Capital Audiofest 2025 Honorable Mention Award Winners
Notable honorable mention exhibits at CAF 2025.
Capital Audiofest 2025 Show Report By Rick Becker

  "Being recognized for Honorable Mention, as seen below within Rick Becker's  Capital Audiofest 2025 report, is a meaningful recognition of the care, creativity, and technical craft within our high-end audio community," says Enjoy the Music.com's Creative Director Steven R. Rochlin. "This special Honorable Mention affirms that the piece resonated with Rick, and perhaps many listeners and peers in a field where nuance and attention to detail matter. We are all very grateful for Rick's sense of community, the community that made CAF 2025 the best show possible, and I see this honor as both encouragement and a challenge—to keep refining my sound, to push storytelling and sonic design further, and to collaborate with others who inspire growth within our high-end audio community."

"An Honorable Mention is an acknowledgment that fuels our commitment to the future, and reminds me that every piece of audiophile gear, every music album, and every late-night editing... Enjoy the Music.com is your passport to the world's most soundsational experiences, unveiling bold new sonic discoveries that bring the magical experience of music vividly into your life. As always... enjoy the music!."

Rick's Becker's CAF 2025 Honorable Mention
Rick Becker says that trying to select a room for honorable mention among the rooms featuring YG Acoustics would be splitting hairs. They were all noteworthy, and the success of this 3 Series is likely due in a major way to the evolution of their Lattice tweeter that has trickled down from their flagship XV speaker I first heard back in 2016 at GTT Audio. They appeared in five rooms at this year's show. In room 802, the YG speaker appeared to be a Sonja 3.2 in a beautiful blue anodized finish driven by J-M-F Audio amplification from France.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

Just down the hall in room 806 was what looked like a Sonja 3.3 in a black anodized finish sporting dual woofers. Alieno amplification from Italy previously appeared in a High Water Sound presentation where it earned Best Rooms recognition.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

Just a few doors further down in room 811, a YG Summit model from their more affordable Peaks Series was driven by a Burmester modular integrated amp. Burmester received Best Rooms recognition for driving Master Artist Audio speakers this year.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

Down two floors in room 641, Devialet used the YG Carmel 3 to showcase their new Astra all-in-one amplifier. This is a gorgeous-sounding premium speaker suitable for someone who desires a minimalist system.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

In room 315 a YG Acoustics Hailey 3 loudspeaker was paired with Bella Sound amplification and LampizatOr tube DAC, two other products that received Honorable Mentions.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

Klaudio and Prana Fidelity (room 825) came very close to being a Best Room. The Klaudio turntable was very impressive by itself, but it wouldn't have shown so brightly were it not for the Prana Fidelity amplification and loudspeakers.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

The 'junior' model Klaudio turntable was demonstrated in the Jaguar Audio room in 723, which earned Best Room recognition at this show.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

And a floorstander speaker from Prana Fidelity was used in the Elite AV room in 614, where it produced even greater bass response.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

Synergistic Research & Scott Walker Audio (853) is a 'must see' at any show, and here Ted Denney busted out the prototype of his new AI-infused Atmosphere LogiQ, a field effect generator that lets you tune your room to simulate different environments. This could be a huge benchmark product in the evolution of high end audio. The audio system was laden with Synergistic products and featured an Acora speaker in an outstanding stone. 
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

Audience (703) is more commonly known as a manufacturer of cables and power conditioners, but here they premiered a floorstanding speaker as a follow-up to their very highly acclaimed monitor, now in its fifth generation. The music was exceptional, but the speaker holds even greater promise if paired with higher-performance components, including tube amplification for which it is eminently suited, with its internally powered bass driver. Its modest size and elegant presentation make it suitable for fine homes.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

Bill Parish's GTT Audio room (711) took a noticeable improvement this year with the introduction of the new Giya CU series speakers from Vivid Audio. The Giya come in four sizes for different rooms. New amplifiers from Audionet and the new Ovation series cables from Kubala-Sosna helped make this presentation much more engaging than previous years.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

Audio Group Denmark was present in three very fine-sounding rooms, each of which displayed their signature house sound. Next Level HiFi (725) was showing a high-level stereo home audio sound system with stand-mounted monitors was presented here by a major retailer in the Chicago area..
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

Matterhorn, Thuono, and Blink High End (Plaza 1 Ballroom) has a very high end system was presented here with a rare opportunity to hear an Audio Group Denmark system with an analog front end—and a very fine one, at that, from a combination of distributor and retailer in the Boston, MA, area.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

Audio Group Denmark (Eisenhower) showed a very high end system and a more moderately priced one in this very large room.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

Songer Audio's (740) Kenneth Songer put together a very fine system with his own amplifiers and field coil speakers. An Innuos server, LampizatOr DAC, and Black Cat Cables supplemented his fine workmanship.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

AGD Productions' (744) Alberto Guerra had a very fine showing this year with a new stereo power amp driving floorstanding speakers with slate cabinets from Fisher & Fisher of Germany.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

Grimm Audio was present in 11 rooms at Capital Audiofest 2025, mostly with either their MU1 or MU2 streamers. Two rooms exhibited their streamers along with their active speakers, forming a complete system, though I'm oversimplifying here.

The Listening Room (755) combined the LS1c flagship all-in-one speaker with their MU1 streamer for a true minimalist system.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

Dreamscapes AV, Grimm Audio, and Amphion (616) out of Syracuse, NY, presented another variation of a minimalist system with an MU2 music streamer/DAC/preamp and a Grimm active speaker.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

Triangle Art (625) offers a complete system from photo cartridge to speaker and is a perennial stand-out room. A new horn speaker with a different form factor was presented this year. A Triangle Art turntable and amplifiers also played a supporting role in the Perfect8 & Advanced Custom Acoustics Becker/CAF_2025_Show_Report_Part_1/page4.htm Best Room this year.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

Audio Note UK (301) is another perennial favorite that manufactures everything from the phono cartridge to the loudspeakers, all at multiple price points with a very consistent house sound that can be enjoyed for endless hours at a time.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

Command Performance (305) had Joseph Audio speakers driven by Doshi Audio amplification have become a consistent pairing in recent years, always producing fine music. Joseph Audio presented its new Pulsar 2 Graphene stand-mounted monitors.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

Bella Sound (315) with YG Acoustics teamed their amplifiers, power conditioner, and power cables with a LampizatOr DAC and YG speakers. This was my first exposure to Bella Sound, and it made a very favorable impression.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

Command Performance (Democracy room) from Washington (DC), Marten, Gryphon, and J. Sikora put together a very fine system with a J. Sikora turntable, Gryphon amplification, and a Marten speaker.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

American Sound (Regency) had the wonderful Angi Lisi of this Canadian distributor, who took the huge, square Regency room and filled it with product, creating very fine music with the large, active Avantgarde speakers.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

Convergent Audio Technology (Truman) as Ken Stevens used his formidable amplifiers to drive the flagship Acora VRC speakers.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

Bending Wave USA and Emm Labs (Jackson) featured the huge Goebel speakers were completely controlled by the Emm Labs amplification, including a phono stage to handle the flagship DS Audio optical cartridge on a Clearaudio turntable. This room pulsated with music.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

House of Stereo (Montgomery) had the Silent Pound speaker driven by Acoustic Arts amplification was the stand-out presentation (among three) with a very holographic soundstage.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

Distinctive Stereo (Frederick) Genesis, Design Build Listen TT, and Heed had their larger system within this room, with a Genesis speaker driven by their prototype Class D amplifier and a Design Build Listen turntable with a superb phono cartridge, was the one to hear.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

LampizatOr DACs were seen in many rooms at the show. Three prominent rooms were:

Gershman Acoustics in this Best Room, LampizatOr showed their new flagship DAC, the Aphrodite, and its Gulfstream music server.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

Convergent Audio Technology: Ken Stevens utilized a LampizatOr Atlantic DAC, one of their mid-range models.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

In the VAC and Acora Acoustics Best Room, a LampizatOr Genya was used. This DAC is a limited edition, basic, no frills model with trickle-down technology from the Horizon model above it.
See their CAF 2025 coverage here.

That's A Wrap
Feeling somewhat like a Best of Show judge at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, I'll clap my hands and be done with it, knowing full well there were plenty of rooms that deserved more recognition than they received in my room-by-room coverage in Parts 1 & 2. In particular, my successful avoidance of streaming, so far, has given short shrift to those front end components.

Hopefully, you've found something of interest or value in this show report that will lead you to more fully enjoy your music in these challenging times. See you next year at the Montreal Audiofest in March. As always... enjoy the music!

---> Capital Audiofest 2025 Blue Note Award Winners.

---> Back to our Capital Audiofest 2025 report homepage.