The Magico roon/system was the only one outside of the Wadax room, to enjoy the benefits of the three-box Studio stack – something it took full advantage of. With the brand’s customary attention to infrastructure – they used a Telos Audio, two-box, Monster Power Supply Tai-Chi Edition and Grounding Monster, Artesania racks throughout and Vyda Labs cables from Italy – this was very much a system that made the most of its considerable constituent parts. Along with the three-box Studio stack, they used Wadax Reference or Antipodes Oladra servers and a Pilium Ares/Achilles pre/power pairing, all feeding the S2 loudspeakers, a snip at $34,000. This was one of the most stable and enjoyable sounding systems at the show, consistently excellent across a range of material and musical genres. With plenty of body, presence and colour, it also offered dramatic dynamic contrasts, transparency, focus, instrumental attack and plenty of headroom, adding up to an expressive and engaging performance. Once again, the low-noise floor, dynamic grip, focus and transparency, together with the overall sense of musical organisation and pattern underlined just what a decent line-stage brings to a system. This system was all about uncluttered musical clarity, firmly concentrating on what it could do to the extent that you simply didn’t bother about what it couldn’t.
Rockport Lynx, with Absolare and the Wadax Studio Player
The Rockport room hit a new high this year, running the Lynx speakers with an Absolare pre/power and Wadax Studio Player. The simple set up and attention to detail certainly paid off, with Seismion platforms under all of the electronic components, a full Reiki Audio (Super Switch, Optical Bridge, RakuStream and the new JundoStream cables) network set-up and a Telos Monster Power Station tucked away out of sight to provide clean AC power. The Absolare Eternum two-box line-stage and Hybrid 2 stereo amplifier combination drove the Lynx beautifully, while once again underlining just how much extra a good line-stage draws from the Wadax Studio Player (and once again has us questioning why the company persists in demonstrating the unit directly connected to a power amp).
The resulting sound was fluid and agile, with the body, presence and colour we so often find with the Rockport speakers. Wide open, big on scale and utterly unforced, this was one of the few systems in the show that accurately scaled the dynamic contrasts on the Uchida/ Beethoven 4th Piano Concerto recording we listened to in many rooms. It also captured the perfect left/right hand balance and weighting in what is a delicate but deeply affecting performance. Streaming performance was also musically coherent and almost equally fluid, with colour, contrast and dynamics emerging from the low-noise background delivered by the Reiki network. This was a great showing for Rockport. It would have been even better if operator error hadn’t destroyed the Lyra speakers in another room!
Kroma Callas, with Enstrom amplifiers, the Wadax Studio Player and TechDAS Airforce V
