide how it matters to you.

A peer-reviewed paper detailing the methodology and results is currently in preparation.
Once published, the full dataset and analysis will be available here.

Because high fidelity should be experienced, not marketed.
Tested, not claimed. Heard, not hyped."


The entire premise is tenuous. There are legions of young audiophiles. They buy headphones and the pricey party boxes, which actually sound pretty good.

Now I really wanna see how they train "junior audiophiles".... I may have to start a thread on this.... :rolleyes:
 
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It seems to me that CAF has priced themselves into the pure luxury market over the last couple years. Some vendors that will not be represented there that were in the past include Mofi, Philharmonic, and Linkwitz. I'm debating even going as the options for sub-$20k speakers there will be quite limited this year I expect.

One thing that is happening is that a local retailer, Gramophone, is demoing THE Nautilus speakers from B&W in their store on Friday night at 6 pm. not at the show, but it is free if you RSVP on their website. I'll never buy a pair but it would be nice to hear what B&W has achieved with that particular design.
 
It seems to me that CAF has priced themselves into the pure luxury market over the last couple years. Some vendors that will not be represented there that were in the past include Mofi, Philharmonic, and Linkwitz. I'm debating even going as the options for sub-$20k speakers there will be quite limited this year I expect.

One thing that is happening is that a local retailer, Gramophone, is demoing THE Nautilus speakers from B&W in their store on Friday night at 6 pm. not at the show, but it is free if you RSVP on their website. I'll never buy a pair but it would be nice to hear what B&W has achieved with that particular design.

Many smaller brands like mine, with all the inflation and tariffs lately, are just priced out of these shows. The only way I can do this show is by partnering with somebody else and splitting the cost of the room, and even then, it's still difficult. I can drive to DC and get a cheap hotel room.

I would say between the cost of the showroom, transportation, hotel, flights, advertising, and all the other miscellaneous details, you are looking at at least $7000 to be at the show, and then you have to also take time away from the business or pay employees. I can easily see why smaller companies never show up to these. I am also very lucky to have a friend who helps out at these shows for free.
 
It seems to me that CAF has priced themselves into the pure luxury market over the last couple years. Some vendors that will not be represented there that were in the past include Mofi, Philharmonic, and Linkwitz. I'm debating even going as the options for sub-$20k speakers there will be quite limited this year I expect.

One thing that is happening is that a local retailer, Gramophone, is demoing THE Nautilus speakers from B&W in their store on Friday night at 6 pm. not at the show, but it is free if you RSVP on their website. I'll never buy a pair but it would be nice to hear what B&W has achieved with that particular design.
I saw Philharmonics there last year, it was very exciting to see value and performance based brands there. They had there own room, so it must had cost them a small fortune.
 
It's a shame about the small or more value oriented exhibitors being priced out. I love saying hi to Dennis and alexis with Philharmonic and actually decided to skip this year because I didn't see them on the exhibitors list. When I went last time, Orchard's stuff sounded great too (the guy had a great eclectic taste in music, too) so I think it'll lose something if it's all $20k+ systems. Blegh oh well

@cavedriver I've heard the Nautilus at the grammophone store up here actually and they're definitely worth rsvp'ing to experience. Enjoy!
 
here now and its a lot of ???
hard to tell whats up. speakers, dac, front end stuff.
so far, no room ive visited had streaming. either tt or their own playlist on a pad. ive heard one song id play so far and that one was cut short because something, something audiophile music.
holler if you see me, tall black guy with white braids and a biggie smalls tshirt.
 
here now and its a lot of ???
hard to tell whats up. speakers, dac, front end stuff.
so far, no room ive visited had streaming. either tt or their own playlist on a pad. ive heard one song id play so far and that one was cut short because something, something audiophile music.
holler if you see me, tall black guy with white braids and a biggie smalls tshirt.
I can understand why, maybe you can ask to demo streaming if the gear is available. With all of the WI-FI access there I can see it being potentially unreliable where a manufacturer wouldn't want to risk a bad demo.
 
it's always a mixed bag which rooms will let you pick the tunes. I've had better luck later in the day as the pressure of opening day subsides. Rooms that won't let me pick get shorter visits though. No point wasting my time listening to more soft jazz.

Anyone see any rooms with Linkwitz 521's set up? They aren't on the vendor list and I really want to hear them
 
Imo audio shows like this offer limited value for serious technical evaluation: poor room acoustics make listening tests unreliable, and DSP demos rarely translate well. Good DACs amps an speakers (not mentioning the snake oil products) are already affordable, shrinking the real high-end difference.

For casual browsing and networking they’re fine, but what is the real added value of these shows? Am I missing something?
 
just left the volti room and im impressed as always. their vittori is superb. effortlessly dynamic. balanced sound across all drivers. expansive sound stage. them horns. best we've heard so far.
no shade on any others, they were my room to look for.
big ups for playing our nonstandard requests. picked up a few new tunes. another reason we like shows.
 
In the Event hotel room, now I know why maggie fans are die hard maggie fans. They sound different but fantastic.

May have to get me a pair.
 
OMG!!! got to hear my dream speakers, jbl everest 66000. they were everything i imagined them to be.
the scale, realism, and dynamics. i thought the volti vittoris were grand, and they are. them jbls were next level.
 
here now and its a lot of ???
hard to tell whats up. speakers, dac, front end stuff.
so far, no room ive visited had streaming. either tt or their own playlist on a pad. ive heard one song id play so far and that one was cut short because something, something audiophile music.
holler if you see me, tall black guy with white braids and a biggie smalls tshirt.
You're welcome to 615 (and several rooms close by) with streamers, and you're free to play whatever you like as loud as you like. :D
 
OMG!!! got to hear my dream speakers, jbl everest 66000. they were everything i imagined them to be.
the scale, realism, and dynamics. i thought the volti vittoris were grand, and they are. them jbls were next level.
Which room are they in?
 
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