The Best-Sounding FIAE To Date!
Florida International Audio Expo 2024 high-performance audio show coverage.
SWAF 2024 Show Report By Maurice Jeffries

  On the same floor, Massachusetts-based M101 Hi-Fi Audio Cables paired a gorgeous wire loom, the connectors feeding the MolaMola Makua preamp with onboard DAC ($23,400 – my previous reference) and a pair of AGD Grand Vivace mono power amps ($18,999 the pair), these, in turn, feeding a lovely brace of Paradigm Persona 3F tower speakers ($12K the pair in gloss white) to great effect. My notes highlighted fine frequency extension, very good coherence, and very good - if not great - scaling.

Celebrated Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira's rendition of Keith Jarrett's lovely So Tender sounded beautifully of a piece over this surprisingly natural system. Fans of the jazz fusion group Return to Forever should be familiar with Moreira's substantial catalog of recordings, both as leader and sideman. On this outing, the vital midrange over the M101 reference system came across as perhaps a touch recessed (especially on Cassandra Wilson's graceful rendition of Neil Young's Harvest Moon), but achingly beautiful and moving despite the subtle midrange colorations. The Grimm Audio MU1 Media Player ($12,500) powering the MolaMola Preamplifier / Hi-Res DAC combo sounded utterly fantastic.

M101's novel 3D printing techniques and unique matrix of intricately configured spiral wires, all held in place by 3D-printed supporting components, impressed me immensely, just as they have done in years past. M101's cable pricing runs the gamut: Nova Power Cable ($2,000 for a run up to 2m/$400 each additional meter); Nova XLR interconnect cable ($2,000 per meter pair); Nova RCA cable ($1,600 per meter pair); Supernova Power Cable ($5,2,00 for a run up to 2m/$2,600 each additional meter); Supernova XLR and RCA interconnect cables ($8,000 per meter pair); Supernova speaker cables ($8,000 per meter pair; $12,800 per 2-meter run).

Down on the 7th (more of my bouncing around along the back stairways), The Doshi Audio/Joseph Audio room mesmerized (as always) with outsized doses of musical authority and ease. Tube amp guru Nick Doshi served 14 terabytes worth of ripped tunes over a swell little system big on resolution, naturalness, focus, and coherence, all Doshi and Joseph trademarks. A Doshi Evolution Line Stage skillfully fed an Aurender server/Berkley Audio Design DAC-contoured signal to the new Evolution Stereo Power Amplifier (65 Wpc), a cute little tube number that delivered full-blooded sound, oodles of air and bloom, and considerable slam for a modestly powered unit. The Evolution Stereo employed EL34 output tubes (these run quite conservatively) and only two active gain stages to deliver a remarkable degree of sonic purity and musical engagement.

A Dave Holland and Pepe Habichuela track filled the smallish exhibit room with big sounds, the compact Joseph Audio Perspective2 Graphene towers (approximately $17K the pair) and Doshi amp (approximately $19K) serving up sonic thrills far above their middleweight size and price classifications. By the same token, Kari Bremnes' sensuous Nordic voice soared gossamer-like over a cushion of air and icy clear water, gifting a standout performance that delivered - paradoxically I might add - both glass-like transparency and real musical warmth. Fine imaging along with good depth layering and scale rounded out a first-rate sonic portfolio. This room offered some of the best sounds at the show, hands down, making it an easy BOS contender.

Back on the 11th floor, the Margules Audio Group team (Margules is a Mexico-based firm of long-standing) put together something truly special. A Margules all-tube front end featuring the stellar SF-220 30th preamp ($8,000) and U-280SC 30th Anniversary Ltd power amp ($12,000), these driving the high-efficiency Margules Orpheo Century Overture speakers (approximately $19K the pair) generated real electricity. Full-bodied, finely filigreed, and generating stomach-churning dynamics, a big band rendition of The Pink Panther growled like an uncaged beast in the wild. The firm's use of active servo biasing with its amps and constrained layer damping with its speaker cabinets resulted in a sound of impressive momentum, impact, and most importantly, musical finesse.

Air and ambiance to die for with stellar imaging and staging my notes chimed, this after my hearing a bracing rendition of Hijo de La Luna by Montserrat Caballe. The ribbon tweeter soared effortlessly to the heavens, wed to an articulate mid-bass, and real sense of musical scale. A Best Of Show contender, no doubt. Readers unfamiliar with the Margules line should seek out this storied brand. Manufactured in Mexico for over 90 years (but distributed domestically from Las Vegas – a free trade carry-over from the old NAFTA framework agreement I'm guessing), Margules ranks amongst the longest-running high-end firms in both the Old and New Worlds.

On the 10th floor, the smallish Playback distribution (Pd) room featured tiny but big-hearted Vienna Acoustics Haydn bookshelf speakers ($3,495 the pair) powered by an Advance Paris (a French firm new to me) A10 integrated amplifier ($2,499), an Advance Paris WTX Streamtubes Network Player / Stream at a fetching $599. A Quadraspire EVO Audio Rack did the heavy system lifting. The Advance Paris integrated-powered system sounded swell, albeit with the expected reduction in scale and bass impact given the Haydn mini's small dimensions. The Advance Paris firm utilizes hybrid tube-solid-state circuitry in many of its models, much like the German Vincent Audio brand. Like their German cousins, Advance Paris offers its gear at sane prices and throws in lovely build quality to boot.

I couldn't believe how big and focused the tiny Haydn's and AP amp sounded on a variety of jazz and pop selections. Pd company head Rob Standley (the outfit is based in Indianapolis) shared that the firm distributes eight audio brands including Vienna Acoustics and the (new to me) France-based Advance Paris Audio gear. The AP gear offers great value for the money.

Also on the 10th, in fact just down the hall from my room, the Pd folks teamed up with the delightful reps from British transmission line speaker specialist PMC to deliver a fine-sounding exhibit. The roughly $14k PMC twenty5 26i floor standers sounded smooth, composed, and lovely on an unknown singer's version of Stevie Wonder's 1977 classic Isn't She Lovely. The three-way PMC speakers delivered impressive bass weight and detail on a drum test track, all from a 6.5" transmission loaded woofer. A dedicated soft-dome 2" midrange unit, paired to a 0.75" soft-dome tweeter rounded out the package. The fit and finish of the British speakers were simply lovely, every inch of the twenty5 26i's oozing what seemed bespoke quality.

The system gave a very detailed presentation overall with fine imaging and staging. The setup offered tremendous value for music lovers willing to move from the living room to landing-level pricing, especially those listeners consigned to relatively small spaces. My ears told me that the PMC speakers played cleanly down to the mid-30Hz range, perhaps a touch lower. This was an excellent exhibit for the Pd and PMC teams.

Like the Vienna Acoustics / Haydn-fronted room described above, the Pd / PMC suite also employed Advance Paris electronics. In this room, AP separates, not integrated, did the heavy lifting, the AP X700 Preamp ($1,999) and X-A160 EVO Stereo Amp fed by a trio of TEAC front-end components, the NT-505 -X USB DAC / Network Player ($2,249), TEAC's TN-5BB Turntable ($1,799.99), and the PE-505 Phono Preamp ($2,099.99). A Quadraspire SVT rack smartly housed this affordable assortment of great-sounding gear (the Quadraspire units are priced according to specific rack and shelving configurations).

In yet another glorious Pd room, this also on the 10th, the canny and sensitive pairing of Vienna Acoustic's reference Liszt speakers (these finished in a gorgeous rosewood veneer and priced at $21,995 the pair) and a lovely suite of Esoteric electronics sounded superb playing an RCA CD (plain old 16-bit/44kHz Red Book) release of Argentine cellist Sol Gabetta literally owning Dvorak's gripping Cello Concerto. The big VAs utterly disappeared in the mid-sized exhibit room. The speakers, at least to my ears, came across as perhaps a bit soft up top, but clean, engaging, and quite linear otherwise - and oh-so musical. Once again, Quadraspire's SVT Audio Rack smartly housed the Esoteric gear ($ depending on shelving configuration).

In an interesting design twist, VA houses the Liszt's coincident soft-dome tweeter/flat midrange driver in a separate enclosure, with bass duties handled by a trio of the firm's custom composite cone low-frequency units, these are placed into their own heavily braced sub-enclosure.

The front-end electronics included the Esoteric Grandioso C1X preamp with outboard power supply ($46,000), the Esoteric N-01XD SE Network DAC ($22,000), Esoteric Grandioso K-1X SE SACD Player ($38,000), and Esoteric Grandioso S1X Stereo Amplifier ($32,000). For the well-heeled music lover, this system offered stellar sound, pride of ownership bragging rights, and an assortment of some of the most beautiful-looking gear I've ever seen. Wow!

As an aside, I should note that I've heard Esoteric digital gear plenty of times in the big Audio Company mega-rooms (typically paired with Von Schweikert speakers, Kronos turntables and arms, and VAC amps), but not the Esoteric power amplifiers. What a shame since the firm's amplifiers (at least based on this showing) sound every bit as natural and engaging as the firm's outstanding digital gear.

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