Montreal Audio Fest 2022

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Robert Schryer  |  Mar 31, 2022  |  21 comments

This year's annual audio-industry cocktail/supper ceremony was held in a ballroom-like room that gave the proceedings a bit of an Oscar-night flair. (Our invitation to Will Smith was rescinded in light of current events.)

Robert Schryer  |  Mar 31, 2022  |  4 comments

GO, KLH! The brand has become one of my coup de coeurs—which loosely translates as "darlings of the heart"—based on the two models I've heard at the show, the Model 3 in the Le Studio du Son room and now the Model 5 ($3750 w/stands) in this room.

Robert Schryer  |  Mar 30, 2022  |  0 comments

When I first saw the big black banner on the wall in importer/distributor Asona's room, which was, despite the chronological order of my postings, actually one of the first rooms I'd visited at the show, inscribed in big bold letters with Innuos across it, I thought: "Hey, Innuos, isn't that the company that makes streaming products?

Robert Schryer  |  Mar 30, 2022  |  0 comments

I seem to hear and read less about electrostatic speakers than I used to.

Robert Schryer  |  Mar 30, 2022  |  6 comments

Montreal retailer Studio du Son's room was a blast from the past, complete with peace-sign door beads, a 50s-style wood-framed Black & White TV—okay, technically it was a blast from at least two different pasts—vintage photos of old-school rock stars, and a fat-knobbed radio and record player console. Oh, and KLH speakers.

Robert Schryer  |  Mar 29, 2022  |  1 comments

You want sound that's narcotically intimate? Seductively expressive? Molecularly textured?

Robert Schryer  |  Mar 29, 2022  |  2 comments

I never really got the sound of Klipsch speakers at past shows, but I did this time, in a big way, in the Capital Sound room, where the Klipsch La Scala III ($17,500) was making seductive, sophisticated music.

Robert Schryer  |  Mar 28, 2022  |  7 comments

Maybe the earth-toned, smoke-spewing phallus standing in the back of the room had something to do with it.

Robert Schryer  |  Mar 28, 2022  |  1 comments

You want magic? I'll give you magic. It won't cost you your soul, but it may touch it.

Robert Schryer  |  Mar 28, 2022  |  0 comments

The Music First room was playing some tasty music with eye-popping gear, including the Hungarian-made Bayz Audio Courante loudspeakers ($60,000/pair US with carbon fibre construction), a unique, patented, omnidirectional design.

Robert Schryer  |  Mar 28, 2022  |  10 comments

I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that every single audiophile, in that moment when they heard the news that PS Audio was coming out with a loudspeaker—not just any speaker, but a statement product—felt a combination of incredulity and curiosity,

Robert Schryer  |  Mar 28, 2022  |  9 comments

I like how Yamaha, a brand not known for audiophile products, has, in the last few years or so, been making audiophile products. I find it flattering, in a Sally Field kind of way: "You care, Yamaha. You really care."

Robert Schryer  |  Mar 27, 2022  |  0 comments

The Lemay Audio room comes with a sweet story and a giant killer.

Robert Schryer  |  Mar 27, 2022  |  1 comments

Rooms by distributor Motet always sound great, and this room, belonging to Motet and retailer Audio Présence, was no exception.

Robert Schryer  |  Mar 27, 2022  |  0 comments

I was surprised by the sound quality I heard in the Nation Imports room. Here was a relatively compact system that cost quite a bit less than most systems I heard at the show—yet not only did it hold its own against more expensive fare, in some areas, such as imaging, definition, and the portrayal of female vocals, it beat it.

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