Capital AudioFest 2025 Show Report

Hey SECRETS readers,

It’s time once again for our annual Capital Audiofest coverage! For 2025, Editor-in-Chief Carlo Lo Raso is skipping the joys of delayed flights and 3-hour security lines, opting instead for a good old-fashioned road trip from Ohio to Maryland. He’ll be bringing you highlights from our sponsors and the coolest standout gear along the way.

This year’s event returns to the Hilton Hotel in Rockville, Maryland, and adds a few rooms across the street at the EVEN Hotel, Rockville. The show is taking place from Friday, November 14, through Sunday, November 16. Capital Audiofest has grown steadily year after year to become one of the leading HiFi gatherings on the North American calendar, and 2025 promises to be no exception.

A special shoutout goes to premier dealer DreamScapes A/V for helping to sponsor our coverage of CapFest this year, along with setting up and organizing several unique rooms at the event.

Stay tuned for updates and photo coverage throughout the weekend, both here and on the SECRETS Instagram and Facebook pages as Carlo explores what’s new, what’s wild, and what sounds incredible.

We hope you enjoy our coverage!

Sigberg Audio

DreamScapes A/V was hosting Thorbjørn Sigberg, founder of Sigberg Audio. Thorbjørn walked me through his show setup consisting of the Sigberg Audio Manta active loudspeakers and a pair of 10D active subwoofers.

The Mantas are a 3-way active design with a 5.5-inch coaxial midrange driver incorporating a 1-inch silk tweeter in its center. This is teamed with a 12-inch mid-bass driver, and the whole shebang is powered by an onboard Hypex 3-channel nCore amplifier with 600 watts of power per speaker.

The Mantas project their midrange sound in a cardioid dispersion pattern to reduce unwanted side-wall reflections and keep the midrange sounding clear. The other interesting thing is that the Mantas are intended to be used with a pair of subs. The Manta’s bass response rolls off at about 90 Hz, where they hand off to a pair of matching Sigberg 10D subwoofers.

The sound was impressively lifelike and dynamic with a bass reach that was almost God-like, successfully giving one the impression of having their internal organs scrambled about! Price is $31K for a pair of Mantas and a pair of 10D subs.

Thorbjørn Sigberg was nice enough to sit down with me and discuss his company and speakers.

GoldenEar

Checking in on GoldenEar at Capital Audiofest, I got reacquainted with the modestly-sized, but not-modestly-sounding T44 floor-standing speakers.

Priced at $4,900.00 per pair in piano black and $5,300.00/ pair in the signature red finish, these speakers delivered a powerful, detailed sound that belied their size and price.

Using a HIFIROSE streamer and an Anthem STR integrated amp made for a tidy, great-sounding system that won’t break the bank. Speaker cables were AudioQuest’s new Lone Ranger line, priced at $3,900.00 for a 10m pair.

Check out the metallic flake in the red finished speakers!

IsoAcoustics

Our friends at IsoAcoustics were back in DC, introducing their new GAIA Neo isolation devices to local attendees. Dave and Paul Morrison were having a successful time demonstrating the noticeable sonic improvement the GAIA Neo was making when switching between two identical pairs of Monitor Audio speakers, one with GAIA Neo feet and the other without.

Silent Pound

Distributor Playback Distribution worked together with Joe Parvey and his team at House of Stereo to showcase the impressive Silent Pound Challenger II cardioid loudspeakers from Lithuania with gorgeous control, phono stage, and amplification components from Acoustic Arts, along with a VPI Avenger turntable with cabling provided by Synergistic Research.

The imaging, clarity, and bass impact from this system were outstanding from top to bottom.

Music sounded incredibly appealing and immersive, with the system seemingly able to bend the entire room to its will.

Benchmark Media Systems

One does not often run into John Siau from Benchmark Media Systems at an audio show, and here at CapFest, John was conducting a couple of seminars on both DAC and power amplifier design. Here are a few shots from John’s DAC discussion, where he drilled down on the issues of Intersample Over distortion in DACs and how not every manufacturer properly designs their circuits to deal with this issue.

At SECRETS, when we bench test DACs, we test for Intersample Over issues using a custom test tone that John provided us with.

John was also kind enough to sit down with me for an interview. We discussed a few things, including what makes Benchmark DACs stand out from the crowd.

Popori Acoustics

Having heard the big Popori Vittorla speakers in Warsaw, I was curious to get a listen to their smaller WR2 Arrabona Electrostatic speakers ($32K per pair) here in DC. With a snazzy custom automotive red paint finish, the speakers were being driven by a pair of Atma-sphere Class D Amplifiers ($6,200 per pair) and controlled by a BACCH-SP audio processor ($30K). Cables were courtesy of Viablue.

Listening to the Popori WR2 Arrabona was akin to looking through a freshly cleaned glass window. Everything was transparent, effortless, and spotless with a lovely sense of space in every dimension. And the amount of bass that was coming from these purely electrostatic panels was frankly astounding. Absolutely kick-ass in every respect!

Grimm Audio

In another DreamScapes A/V sponsored room were the LS1c fully active, DSP-controlled speakers with integrated SB1 subwoofers from Grimm Audio in the Netherlands. It is essentially a fully optimized plug-and-play system requiring only a source, which in this case was the Grimm MU1 Streamer.

The LS1c used drivers that are custom-made by SEAS in Norway, which include an 8-inch mid-woofer and a 1-inch wide dispersion thin-ply carbon tweeter. Each speaker uses 350 watts of Hypex nCore amplification, while each SB1 has 400 watts of power. AVRoomService provided several of their EVP isolation pucks for use under the subwoofers and MU1.

So how does it all sound? Incredibly tight, detailed, and controlled. The bass was equally impactful and unyielding. Like similar systems, such as the Kii Three BXT, this Grimm Audio LS1c speaker works on an accuracy level that no passive speaker can really match.

Amphion/Benchmark Media Systems

DreamScapes A/V had set up another room with equipment that I am exceedingly familiar with.

The dynamic and impressive Amphion Krypton3X loudspeakers, with their cardioid dispersion design, are driven by a Benchmark LA4 Preamplifier and a pair of AHB2 power amplifiers in mono mode.

This is almost the exact combination of electronics that I used when I reviewed the Krypton3X myself. The source in use was the Grimm Audio MU2 Streamer. EVP isolation feet from AVRoomService were used under both the speakers and the electronics.

This setup sounded every bit as good as it did when I had these speakers in my house. Excellent imaging with a pleasing tonal balance and tight, impactful bass.

Geshelli Labs

Our friends at Geshelli Labs were rocking two rooms at CapFest, along with rack and stand specialist, Sound Solver. The first room was hifi-centric with their Torc DAC, Giuseppe Preamp, and a pair of Z-BLOC monoblock amplifiers all sitting on a custom Sound Solver equipment rack.

The speakers were by Acoustic Energy with cables from VIABLUE.

The second room was headphone-centric with multiple stacks of balanced and single-ended Geshelli headamps and DACs in gorgeous wood cases, along with customized Sound Solver wood desktop racks.

Fun rooms with great people and great sound all around!

Geno also spilled the beans on a big announcement regarding a new modular DAC design, coming soon!

VPI Industries

Two generations of VPI were in the house at CapFest 2025. DJ Harry Weisfeld was spinning analog gold in the VPI room at CapFest 2025. Using a VPI Vanquish turntable with separate PSU and integrated stand, a full suite of Audio Research control and power electronics, and the big JBL Project Everest loudspeakers.

Nordost cabling was used throughout. I could have sat here all day!

Mat Weisfeld was in the next-door room, showing me the finer points of the new VPI Forever Model One turntable.

The tonearm was rocking a VPI Goldy cartridge and was matched with VAC electronics, Acora MRB1 stand-mounted speakers, and cabling from Luminous Audio. Great sound here as well.

Goldnote

Distributor Rutherford Audio had some great Italian gear from Goldnote on hand.

Of particular interest to me was getting to finally hear the HP10 headphone amplifier, which, beyond having plenty of power, has a boatload of tweakability and customization options for a variety of headphones.

Features like crossfeed, EQ curves, Gain, Phase, and Damping Factor are all available at the touch of a button. Using a set of Meze Elite headphones, the combination, with the appropriate customizations dialed in, sounded heavenly!

Esoteric/Aretai

DreamScapes A/V, along with Playback Distribution, was hosting an amazing-sounding room featuring a glorious stack of Esoteric Grandioso components, including the new Grandioso N1 Network Streamer/DAC. 

The Esoteric gear was partnered with Aretai Loudspeakers from Latvia, in particular the Aretai Contra 100S stand-mounts and Contra 200 floor-standing loudspeakers. Either size of speaker, with its distinctive tweeter waveguides, produced such an appealing “almost alive” quality of sound in this system.

The Contra 200s naturally sounded fuller and had a lower reach, but the little 100s produced a startling level of bass punch for their size. While obviously not an inexpensive commitment, if this is the category of gear that you are in the market for, I’d say you’d be hard-pressed to find a better combo. Absolutely lovely sonics in here!

Kuzma/PranaFidelity/Manley Labs

This was an unconventional but great-sounding setup.

The PranaFidelity Dhyana floor-standing speakers from Colorado were paired with an Allnic A-2000 Class AB Tube amp, a Manley Jumbo Shrimp Preamp, a Steelhead RC phono preamp, and a Kuzma Stabi M turntable with a solid lab-grown Sapphire tonearm wand.

A lot of neat equipment that I rarely run into that just gelled together really well. The speakers were completely new to me, and I have to say that they sounded impressive.

Charney Audio

One of the most unusual speakers that I think I’ve ever seen, this set of Charney Audio Lumaca IV speakers (Lumaca is the Italian word for snail) incorporates a single Voxativ full-range driver embedded into a giant Tractrix horn.

The horn is constructed from layers of stacked birch plywood, as seen in this bit of horn cross-section. The amplifier, preamp, and DAC are custom Charney designs that feature wooden circuit boards with beautifully neat circuit layouts. All were designed and built in New Jersey.

I’ll be honest, I am typically not a fan of these types of single-driver full-range designs, but I have to admit, these had me nodding my head and tapping my feet a whole heck of a lot! A little high-end audio escargot!

DreamScapes A/V-Keith Yates Design-Alcons Audio

And now for something completely unexpected from Capital AudioFest, an almost CEDIA-like home theater setup was put together by DreamScapes A/V and Keith Yates Design.

The team used 11.4.8 channels of high-power Alcons Audio speaker and subwoofer goodness, along with much acoustic room treatment wizardry, a high-end projector by Christie, a Kaleidescape server, video processing by MadVR Labs, control by Storm Audio, and a screen from Stewart Film Screen.

It was a visually and sonically stunning room, considering the initial environment KYD and DreamScapes A/V had to work with. I will say that while the space may have been imperfect, this system sounded better to me than the Alcons room at this past CEDIA. The crew really pulled a rabbit out of a hat with this one!

Fyne Audio

Harmonia Distribution was featuring the Fyne Audio 502S floor-standing speakers in one of its rooms here at CapFest 2025.

Each of these handsome, modestly-sized 2.5-way coaxial towers was augmented by an S-Trax omnidirectional tweeter ($4,500.00 per pair with tweeters) and was powered by a Prima Luna Evolution EVO E200 Integrated amp.

If you are a fan of that classic Tannoy Studio monitor-style sound, or at least are looking for a modern-day iteration, you may have just found your ticket to bliss in this room.

Paradigm/Anthem

In the area of “home theaters for mere mortals,” there were two notable standouts at CapFest.

The first was this 7.2.4 channel Paradigm Founder series-based system. With Founder 120H speakers and a 90C center channel in front, a pair of Founder 80F speakers as side channels, and a pair of 100F speakers for rears. There were four Millennia On-Wall speakers used as height channels, with a Defiance XR13 subwoofer in front and an XR11 sub in the back. All this acoustic firepower was being corralled by an Anthem AVM90 processor with ARC Genesis Room Correction, accompanied by Anthem MCA Gen2 Series multi-channel amplifiers and a power conditioner from Torus Power. A Magnetar UDP800 MkII 4K Universal Disc player and a Kaleidescape Strato E player provided the entertainment. With the various movie and music demo tracks, this system simply shone! A very immersive experience with excellent clarity, dynamics, and scads of low-end power. Really enjoyed this room a lot!

SVS/Orchard Audio

The second room was courtesy of SVS, which always delivers a memorable experience at shows.

For CapFest, they turned it up a few notches by partnering up with Leo Ayzenshtat’s Orchard Audio out of New Jersey, and using a veritable flotilla of their Starkrimson GaNFet Class-D amplifiers to drive a potent 5.2.4 channel surround system.

SVS was using various sizes of their Ultra Evolution Series speakers (Tower, Center, Nano, and Elevation) all around, and a pair of SB-5000 R|Evolution subwoofers to complete the picture. A Marantz AV7708 processor kept everything under control, and a Panasonic 4K UHD Disc player provided the sourcing. The system delivered superb dynamics and a fully immersive experience, along with killer bass (this is SVS after all) in a standard-sized room that most of us would have in our homes. The rack of power amps also had the added benefit of looking visually badass!  An awesome and approachable experience that won’t land an enthusiast in divorce court.

Chesky Audio

I like Lucca Chesky a lot, but he kind of makes me mad. At barely 19 years of age, he has already had a hand in developing two loudspeakers and has plans to do more things to extend the idea of offering really good and affordable HiFi for everyone. Geez! I wish I had been that bright and well-adjusted at his age!

In any event, a year after Lucca surprised everyone with his LC1 bookshelf loudspeaker, he has brought a second, moderately larger and more advanced speaker called the LC2.

It sports a similar driver count and arrangement as the LC1, but in a larger, better-braced enclosure. The tweeter and midrange drivers seem to be upgraded over the LC1, along with the crossover design and a milled 5/8” aluminum front baffle instead of a 100% 3D printed enclosure.

At $997.00 per speaker, they are roughly twice the price of the LC1. Now, I liked the LC1 when I first heard it, but this LC2 is a serious step up in sound quality and power over the original. The speakers sounded spectacular with the Schiit Audio-based system that Lucca was using with them.

Excellent imaging and a powerful bass output were my big takeaways from the demo. My brain instantly imagined the possibility of five LC2s as the bed layer of an absolutely killer surround sound system.

Gotta tip my hat to this young man, he is doing some fun, fun stuff!

Shanling/EverSolo/Mon Acoustics

Forte Distribution was hosting a great-sounding room featuring the new Shanling SCD3.3 SACD player ($3,999.00).

The new player boasts a clean top-loading design with an R2R DAC and tube output stage. The SACD player was set up with an EverSolo DAC Z-10 ($1,980.00), a T8 Streaming Transport ($1,380.00), and an AMP F-10 Power Amplifier ($1,980.00).

The gear was paired up with a tidy set of all-aluminum Mon Acoustic VC1 stand-mounted monitors ($6,600.00 per pair). A high-end sounding setup for a decidedly not-high-end price!

Rotel

Our friends at Rotel had a central table at the show’s Marketplace area. They were showing off their new DX-3 Headphone Amplifier and DX-5 Desktop Integrated Amp to a very eager public.

We have done reviews on both components, and they are truly something special.

I recently visited Rotel’s manufacturing HQ in China and will have a video about my visit coming soon!

STAX

It’s never a bad day when I can slide on a pair of STAX earspeakers and wile away some time with beautiful music.

These were the new SR-007S, which we’ve reviewed, and they were paired with a STAX SRM-700T Tube Energizer. This particular combination sounded divine and made me wish I could squirrel away with it up to my hotel room so that I could be in blissful musical solitude!

But if I can’t be in musical solitude, then I would gladly spend some time in HiFi-show-chaos with Douglas Ip from STAX. A fine gent in every sense of the word!

DreamScapes A/V-KRIX-EPSON-Benchmark Media Systems

This was another one of those rooms that must have taken half a miracle and a bucketload of Advil to pull off! The equipment list alone was only just slightly insane:

Kaleidescape Strato V Movie Server $4,495

MadVR Envy Core Premium MK1 $6,490

Epson QL7000 Projector w/lens $35,434

Storm Audio ISP Elite 24 MK3 Processor $25,999

(3) MC2 DSP100 Delta Series Amplifier with DSP $6,599 EA.

(10) Benchmark AHB2 Amplifiers $3,499 EA.

KRIX 30i 11.6.6 Modular Speaker System $26,000

(4) KRIX 18-inch Infrasonic Subwoofers $4,500 EA.

(6) KRIX Hyperphonix 45 Surround Channel Speakers $1,550 EA.

(4) KRIX Hyperphonix 45 Height Channel Speakers $1,550 EA.

And while the photos of a dark, industrially repurposed hotel room don’t really do the effort justice, the final visual and audio results in this room were indeed spectacular. Complete and total immersion, with clean, clear sonics that were not fatiguing at all. Another hat, another rabbit pulled!

VPE Electrodynamics

The gang at VPE Electrodynamics is an interesting bunch of cats. Former engineers in the aerospace field (and diehard HiFi nuts) are turning their know-how into producing speakers, subwoofers, and associated products. I’ve had their Airfoil DSP active speaker in-house for a while now, and it has proven to be an excellent and satisfying performer!
In this room, they had a pair of Magnepan 20.7 speakers seamlessly integrated with 4 of their custom dipole subwoofers set up in what they called a SWARM array. The bass response was very uniform from almost any of the seats, with excellent depth and punch. Associated equipment was from Audio Research, SOTA, and Doshi.

Gershman Acoustics

Gershman Acoustics always has a unique take on the art of speaker design, and their new Symphoria speakers, which they featured at CapFest, were certainly no different!

These new $70K per pair speakers definitely look the part, but as VP, Ofra Gershman walked me through the design, it‘s clear that the engineers went through great pains to incorporate various methods of isolation (courtesy of a collaboration with fellow Canadian company IsoAcoustics) and resonance mitigation (via a clever substructure within the speaker cabinet).

And the cone of that custom-designed midrange driver (for improved rigidity and lower distortion) looks more like the maw of a jet engine. Paired with electronics from Lampizator and VAC, the Symphonias sounded truly engaging and with an appealing degree of smoothness to their overall presentation.

Magnepan/Audia Flight

Audia Flight and Magnepan partnered up in one of the biggest rooms in the main show hotel. I’ve never had a chance to hear really big Maggies before, so this was a bit of a treat.

Here were the top-of-the-line Magnepan 30.7 planar magnetic speakers, teamed up with an almost ungodly amount of poise and power courtesy of our Italian friends at Audia Flight.

Sourcing was taken care of by an Aurender stack from the digital side and a Wilson Benesch GMT One System turntable for the analog end. The room was essentially a mini auditorium with rows of tiered seating.

When I sat just below mid-way back, which put me roughly in line with the center of the speakers, I got a wonderfully cohesive and spacious presentation. Just “biggie-sized!”

Kharma/Conrad-Johnson

This room was particularly notable to me, A) because the speakers looked super-cool, and B) I have not seen or heard Conrad-Johnson gear in what seems like forever.

It just made me happy to see that revered brand make such an appearance with the current product, at a show, in scale!

Gobel/EMM Labs

I thought this was one of the best-sounding high-dollar rooms at the show.

Same speakers that I heard in Warsaw (minus the matching subwoofers) and EMM Labs gear made for a lovely-sounding combination.

ATC

ATC knows a thing or two about active loudspeakers, and the SCM20ASL with the lovely burl finish was delightful to listen to.

Stylish, compact, and soulful. Add a source with a volume control, and you’ve got the makings of a tidy, beautifully sounding system.

T+A

While the new Symphonia integrated amp was in the house at CapFest, it was the mighty HV series equipment that was driving a pair of the big Solitare S 430 floor-standing speakers when I came by.

T+A equipment may not be to everyone’s aesthetic with its clean Teutonic vibe, but the stuff is built like Fort Knox, and the excellent sound quality is unmistakable and undeniable.

Margules

Very “un-Teutonic” in vibe is the Margules room in all its tube-powered, fine wood-finished glory.

Julian Margules has a way of coaxing a rich, full, “organic” sound from his systems, and this room had that going on in spades. The stand-mounted Orpheo Century Overture speakers sounded dynamite here.

Vinnie Rossi

I love the direction Vinnie Rossi has taken over the years to get to the Brahma Gen 2 line of components. The aesthetics, build quality, and attention to detail are all first-rate.

The topless milled aluminum enclosure of the integrated amp with those 300B tubes inside is just a thing of beauty. Even something as innocuous as the VU meters on the components has the look and finish of a fine timepiece.

The preamp and monoblock amps were part of the demo system, producing great music with the Von Schweikert VR thirty loudspeakers. Associated equipment included an MSB Cascade DAC, an XACT Audio S1 Evo Music Server, a Thales Elegance Turntable and Tonearm package, and an FM Acoustics 123 Phono Stage. Cables were courtesy of Kubaal-Sosna, acoustic panels by NEMESIS, and power conditioning was from Gigawatt. The room was hosted by Alma Music & Sound.

Wilson Benesch/Audia Flight

In this room sponsored by the dealer, The Listening Room, we have the Wilson Benesch Discovery 3Zero stand-mounted speakers with an Audia Flight FLS10 integrated amp, an Aurender streamer, and power conditioning by AVM. The cabling was courtesy of VIABLUE.

This straightforward system sounded very special and was overachieving in terms of sonics and spaciousness.

VIABLUE

Our friends at VIABLUE had a nice little display with a selection of their fine cables, lifters, connectors, and other accessories. Their products are of the highest quality, and the folks who run the company are extra-swell.

I’ll be the first one to say that you don’t NEED expensive cables to enjoy your music system. However, if you WANT higher-end cables, for whatever reason, then I can’t think of a better brand to start with.

Perlisten/Audia Flight

In one of the other rooms sponsored by “The Listening Room.” Perlisten S7t loudspeakers with Audia Flight electronics.

What can I say? It doesn’t get much better than this. That is all.

Diptyque

Here we had the Diptyque DP160 MkII speakers along with a Michell Gyro SE turntable. Power came from a Kora HiFi TA480 hybrid power amplifier, with a Grimm Audio MU2 as the digital streaming source.

Cabling was again by VIABLUE.  Another exceedingly enjoyable system with a surprising level of bass coming from those panels!

Altec Lansing

Altec Lansing had their flagship limited edition Ribbonacci bipolar planar magnetic speakers ($90K for the pair), along with an array of their Ripole subwoofers in an almost comically small hotel room. The system worked, and I could tell that it had some serious potential that couldn’t be exploited in that space.

Infigo Electronics were being used for control and power. I would have really liked to hear this setup in one of the bigger ballrooms to give it a chance to stretch its legs. Still, it was cool to experience, and I hope to hear it again in a more suitable environment.

Theoretica Applied Physics

Wrapping up our CapFest 2025 coverage with the smallest yet probably one of the most impressive-sounding systems I’ve heard. The BACCH-DrC² desktop audio system, featuring 2 planar magnetic desktop speakers and a matching subwoofer using the BACCH-Stratos rendering system, created some of the most immersive nearfield two-channel audio I have experienced.

I’ve sampled earlier prototypes of this system at a couple of previous shows, but this looks to be the production iteration, and the results are a knockout! Dr. Edgar Choueiri has adapted and refined his development of the original BACCH technology into this personal listening station. Supremely cool stuff!