The Best-Sounding FIAE To Date!
Florida International Audio Expo 2024 high-performance audio show coverage.
SWAF 2024 Show Report By Maurice Jeffries

  Literally and figuratively knocking on Heaven's Door in the Nexus Audio Technologies room (Room 709), the Stenheim Alumine 5 SEs (a cool $73.5k the pair and arguably one of the finest speakers on the planet) stunned when partnered with a turntable using the impressive DS Audio Grand Master Extreme Optical Cartridge ($22,500). The cartridge fed the gargantuan Grand Master phono stage ($45,000) to supreme effect leaving no doubt that the optical cartridge revolution is the real deal.

Other system goodies included a T+A SD 3100 Reference Streaming DAC ($36,390), Red Wolf 2 server (from $9,400), Synergistic Research Galileo Discovery speaker cable (from $17,995), Galileo PowerCell SX ($27,995), and Galileo SX MkII Ground Block (from $7,995). High End by Oz's sweet import, the stunningly beautiful Viva Solista Mk II integrated amp ($29,500) rounded out a stellar room that gifted a boatload of sonic surprises.

Snappy, airy, with class-leading bass, extremely low levels of coloration, gorgeous tone, and tremendous bloom and air, the Alumine's simply did it all. The Ray Brown Trio's upbeat rendition of Exactly Like You sounded "in the room real" with impressive scale and remarkably lifelike dynamic expression. "Utterly and comprehensively magnificent" my show notes celebrated, the only weakness a subtle reduction in system height scaling. The system was expertly crafted by Nexus Audio Technologies, the North American Stenheim distributor. A sonic gem of a system for this or any season, and my Best Of Show choice for FIAE 2024.

On the 7th floor, the House Of Stereo / Focal Powered by Naim room demo'ed much more effectively than the Naim Focal room last year. Percussive guitarist Marcin Patrzałek's (better known as just "Marcin") propulsive Kashmir sang with dynamic authority over the Naim powered system, the Focal Scala Utopia floor-standers ($40K the pair in base finish) sounding utterly of a piece at all frequencies. Naim's Classic 300 electronics line drove the mighty Focal speakers with superb control and poise.

Here is the revamped and refreshed Naim Classic 300 series lineup, with pricing:

Naim Classic NAP 350 mono power amp - $8,499 ea.
Naim Classic NAC 332 preamp - $10,999
Naim Classic NPX 300 PSU - $8,999
Naim Classic NSS 333 Hi-Res Audio streamer - $10,999

Transients snapped with spine-cracking authority. My show notes spotlighted the system's overall very low levels of coloration coupled with superb bass weight and control. The port-loaded Scala Utopia sounded more like an expertly voiced sealed box in terms of bass speed, articulation, and pitch control. Focal's superb beryllium tweeter sang sweetly and cleanly, with no glassy or gritty colorations. The $150k system price puts this setup out of reach of most of us, but for the Wall Street crowd, I thought this finely tuned system was worth every bit of its considerable but not unreasonable asking price. A Carla Bley piano track sounded "in the room" present and composed, with riveting transients and delicate trails. "Masterful", I scribbled in my notebook.

On the 10th, the MC Audiotech team teased sweet sounds out of their big TL-12 transmission line speakers ($26k for the pair). A 12" transmission line loaded woofer paired beautifully with three wide band line source drivers run in dipole mode. Sonny "Nuke" Rollins bobbed and weaved his way around St. Thomas with utter Caribbean abandon. The big TL-12s delivered impressive transient speed wed to an open and largely uncolored midrange. The big boxes did sound a touch hot on top - a common coloration that I am increasingly inclined to blame on the reflective glass back walls in many rooms – still, the TL-12 sounded swell.

Miles Davis and gang sounded lovely on an SACD-ripped version of Blue in Green, the system delicately shading each note in richly saturated hues. The tone and timbre were spot on, except for the slightly hot top end. Pass Labs electronics (XP-22 preamp at $9,975 and Class A biased XA160.8 mono amps at $14,250) powered the easy-to-drive TL-12s with real authority. Weiss's DAC 501 Processor ($29,500) and Wolf Audio Systems Alpha 3 Music Server (approximately $10K) digitally decoded all those pesky 1s and 0s with convincing naturalness and linearity.

This was a fine showing for the MC Audiotech team.

The ELAC room featured a stellar ensemble of high-performing but affordable gear that delivered the sonic goods in spades. Dominique Fils-Aime's Nameless sounded great as did Boz Scaggs' soon-to-be overplayed Thanks to You. The three-way ELAC Concentro S503 bookshelf speakers ($6,998.98 + $529.98 for a pair of LS80 speaker stands) positively soared when powered by a stack of Elac-branded Alchemy electronics. The S503 features ELAC's superb coincident midrange/tweeter unit in a gorgeous gloss cabinet. ELAC Alchemy electronics offered near reference-grade sound at not quite beer budget but still affordable prices (at least by high-end standards).

The DDP-2 DAC / Preamp combo ($2,899.98) offers superb ergonomics and system configuration flexibility in a slim but feature-rich package. Skillfully driving the compact DPA-2 Stereo/Mono amps ($1,749.98 each) with a little help from the budget ELAC Discovery Music Server DS-S101 ($499), the ELAC system imaged and staged holographically with riveting dynamics.

I came away equally taken by the more affordable ELAC Vela BS404.2 two-way bookshelf model ($3,499.98 the pair), both pairs of speakers offering tremendous value for money, with reference-level imaging and top-shelf detailing. The ELAC team delivered, for me, a strong Best Of Show contender performance.

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