Fest '10 Thoughts

[Still-One]

I received an e-mail from a local dealer noting he would be showing some top end Esoteric gear along with Avid speakers at this years Fest. I had forgotten about the event since it has been about a year since I have visited that place after they removed privileges for many of us.

Well Frank (Vettedrummer) in his McIntosh shirt and I (in my AudioAficionado wear) walked thru the event in about 2 hours this morning. Here are a few thoughts.
-A nice sounding very simple system. Audio Research integrated DSi200, CD5 player and a PPP driving Magnepan 1.7's. I think many of us could live with this system.
-Salk speakers driven by VanAlstine gear seemed to be well received.
-Wadia has updated their 7 series to a S7i. They have eliminated the 581 from there line. I will be stopping at my dealer to try and find out more about this unit.
-Chuck Hinton was showing someone just how much sound you could get out of the MXA60 tabletop unit.
-Ryan from Audio Classics and Frank did some catching up.
-There was some rally nice "looking" Chinese gear in the Grant Audio room.
-Frank may not agree but the best sound I heard was probably in the Vivid room. He was using a CAT tube amp and pre with a Brinkman table as an analog source and the top of the line Esoteric P01-VU Transport , a D-03 DAC, a G03X clock for digital. He also had the new D-07 but I did not get to hear that.
-Lots of forgettable homemade speakers.

Two hours was more than enough for me. Looking forward to RMAF.