New York Audio Show in Brooklyn - Is it worth going ?

[EuroDriver]

I am in Manhattan today but with not much time free.

 

Has anyone been ?

 

Best Sound in Show ?

 

look forward to opinions, TIA

[Gary]

I live within walking distance from the Marriott and spent a lot of time at the audio show yesterday. I went with a certain agenda. First and foremost, I wanted to see if Devialet is the real deal. My impression is that it is. Devialet presented their lowest power unit with a pair of totem monitors. It sounded great.

 

I also had never heard Vandersteen speakers. The Vandersteens (model 7?) were paired with Vandersteen amplification and ARC electronics. I was very impressed by the Vandersteens and spent a lot of time listening to them.

 

I also wanted to check out the Lampizator model 7 dac, which I enjoyed. The unit did not sound like a tube dac. it was very detailed, not overly warm. It was presented in both in a Lampizator room and in a Ginko Audio room. The model 7 sounded great with solid state amplification through the Ginko speakers.

 

I enjoyed the Audio Classics room. They used a tube amp (not sure of model) with McIntosh electronics through Legacy Aeris (?) speakers. This was one of the best sounding rooms that I visited. I had never heard Legacy speakers before, and I enjoyed them. There was also a Legacy room.

 

I would give my best in show (or at least a tie with Audio Classics and Devialet/Totem) to the Vinnie Rossi/Red Wine Audio/Harbeth room. The music in that room just sounded natural.

 

I also enjoyed the Mytec Manhattan dac, which has a nice headphone amp, and the Woo Audio room. The Joseph Audio Perspectives sounded promising, and I'd like to hear them again.

 

I was disappointed that so many of the rooms were using turntables playing music recorded in the last century and composed in the last century or earlier. I prefer computer audio, and I'm interested in the music of my own time.

 

I also was disappointed that manufacturers of portable players were not represented. New York is a walking city and these could make a great impact here. I brought my IEMs with the hope of checking some of these out to no avail. Kudos to UE for showing up. Other great manufactures (like Wilson, Magico, YG, Berkeley) also didn't make it. Maybe next year.

 

I didn't have the time/energy to hear everything (missed the MBL room) and may have missed some great sounding stuff.

 

Audio shows are not the best places to hear equipment (other than headphones), but I had a nice time and look forward to next year.