GoodSound! Goes to Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2008

This year’s Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, in Denver, was a real eye-opener. Like probably every other visitor, I was curious to see if the number of attendees would reflect the economy’s precarious position. It didn’t seem to -- the crowd never seemed thin, and there were so many exhibit rooms that, despite being there for three days, I didn’t manage to see or hear them all. Also telling was the sheer amount of expensive gear on demo. I couldn’t turn around without seeing systems costing upward of $20,000, with the average price of all systems probably well north of that. Of course, there were several megasystems on display that retail for hundreds of thousands of dollars, and at least three pairs of speakers priced over $150,000/pair. After the first day of the show, I was beginning to wonder if I’d find enough affordable equipment to fill out this GoodSound! report. Thankfully, my explorations on days two and three revealed quite a bit of inexpensive gear, much of which turned out to be quite impressive.

The first of these was the Virtue Audio Audiophile.One single-input integrated amplifier. Actually, SoundStage! Network publisher Doug Schneider led me to it. "You’ve got to see this thing!’’ he said, and beckoned me to follow. Though built to a standard that impressed every member of the SoundStage! crew who saw it, the Audiophile.One retails for a mere $249 USD and is no bigger than a thick paperback novel. In fact, this 30Wpc class-T amp, available in five different colors, looks like a winner. As I discovered later in the room shared by Occam Audio and Creative Sound Solutions (CSS), it sounds like a winner, too. Also on display was Virtue’s Audiophile.Two ($519), a 40Wpc, multi-input integrated amplifier built on a bigger chassis.

The Occam-CSS-Virtue room also featured a real attention-grabber of a system. Occam’s stand-mount MTM 4 speakers ($559.90/pair) have a pair of CSS’s 4.5" WR125ST wide-range drivers and a Wavecore tweeter. Hooked up to a Virtue Audiophile.One, a Grant Fidelity MCD-100 CD player ($1499), and Occam’s SD12 subwoofer ($649.95), the MTM 4s sounded terrific, even in a small hotel room. Equally impressive was their quality of finish, which made them look a lot more expensive than they are. In fact, when first told the price of the MTM 4, I assumed they were $559.90 each. For anyone wanting to spend even less, the MTM 4 and SD12 are available as kits. At only $399.90/pair and $499.95, respectively, the Level B kits come complete with assembled but unfinished MDF cabinets and, in the case of the subwoofer, a 500W BASH amplifier from O Audio. The Occam speaker combo was so impressive that, within 30 seconds of hearing them, I was arranging for review samples. Look for my review of the kit version of this combo in "D-I-Why & How" in the new year.

Audioengine continues to produce interesting, niche-filling, wireless audio products. The company’s new AW2 ($169) is an accessory that plugs into an iPod’s bottom port and transmits digital audio wirelessly to an included receiver pod. The latter can be plugged into an amplifier or, as in the RMAF display, into a pair of Audioengine’s powered speakers. The AW2’s range is around 30’ -- more than enough for the average listening room. Audioengine says that the AW2 bypasses the iPod’s internal DAC, but as the receiver end has a built-in D/A converter, the output is likely not bit-perfect, as is the case with Wadia’s 170iTransport iPod dock. Speaking of the 170iTransport ($379), these appeared in rooms all over RMAF, in use in demo systems for every price range. Wadia’s innovative dock has taken the high-end world by storm. Probably no higher compliment can be paid a component’s manufacturer than for a competitor to use it in their own demo system. Our review of the Wadia 170iTransport is coming soon.

Peachtree Audio provided another standout room dedicated to affordable gear. From the first time I saw a photo of their Decco, a 50Wpc integrated amp with DAC ($799 in black), I thought it would be a success. To me, the Decco just looks right, and the fact that its internals were designed by Scott Nixon should give it a leg up in the sound department. As much as I’d admired the Decco’s appearance, however, I had to wait for RMAF 2008 to actually hear one -- or, rather, two. The first Decco was set up in the Peachtree room’s vestibule, where it was decoding digital rips from a laptop computer and feeding them to a pair of Peachtree’s new Decco 4.5 speakers, little two-ways styled to match the Decco amp and looking terrific. More important, the combo sounded great. Peachtree’s David Solomon cautioned us that the speakers are designed to be set on a desktop and heard from a sitting position, but even when I stood in front of the low-set speakers, it was clear that they showed real promise. What’s more, Peachtree asks a measly $1149 for the Decco and speakers together. I call that Christmas in October. I also call it an upcoming review on GoodSound!

The second Peachtree Decco was set up in the room’s main area, where an Apple TV box was providing the music files. This time the speakers were Era’s tiny Design 5s. The first question listeners asked was "Where’s the subwoofer?" Following the rep’s pointed finger, we saw that there was indeed a sub in the room, sitting atop a coffee table -- and completely unplugged. There ensued a chorus of wows. The Design 5s were producing astonishing amounts of tight, voluminous bass. Surely, they can’t go really deep, but in the 50Hz range, where much audible bass lives, this tiny titan delivered the goods. For those who want a Decco with more power and a higher-performance DAC, Peachtree also displayed the upcoming 80Wpc Nova, a slightly larger version of the Decco that will feature a new 24-bit Sabre DAC to reclock incoming data to eliminate jitter.

In the Xindak room a company representative eagerly pointed out that the 85dB-efficient Dynaudio Confidence C1 speakers ($6500/pair) in use were being powered by Xindak’s 12.5Wpc MT-1 integrated tube amp ($649.95). During my brief listen I determined two things about this system. First, there was no audible indication that the little amp was having any trouble driving the Dynaudios at average listening volume. Second, the amp and associated Xindak Muse Deluxe 1.0 CD player ($1149 introductory price) sounded quite good. Yes, using such expensive speakers with inexpensive components can make the latter sound better than they might with cheaper speakers, but the reverse is also true: expensive speakers can ruthlessly expose poor amplification and sources. In the Xindak room, neither phenomenon seemed to be at play. Instead, Xindak seemed out to prove that high performance is not the sole province of expensive electronics.

There were a few displays of real interest to the DIY cable crowd. DH Labs has been responsible for bringing some legendary performers to market, including its BL-1 interconnect, Power Plus AC cable, and T-14 speaker cable. In their very popular room at RMAF, DH Labs had a slew of cables and connectors on display, including the new Red Wave power cable ($700/m), which was attracting a lot of attention. The Lotus Group was displaying its wide range of Oyaide products -- so many, in fact, that it took two large display cases to show them all. Kimber Kable’s sizable standup exhibit showed off their many types of cable and WBT connectors, and Kimber’s new (and quite pretty) 12TC speaker cable ($600/8’ pair with bananas) was in use in many demo systems. Importer Sjöfn HiFi displayed an assortment of high-value-factor Supra cables. I use a variety of Supra cables in my reference system and have long appreciated the impressive performance they offer for little money. Even their top-line Sword speaker cables, which at RMAF were hooked up to the Guru QM10 speakers, cost far less ($910/2m pair) than comparable cables from other manufacturers.

Despite the overwhelming presence of high-priced gear, a little digging did uncover some exciting affordable audio equipment at RMAF 2008. More fascinating to me was that there wasn’t a whole lot of qualitative difference between systems such as the one in the Occam-CSS-Virtue room and others costing many times more. In fact, just before entering the Occam room, I’d fled (yes, fled) a system costing more than many fine cars do. Occam provided an oasis of beautiful sound for less than $3000 (and half of that was accounted for by the Grant Fidelity MCD-100 CD player). In stark contrast, the so-called high-performance, megabuck system was harsh, bright as a spotlight, and had overblown bass. Fellow reviewer Howard Kneller and I felt compelled to leave that demo, but we had to tear ourselves away from the Occam and Peachtree rooms. Sure, a lot of expensive audio gear is worth every penny, but it doesn’t hold true that a $120,000 system necessarily sounds better than one costing less than a tenth that amount. If there was one lesson to take away from RMAF 2008, it was this: Affordable is not a synonym for compromised.

. . . Colin Smith