AXPONA 2025 Ear Candy, Sonic Magic, And Audiophile Bliss
Music Professor Michael Bump's special Best Of AXPONA 2025 Blue Note Awards
AXPONA 2025 High-End Audio Show Report By Dr. Michael Bump

Euphoria Room   Valve Amplification Company, Esoteric, Aurender, Cardas Audio, And Acora Acoustics
The high art of refined audio listening is defined subjectively by each individual. That is our right. There are few common denominators when prioritizing evaluative criteria when engaged in critical listening of recorded music. However, one of these criteria remains consistent and adhered to by Enjoy the Music.com, and that is authenticity. What brings you to the ‘dance,' or in this case, the musical performance. We all can acknowledge there are a multitude of primary and secondary acoustic, as well as psychoacoustic factors synthesized into the experience of listening, just as there are while performing.

In my experience as both a professional musician and audiophile, capturing these factors in their moment of truth and reproducing them authentically is an accomplishment few artisan engineers of fine playback instruments have succeeded in.

Thankfully, two of the most respected and accomplished professionals in this art once again joined forces in the Euphoria Room for this year's AXPONA. Val Cora of Acora Acoustics and Kevin Hayes of VAC have been making music together for a few years now at most of our major international audio shows, having found that ideal amalgam together in achieving sonic authenticity in recorded music. Add to the occasion SAT's designer, Marc Gomez, for a marvelous analog source in the XD1 turntable.

Two reference systems were assembled in one room to display these achievements, though I only listened to one. System 1 (primary) consisted of the Acora Acoustics VRC Tempest Quartz ($318,00 / pr), Acora Acoustics VRC Standard ($218,000 / pr) with Tempest Quartz being a true sculpture of art, driven by a power plant of VAC Statement series instruments (Phono, Line stages at $82,000 ea), and the world debut of the 455 iQ monoblock amplifiers ($82,000). This was again one of those AXPONA listening opportunities I happily relinquished copious amounts of time, as every listening example seemed to reveal previously undiscovered information.

In a word (two words!), Enjoy the Music.com longtime fans should know the presentation was as enveloping and tactile as the immersive recorded music occasion itself. Almost frighteningly realistic, I found myself transported in time to embrace a 'live' performance with all the senses.

A rare treat indeed!

Kudos to these seasoned audio artisans for their continued success in creating the ultimate audio mirage. The VAC / Acora Acoustics synthesis represents the stuff of audio dreams, and so it continues this year and earns Enjoy the Music.com's Best Of AXPONA 2025 Blue Note Award.

Kevin Hayes of VAC and Dr. Michael Bump of Enjoy the Music.com

Acora Acoustics VRC Standard loudspeaker - $218,000 pr

Acora Acoustics VRC Tempest Quartz - $318,000 pr

SAT XD1 turntable - $238,500

SAT CF1-09 pickup arm - $71,100

Lyra Atlas Lambda phono cartridge - $13,195

Esoteric N-01XD Streamer / Render Hi-Res Audio DAC - $20,000

Aurender N30 SA Streamer Renderer storage - $25,000

VAC Statement 455 iQ monoblock amplifiers - $82,000 NEW

VAC Statement Line Stage preamplifier - $82,000

VAC Statement Phono Stage - $82,000

Cardas Audio Clear Beyond Cables

Cardas Audio Nautilus power bar

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