Part 4 — Lower Level, Left (St. Laurent & Outremont Rooms) At The Montreal Audiofest 2026 Show
A deep dive into the Montreal Audiofest 2026, featuring early-morning impressions, high-end audio's latest innovations, audiophile solutions, and standout demonstrations.
Montreal Audiofest Show Report By Rick Becker

W3  Kevro International
Kevro had an attractive display with very good sound coming from the products they distribute.

I've been a big fan of the recent generation of Monitor speakers, feeling the upper levels represent excellent value. I was surprised to learn these silver beauties were from the top Platinum series. I'm particularly fond of their gloss wood finishes, and I was unaware these were available in silver.

Michi is the higher brand from Rotel, and it seems to be gaining more acceptance as time goes on.

A variety of their lower speaker series were on display in the hall.

The Rotel DX-3 headphone amp in black ($2249) and the DX-5 integrated amp at the same price were nicely designed and compact.

Turning around, I encountered Jeffrey Smith of Silversmith Audio in Wyoming, whose Fi Fidelium speaker cables have an excellent reputation, and were heard earlier in his room along with his new interconnects that are now in production. Jeffrey is a retired U.S. Navy veteran, and living life filled with bicycling adventures. We had a nice chat about his experience climbing Denali in Alaska in 2019, accompanied by a bunch of younger, more experienced climbers. We share a love of cycling out west, but I am well past my prime. And I discovered mountain climbing too late in life to tackle anything higher than the 14ers in Colorado. Still, it's nice to know a younger generation is putting those peaks and roads to good use.

W4  Nordost
Nordost teamed up with the retailer LaLiberte, whose other rooms were heard upstairs in the 1200 hallway in Part 1. Sonus Faber is a common partner with McIntosh electronics, and this was a good-sounding room.

This was the Sonus Faber Olympica Nova III ($26k)

The McIntosh gear included a C55 preamp with built-in DAC with a full spectrum of digital inputs, as well as an MM/MC phono stage and subwoofer output ($15k). The stereo power amp was the MC462 putting out 450 Wpc into 4 or 8 Ohms ($16.5k). An MCD350 CD/SACD player with DAC, and both XLR and RCA outputs was $10k. A Nordost Qkore, power distribution Base unit (both on Sort Kone footers), and cables were all employed. I didn't catch the streamer that was being used.

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