Jason Victor Serinus

Dynaudio, Octave, Moon, Grimm, Brinkmann, and Torus
AXPONA 2024
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Apr 30, 2024  |  0 comments
It was great to hear monoblocks I'd just reviewed—the new, German-made Octave MRE 220 SE mono amplifiers ($28,500/pair) with their Super Black Box PSU upgrade modules ($7000/pair)—in the context of a different system.
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Artisan Fidelity’s TIDAL room with Garrard, Schroeder, VDH, and Signal Projects
AXPONA 2024
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Apr 29, 2024  |  1 comments
TIDAL made a fine showing in the room sponsored by one of its three US dealers, Christopher Thornton’s Artisan Fidelity. Totally drug-free I swear, I melted into the exceptional smoothness and beauty of “The Girl from Ipanema” on vinyl.
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Synergistic Research, Estelon, Ideon, and JMF
AXPONA 2024
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Apr 29, 2024  |  1 comments
Off by itself near Expo Hall, the Journey/Creation rooms sponsored by Scott Walker Audio and Synergistic Research utilized so many Synergistic Research products—eight models of cables, seven for power conditioning (including fuses), six acoustic room treatment thingees, four racks, three grounding devices—that I was tempted to adapt the product list into lyrics for an audiophile Christmas carol.
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More from the AXISS Audio Team: Gauder Akustik, Soulution, Transrotor, Nihon Onkyo Engineering, and Beaudioful
AXPONA 2024
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Apr 26, 2024  |  0 comments
When “What a beautiful midrange!” is the first phrase that floats through your brain as you settle down to listen to a hitherto unknown system, you can be pretty certain you’re in for a rewarding time.
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Kyomi Audio, MBL, and Wireworld Meet Expectations of Excellence
AXPONA 2024
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Apr 26, 2024  |  0 comments
It’s become a virtual axiom of show reports: With Jeremy Bryan doing set-up, MBL invariably sounds excellent. In the sweet spot—MBL speakers definitely have one, and it’s not very wide—sound was ideally focused, warm, and pleasing.
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Margules, Scansonic, Raidho, Viablue & RSX, and Tönnen Acoustic Do It Right
AXPONA 2024
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Apr 25, 2024  |  0 comments
Bruce Ball’s AV Luxury Group, with a little help from his other distribution company, Ball Audio Distribution and System Solution (which forms what may be the world's best acronym), and Dantax Radio set up two systems headlined by Margules electronics.
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AXISS impresses with Gauder Akustik, Soulution, Innuos, Accuphase, Transrotor w. DS Audio, and more
AXPONA 2024
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Apr 24, 2024  |  0 comments
The all-out AXPONA push by AXISS Audio of Nashville, now headed by Cliff Duffey, encompassed four rooms. The biggest presented three new headliners: Gauder Akustik’s DARC 25-0 Mk II 4-way Reference Loudspeaker ($249,975), Soulution’s 727 preamp with phono module ($89,950; review forthcoming), and Soulution’s 757 deemphasis EQ preamplifier phonostage ($84,975).
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Recording of May 2024: Britten: Violin Concerto, Chamber Works
Recording of the Month
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Apr 19, 2024  |  3 comments
Benjamin Britten: Violin Concerto, Chamber Works
Isabelle Faust, violin; Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Jakub Hrůša, cond.; Boris Faust, viola; Alexander Melnikov, piano
Harmonia Mundi HMM902668 (CD, reviewed as 24/96). 2024. Sebastian Braun, Julian Schwenker, prods.; Schwenker, Klemens Kamp, engs.
Performance *****
Sonics ****

I sat mesmerized when I first encountered a recording of Benjamin Britten's early Violin Concerto from 1939 (revised in 1958) at an audio show exhibit sponsored by High End by Oz. Ever since I heard those portions of Linus Roth's superbly recorded SACD for Channel Classics, I've longed for a version that would move beyond its strange harmonies and dissonances to reveal all facets of this communicative yet enigmatic work. Isabelle Faust rarely shies away from music conducive to deep thought and feeling; recently she has recorded works by Berg, Schoenberg, Bartók, and Stravinsky. Her hair-raising, emotionally wrought rendition of the Britten concerto, with Jakub Hrůša conducting the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra for Harmonia Mundi, reveals depths and nuances that competing versions only hint at.

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AirTight, Reed, and Franco Serblin Make Joyful Music
AXPONA 2024
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Apr 15, 2024  |  First Published: Apr 13, 2024  |  0 comments
What better way to start the first day of an audio show than with some light joyful music? In this case, it was with a 1974 LP, Heinz Holliger: Famous Oboe Concertos, on which the famous oboist joined players of the Dresden State Orchestra under Vittorio Negri for, among other works, Leclair’s Concerto in C for Oboe, Strings, and Continuo, Op. 7. In the first movement, the lively presentation complemented equally lively music, which cheerily zipped along.

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Estelon, Crystal Cable, and Vitus Audio Knock our Socks Off
AXPONA 2024
Jason Victor Serinus  |  Apr 12, 2024  |  First Published: Apr 11, 2024  |  2 comments
Distributor Aldo Filippeli of the Luxury Audio Group sure knows how to get the press’s attention. Schedule a room in the Convention Center that he can set up beforehand, invite the press to hour-long sessions before the show begins, and ensure that we come away fulfilled. When Alexander Vitus Mogensen, CEO of Vitus Audio, quipped, “This is the best sounding room at the show right now!” he was telling the truth. In all honesty, if it doesn’t turn out to be one of the top five best sounding rooms at AXPONA 2024, if not the best, I’ll be surprised.
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