Best Of Toronto Audiofest 2023 Awards Show Report
Best Rooms At The Toronto Audiofest 2023
Show Report By Rick Becker

  In my usual manner, I nominate a variable number of Best Rooms rather than select a First, Second, or Third place. This levels the playing field for sponsors of all rooms, large and small. Gives the guys with smaller, more economical rooms a shot at recognition. Big, expensive rooms don't impress me as much as rooms where the music moves me emotionally, though often there is a strong correlation.

I made three cuts from the 49 rooms at the show, though there were more systems than that since several rooms had more than one presentation. And in some cases, speakers and amplification were swapped which would have given a few more unique presentations. The first cut came down to twenty rooms. The second cut brought that down to 13. The final selection produced six very fine-sounding rooms which, this year, were all very expensive, though half of them also had smaller, roughly analogous systems in other rooms at the show that were far more affordable.

Presented here in the order in which they were covered in the show report, these were the Best Rooms that amazed me. I've referenced the part of this report, the floor, and the room to help you locate more photos and comments within the report.

Part 4, 2nd Floor, Plaza B:  Bliss Acoustics
With their unique loudspeakers being driven by ultra-fidelity Nagra electronics and the very impressive J. Sikora turntable at the front end, this room certainly earned a Best Of Toronto Audiofest 2023 Award.

Part 4, 2nd Floor, Bristol A:  Corby's Audio, Coherent Audio, And Baetis Audio
With the scalable tower speaker from Coherent Audio, driven by Allnic amplifiers and a Kuzma turntable at the front end, this system thrilled me with transparency, dynamics, and a "live at the performance" presentation. A similar, smaller version from these companies was heard in the Lower Level in the Balmoral room.

Part 4, 2nd  Floor, Mayfair:  Cardas Audio, Eon Art Canada, Oracle Audio, And Gershman Acoustics
This team has collaborated for years, each time mixing it up with different loudspeakers, and always produces spectacular sound within this large room. A similar presentation on the 3rd Floor in 356 sponsored by Toronto Home Of Audiophile featured the smaller Gershman Acoustics speaker that earned Best Rooms recognition last year. Year after year, this room is among the very best!

Part 5, Lobby Level, Sutton A:  Acora Acoustics
Val Cora continues to impress me with his various speakers driven by an ever-changing cast of top-shelf components. The new VRC flagship speaker presented here, driven by Dan D'Agostino Master Audio Systems amplification and a world-class SAT turntable at the front end is among the top loudspeakers in the world today.

Part 5, Lobby Level, Sutton B:  EQ Audio Video
This room had numerous systems that were played in rotation. The new Monitor Audio Hyphn flagship loudspeaker driven by Michi amplification was simply outstanding both in acoustic presentation and its contemporary design. The Hyphn will be all over the audiophile press in the coming year. And the Michi electronics earned newfound respect.

Part 5, Lower Level, Carlyle:  Wynn Audio, Karen Acoustics, And TIDAL
Wynn Wong of Wynn Audio specializes in the true luxury end of the audiophile kingdom. The system he put together here was sourced from six different European countries. The larger system with Tidal speakers driven by Karan Acoustics electronics gets top recognition, although the more modest-sized system from Goldmund was not far behind.

The Last Word
Each of these Best Rooms costs the price of a very nice yacht for a large berth in the Toronto Harbor, but an audio system will give you the pleasure of music all year round. Regardless of where you are in your audio journey, there was surely something presented at the Toronto Audiofest that would enhance your joy from music. I hope you were there and had a great time. And if not, I hope to see you next year, if not sooner.

Safe journey and as always... enjoy the music!

Rick Becker

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