Another exciting sounding setup came via the incredibly affordable Virtue Audio Virtue One Class-T amplifier ($349.00). Designed by Roger Sheker, of Audience fame, as a Class-T design, I still find it hard to imagine an amplifier this affordable and sonically capable and with a footprint this small. Solidly built using an aluminum chassis with a conservatively rated power of 30 watts(!) per channel, the Virtue One drove a pair of large ClairAudient line source loudspeakers with a surprisingly high sense of ease (while the smaller pair of Mark & Daniel watched in bewilderment).

Audes, Reimyo and Mastersound put on a great demo that had Naum Dorkham very happy (Audes US importer, photo). Always a fan of Audes and what they offer in terms of price/performance, I've grown a certain affinity for the sound of the Mastersound 300B ($12,500), after hearing them at length in the LessLoss room last fall at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. This room was no exception in terms of the silky smooth harmonics that constantly flowed while listening to Nina Simone's rendition of Everything Must Change. I'm certain that Reimyo transport/dac combo and Audes Orpheus loudspeaker would like to also take credit for some of that richness I enjoyed, ya think? All in all, the sound from this setup was hard to pull away from indeed.

Another remarkably affordable setup came from the Eggleston Works Reference 9 ($13k), and the Rogue Audio 250-watt per channel Apollo mono amplifiers ($11k). Using their Hera Ref preamp ($7,500) with compliments of Mike Kochman's assorted series of Echo Busters room treatments, I was very impressed by the sound of this setup which wasn't unusual. Rogue Audio has become legendary for designing expensive sounding electronics while keeping their price affordable. However, I was very surprised to see Eggleston Works offer so much in their Ref 9 for only $13k. Very impressive indeed.

Nice to see the guys from Bel Canto showing, with excellent results I might add, with Joseph Audio this year.