Part 2: Montreal Audiofest Chronicles 2024
Let's explore the 1300 hallway.
Montreal Audiofest 2024 Show Report By Rick Becker

1322  The Chord Company, English Electric, And Art & Son

The Chord Company room seemed to be all about the cables. On the orange banner is an English Electric audio grade noise isolator. EE also makes switches and the like for people into streaming. In the rack was a Chord Hugo DAC (not the same company, I believe) as well as something from Innuos. Everything was backassward, as you can see. I can't recall that they were even playing music.

This Lucite encased example of their entry level C-screenX speaker cable caught my eye. 

And looking closer I noticed the spring-loaded contact bar along the length of this banana plug which is designed for secure contact an optimal signal transfer.

1326  Atelier Audio

The Diptyque dp140 Mk II panel speakers ($20k) from France caught my eye and ear when they were first introduced in North America at the Capital Audiofest a couple of years ago. They are very well made and they sounded better here than any of the several times I've heard them in the States.

Part of the reason they sounded so good here was the Kora 140 DAC ($12k) and TB200 integrated amplifier ($15k) which utilize their novel Square Tube circuitry where tubes supply the gain and transistors provide the current. The amp puts out 100 Wpc into 8 Ohms and 180 Wpc into 4 Ohms. This new series also includes a CD player, preamp, phono stage and two more amps — one more powerful, and one less powerful.

Also noted above were the Synergistic Research Tranquility Pods on top of the Kora components and the Puritan Route Master seen on the shelf below. The Puritan Ground Master (or the City version of it) was out of sight behind the white shelving unit.. Grounding systems are becoming an established component in high-end rigs and from what I heard in this room, this is an effective and relatively affordable version.

1327  ASONA Ltd.

Richard Kohlruss was running his own headphone lounge with every seat taken around the U-shaped table. Having watched a vlog about the best $400 headphone on the market before coming to Montreal, I broke down and had a listen to a few at the show. I'm not yet ready to take a deep dive into the category, but I'm warming up to the possibility of adding a finer set of cans to supplement my Grado SR 80e workhorse that I use to take classes on Zoom and occasionally use to watch music concerts on YouTube late at night when the big rig is off limits.

The hand-carved wood on this special edition the Meze 109 ($1249) caught both my eye and my ear.

It was early afternoon on Saturday and I was at the point where I had to go up the stairs to the 2300 hallway. I took a short break to gaze at the rooftop wilderness. Apparently one of the ducks didn't get the memo that this was swim period.

More Montreal Audiofest Coverage Coming Soon!
Part 3 on the 2300 hallway will be up in a few days. Keep checking back.

---> Onward to Rick's Montreal Audiofest 2024 show report part 3.

---> Back to the Montreal Audiofest 2024 show report homepage.