If you live in or near DC, you already know that most audiophiles consider the Mid-Atlantic a wasteland. There are only a couple of dealers, no major shows, very little in the way of organized audio groups, nada. In fact, I would wager that if you charted out the audio sales by region, the DC area wouldn’t make the Top 20.
I have no idea why this is.
But for those of us that have lived in this wilderness that is the Nation’s Capital, it might come as a very pleasant surprise that there is now a DC-based show! Well, Maryland, actually, but Rockville is close enough to count.
The second year of the Capital Audiofest is about to get underway ….
I’m probably disproportionately excited about this show. My local dealer, Jeff Fox of Command Performance A/V, has managed to arrange for some serious audio legends to show up so we can all fawn over them. Or something. It’s a free country, right?
Jeff Joseph of Joseph Audio will be there showing off his latest, the soon-to-be-released Perspective. EveAnna Manley of Manley Labs will be there showing off her gear and rocking out the house. Chris Sommovigo of Stereolab/Stereovox/Black Cat Cables, as well as The Signal Collection, will be there showing off some cables and some pretty spectacular speakers from Transmission Audio.
Note to all attendees: Do you have your talking points ready? No? Well, you can ask Jeff Joseph about those useless unions. Don’t forget to ask EveAnna Manley why the bass is always better with solid-state. And Chris Sommovigo is dying to talk about ABX testing methodologies. See? How helpful am I? Now you’re all set.
MBL will be there. Audio Research. Wilson Audio. Salk Sound. dCS. Cardas. CRL. And more!
Highwater Sound will be there. I’m totally looking forward to hanging out with Jeff Catalano again this year, and fall into his always-amazing analog rig featuring TW Acustic, Horning, Thoress and Tron. I’m bringing the sunblock this year, Jeff!
Border Patrol and Living Voice will be there. They had an awesome room last year!
WyWires is going to be pretty much everywhere. I have got to get me some of those. Yo, Alex? You ought there?!?
The Voice That Is is bringing a boat-load of Tidal gear. OMFG. Yes! Score!
So, what am I most excited to see, touch, fondle, and drool on? Lemme see ….
The dCS Puccini ranks pretty high on my list. This may well be my future ex-DAC. Somewhere, sometime, maybe.
At $45k, I’m suspecting that the D’Agostino amps will remain “aspirational” for me, but I’m really looking forward to licking — err, ahh — listening to these.
I’m also down with whatever Tidal chooses to show up with. This brand is new to me, but I’ve been drooling over them for years.
But for me, my money is on Joseph Audio’s new Perspectives. I love the Pulsar. The Pearl 2 and I are currently having a torrid (if one-way) affair. But it’s the Perspectives that I’m hoping will really nail the line into my soul — and possibly my own rig! Well, we’ll see what we see.
Got your tickets yet?
