Dublin High End Show

[Ivor]

I really enjoyed the show, very relaxed atmosphere and very friendly. met up with a few of the usual suspects and 1 or 2 good friends I didn't expect to see at all. A lovely afternoon all in all.

I REALLY hope this becomes an annual event, it was relatively well attended given it was an inargural show and held right during the current heatwave. Great hotel really.

I really enjoyed Alan Sircom's (Hifi+ magazine) "symposium". It was basically a Q&A on hifi/music/recording but it was utterly free from BS and made me feel quite normal. Briefly.

Well done to all involved and I'm looking forward to 2013 already!

[DaveF]

Enjoyed the show today and I really hope it will become a regular on the calender for the future. Its always great to hear other brands that you normally come across only in mags or the internet.

For me the highlight of the show was the Tannoy room using a Raysonic CDP. That CDP looked the business, might have to investigate that one more in the future.
I had a good look at the dCS dac board too and was surprised to see a good few Xilinx Spartan FPGA chips on board, I use those in my work on a daily basis. Nice neat layout of the PCBs. Overall though, the sound of that room was a bit disappointing. I found the sound far too bass heavy and bloated. It might have been just the music being played at the time. Always difficult to properly judge these things at a show.

The Usher/Electrocompaniet was a bit of a strange one. The smaller of the two floorstanders wasnt great in my opinion. A distinct gap in the sound between the bass and midrange but as was mentioned elsewhere the speakers were brand new. From owning a pair of Ushers before I know that they sound absolutely dreadful for the first 24-48 hours straight out of the box. They snap into focus soon after that and give a great relaxed sound.

The Vivid Audio speakers sounded good but I wasnt gone on the demo music. Wasnt convinced by the Atlas cables demo though as I dont think there were any differences between any of the cables. I thought that *maybe* the silver coated ones sounded lighter in the bass for just a few seconds in the demo track.

All in all very happy to have made the trip down and thanks to all those involved in organising the show. Well done.

[Ivor]

Wasnt convinced by the Atlas cables demo though as I dont think there were any differences between any of the cables. I thought that *maybe* the silver coated ones sounded lighter in the bass for just a few seconds in the demo track.

Differences... sure... but better/worse? I dunno. I know music is subjective too but that test track was 1:40 of the worst music I've heard since Lars was last in town. Appalling synthetic faux choral electro mush. I may be making it sound a bit more interesting than it was.

[DaveF]

but that test track was 1:40 of the worst music I've heard since Lars was last in town. Appalling synthetic faux choral electro mush....

There was just too much going on in that track, sounds that weren't from natural instruments that people can easily identify with. It takes several listens of that track to 'learn it' properly making it impossible to determine if there were differences in my opinion.

[Ivor]

but that test track was 1:40 of the worst music I've heard since Lars was last in town. Appalling synthetic faux choral electro mush....

There was just too much going on in that track, sounds that weren't from natural instruments that people can easily identify with. It takes several listens of that track to 'learn it' properly making it impossible to determine if there were differences in my opinion.

I thought there was more detail (could be repetition alright) and less sibilance but really I was busy wincing.

[Claus]

I really enjoyed the show as well. Great to hear a great variety of gear all serious stereo gear as opposed to surround. From the modest but very versatile Cocktail audio to the luxurious Vitus and dCS - lots of systems I could have easily lived with. And all in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere! Well done to all the Kronos staff for pulling off a great show. I liked the dCS, bel canto and JE/Tannoy rooms best.

[Claus]

I really enjoyed the show as well. Great to hear a great variety of gear all serious stereo gear as opposed to surround. From the modest but very versatile Cocktail audio to the luxurious Vitus and dCS - lots of systems I could have easily lived with. And all in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere! Well done to all the Kronos staff for pulling off a great show. I liked the dCS, bel canto and JE/Tannoy rooms best.

But the lack of Sort Kones and mains distribution on its own shelf meant "baaaaad sound!" :D

[Modest]

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!!!!Fran

Yeahh that was mine request to play RATM - Bullet In Your Head :) unreal sound ,first time i heard this track with serious power and such control.
Thanks to Kronos for such interesting event
BTW nice to meet some forum members

[Diapason]

The day ran away from me and I never made it, but it sounds like I missed a very good event.

[Modest]

ahhh as uasual no one cares about the pics !!!!
few shaky pics from Saturday morning :-)