Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2014 Show Report

The Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2014 begins this week, October 10, in the beautiful Denver Tech Center. SECRETS Senior Editors, Jim Clements and Piero Gabucci will be reporting once again from the exhibit rooms in the Marriott and the Hyatt……watch for ongoing reports and video in the CAVE, beginning Friday!

Jim is already in Denver……

“I can’t believe another year has passed and it is time once again for the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. This will be the 11th year of RMAF and it just might be the biggest one yet with over 170 exhibit spaces and 400 companies’ products expected to be on display.

Also, being that this is such a major show, several of the great companies will be making first time product launches. I know details on some of the new product and in other cases, the details are still sketchy to me. I do know that I will be hearing the new PSB Imagine T3’s, the Legacy V’s and the Salk Exotica 3’s with built-in servo controlled powered subs. I also have plans to check out new products by Light Harmonic, Wyred4Sound and SVS. Plus Sony will be having a press briefing on their new high end audio products this year.

I am also going to give up to date reports on a whole host of other exhibitors including Oppo, HiFiMAN, Pass Labs, AURALIC, JBL, NAD and Golden Ear. And that ain’t all as there are always a few surprises to be had.”

Up to the minute reporting in the CAVE from Jim, Piero and Don Disbennett!

RMAF 2014 SECRETS Show Report….It’s a Wrap!

Final Thoughts from Piero Gabucci

Lately, the last few years at least, Rocky Mountain Audio Fest had become the premier two-channel show, at least in this country. With the powers that be shutting down T.H.E. Show in Vegas held during CES, opting for Newport in California thereby taking some of the thunder from RMAF in Denver. I can’t say it has hurt the show, at least this year but may in the future. But for now RMAF continues to draw from beyond its immediate surroundings. The lines coming in Friday and Saturday were long and enthusiastic.

As for my observations, the CD has bucked the trends and continues to be a viable source material equaling vinyl but the edge still goes to digital files. Much is being said about hi-res and lack of clear definition about what hi-res is, or should be. Right now the loose definition is anything better than CD, even if miniscule.

Most conversations were about storage: NAS devices, Mac mini’s or Pros, PC’s or clouds and how we access from phones, tablets or components. It’s all very exciting actually and clearly the significant future.

I look forward to next year Denver, but until then, see yah all in Vegas for CES and the Venetian Hotel for the hi-end audio show. My flight is booked!

Final Thoughts and More images from Don Disbennett

One thing that struck me overall regarding this year’s RMAF is that I didn’t hear a single room that sounded bad. Two years ago when I attended, I heard a number of systems which didn’t sound very good and few that sounded very good to excellent. That was reversed this year, with most rooms sounding at least good and a number sounding excellent. It appeared that many exhibitors had expended some effort to improve on the typically terrible acoustics of most hotel rooms by placing baffles, panels and acoustic sheeting in strategic places all around their rooms. This apparently made quite a difference or perhaps the equipment was just better overall.

I also noticed a bit of a shift from vinyl to streaming audio this year. The very high end systems still primarily played vinyl, but the majority of the middle and lower priced systems used computer based playback. Also, the music was not your typical audiophile Norah Jones, Diana Krall, Miles Davis fare, but rather a lot of foreign language from places not necessarily known for their music. Interesting, but a bit strange!

RMAF 2014 SECRETS Show Report. It's a WrapFig 1

RMAF 2014 SECRETS Show Report. It's a WrapFig 2

RMAF 2014 SECRETS Show Report. It's a WrapFig 3

As for the best sounding systems I heard, I would divide them into “relatively affordable” and “uber expensive”. In the affordable category, the best sounding systems I heard were the GoldenEar Triton One using Reference Series electronics by Marantz (Fig. 1) and a close second was the new PSB T3 driven by NAD Master Series electronics and digital streaming (Fig. 2). I must give an honorable mention to Dynaudio’s bookshelf speakers featuring T+A electronics (Fig. 3).

RMAF 2014 SECRETS Show Report. It's a WrapFig 4

RMAF 2014 SECRETS Show Report. It's a WrapFig 5

In the expensive category, it was a bit of a mismatch, price-wise, between the not cheap but great sounding Legacy V speakers using amplification I did not recognize (Fig. 4) and the crazy expensive Focal Grand Utopia ($195,000 a pair) being driven by the equally beautiful and equally expensive VAC amplifiers and Esoteric digital player and also a Clearaudio turntable (Fig. 5). Either of these systems is “to die for”!

RMAF 2014 SECRETS Show Report. It's a WrapFig 6

RMAF 2014 SECRETS Show Report. It's a WrapFig 7

I must also mention two unique systems, one very inexpensive and the other somewhat expensive. The inexpensive system was a pair of speakers offered in kit form for less than $400. The kit is being offered by Linkwitz Lab and was utilizing a Benchmark DAC MiniDSP control/crossover and Emotiva XPA-5 amplification (Fig. 6). The sound was quite good, especially considering the cost. This company also showed a larger speaker system, but a hook-up problem was causing the amp to go into protection mode and we were unable to hear it. The second unique system was also one of the best sounding rooms at the show, but I didn’t include it with the systems mentioned above because it was a multi-channel system featuring five Magnepan 1.7 speakers from an exaSound DAC (yes, it does hi-rez multi-channel!) being driven by a Bryston multi-channel amp ( Fig. 7). The sound was very transparent and clear with a broad soundstage.

Lastly, I must mention the CanJam Headphones exhibits. This area has grown both in the number of companies displaying products and the seemingly larger number of attendees viewing these products. There were some great new products being shown by Oppo (DAC/headphone portable amp and headphones) and Sony (DAC/headphone portable amp and headphones) as well as many other well-known companies featuring products far too numerous to mention. If this part of the show grows much more, it may have to move to a larger space!

RMAF 2014 SECRETS Show Report. It's a WrapFig 8

The other thing I feel I must mention is the introduction of the new Tidal streaming service, slated for its US debut in the very near future (Fig. 8). This Norwegian company has retained the services of none other than former Peachtree Audio executive David Solomon to spearhead the US introduction of the first CD quality streaming subscription service. At the show, they were actually using the European servers since the US servers are not quite operational yet, but it looked and sound quite good and I look for this new service and its soon-to-follow competitors to usher in a new era of high quality streaming audio (and music videos). This is sure to be a hit with the younger and future audiophiles.

Final Thoughts from Jim Clements

In my show preview, I stated that this was going to be the biggest Rocky Mountain Audio Fest of all time. I’m afraid that I may have spoken a little too soon. This year’s show was maybe the same size as last year but on average it was smaller.

RMAF 2014 SECRETS Show Report. It's a Wrap

Let me explain. The CanJam was bigger than I have seen in any of the last four years. So for the first time in my experience, the CanJam area spilled out into the hotel lobby and it was bustling with activity throughout the show. Headphones, in ear monitors and their associated accessories represent what is currently the biggest growth area in the high end. And let’s face the fact that it is the gateway to get younger people interested in high quality music playback. This trend was apparent at RMAF this year.

I will discuss my highlights of CanJam a little later in this wrap-up. But for now I want to point out a few of the more traditional products that caught my eye and ear.

RMAF 2014 SECRETS Show Report. It's a Wrap

The big hit of the show was the premier of the Legacy V speaker system. This is a statement product through and through and I give it my best of show award for 2014. Legacy, with Bill Dudelston at the helm, continues to push the envelope in speaker design. This state of the art speaker system includes what may be the most advanced DSP system ever offered for the consumer marketplace. As if that weren’t enough, the speaker itself is a modern engineering phenomenon that approaches the audible performance of the best microphones as closely as I have ever heard. Every audiophile should seek out a demo of this system if for no other reason than to at least see and hear what the true pioneers are building out there.

RMAF 2014 SECRETS Show Report. It's a Wrap

Another highly anticipated product launch was the new PSB flagship, the Imagine T3’s. Paul Barton has spent years developing this new speaker. It may have the most flexible bass loading scheme that I have ever seen. The speakers can be ported, sealed or the bottom-most driver can be shorted to act as a bass trap for troublesome rooms. What a brilliant concept. The treble and midrange were also very sweet sounding in the demo I heard. Plus they are the finest looking pair of PSB speakers yet – and that is saying a lot.

RMAF 2014 SECRETS Show Report. It's a Wrap

Mark Levinson had a static display of their new integrated amp. There are only three of these in existence right now and this one did not work because the transformer was at Underwriters’ Laboratories being tested for certification. But look for this product to ship in early 2015. There is no doubt that it will be a great integrated with its built in DAC and 200 wpc of amplification.

RMAF 2014 SECRETS Show Report. It's a Wrap

Jim Salk was showing his most advanced speakers yet. These are the Exotica 3’s. They have built-in servo controlled powered subs. These speakers impressed me with the quality of their sound, the quality of the internal components and the beautiful cabinetry. These should be on your short list if you want a fine set of speakers at a fair price.

RMAF 2014 SECRETS Show Report. It's a Wrap

The Bel Canto room sounded amazing as usual. It was the only room with the new, affordable Joseph Audio Profile tower speakers on demo.

RMAF 2014 SECRETS Show Report. It's a Wrap

Now back to the headphone business. My favorite demo involved the upcoming Oppo HA-2 portable DAC/headphone amp along with the new PM-3 Planar Magnetic headphones. The headphones are every bit as good as the PM-2’s in my opinion while the HA-2 handles 384kHz PCM and DSD256. This combo would make an awesome gift pack for young and old audiophiles alike. Heck, I may just give some to myself if you know what I mean.

RMAF 2014 SECRETS Show Report. It's a Wrap

Sony launched a whole slew of headphone products at the show. These are much more costly than Oppo’s but might be your cup of tea if cost is not an object. They didn’t skimp on the performance one iota.

RMAF 2014 SECRETS Show Report. It's a Wrap

Tidal streaming service was at the show as well. This is an internet streaming service that streams in CD resolution (16 bit/44.1 kHz). Tidal will stream music videos as well. The cost is around $20/month and they will have a very extensive library. This is a service I am most interested in trying.

So the show was every bit as big as the last few years, it’s just that headphones and portable players are the biggest growth area and this made the show seem somewhat miniaturized on the whole. A clear example would be that there were not nearly as many turntables and even fewer reel-to-reel decks around the show. Interesting. This trend is impossible to ignore.