AXPONA 2019 Sights And Sounds

April 28th, 2019
By: Carlin "Rick" Smith

The AXPONA 2019 show has come to end. I was there only Friday this year due to a death in family so had to work quickly through the ever expanding venue.  Below are some pictures and there are many others out there from various sources.

First some general thoughts.

AXPONA was in its new location about ten miles further north at Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel and Convention Center for the 2nd year.  I personally love the new venue as the majority of listening rooms were around an open atrium meaning the rooms were only on one side of the floor which helped greatly with people traffic flow. The areas for the marketplace were larger and having parking right at the venue for free was a nice addition.

Not surprisingly given the recent public launch of Qobuz in North America you found it in streaming most rooms but still plenty of TIDAL particularly for MQA content.  For those who prefer their content without streaming there was plenty of vinyl, CD, and other high-res content on music servers in higher end rooms.

Chord Electronics with Raidho Speakers

Scansonic HD Speakers

Wilson Audio and Audio Research Electronics

Nordost Room with Odin 2 cabling, VTL, dCS, and VPI electronics, and Stenheim Speakers

Monitor Audio Speakers and Roksan Electronics

Plenty of CH Precision Electronics

MSB Reference DAC and Magico Speakers (no award for cable management here - geez)

Mark Levinson Electronics and Revel Speakers

Classe Delta Series Monoblocks plus Magico S5 MKII Speakers - sounded really nice

Moon Electronics Galore

Dan D’Agostino Relentess Monoblocks - really the picture doesn't do justice to just how massive these are

Very Large Rooms By Expo Area (25' Ceilings Perhaps)

Jeff Rowland Gear

Joseph Audio Updated Perspective 2 Speakers with Graphene, Jeff Rowland and Aurender Electronics.  Jeff makes some great speakers

Lumin Music Servers

McIntosh Gear in several rooms

My buddy checking out Woo Audio Headphones and Amplifiers - great stuff

Raidho Bookshelf Speakers

Very interesting wireless distribution system

dCS and Wilson Audio

Burmester Room

Parasound Room Modestly Equipped But Sounded Very Good

New Aurender A30 Streamer, Server, Ripper Flagship - really hope this display makes it into future N10, W20 models

PS Audio Room with new speakers yet to be released - read Paul's Blog for more info on design (Saw Ted in the hall the software master of their DAC)

Cary Audio Electronics

Dynaudio Speakers plus Aurender and dCS Bartok

MSB Technology Select DAC Fully Equipped plus Magico Speakers.  This system sounded amazing.

Gryphon Speakers