Hope
@RayDunzl is well.
I went to the expo today for roughly 5 hours, my first time at the venue.
I didn't go to every single room so mine is a limited sampling.
Liked without reservations:
- Gheshelli. Very nice people. Loved the new Pro headphone amp (not announced yet). I cranked and cranked Skrillex but my ears gave up before the HP and the amp.
- RME. Nice rep. I tried the RME ADI-2 PRO FS with unknown HP fed by my own phone via USB. Very nice until the HP gave up at about -9. Everything first class, the display, the controls, the sound.
- Joseph Audio. Hearing is believing. Their Pulsar 2 mini monitors were just good. Smooth, dynamic, could play loud without strain, the speakers that kept on giving. The tweeters just rocked. I probably cannot afford the boxes they come in.
- Magnepan + LCH (who?) passive subs + NAD chain - one track only but what was coming out was awesome ... and loud (I know, small rooms ...). Unlike most everything else, no resonances or overbearing bass. No DRC!?
Liked with reservations:
- TAD Reference One (large meeting room). Like: very resolving, smooth, dynamic, full range. Dislike: somewhat recessed voices, price.
- MBL Radialstrahler 101 (large meeting room). Like: not sure, I just stayed in the room for a long time. Dislike: price, uneven across the band in term of resolution/distortion. btw, amazing things happen when you listen with your eyes closed.
That's it!
The rest of the rooms I visited were disappointing at multiple levels.
No DRC anywhere despite the obvious booming bass and ear-piercing resonances.
Even the notorious subwoofer brand home theater set up with the awesome DTS demo was all over the places.
I am even starting to suspect that the ASR crowd might not be the intended audience
Parting comments:
Apparently a lot of ancillary equipment comes fresh from Best Buy due to various misadventures in shipping and transportation.
Do not expect any form of network connection, anywhere, cellular or otherwise.
As MZKM said, a lot of stairs, some of which led nowhere.
We were semi-gently kicked out of a room as the rep had to attend to a member of the press ... "because that's what pays my bills".
Only places where I saw people in the 20-30yo range were headphone-related.
Peace.