Brussels Hifi Show Oct 16, 2016

[bart]

Next room was a nice one: Audium.




The speaker I heard was the Audium Comp 5.
It retails for 2K and sounded really musically.

The Musical Fidelity device that fed it:




The Encore 225 is an all-in -one box: streamer, DAC, CD-player, amp.
4,5K and you'll only need speaker cables.
This combo produced sounds true to the music.
In my top 3 price/quality ratio.

The Audium Comp 5: 7.5 cm dual conus full range + 13x22 cm down-fired sub:




I would have liked to hear the bigger Audium models, but duty called!

[bart]

Next room: Cabasse/McIntosh






McIntosh's biggest integrated drove the bookshelf Cabasses very nicely.
Source was a MacBook.
I would have liked to hear the spheres and wanted to return, but stayed too long in other rooms.

[Still-One]

Bart
Thanks for taking time to post those photos and commentary.

[bart]

This was the room where I spent most time of all rooms:



The speakers are prototypes.
They are omnidirectional speakers.

The poor website doesn't tell much:
Legend Precision Sound Reproducers




25 kg, built-in amplification (3x50W + 200W for the sub).

The first demo was music that was played through this device:




A Belgian developer, explanation on his site here:

Klinkt Beter


It was the first time I heard it under good circumstances.
From other demos, I understand that a lot of people really love the conversion to 432 Hz.
As a purist, I shiver at the thought of conversion, but the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
And that pudding tasted good.
I'll examine this product better later, at the developer's place itself.

DAC was a Mytek.

The music in this room sounded very very natural.
One of the top 5 rooms, and 2 very nice discoveries: the server that converts to 432 Hz on the fly, and the speakers.

The speakers are expensive though (38K, amplification included).

[bart]

Another nice item:




If you don't want a projector the whole time in your living room, just put it on a little table when you want to see a movie.
The image was projected on the wall here and was not as good as with a normal projector + screen, but still very decent.

[bart]

Next room: Aries Cerat/Entreq/Magico






Huge apparatuses, very beautifully made.






I also liked the nice wooden boxes from Entreq.
They made me curious.
Produced in Sweden, this must be good!

Aries Cerat is made in Cyprus.
The components retail for 18K (DAC and pre) and 28K (pair of mono blocks - 60W).




The Magico S1s produced a delicate, very natural sound.




One of the top 5 rooms.

[bart]

Next room: Charlin.




Source was a turntable.
By the way: the only one I heard during the show, although I did see more of them.
Overall, the number one source (by far) was PC or tablet + DAC, followed by CDs.




Charlin's own devices: Phono-preamp and power amp; price for the combo: 11K.






Very nicely built.
With the SF Olympicas, it was a good sounding system.

[bart]

Next room: YG Acoustics/MBL






MBL Corona pre + power:




MBL Reference CD-drive + DAC:




I stayed quite a while in this room because the - mostly acoustic - music sounded so nice.
Yes! That's how it should be done.
Also a top room.
Incredible that these tiny speakers go down to 32 Hz.

[bart]

Time to go back to the room with the Legend Precision Sound Reproducers!






In fluent French, it was explained why this was a very good and innovative loudspeaker (of course!).
He showed the distortion curve of his speaker and other high end efforts (his came out as the best, of course!).
He played sounds, triangles, drums from his tiny netbook through an Antelope DAC/pre to the Mytek that only functioned as pre now.
It was good, but not as good as through the Mytek DAC (and from the 432 EVO?).
The separation of instruments in a complex classical orchestral piece was quite convincing though.
But at 38K, you're in dangerous high end territory, and I don't believe at this price, this will become a bestseller.
He promises 115 dB at 1m, but I can't see how this speaker could fill a large room.

[bart]

When I walked to the next room, a bass heavy piece was heard in the hallway.
Impressive.
Also the clarity of the sound and undistorted mids and highs.
I saw it came out of the Vivid Audio room, and I was convinced I was going to see a Giya system.
No!
Much to my surprise, I saw this system:




The smallest Vivids, driven by a R200i Wireless Amplifier.
A tiny box, impeccably built.
I weighs no more than 3-4 pounds (I guess).
200W- Class D.





The brand is Questyle.
Built by the same company as your and my iPhone.

Questyle, Questyle Audio - Questyle Audio


The T2 Wireless Transmitter sends the signal to the Wireless Amplifiers:




Source: a DAP (QP1 High-Res DAP).




Their headphone amps & DACs were developed around the Sennheiser HD800.
This DAP can drive it!
I listened through the HD800s and it was incredible.
This device retails for half the price of the A&K products and beats them in various tests.

Formidable little system!
I think we will hear a lot more from Questyle in the very near future.