Part 2: Hi-Fi Heaven At The Montreal Audiofest 2025 Audiophile Show
Visiting the 1300 Hallway here at Montreal Audiofest high-end audio event.
Montreal Audiofest 2025 Show Report By Rick Becker

1305   Baetis Audio, Tough Nut Audio, Magico, And T+A
Baetis is one of the unsung great server/streamer companies in the high end, probably because they don't partner with major brands at the bigger shows. What I heard hear (sic) was pretty convincing, however. The T+A amplification has been making big waves in recent years and getting the respect it deserves. The compact size should play well with aging Boomers and anyone else whose living quarters are challenging — or even just those wishing to keep a smaller visual imprint. Compare the size of the two T+A components stacked on the middle shelf with the Saturn power conditioner in a full-size chassis on the bottom shelf, for example.

Note the Tough Nut rack here with each wood shelf supported by individual footers at each corner and the entire shelf sitting on special vibration-absorbing footers. I'll get back to these in a minute, but it is nice to see this young company progressing and continuing to show up at shows for three years now. It takes time to establish a brand, particularly when you've got a $6000 rack competing with more established competition.

The speaker was an excellent, well-known commodity in the Magico A3 from Magico's entry-level (for Magico) A-Series imported from China. Who knows what the price will be in another week or two?

With the rig along the long wall, they couldn't afford much room behind the rack and speakers. What they seemed to do right was to hang a heavy black curtain along the entire width of the rig to absorb and diffuse the backwave. The sound was exceptionally clear from low bass to upper treble. Horizontal soundstaging was great, though some depth was certainly sacrificed. All in all, it was well played.

On the top shelf, typically used for a turntable or source component there is an inset metal plate offering additional isolation from the surrounding wood frame. The shelves are vertically adjustable every inch or so.

On a table in the corner was a display illustrating the effectiveness of the various footers offered for different locations on the Tough Nut racks. The peak in the curves is at 200Hz. The two uppermost curves are the baseline for their vibration testing shelf and a wood shelf with traditional spikes. Not much improvement with spikes. Three of their isolation cones (small, medium, and large) fare much better. There is also an extra-large version and several truncated versions for different applications.

1310    Mutine Audio, AGD, And Hifistay
The poster for Mutine stopped me in my tracks. It had been many years since I'd seen that name at the Montreal show. They are a distributor for a very select assortment of components. I went inside.

The room was obviously set up very carefully and immediately sounded quite good. I felt right at home with the AGD Andante Mk II preamp/DAC/Streamer and the Vivace monoblocks as I've reviewed the earlier versions of both and given them a Blue Note Award. Hifistay HardPoint Trinia footers were used under the ADG amps — the same company that makes the sprawling stand in front of the amps.

To the right of the amps was a stack of Silent Angel Ethernet filtering: Silent Angel Bonn NX switch, Genesis GX clock, and Forester FX power supply. This was the first I've seen it in decent light instead of the dark shadows of a component rack. Cabling was Actinote Sinfonia, a brand that was new to me, but seemed to be very effective.

The silver component is an HZProject HzCORE streamer (~$12k for the 4TB version). An HzProject HzLAN Ethernet insulator was also used here. I love the architecture of this streamer because otherwise, it would only need to be a box. Here, we have something to look at and engage our minds. Why does it look like that? One might also ask that question of the Hifistay Mythology Transform rack it sits upon. There was a series of gears on the Hifistay rack beneath the component that synchronously adjusted footers for various size components. Unfortunately, it is designed for super-sized components as well as smaller ones — and one size fits all. As I've pointed out before, this impinges upon the dance floor. Hifistay, from South Korea, also makes a variety of interesting individual footers that show signs of very high technology.

The éQuation Point Source speakers ($12k) are a brand Mutine has been involved with for decades. In combination with the AGD amps it was wonderfully transparent, highly resolved, and very immediate — a “You are there” musical experience.

The power switch has now been moved to the top front left corner of the AGD Andante Mk III. Nice! Solidly built, refreshingly light, very quick, and wonderful sounding. I use The Audion Mk III monoblocks as my solid-state reference as a more powerful alternative to my several tube amplifiers. The GaNFET power modules are enclosed in the glass tube for easy replacement by the owner. They are currently in their third-generation.

Little did I know it at the time, but I was being stalked in this room. Above is a rare portrait of me in action.

Out in the hall I was confronted by Pascal Ravach of Mutine, whom I had known so many years ago. He explained that usually in March he would be in Asia, but a broken foot had spoiled his plans this year, so he committed to a room at the show. What fortune! He told me of a photo he had of himself with Phil Gold and me. It was waiting for me when I returned home.

Pascal also included a photo of himself, complete with a boot on his broken foot. He has lived a fascinating life, filled with education and audio.

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