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

1326   Atelier Audio, Kora, Synergistic Research, Miyajima  And Playback Design
L'Atelier Audio is both a retail store in Montreal (by appointment only) and a distributor for numerous brands in Canada and a few in the USA. Many of those are smaller, esoteric brands with stellar reputations familiar only to the cognoscenti of high end audio. Their presentation was very strong again this year featuring the French Diptyque DP 140 Mk II, Rev. 2 electrostatic speaker, new this year ($22,900) driven by beautiful French Kora monoblocks. I've admired the styling and build quality of Diptyque speakers since they first hit the Canadian market. I've also raved about the sound quality, including the deep bass, that I've heard at the Canadian shows. Unfortunately, the presentations I've heard of Diptyque speakers at US shows have been less spectacular. Credit goes to L'Atelier for their expertise in set-up and use of multiple products to tweak their systems.

In the photo above you see wood baffle/diffusers in the corner, a heavy wood amp stand, a box indicating the use of Synergistic Research MiG SX footers, and wood cable risers. Attention to detail brings results.

The Kora monoblock ($24,900), with the massive bank of blue capacitors, puts out 150 Watts in Class A which explains the gorgeous deep bass of the Diptyque speaker.

The Ferrum Hypsos ($1690) linear/switching hybrid power supply also contributes to the tight bass. To its left is the small Playback Design USB X4 and to its right is a Puritan Ground Master linked to several components to lower the noise floor. Puritan also supplied their PSM 156 power conditioner ($2495). Note the thick square blocks of high-density plywood beneath the components above.

In the top right quadrant above was a Playback Designs MPD-8AI DAC ($44k) and to its right was a 432 Evo Aeon Mk3 Music Server ($11,990) with a box for Muon Pro Network Acoustics. In the lower-left corner was a Synergistic Research Tranquility Pod Carbon ($1300).

Another interesting piece was the Miyajima 2020 OTL (output-transformer-less) tube amp ($25,990) seen here with the bottom edge of the Kora Preamp 140 ($8,490) resting on Ungnoi Taichi Base carbon fiber footers ($690/set). The cables were by Ocellia, made in Canada by a Frenchman, and the furniture was from Madera Works.

That I failed to get a photo of the complete system indicates the room was full of people — for good reason. The music was exemplary.

1327   ASONA Ltd, Stax, Pathos, Meze, Cen.grand, Shanling, And Dan Clark
I had a hard time catching up with Richard Kohlruss of ASONA Ltd, an importer who had three areas under his wing. He had a major presentation in the Earvana area with a large headphone display with Stax, Dan Clark, Pathos, Shanling, and Meze headgear, a room on the lower level with some of his products, plus this room with Fonica electrostatic speakers from Italy and interesting electronics. The music was well-focused as you would expect from an electrostatic speaker and the Fonica had very clean, minimalist lines — not what you might expect from Italy.

The minimal display featured this DSDAC 1.0 from Cen.grand Digital Media Technology Co., Ltd from China. They feature DACs, headphone amplifiers, and digital media players. In addition to the usual digital inputs, the DSAC 1.0 features both balanced and single-ended input and output, as well as volume control.

On the rack was a Bladelius Ask integrated amplifier that can be ordered from Sweden with or without phono, DAC, and streamer. The designer, Mike Bladelius, has had a fascinating past working for many big-name companies.

And the stereo amp was this very handsome YBA Passion A650 with their logo serving as the design for the cooling fins. With both stereo RCA and balanced inputs, as well as a balanced input for use as bridged-mono, it puts out 200 Wpc @ 8 Ohms, 400 Wpc @ 4 Ohms, and 600 Watts @ 8 Ohms in bridged-mono. On top of the rack shown in the room was a YBA CD player.

1328   Essentia Technologies, Q Acoustics, Oracle Audio Technologies, And Goldring
The Essentia Technologies room was empty when I arrived but I recognized it from the previous year. They had improved their presentation considerably with numerous Q Acoustics speakers on display that were all clearly identified with relatively modest prices.

The Oracle Audio Technologies Origine Mk II turntable with blue-lighted layers of clear acrylic caught my eye. It is the entry level of this fine turntable line yet it has a very interesting design and the illuminated layers can be ordered in different colors. It would have been nice to hear an LP with the Goldring E4 moving magnet cartridge, typically priced under $300, as I've heard it mentioned several times in the press.

That's it for the 1300 hallway. I'll be back with the 2300 hallway in Part 3. Keep coming back as I will cover the entire show.

---> Onward to Part  3 of Rick Becker's Montreal Audiofest 2025 show report.

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