Dublin High End Show

[Derek]

I was there earlier today with my brother. Met some forum friends it was good to catch up with.
Some interesting equipment, both on display and to listen to.
The guys are great, a very professional set up, really enjoyed the time spent there.
Very surprised with the Mark & Daniel speakers, but dCS - WOW!

[Fran]

Yes, I was there too. Standout sound for me was the Vitus Audio/Focal room, DCS room was good too, and the room with the balanced valve amps from Hong Kong and Tannoy speakers was bloody good too. Sound from other rooms was good, but not as good as those I thought. That Tannoy room was using a raysonic CDP and I thought it sounded very good indeed. I thought the room with the Electrocompaniet was a bit harsh, but the guy said the speakers (Usher) were brand new. Right enough when he changed to a Graham Slee amp and another set of speakers which he said were run in the sound was much better. The other room that impressed was the one with the Vivid Giya speakers. Now they were playing some audiophile jazz when I was there, and that stuff makes anything sound good, but they did seem to have a very nice presentation. I would love to hear those for a longer time.

I was introduced to a fella who was looking after NAD gear - they had a very nice looking DAC there that had a lot of interesting functionality, HDMI inputs, HDMI pass-throughs, and every input you could shake a stick at. It was only on display today, but they might have it up and running tomorrow. At about 1500 or so it seemed like good value if you wanted something that would fit into an AV setup as well.

There weren't exactly large crowds there, but I think the good weather really didn't help there. However, that was much better for anyone else who was there as you had great access to the equipment. The other thing was that I thought Tower were going to have records there for sale, but no sign of that. I could have had that wrong though.


The event was completely free, no entry charge, and if you parked in Bewleys underground carpark, then you could have your parking validated for free. Hard to beat that. Ok, the show wasn't massive, but I have to say there was a nice vibe to the show, with the sales guys in each room very nice and pleasant indeed. I had my youn' fella with me, in the Vitus/Focal room, and someone wanted something played. The fella came over quietly to me, said there was a bit of bad language on the track and would it be ok to play it with the youn' fella there. Just nice manners and consideration. Nothing that he wouldn't have heard 50 times already!!!!

I have to applaud Kronos for taking the risk and putting it on, I had a really great afternoon.


Fran

[Ken Moreland]

The guy demonstrating and talking about the Vivid speakers was their designer Laurence Dickie http://www.stereophile.com/ces2010/vivi ... index.html
and it's not every day you get someone like him at a show, never mind one with free admission and parking.
Overall a good show and good to see some old friends again.
KM

[tony]

Got there late afternoon.very quiet which was great as you could wander unhindered. DCS was very impressive.Would want to be for the cost of the gear. I preferred the smaller stuff as it seems more real world. Bel canto looked really and neat. Can't comment on the sound. I enjoyed the graham slee and electrocompanient room.It was very relaxed.
Would have liked to have heard the budget puresound amps. Well done kronos hope they come back again. Saw some guy from naas checking out the dcs chip boards.expect a diydcs dac shortly at fraction of current retail price

[fergus]

I was there just after 10:00 am and I also thought that it was a very pleasant show. The stand out pieces of equipment for me (relative to spend) were the Mark & Daniel speakers and the QAT Music Server MS5 which I thought had a terrific sound.

[Ivor]

All these positive reactions have piqued my interest! Looking forward to a leisurely wander around tomorrow afternoon.

[Alltheyoungdudes]

Was there for a short while today and what I saw and heard was great - as others have said, very friendly and helpful reps in most of the rooms and some lovely kit. The guy in the Stillpoints room was evangelical and gave me the quote of the day: "It's not about isolation it's about preservation." Classic! I didn't see Tower there either so presume they pulled out.) Nice to get a free copy of Hi Fi+ on the way in too - made for pleasant reading (along with a cool beer) in the sun later this evening!

Oh, and for free parking, make sure you go into the Bewleys underground Car Park just to the right of the hotel entrance - not the one over to the left, as I almost did!

[tony]

Asked about tower records.It seems they are supporting the show but not at it.
My favourite guru was the atlas man. Something about looking at copper through a magnifying glass and it being just a pile of dots.Atlas bring it all together! To be fair much easier to listen to than lars hocus pocus.

[Rocker]

I got there around mid morning, collected my free magazine and silver fuse. The crowd seemed small, which is not a bad thing at a hi-fi show, the guys in the rooms were enthusiastic and keen to highlight the qualities of their products and services.

As ususal for me, I found the costliest equipment sounded disappointing and generally overpriced [£10K for the Stillpoints stand for example]. Those costly systems did not do anything for me, their impressive sound was not helped by the repeated playing of spiritless and soulless jazz music. I do not go in for impressive sounding kit, I prefer a musical rendition rather than the sound of a hi-fi. To be fair the sound could be described as accurate in a hi-fi sort of way but the music and emotion seemed lacking. Rock music was not heard much, some guy there [a visitor to the show] had a few LPs with him [all from the 1950s and 60s]. These sounded fine on the turntable in the Electrocompaniet room. That room gave me hope, the guy demoing the kit explained that the speakers were in need of more running in.

The stand out pieces of equipment for me QAT Music Server MS5 and the matching integrated amplifier, which I thought had a great sound. I believe that any file based system stands or falls on its user interface. The iPad app for the QAT works exactly as you would think it should and a few minutes playing with it is enough to prove its value. The QAT Server is placed at the upper end of the market, in the Meridian Sooloos price league, but it is a good performer.

All in all fair play to Kronos and all the lads. Glad I got there, met a few of the forum guys and compared notes. Doubly glad to play a few tracks on my own system when I got home. And amazingly the free fuse not only works but it cleaned up the sound on my own system. Quite how I have no idea. I have a bit of an obsession about the mains electricity and keep all the plugs and fuses clean so I am surprised and delighted that the silver fuse lifted the sound quality a notch.

Whatever shred of credibility I had is well and truly gone now......

[Ivor]

..... And amazingly the free fuse not only works but it cleaned up the sound on my own system. Quite how I have no idea. I have a bit of an obsession about the mains electricity and keep all the plugs and fuses clean so I am surprised and delighted that the silver fuse lifted the sound quality a notch.......

I have a small bowl full of various "hifi" fuses and there's a reason they're in a bowl. Most made the sound worse but... ever the optimist I'll give a free one a go. If I'm early enough....