Part 5: Rooms 601 To 633 At CAF 2024
More rooms, and more magical music!
Capital Audiofest 2024 Show Report By Rick Becker

Saturday morning, November 9th
Back to work on the 6th Floor after a good night's rest, along with some cookies, a banana, and a couple of cups of hotel-brand coffee. I wish there were a way I could pre-package my fair-traded Colombian French Roast coffee from home to use in the Keurig coffee makers in hotels.

623 Playback Distribution
Room 623 was a second room for Playback Distribution and this one was considerably more expensive and impressive than Room 619, above. The Quadraspire Q4 Evo rack from Great Britain and Esprit cables from France appeared to be the only components in common, but not exactly.

An Esoteric system, from the top down, was comprised of the F-01 integrated amplifier ($18k), K-01XD SACD player ($25k), and N-01XD network streamer ($22k). They were on a more expensive Quadraspire XVT stand ($550/tier) and the Esprit cables were all a much higher series than in the other room. $15k, three-meter speaker cables and $12.7K XLR interconnects…you get the picture.

The speakers were the Esprit Amelia ($20k in black, white, or walnut, and $26k in special colors). I expect what looks like coffee splattered on the front baffle was actually just reflections of highlights from the rug in the room. Gloss black can act like a mirror.

It is unusual to find a cable company that also makes a loudspeaker, though the speaker cable/speaker connection is certainly important. Numerous companies make everything (or almost) from source to speaker, including cables, but just cables and speakers?

Live-Vibe Audio
Back again this year, but with a much pared-down assortment of products, was Live-Vibe Audio tucked into a privacy balcony overlooking the atrium. I hope my poking humor at his display last year did not intimidate him. The brass LP holders ($40) seen on the table this year were very classy. The Audio Points, dating back to 1989 are classic.

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