Capital Audiofest 2023 Show Report / Chronicles Part 8
The 3rd Floor Large Rooms Part A
Show Report By Rick Becker

Randolph Room  Daedalus Audio
Daedalus Audio is a bespoke boutique manufacturer that makes fine speakers to order. While they have shown the large tower speakers here for the past two years, they also make more conventionally sized designs for conventionally sized rooms in their Ferndale, WA, shop. That would be Lou Hinkley on the left explaining his work to a prospective client.

Lou is both a musician and a craftsman and his speakers are hewn from solid wood like musical instruments. His work exudes sensitivity and skill for working with multiple types of hardwoods. The use of the unusual midrange driver above also caught my eye, as did the use of twin tweeters with the upper one canted toward the side. (Actually, the upper one was pointed straight ahead, and the lower one, while flush to the baffle, was canted toward the listening position. The photo below will clarify this.)

The entire speaker baffle is canted toward the center as seen above. Note the use of dovetail construction and his signature work with figured wood exhibiting a strong personality. His use of solid wood also gives his speakers a sonic signature akin to acoustic instruments and is quite distinct from speakers using aluminum or synthetic materials for their cabinets. This was the Zeus v.3 model at $40k.

The 120-Watt, pre-production prototype silver monoblocks (~$15k to $20k) seen beside the rack and the AERO DAC ($3600) on the top shelf were from Linear Tube Audio. That was an Innuos ZENith MK3 music server/player ($6,299+) below the DAC and an LTA Microzotl preamp further down. Notice all the components and even the speakers are sitting on silver footers. These are the DiD Daedalus isolation Devices that have been in production since 1992 and use a combination of polished billet Aluminum, solid Cherry, and Brass with steel bearings. The version for components was $160 ea. in polished aluminum and $180 ea. black anodized. The speaker version is $80 ea. polished and $95 ea. black anodized.

The unit on top is his new AERO Zotl + R2R DAC with a Class AZotl tube output stage and non-oversampling R2R DAC. It features 6 isolated power supplies and no negative feedback. The circuitry is finalized here in prototype form, but the unit had a 3D-printed case that will be replaced with brushed aluminum with brass buttons.

The cables used here were from the WyWires Diamond Series with the USB ($1,99), RCA and XLR interconnect ($4,495), Evolution 2 speaker cables ($8k), and the power cords at $3k. A WyWires/Daedalus Power Broker ($2,495) was likely the power conditioner barely seen at the back of the bottom shelf of the rack in the first photo.

Red Hill Tactical
Out in the hall at one of the tables was this guy from Red Hill Tactical selling knives, holsters... and is that a 3-D printed untraceable blue pistol? Personally, I follow Teddy Roosevelt's dictum:  Speak softly and wield a long tonearm.

WPFW 89.3 FM
Next table down, quite appropriately, was WPFW 89.3 FM, better known as "jazz and justice radio."

Maryland Watch Works
Coming from Hagerstown, MD, northwest of Rockville and Frederick, MD, was the return of Maryland Watch Works which not only sells watches but does repair and rebuilding. The E. Stohlman brand in the white box is a local micro-brand with six styles that sell for about $2k each.

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