AXPONA Chicago April 10-12, 2026 - Who is going??

My wife and I were there on Friday (no way was I going to get her to go all 3 days).   I thought the Pure Audio Project Duets in various forms were all quite good.   The Altecs were amazing as were the Perlistens.

one demo I found fascinating was RD Acoustics demo of their EVO3 isolation pucks under a streamer/DAC.   They were playing a number of different tunes and all were much better with the pucks under the DAC.   The sound difference was not subtle.   On a Phil Collins tune in particular the sound with the pucks was much denser, clearer, more articulate, improved attack and decay, and more air.   I couldn’t really get into a location to properly hear the soundstage attributes, but others in the room were quite impressed.   I’ll be ordering a set of these to experiment in my rig.

@dayglow Agreed. That video's demeaning of audio enthusiasts and buyers was a demonstration of the kind of nastiness which teaches me, at least, "never buy from this man." Supercilious, arrogant, and just plain mean. I don't care if he carries good stuff, including things I've liked and am still considering (like AGD) – he's shown who he is and he's off my list as a dealer.

@hilde45    The truth is Youtubers need to create content that caters to the subscribers interest. With the exception of Playback Designs selling relatively unknown/unheard brands is difficult when just depending on the products performance, some mudslinging is necessary to move boxes.

I enjoyed AXPONA again. Seemed bigger than the last one I went to a few years ago. Highlights for me:

The MBL room always impresses. “Another Brick In the Wall” never sounded so unearthly. I also really enjoyed the Third Ear Audio room. Those speakers really were impressive, especially being powered. 
 

Klaus’ room for Odyssey was vibing as always and sounded really good. His new Meilenstein amp is impressive. I just picked up a pair of Kismet monos from him so the comparison was interesting. 
 

Magico’s demos drive me crazy. The new S7s were set up but again playing classical at Muzak level volume. Yawn. Someone really needs to show them how to demo a speaker. They did the same thing the last two times I listened to them. 
 

Had a relisten to SVS’s Pinnacles, and they still impress first the money. Also really dug the Stenheims. That whole rig was megabucks, and sounded like it. 
 

All in all was a good time. The elevators were worse than usual. 

@douglas_schroeder I was at the show all 3 days and attended your seminar. I really enjoyed it especially your testing and conclusions about BURN-IN. I 100% agree with you by the way!