Shota Osabe Piano Trio's Happy Coat on FIM Hi-Rez CD

Oh, the temptation of having a convenient source of high-quality audiophile music just a couple of doors down from your exhibit room. That was my dilemma at last month's Rocky Mountain Audio Fest--the First Impression Music (FIM) room was two doors down, and it was so easy to run down there for a few minutes and choose a title to play in our system. I've talked about FIM before--I've reviewed both the hi-rez redbook CD versions of the Three Blind Mice sampler and Getz/Gilberto here and here. In the last two years I've brought both of those amazing CDs to every trade show I've attended. They're spectatcular demo pieces that never fail to hypnotize the show attendees.

I kept it down to two FIM CDs--The Shota Osabe Piano Trio's Happy Coat and the Jacques Loussier Trio's The Best of Play Bach. I could have easily bought every title they had for sale--easily 40 or 50--but that would have cost a fortune. (They were on sale at the show for $30 to $60 each.) Dan Muzquiz of Blackbird Audio, our dealer that we were representing at the show, wound up buying at least six or seven. Once you listen to the smooth yet extraordinarily detailed sound quality of these hi-rez redbook CDs, it's hard to keep your credit card in your wallet. They're downright addictive.

I bought the Jacques Lossier Trio CD (which I'll review next) because it was the recommendation du jour--so many rooms at RMAF were using it. Sure, it's spectacularly dynamic and the performance is legendary, but Happy Coat was the one that ultimately won my heart. At first the Shota Osabe Piano Trio sounds like a typical Three Blind Mice group...until you see that pianist Osabe-san is joined by Ray Brown on bass and Harold Jones on drums. What makes this 2002 resording so special is that it was Ray Brown's second to last recorded performance--he died 123 days after this was captured in a Japanese studio. This album of standards (including "In the Still of the Night," "This Is All I Ask," and even "I Saw Her Standing There") is full of warmth and richness, so much so that the first thought that popped in my head upon my initial listen was "round as a plum." Happy Coat is absolutely juicy and sweet and comforting.

Here's how good the sound quality of this 2008 remastered version of Happy Coat is: it became a default disc for me at RMAF. Whenever I couldn't decide what I wanted to play next, I just put it in. I knew it would sound great, it would mesmerize the crowds and I could concentrate on other business. In most cases, however, I was compelled to forget about business and sit down and listen and enjoy. Happy Coat makes me very happy indeed.

CCI at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2013

I'm back from the 2013 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in Denver. This year's meet--the tenth annual, by the way--seemed a little quiet compared to past years, but perhaps that's because we were on the second floor of the tower, which seemed like an orphan since it was so isolated from the action on the seventh through the eleventh floors. Still, CCI had a productive show...we added a dealer or two as well as a new product line. I'll elaborate on that in a couple of days on the CCI website.

Once again we shared our room with Dan Muzquiz of Blackbird Audio Gallery and Bob Clarke of Profundo, so we set up two systems side by side and switched them every hour on the hour. It never failed that as soon as we switched over, someone would come into the room and request a tune or two on the other system. In addition, I was without Colleen's help for the first two days of the show--it's getting busy at CCI these days--so I had to rely on Dan and Bob's help more than usual.

With every trade show that we do--and this was our sixth of 2013--there's always one particular component that emerges as the star. This year it was the Opera Callas loudspeaker, which seemed to defy physics in terms of low bass output. Last year we used the floorstanding Opera Grand Mezza loudspeakers and were vexed by the lack of deep bass in the room--it was almost as if someone disconnected the woofers. It took plenty of tweaking late into the night before the show to coax the lowest frequencies from those five-inch woofers. With the Callas speakers, however, the bass was deep and impressive as soon as they were plugged in. Since we were once again sharing with Blackbird Audio Gallery and Profundo, we had to place the Operas in front of the big floorstanding Trenner & Friedl Pharaohs--and everyone was convinced that they were subwoofers. No, all that bass (the Callas is rated down to 32 Hz, amazingly enough) was coming from the little Operas.

Quite a few show attendees were curious and initially critical of the five--count 'em, five--tweeters on the small but beautifully finished Callas. Most visitors were very aware of the Callas review a couple of months ago in Stereophile, and John Atkinson's follow-up in this month's issue as well. JA was very skeptical of the use of two tweeters above and below the SEAS woofer, and of the "triplet" array of tweeters on the back panel--I think his exact words were "It shouldn't work!"--but his measurements supported reviewer John marks' enthusiastic review. As a result, almost every "serious" visitor to the room walked behind the Callas to see those extra drivers.

Here's the crazy thing--the Callas has been around since the '90s. It was reviewed in Stereophile by Sam Tellig many years ago. It hasn't changed that much since then...perhaps new drivers and a few improvements here and there, but it's been the same basic design for close to two decades. Yet everyone thinks the Callas (and its big brother, the Grand Callas) is sporting some revolutionary new design.

Finding an amp for the Callas proved to be the real challenge. We planned on debuting the new Unison Research Triode 25 integrated amplifier at RMAF, but it didn't quite make it to CCI headquarters on time. We plan on showing it at CES in January, complete with its optional USB DAC feature. So we decided to bring in the gorgeous push-pull P40 integrated amplifier instead. This is the first one we've brought into the US, although it's been selling well in Europe for several years. It features a stunning Murano glass faceplate that really captures and reflects the light when placed properly in the room. Since the glass is hand-blown, each faceplate is slightly different from the next one. Unfortunately, a bad EL34 tube flared up and we didn't have a replacement tube until our Denver dealer, Blu Note Audio, helped out. By the time we got the new tube in, the P40's replacement was already impressing the crowds--so we left everything as is and showed the P40 in a static display right at the entrance of the room.

The P40's replacement was a seemingly modest Unison Research Unico Nuovo, part of the hybrid amplifier line. I brought it as a back-up amp, yet it shined in the RMAF spotlight. The Nuovo was just reviewed by Marvin Bolden of StereoMojo (review to appear very soon); he was so impressed he bought the unit. Here you see the Nuovo paired with my trusty Unico CDE CD player--the same one I've been using in my system for over two years, and the same one we've used at probably a dozen shows. I know CDs are fading away, but this is still one of my favorite players out there.

One of the highlights of the show occured when Dean Peer popped into our room, plugged in his bass and started playing for the attendees. Too bad he was only there for about twenty minutes.

The other system in the room was also very impressive. Bob Clarke brought in his usual battery of pint-sized Heed Audio components from Hungary--preamp, power supplies, phono stage, monoblock amps, DAC and transport, all small enough to take up a single shelf. But if you know Heed, you know that it's small but mighty. The turntable is the awesome Basis 2500 Signature, mated with the Basis unipivot arm and the new flagship Transfiguration Proteus cartridge. The speakers, like last year, are the Trenner & Friedl Pharaohs, but this time they're in a striking pure white finish.

Before we left Denver, Colleen and I headed over to Blu Note Audio for a visit with Brandon Howell, the owner. Blu Note is our Unison Research dealer in Denver, and they've spent the last year building a state-of-the-art home entertainment and automation store that's truly impressive. I immediately saw two of our Unison amps--the S6 and the Simply Italy--sitting in a place of honor along the main wall of the showroom. I've never seen the Simply Italy with the cherry faceplate before...this was the first one we brought into the US. The S6, also in cherry, looked great right next to it. I told Brandon about the new Triode 25, and he's getting one of the first units. I told him to place it right between the two other amps.

The nicest thing about RMAF 2013 is that we only had to drive five hours back to Western Colorado, as opposed to 20 hours back to Texas. It snowed while we headed over Vail Pass, but it wasn't dangerous--just breathtakingly beautiful. Now that we're back home, Colleen and I are already planning CES as well as a PureAudio dealer event next month at Blackbird Audio Gallery. In addition, we have a new product line to promote. But I do want to thank Dan and Bob for making this year's RMAF run so smoothly, and I can't wait until next year!

Getting Ready for the 2013 Rocky Mountain Audio Fest

It's almost time for the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest! This year will be slightly different because we already live in Colorado, albeit 250 miles away from Denver. But a five hour drive is far preferable to a twenty-hour drive, and we plan on this show running far more smoothly than last year.

That's why we're keeping it simple this year: we'll be showing a system comprised of the Opera Callas monitors, fresh from their review in Stereophile, the Unison Research CDE CD player and the Unison Research P40 integrated amplifier, with all cabling and power management by Furutech. This is the first P40 we've had in the US, and as you can see from the photo it's strikingly beautiful and different. The faceplate is made from genuine hand-blown Murano glass, which contains all sorts of amazing variations that pick up the light in unusual ways. In other words, each P40--as well as its big brother, the P70--looks a little different from every other one.

Like last year, we'll be sharing a room with our good friends Dan Muzquiz of Blackbird Audio Gallery and Bob Clarke of Profundo. Bob plans on showing Viva from Italy, Trenner & Friedl from Austria, Heed Audio from Hungary and Transfiguration of Japan. The turntable will be from Basis, right here in the USA. Also representing the US is Cardas Audio cabling. We'll basically have two separate systems like we did last year, and we'll switch off every hour.

We'll have a few extra surprises which I'll announce over the next few days as well. We may have more goodies from companies such as Ultrasone, Carot One and Furutech, so check back!

Hugh Masakela and Sly and the Family Stone on Hybrid CD/SACD

Why do I keep buying SACDs when I don't have an SACD player? It sounds kind of silly, but it started happened by accident. Every time I attend a trade show, I try to buy something to play in my room while I'm there. At the New York Audio Show in May, I purchased Shelby Lynne's Just a Little Lovin' on what I thought was CD. I already owned and adored it on LP, but I needed something for the Unison Research Unico CDE player we had on display in the room. Halfway back to the room, I looked down at the little disc--yeah, I had already opened it up--and I saw "SACD" written everywhere. "This isn't going to play on the CDE," I said, slapping my forehead. "Now I have to return it, and I hate returning things."

As a Hail Mary I placed it in the CDE anyway, pushed the start button...and it played fine. In fact, it sounded spectacular. That's because it was a CD/SACD hybrid disc, which means that it has different layers of data and will work on machines that play either SACDs or CDs. I repeated my mistake at the Newport Beach Show in June with Ella Fitzgerald's Clap Hands Here Comes Charlie. It played as well.

For some reason, SACD as a digital format seems to be hanging in there, despite the emergence of competing (and possibly superior) formats such as Blu-ray Audio. One of the reasons it endures, I suspect, is because of the now ubiquitous CD/SACD hybrid disc. I'm proof of that--I don't care if I'm getting something I don't need, I'm grabbing the hybrid first. Although these hybrid discs received some criticism when they first appeared because the redbook CD layers often seemed to sound less than first-rate, those days seem to be gone. I've gotten into the habit of buying hybrid CDs because a) most of the "hot" audiophile remasters seem to be more easily obtained in this mixed format, and b) one day I might have an SACD player, and I'll already have some titles. It's sort of like my adventures with Blu-ray Audio, especially with the 2L label from Norway--sure, I have a cheap Blu-ray player to test out the new format, but I like listening to the hybrid disc on my CD player. It's convenient and it's easy.

So when I had the budget for a couple of new discs for the upcoming Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in mid-October, I started perusing the hybrid CD/SACD sections of Acoustic Sounds, Music Direct and Elusive Discs for ideas. I decided not to do vinyl--it's going to be a crowded little room and I want to keep it simple--so it's all about feeding the CDE with good recordings. And for me that means hybrid discs.

First I purchased Hugh Masakela's Hope per Colleen's request; she heard Bob Clarke play it at the Newport Beach show and fell in love with the song "Stimela (The Coal Train)." This has just been remastered by Chad Kassem and Acoustic Sounds, and it is undoubtedly one of the best live recordings I've ever heard. I've said this before but I'm not a huge fan of live recordings--the crowd usually sounds artificial and obtrusive, and the recording methods tend to be "on the fly" and not perfectly controlled. Hope defies my expectation with an energetic, explosive sound that really captures the excitement of the live venue while preserving all the natural timbres you hear in an isolated, first-class studio. I look forward to wowing the RMAF attendees with this one.

I bought the new ORG edition of Sly and the Family Stone's There's a Riot Goin' On for the coolness factor alone. This just came out a few weeks ago, and the audiophile community was instantly buzzing about it. Sonically this is the opposite of Hope; it's a purely studio creation that relies heavily of special effects and doctored sounds to get its message across. That means it lacks some of the live excitement and realistic portrayals of instruments you hear in the Masakela disc. But the music is, well, sensational on this landmark 1971 album, and the level of interaction among the musicians is clearly inspired. This is one of those instances where an audiophile remastering means that that a troublesome original recording has been made palatable, as opposed to a sonic legend being taken to an even further level.

In any case, I'll be playing both hybrid discs at RMAF--perhaps Masakela a bit more than Sly. It's all about wowing the crowd, playing things that make them wander in, slightly hypnotized from the hallways. See you there.