Guangzhou Hi End Show (AV Fair), Part II (of V)
Editor: 1) As the show was big, this shall be a multi-part effort; 2) If you haven't, I'd urge you to first read Part I for Basic Info.
Note: Since this is going to have many parts, I have given it a new tag, Show report - Guangzhou 2023. Click to view
Part I, III,
IV, V (the last is a very personal Overview, Summary and Postscript).
Some of the equipment have featured in
the Shenzhen Audio Show that I reported on. Although I did not do the China Hotel segment of this GZ show and missed some big rooms, many of the brands can be found in my coverage of the SZ show (e.g., Raido CH Precision, Analog Source, Line Magnetic, Hanowa, Eizz, Pilium, Simaudio, Scansonic, rossofiorentino, Hegel, Gold Note, Franco Serblin, Prima Luna, Audes, Audio Analogue, Quested, Mymei, Ologe, Triangle, and more)
Coverage of the show follows no particular logic. As before, I’m going to grade the sound.
Best is simply Bold Black, in a category by themselves. Others are shaded:
Very good is Green; Good is Yellow; and
Average is Red. Believe me, I'm very lenient! More so towards others than myself!
Aurum Cantus Like a lot of others, this old brand is into Active Loudspeakers now. In 2 rooms they showcased a floorstander and a bookshelf. The latter setup used the ubiquitous Matrix Audio Streamer; I'm not sure what the former used. I still have their ribbon supertweeters (which haven't changed much).
Linlai Tubes Full Line on Silent Display. My cheap APPL amp came with a pair of Linlai 300B and they have been very good. Based on that, I endorse them.
Musicnote Puremusic Full electronic line and loudspeakers (the bookshelves were what I heard). The ridiculous thing is, flanking the rack are a pair of old Klipsch Heresy. The back has Kilpsch stickers, but the front logo says "Musicnote". I asked the man why, but he didn't answer me. For that, I should demote them to
red.
Fyne Accuphase One of the Best Sounds at the show. Fyne is run by ex-Tannoy engineers and staff.
Many now regard them as the more authentic! Judging by the very decent sound (the big one whose finish is almost exactly the same as Tannoy Prestige series) I'd totally agree. The smaller Vintage series look very nice too! Accuphase is in smaller fonts because the excellent sound has more to do with Fyne than Accuphase. In the past, Accuphase + Tannoy = Mediocre, so this came as a surprise.
Fyne Accuphase This small Fyne
F1-8 was more than decent driven by Accuphase.
Blumenhofer Octtavio AudioOnes All German. Average.
TPI True to its professional origins, setup was no fuss. Not cheap. The speakers are RN1.
Atmasphere Sound Lab Classic Audio All American and to me
the best sound of the show. See too caption under Top Pic. All these are distinctive companies that have been around for a long time. I asked the sales whether there are problems encountered by the ESL in humid China (like Quads), and he said none whatsoever. The Atmasphere solid sate amp was surprisingly refined though I'd have loved to hear the 6C33 OTL. If I had more time, I'd have returned to ask to hear the Classic Audio Field Coils!
易恒通信 EFE Easy For Everyone Dr Strangelove of the show. I walked into the room and looked at the stuff. A pair of Quad ESL (looks like 29xx), and old Accuphase amp (looks cool), and a Theta Transport! Under the Theta is a Goldmund like case with EFE brand (I presume DAC)! I asked the young man what is selling? He laughed, and said he is in satellite business. Only then did I notice that the glass enclosure near the door had a portable satellite antenna. He said this is KU Wave (a kind of microwave used in satellites) technology. He also said he discovered some of the technology can be used in audio and all of the stuff you see have been modified. I asked him about the ladder, which he said (with the board) is used to temper the boomy acoustics of the room. What I heard was not boomy. Now, this kind of crazy thing checks my box, to make it worthwhile to skip the big dealers!
KEF Nagra Air Tight The KEF Blade again puts in a reliable performance with Airtight 211 monos. I think the Nagra preamp was used rather than Air Tight.
KEF Michi Transrotor The KEF R11 loudspeakers performed just as well with mid-price Michi (Rotel's new line) electronics, thanks to analog playback via a Transrotor TT. My friend Andy the Cayin man said to me that if he were to buy a pair of loudspeakers for daily use (he's into headphones now) he'd consider a smaller R series. I told him I was not that into LS50 and he agreed.
Shengya ATC I was surprised that Shengya is still around. Back ages ago, in their early days, they made very cheap solid state amps (and I think a preamp with tubes) that I the tube man nonetheless found neutral and acceptable and good value (never owned one but have recommended them to friends at the low end). Looks like they have moved upmarket some.
Shanling Diapason OK but kinda sterile, just as in SZ show.
Horns Lampizator, Sikora, Canor All Eastern European. 3 Polish and 1 Czech (Streamer excepted).
One of the best in the show. The sound was even better than at SZ previously. Why? Because this time the Sikora TT was playing! The flagship overkill Lampizator DAC was a different unit and with somewhat different tubes. Several "cheaper" Lampizator models were on silent display. Aurender not heard. Very satisfying! See above SZ show link if you like.
Sugden Harbeth The usual combo were also seen in HK shows, but frequently silent. This time, sound was decent. Forgot what CDP was.
Best Sound Huge Monitors from China, and there were several like this at the show. Reasonable finish and chunk for the price. Despite the name, not best sound, BUT not bad at all.
iFi room was jam packed by earphone listeners auditioning. No, Thorsten Loesch was not there. Nothing tested.
Genelec Matrix Sound 矩声 We have always liked Genelec Active Loudspeakers. But in HK, they are not popular really outside professional circles, and are consigned to silent display (if they show up at all). Not in GZ! Not 1 but 3 setups (I could have missed others)! All were the best in the show. Yesterday, my friend the JBL 66000 user (you shall have a Home Report after I put the GZ show away) rated the smaller white one in a room as best of show. I can totally understand. What amazes us even more is that the little Matrix Sound Streamer can deliver such pristine sound. It's not cheap, at over RMB 20k, but I'd gladly pick it over Auralic/Aurender/Lumin etc, all those big faceless aluminum boxes. The kid's left hand shows a pile of 3 Matrix Sound products. Only the top Streamer was used! Many other sellers used this Streamer! Concision, Precision, Satisfaction. As my friend icefox would say, 正经 (Proper)!
Room Treatment display. No sound.
JL Audio Subwoofers Silent Display.
Lowther Thoress Never say Die, as in the case of Lowther! Or, Cat has Nine Lives, as the Lowther dealer in China is called Catclawaudio. The net address on the banner does not work. If u use Chinese media, like Bilibili etc, search "猫爪Hifi". Has many videos. The new
Audiovector is stunning. Apparently, the Chinese company has acquired cabinet manufacturing license from Lowther, which still makes the drivers. The Chinese company makes the cabinets, but apparently the upper, "Vector", part is from a German party. Yes, the exact same cabinet had been featured in monostereo. Sound was nice, as driven by the expensive (and exquisite looking) Swiss electronics. To be honest, the sound was nice, but I wasn't really listening, as I was talking to the friendly boss about my old TP1, now sold to a friend. Apparently, Lowther is making PM3 again! Perhaps this should be
green, but I up it for the Herculean effort! Look at the up-firing unit! Fun! behind you can see the well-regarded Polish
Cube Full Range. Digital was playing, and the Polish
Muarah TT was idle.
LALS Sound was a lot better than in SZ. Previously the amp did not seem adequate for the larger room. This round, the amp (Melody?) has double the number of transmitter tubes and drove the speakers with more panache. Still somewhat tight though. Just now I noticed just below the CDP should be the excellent and ubiquitous
Matrix Audio Streamer heard in the Genelec rooms and elsewhere. the Preamp looks like Taiwanese
ESTI (more in Part III).
EverSolo This is yet another digital company. I'm not sure what models I heard (surely streaming stuff and DAC) nor what amps were used. Decent is all I can say.
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