Dublin HIFI Show 2023

[Diapason]

I really wanted to like those DeVores, expected to, even, but I didn't on either day. Always interesting to hear different tastes

[hudo]

Quite surprised with decent sound of Sopra 2 + Naim, its usually too sharp, artificial, "digital" in other shows, think Focal is just not good match with Naim in general, but this time was ok. Maybe because of all the carpets and ceiling absorption, that setup needs damped room, and shows usually aren't.
On the other hand, Focal Kanta with Naim was horrible, there was some serious problem with balance in that room, maybe rectangular room had some big dips in the response, strange they didn't go maybe with nearfield setup to rule out the room a bit more.

Small (and expensive) Sonus Fabers and McIntosh had big and bold sound for such a small speakers, great setup! Small/medium sized room, with one Rel on the side, that could be an end game system! Think those are even Ivans from Cloney private speakers.

Gryphon setup was really good, as well as Pass+Fabers and Wilsons. All priced "its not for you if you ask for the price" :)

Was funny how sales guy in D'agustino+Wilson room was explaining that 40k£ turntable isn't one of those "crazy expensive" ones. Existence of 200k£ turntable doesn't make 40k£ TT cheap:) At least he said 90k£ phono pre is a bit expensive. But 116db SNR justifies it (even not sure whats the point if record can give maybe max 50db)!

Also, cheap Quadrals and Creek, think its 400€ speakers, lovely sounding for the price! Not fan of Dual+Ortofon Blue (Dual tt looks too plastic, specially the arm, and there are better cartridges in that price range i think), but the speakers and amp seemed very good value!

But maybe the best thing on the show was too see and meet lads from this forum:)

[Brutus1968]

.....Gryphon was excellent as well I thought, I was impressed with that, and in retrospect should have spent some more time in there.
.....
Interesting comments above on Devore. I heard both models (I'm almost certain the same 2 models) in Munich, and remembered thinking the smaller ones sounded considerably better.... but DaveF, when I heard the bigger ones today, it was digital playback, so maybe with the analog setup it would have been different.
.....

The Gryphon speakers are imho interesting for several reasons: they have been made to stay close to the back wall, so that you can place them even in a relatively small room; they have a tweeter adjustment at the back that you can play with when changing the toe in (that should be minimal according to what the salesman was saying); and the reflex tube has two direction: one on the front and one on the back, so you can decide which one to close depending on the room response (smart!). This last option is quite interesting as it could be implemented also on cheaper speaker systems.

The DeVore speakers immediately reminded me of the Audio Note UK similar ones (AN-j): at the time of the Italian hifi events (in Milan) the Audio Note room was always one of the most musical ones. the look of their electronics and speakers was far from fascinating (they could have been designed by a kid...), but boy if they could deliver! Once inside they room I could forget everything about technical specifications and simply enjoy the music (which was the music we listen to every day). In front of the DeVore i was expecting a similar experience, but that didn't happen. Maybe the room, and probably also the placement of the speakers: too close to the listeners and with the tweeter firing at their knees rather than ears (as most of the rooms with bookshelf speakers unfortunately).

Best

[Rob.]

Any guess of price of the wilson room was, €250k-300k??

[Sloop John B]

Any guess of price of the wilson room was, €250k-300k??

Nothing like that, €450/ night I believe.

.sjb