Toronto Audiofest 2025: Complete Show Coverage, Biggest Gear Reveals, And Best Demos
What happened, what to buy, special highlights, plus our best audiophile gear picks!
Toronto Audiofest 2025 Show Report By Rick Becker

EQ Audio Video
Sutton B is one of the largest, if not the largest room at the Toronto Audiofest. EQ Audio Video from Barrie, Ontario, north of Toronto, up near the Georgian Bay, divided this room into six large vignettes that were each larger than most rooms at the show. The concept was to rotate the demonstration from one system to the next, but at the speed I travel, and with attendance being low on Sunday, I only heard one of the systems. I'll walk you through, counterclockwise from the right side.

Here was an opportunity to hear a Borresen speaker with something other than Aavik amplifiers.

In this case, an Innuos LPS1 linear power supply and Stream1 music streamer/server were feeding Naim amplification. Sorry, there were no room lists here for additional details.

Here was a more complete group from Audio Group Denmark with Borresen speakers, Aavik amplification, and Ansuz power conditioning. The streamer was an Innuos ZENith Next-Gen.

The new Avid Relveo, introduced earlier this year, is one of their more affordable products, one step above the entry-level Ingenium. One of the Top Tier presentations at the show with Monitor Audio's Hyphn speakers driven by Michi amplification.

A Rega turntable on an IsoAcousticszaZen II platform was not utilized. Music came from an Innuos streamer on a zaZen platform on the floor under the rack.

The Monitor Hyphn is one of the best speaker values at its $130k price range. It photographs better in the white version, which I heard when it was first introduced. It is also one of the finest visual designs in the industry.

AC power was delivered through an Audience AdeptResponse power conditioner and Audience power chords. I reviewed their new FrontRow Reserve power chord earlier this year, and it was impressive.

Continuing on the left side of the room was a more affordable system from Audio Group Denmark with AXXESS electronics.

The Monitor Audio Studio 89 monitors from the UK are one of my favorite designs. They sound great, look good in white or black with copper drivers, and elevate even higher with the addition of a single Monitor subwoofer. The Monitor stands are the perfect complement to the speaker's design.

The front vignette was a counter backed up with a rack of demo cables from Benchmark, Cardas, Chord, Axxess, Crystal Cable, Audience FrontRow, and some cables from Denmark whose logo I didn't recognize. On the counter, from the right, was a power conditioner, Audience speakers, IsoAcoustics Gaia Neo footers (review coming), an IsoAcoustics butcher block platform with a Reliable UberLight Frame lamp attached to it, an English Electric EE1 network noise isolator, and a Nordost cable burn-in box. Along with a bona fide high end audio advisor.

The Nordost "Making the Connection" box is a burn-in tool for burning in speaker cables, analog interconnects, tonearm cables, and digital cables. It looks like something the Los Angeles Orange County Audiophile Society needs.

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