Brett Rudolph's Best Of FIAE 2025 Blue Note Awards
Choosing the best five sound systems at the Tampa high-end audiophile show.
Florida International Audio Expo 2025 Show Report By Brett Rudolph

  Selecting Enjoy the Music.com's Best Of FIAE 2025 Blue Note Award award winners is no easy feat; it's a musical dance between objectivity and subjectivity. Several exhibitors are equally deserving, choosing the top five a balance of objective and subjective. Enjoy the Music.com takes this task at heart, and so those chosen truly deserve the recognition, which also reflects the values and standards of our very special Best Of FIAE 2025 Blue Note Award. After much consideration and mental and emotional comparisons of aural and visual memories, choosing only five exhibitors is no easy task. With that said, here are my choices for the FIAE 2025 audiophile exhibitors who earned extra recognition for their excellence in products and sound quality.

Room 419   Triangle Magellean Duetto 40th Anniversary (House of Stereo)
"The sound was everything you could hope for in a playback system. It had the soundstage, the detail, and even the midrange to go with it. Oh, sure, there were some flaws, but nothing is perfect. However, after spending some time with it, I was craving more. That is impressive because it is tough to make an impression on day one that will last to the end and beyond at a show like this."
See my full report on this sound system here.

Room 463   Borresen T1 speakers (Next Level HiFi)
"Unlike the other demo, this speaker has its qualities. It was less holographic to me than the others, which isn't bad. Instead, it had even better resolution and finer detail. The bass seemed more controlled, and the sound seemed much cleaner. These speakers seemed closer to the ones I generally prefer than those I am used to hearing from them. In short, these were my favorite of the bunch so far."
See my full report on this stereo system here.

Room 464   Serblin Accordo Essence Speakers / Deep Dive Audio
This was really the whole room, it just worked, but the speakers were amazing, if I had to pick one. "We heard 'Hoist the Sails' during the demo, but an A Capella version. A tenor voice was so deep you could feel it in your bones. The deepness and lushness of that voice were excellent when heard through this system. There was no muddiness, no loss of detail. In parts when other singers joined him, the harmony was fantastic and effortless. There was no loss in fidelity, and it was as clear as a bell. I can't praise the performance enough and couldn't get enough. The song was ten minutes long and felt like only a moment."
See my full report on this stereo system here.

Room 257   Volti Audio Vittora Loudspeaker System
"My first note about this room was that the speakers were horn-loaded and didn't have a horn sound. That means something because, without that, nothing is possible. They had a well-integrated bass. The music was enveloping and warm. The music was incredibly coherent and sounded lifelike. The sound filled the room with its majesty, and I had no complaints whatsoever. It was a great demonstration."
See my full report on this hi-fi stereo system here.

Brandon 5   MBL C41 Network Player
"This was one of my favorite rooms at the expo. It was one of those rooms that did everything right for me. Maybe their new C41 Network player made the difference, but whatever it was, the sound was incredible. It was, in a word, elegant. Start with an enveloping soundstage and add accurate detail to allow its full majesty to fill your world with the potential it holds. Next, imagine that the world holds instruments playing and a female vocalist singing. You can hear all of it in the pristine beauty without anything in the way. It might not be as perfect as your imagination, but it's close enough to get you most of the way there. That's what the room was like."
See my full report on this hi-fi stereo system here.

---> See our complete Florida International Audio Expo 2025 show report.