Inside CAF 2025 Luxury Hi-Fi Show Part 2 — Capital Audiofest's Large Exhibit Rooms And Lobby Displays
Fresh trends, the hottest audio equipment, and rooms everyone's talking about.
Capital Audiofest 2025 Show Report By Rick Becker

Matterhorn & Blink High End
Matterhorn & Blink High End swung to the more affluent end of the spectrum with electronics from Linn, including Solo 500 amplifiers ($32,380 each) and the Klimax DSM Organik ($48,230). The stands were from Audio Group Denmark. The power filtration and distribution were accomplished with the Ansuz gear on the floor beneath the racks.

On the second shelf was a Creek Audio 4040A or 4040CD player ($1580), which they featured periodically to accommodate requests from visitors. It really speeds up the process versus trying to find a specific recording via streaming. Enjoy the Music.com fans know this is a very thoughtful option that others should consider. I can hand a CD to a host a lot faster than they can find it online... if it's even there.

Heard, but not very visible, was the American premiere of HiDiamond Top-Gold cables.

The very helpful and knowledgeable FinkTeam presented the American debut of the Borg Episode 2 speaker ($37,950) from Germany. The Borg has received a lot of attention in recent years.

In the back corner, from PSA Audio, was an AVAA bass trap (~$3k) that is said to be more efficient than other, much larger traps. It was likely effective, as the bass was tight and well controlled, without boom.

Later, in the large Plaza 1 room, Matterhorn and Blink High End presented a premium system from Audio Group Denmark featuring an analog front end—a rare listening opportunity.

Bella Sound And LampizatOr Tube DAC
It's pretty common to be attracted to the speakers when entering rooms at shows, and this room was no exception, with the YG Acoustics Hailey 3 ($63,400) sounding very fine.

I pressed on to investigate the rack and still didn't notice the amplifiers from the host of the room.

I was easily drawn to the LampizatOr DAC, as I use their entry-level Amber DAC in my system (reviewed here). This one appeared to be a version of their Atlantic models, though it is difficult to know which one because they are all handmade and can vary with the choice of chassis material, adjustable gain, and tube selection. The commonality is their exceptional sound quality. I believe the DAC, with adjustable gain, was used without a preamplifier.

Below the DAC was an Innuos streamer, followed by a Bella Sound stereo amp and a Bella Sound power conditioner. Bella Sound also provided their Kaula-2 AC power cords.

The Bella Sound gear from California all featured milled aluminum chassis with domed tops and heavy polished stainless steel shielding cover, with their preamp incorporating a Faraday Cage. Surprisingly, because the finish was so fine, the front plates are made of thick, hard-rock maple. It delivers 200Wpc @ 8 Ohms and 400Wpc @ 4 Ohms, indicating a very well-designed amplifier.

A reflection of the back of the amp reveals the single-ended and balanced (barely) inputs. The Preamp is also fully balanced. This was an impressive-looking new line that we will likely be hearing more about in the near future. It sounded very promising. Be sure to read Enjoy the Music.com's exclusive Bella Sound Hanalei monoblock amplifier review.

Border Patrol
Border Patrol is the importer of Living Voice loudspeakers from the UK, in addition to making amps and a DAC. Shown here was the R80 OBX speaker with outboard crossover and high gloss finish that gives it a world-class look. Prices range from $51,250 with an inboard power supply and standard finish to $65k as shown.

Triode Wire Labs provided the cables here, which seemed to be a good value, based on the very fine sound quality of the room.

I'm not sure how you control the volume on this rig, which uses an Innuos digital Hi-Res Audio streaming front end, the new Border Patrol ZOLA DAC, and Border Patrol S20EXD stereo amp with parallel 300B tubes, putting out 16 Wpc ($22.5k, depending on tube selection). The knob on the DAC was for selecting the input.

Border Patrol wants Enjoy the Music.com to know, like their previous DAC, the ZOLA is a non-oversampling, no digital filtering DAC which uses Analog Devices AD1865 chips that are prized for their analog-like sound. Separate power supplies featuring tube rectification feed the digital and analog sections. Via USB, it will handle files up to 32-bit/384kHz, and via coax up to 24-bit/192kHz. TosLink is limited to 24-bit/96kHz. I liked the light on the faceplate to remind me when the DAC is on. The price ranges from $3950. This should be a very nice upgrade to their previous DAC.

It's nice to see something other than Russian tubes.

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