Capital AudioFest 2024

West Seneca, New York’s Vinyl Sound Hi-Fi Audio Systems assembled an unusual rig of German analog gear, Japanese electronics, and classic Scottish loudspeakers. Is this the United Nations of hi-fi?

Gramophone Dreams’ columnist Herb Reichert has written glowing amplifier reviews of Elekit of Fukuoka, Japan, and Sun Valley, of Nagoya, Japan, both distributed by Victor Kung’s VK Music.

At CAF2024 Victor showcased many amplifiers at his CAF booth, most boasting fat tubes and open circuit boards, the kind of which activates my reviewer’s twitch.

Voxativ's Inés Adler and Christopher Owens are never caught dead empty-handed at shows. This puts me in a state of expectant glee, as their sound, regardless of genre, always resolves itself into something joyful. Even my neurotic hotel-hall dashes, pad and pen in hand, are washed away in Voxativ’s sonic tide.

We've still got a few more posts to go from last month's Capital Audiofest, here's the first of the final batch:

I ain't no digital techie. Big headphones and me? Never gonna happen. But these guys from Warwick Acoustics, Martin Roberts and Orazio Pollaci, they've got a certain je ne sais quoi. We were knocking back drinks in the packed Hilton bar, and they were so damn charming, I ended up in their room. What a night. What a blast.

Mark Sossa, the best-dressed and best-mannered exhibitor at CAF 2024, under the banner of Well Pleased AV, had new gear to play for me and I was all ears.