See my impressions here.
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I have to agree.
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Paul and the PSA team graciously let us in early for a private demonstration. System is bowling us over with the Air Lens in action.
Price $2k available in May per Paul.
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A bunch of us were there, and I have to revise my opinion of the AL. Paul was kind enough to play a selection for me, from both Qobuz and then from my CD. Oh, I Had a Golden Thread by Eva Cassidy. The AL is good, but the PST is better. More organic, blacker, more naturally rounded. A great transport.
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Turntable lust in the Vandersteen room.
AMG Turntable, Kento Speakers, Aurrender N30, AR DAC, amp, and pre.
Nice sound from the Kentos, room is a bit tight.
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Wonderful, thanks! Enjoy.
Did you have a chance to discuss your findings?
No. I plan to with Paul but we ended the demo just at 10:00 and the masses piled into the room. I’ll try to find a quiet moment with him.
Paul was right there and acknowledged the difference.
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I was at the demo and agree with Tony. In defense of the AirLens the network they set up was not high end from what I could tell, remains to be seen if performance is improved by sweating the details of network set up (I expect it will). Also, keep in mind it’s a $2k streamer, comparing it to an Innuous Pulsar (~$6k, which I heard and liked) is probably an unfair match. There are even more expensive streamers that may (should) outperform the Pulsar, but this isn’t the place to discuss that …
One other thing I should add, we wonder if what Qobuz is playing is truly the same as a (in this case) CD. I’ve read elsewhere there is some doubt the quality is exactly the same.
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I’m only really interested in reports of the SEWE300B from Decware in the Wathen room. So far I’ve seen only one report: that the Border Patrol 300B seemed somewhat lifeless in comparison.
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What was the interface to play Qobuz through the AL?
I was only able to spend 2-3 hours at the show on Friday. Saw @Paul on my first pass through the PS Audio room, but he was busy, so I didn’t get to speak with him. Second time through after lunch he wasn’t there, but I got to chat a bit with @jamesh which was very nice. And got to speak with Frank Doris for a bit about a Copper article I’m working on.
This was my fist audio show ever, and it was exciting, and the first floor stuff (manufacturer rooms and expo spaces) were a lot of fun, but I found the hotel room demos really disappointing. I was mainly interested in the VPI and Magnepan rooms, but when I got to the VPI one, there was no one from VPI in it, and the only ‘table there was a Scout. So much for looking at shiny toys or maybe talking with Mat. And the Maggie room had 3.7i and LRS+ and nothing else (though I learned after getting home that Wendell had a “secret room” someplace where he was demoing the new bass units).
Plus the music everywhere was primarily heavily processed pop with overbearing synthetic bass. I asked the young man running the Maggie demo if he had anything in his playlist that had acoustic instruments in a real space. He just kind of shrugged and said he was from their repair department and was subbing for someone who was at lunch. At any number of rooms I found myself wishing I could hear a few minutes of the openings to Mahler’s 2nd or 3rd symphonies. And I’m not even a Mahler fan. 
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Good question and point, Vince. Near as I could decipher it was some home brew Mac that I think Chris put together for the show. Standard networking. There may be something to this.
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I am likely off the mark but I think JVS does not appreciate active speakers being at these shows. It’s subtle writing.
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Your experience is typical. The small rooms often don’t sound good, even if the exhibitors work carefully on setup. You never know who will be holding down the fort; usually, though, it’s someone more knowledgeable than the repair guy. For your next show, bring a USB stick or CD with a few tracks you like and know well and ask for one of them to be played. Most exhibitors are fine with this, although a few want to play only tracks they know will sound good.
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Speaking of requests, in the Maggie room an attendee asked the dj to bring up a particular track from Tidal, and when they played it, I was kind of appalled. It sounded awful. It was the kind of track that might sound impressive to someone who wants to show how much bombast a system can produce, but it bore no resemblance to naturally produced musical sound. I know, I sound like an old fuddy-duddy, but that could also describe 95% of the attendees I saw.
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A Roon device of some sort. Apparently not a kludge thing that I first assumed. I talked with Scott. He said the AL we heard represents the final production expectations, and he also felt the network was not limiting what we’re hearing - although we maniacs may know how to improve such things.
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