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  #1  
Old 10-17-2016, 02:56 PM
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Default Brussels Hifi Show Oct 16, 2016

Yesterday, I spent a day amongst all kinds of wonderful gear.
I knew quite a bit of it before, but there were some very, very nice discoveries.
As always, I'll share my enthusiasm with you guys, with pics, but... this time they'll be less artistic than usually.
I went alone, Meta had other things to do.
And my camera is an iPhone 6+.

I didn't have time to visit all rooms, I did a selection.
But there were rooms where I stayed quite a while.
You'll see why.


First room: Naim/Neat.







This Neat speaker is tiny.
And it sounded really bad.
The distortion in the bass was so nasty that I ran away fast.

Fortunately, outside the room, there was a Naim Mu-So music center.
I could spend some time with it.




I had heard it before, but not with the tunes I like.
And there were a lot of nice tunes on that iPad.
I started with Muddy Waters - Folk Singer.
Wow, that handsome box could produce some deep notes!
The stereo effect was very decent.
I continued with Elvis Presley's 'Fever', and noticed there were more people listening outside now, to the Mu-So, than inside, to the system.

Pics don't do justice to this device.
It is a real beauty.
And it can fill a room.

__________________
Stereo: Hegel H590, Grimm Audio MU1, Mola Mola Tambaqui, Burmester 948 - V3 & V6 racks, Vivid Audio G2 Giyas, REL Carbon Special (pair), Silent Angel Bonn N8 Ethernet Switch & Forester F1, Wireworld Platinum Eclipse IC and SE SC, Furutech Digiflux
AV: Hegel C-53, Marantz AV8802A, Oppo BDP-203EU, Pioneer Kuro 60", Vivid Audio C1 & V1w's, Wireworld Platinum Eclipse, SE & E
Second system (veranda): Halgorythme preamp and monoblocks, Burmester 061, Avalon Avatar, Sharkwire & Wireworld cables
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Old 10-17-2016, 03:04 PM
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The next thing I did was listen to some Audeze headphones.
Not their top tier models, but the ones just below, the LCD-2 and LCD-3 (below).




The LCD-2 with an Audeze headphone amp/DAC (retail 895€) sounded magnificent, but felt a bit heavy on my head.
Bass and detail were incredible.

It all improved even more with the LCD-3, and this amp:




The Burson retails for 2.5K.
Truly wonderful!
Still heavy, but the music sounded delicious: it had detail, warmth, naturalness.
How would their top model be?!
__________________
Stereo: Hegel H590, Grimm Audio MU1, Mola Mola Tambaqui, Burmester 948 - V3 & V6 racks, Vivid Audio G2 Giyas, REL Carbon Special (pair), Silent Angel Bonn N8 Ethernet Switch & Forester F1, Wireworld Platinum Eclipse IC and SE SC, Furutech Digiflux
AV: Hegel C-53, Marantz AV8802A, Oppo BDP-203EU, Pioneer Kuro 60", Vivid Audio C1 & V1w's, Wireworld Platinum Eclipse, SE & E
Second system (veranda): Halgorythme preamp and monoblocks, Burmester 061, Avalon Avatar, Sharkwire & Wireworld cables
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  #3  
Old 10-17-2016, 03:09 PM
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Also in that room: Jadis/Martin Logan.
There was something wrong with that system.
It sound shrill, and unnatural.
Badly tuned I think, because these components can sound very good.

Jadis CD-player, and other electronics:





__________________
Stereo: Hegel H590, Grimm Audio MU1, Mola Mola Tambaqui, Burmester 948 - V3 & V6 racks, Vivid Audio G2 Giyas, REL Carbon Special (pair), Silent Angel Bonn N8 Ethernet Switch & Forester F1, Wireworld Platinum Eclipse IC and SE SC, Furutech Digiflux
AV: Hegel C-53, Marantz AV8802A, Oppo BDP-203EU, Pioneer Kuro 60", Vivid Audio C1 & V1w's, Wireworld Platinum Eclipse, SE & E
Second system (veranda): Halgorythme preamp and monoblocks, Burmester 061, Avalon Avatar, Sharkwire & Wireworld cables
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  #4  
Old 10-17-2016, 03:14 PM
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Up to the B&W room.
Outside I found the newest Zeppelin.
I have the first generation, it plays daily in my practice.




Connecting my iPhone lasted 15 seconds.
I played a couple of songs.
Very worthy successor of the older siblings!
I comes quite close to the Naim Mu-So, but the latter still wins easily, and has more features.
__________________
Stereo: Hegel H590, Grimm Audio MU1, Mola Mola Tambaqui, Burmester 948 - V3 & V6 racks, Vivid Audio G2 Giyas, REL Carbon Special (pair), Silent Angel Bonn N8 Ethernet Switch & Forester F1, Wireworld Platinum Eclipse IC and SE SC, Furutech Digiflux
AV: Hegel C-53, Marantz AV8802A, Oppo BDP-203EU, Pioneer Kuro 60", Vivid Audio C1 & V1w's, Wireworld Platinum Eclipse, SE & E
Second system (veranda): Halgorythme preamp and monoblocks, Burmester 061, Avalon Avatar, Sharkwire & Wireworld cables
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  #5  
Old 10-17-2016, 03:27 PM
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In the large Bowers & Wilkins room itself, the atmosphere was very 'official', stiff even.
Come on guys, this hobby must be fun!
It was very dark, so excuse me for the pics.



We started with a solo piano piece.
Wow!
Great!
Very natural, fluent.
Less hard sounding than the D2 series, like I had experienced already with the series 3 of the 802, 803, 804, and 805.
We continued with some folk, and some audiophile pieces, that could clearly demonstrate the potential of the 800 D3.
I can say now that the 800 really is a step up from the 802.
And that the whole series 3 have succeeded to be better than series 2.

The front end and amps were not too shabby either: Constellation and dCS:








Good room.
B&W is not entirely my cup of tea, but if it is yours, the 800 is their best speaker by far.
__________________
Stereo: Hegel H590, Grimm Audio MU1, Mola Mola Tambaqui, Burmester 948 - V3 & V6 racks, Vivid Audio G2 Giyas, REL Carbon Special (pair), Silent Angel Bonn N8 Ethernet Switch & Forester F1, Wireworld Platinum Eclipse IC and SE SC, Furutech Digiflux
AV: Hegel C-53, Marantz AV8802A, Oppo BDP-203EU, Pioneer Kuro 60", Vivid Audio C1 & V1w's, Wireworld Platinum Eclipse, SE & E
Second system (veranda): Halgorythme preamp and monoblocks, Burmester 061, Avalon Avatar, Sharkwire & Wireworld cables
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  #6  
Old 10-17-2016, 03:32 PM
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Next room: Triangle/Musical Fidelity








If you have read my KEF report from March, you've noticed I was impressed with the NuVista series from Musical Fidelity.
They did an equally good job here: good demo, but the KEF Blade 2s were an even better, albeit more expensive match.
Nevertheless, one of the better rooms.
__________________
Stereo: Hegel H590, Grimm Audio MU1, Mola Mola Tambaqui, Burmester 948 - V3 & V6 racks, Vivid Audio G2 Giyas, REL Carbon Special (pair), Silent Angel Bonn N8 Ethernet Switch & Forester F1, Wireworld Platinum Eclipse IC and SE SC, Furutech Digiflux
AV: Hegel C-53, Marantz AV8802A, Oppo BDP-203EU, Pioneer Kuro 60", Vivid Audio C1 & V1w's, Wireworld Platinum Eclipse, SE & E
Second system (veranda): Halgorythme preamp and monoblocks, Burmester 061, Avalon Avatar, Sharkwire & Wireworld cables
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  #7  
Old 10-17-2016, 03:46 PM
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Bart... thanks for sharing, excellent stuff. I like the Nuvista series, looks very promising indeed.
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  #8  
Old 10-17-2016, 03:47 PM
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Next room: Devialet, with Spendor.




The new Expert Pro delivers 2x1000 Watts into 6 Ohm.




Elegant beauties, and I do not mean the mirroring photographer.






But why did they choose Spendor??!





The sound was warm, yes, very warm.
But it was veiled, muffled, boxy.
Terrible!
I have heard Devialet with other speakers, and know what they're capable of.
This was a complete mismatch.

We ended with the demo of the Phantom Gold.
Some bass heavy pieces.
The tiny white things produced an enormous amount of bass.
The mids and treble were a bit plasticky, but if you want to dance, there is wifi and you have 5K, then you put 2 of these in your room, and you're good to go (Tidal ready).




The room literally rattled!
__________________
Stereo: Hegel H590, Grimm Audio MU1, Mola Mola Tambaqui, Burmester 948 - V3 & V6 racks, Vivid Audio G2 Giyas, REL Carbon Special (pair), Silent Angel Bonn N8 Ethernet Switch & Forester F1, Wireworld Platinum Eclipse IC and SE SC, Furutech Digiflux
AV: Hegel C-53, Marantz AV8802A, Oppo BDP-203EU, Pioneer Kuro 60", Vivid Audio C1 & V1w's, Wireworld Platinum Eclipse, SE & E
Second system (veranda): Halgorythme preamp and monoblocks, Burmester 061, Avalon Avatar, Sharkwire & Wireworld cables
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  #9  
Old 10-17-2016, 04:01 PM
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Next: McIntosh/Sonus Faber!
In a pitch dark room.




I can understand the combination.
The Olympica IIIs were driven with ease by the C52 - 301s.




A lot of other models were glowing.
Static display only.

__________________
Stereo: Hegel H590, Grimm Audio MU1, Mola Mola Tambaqui, Burmester 948 - V3 & V6 racks, Vivid Audio G2 Giyas, REL Carbon Special (pair), Silent Angel Bonn N8 Ethernet Switch & Forester F1, Wireworld Platinum Eclipse IC and SE SC, Furutech Digiflux
AV: Hegel C-53, Marantz AV8802A, Oppo BDP-203EU, Pioneer Kuro 60", Vivid Audio C1 & V1w's, Wireworld Platinum Eclipse, SE & E
Second system (veranda): Halgorythme preamp and monoblocks, Burmester 061, Avalon Avatar, Sharkwire & Wireworld cables
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  #10  
Old 10-17-2016, 04:08 PM
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Next room: Avalon Acoustics/Spectral/dCS/Aurender.




The Aurender fed the Vivaldi DAC which fed the Spectral preamp.
A pair of Avalon Compas produced beautiful music.
Yes, music.
So far I had heard a lot of hifi.
This set made music.
In my top 5 of the show.

__________________
Stereo: Hegel H590, Grimm Audio MU1, Mola Mola Tambaqui, Burmester 948 - V3 & V6 racks, Vivid Audio G2 Giyas, REL Carbon Special (pair), Silent Angel Bonn N8 Ethernet Switch & Forester F1, Wireworld Platinum Eclipse IC and SE SC, Furutech Digiflux
AV: Hegel C-53, Marantz AV8802A, Oppo BDP-203EU, Pioneer Kuro 60", Vivid Audio C1 & V1w's, Wireworld Platinum Eclipse, SE & E
Second system (veranda): Halgorythme preamp and monoblocks, Burmester 061, Avalon Avatar, Sharkwire & Wireworld cables
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