On Friday evening, 18 October, industry luminaries from Denmark, Sweden and the UK gathered at Audio Connection, one of Sydney’s premier hi-fi retailers, courtesy of distributor and sister company Advance Audio. Each representative would host a presentation with an emphasis not just on providing insights into specific products, but to also instil a deeper understanding of their company’s vision.
United Nations
Invitations to the ‘High-End Audio Innovators’ event were sent out and promptly accepted by key Audio Connection clientele. An opportunity to meet dCS’s Alasdair McDonald, Gryphon Audio’s Rune Skov, Johan Coorg from Hegel, Linn’s Michael O’Rourke and Bjorn Bengtsson from Nordost face to face, was too good to miss. The event sold-out within record time.
Facilitating the whole event was Audio Connection’s proprietor Nigel Ng and his dedicated staff who know a thing or two about staging extravaganzas. Just this year, the store has held numerous functions with guests from overseas and interstate. It’s also pertinent to mention that Audio Connection is an extremely proactive enterprise. Not only does it serve as a cornerstone for hi-fi in Sydney, but it also incentivises charity events, supporting young musicians via Australian Children’s Music Foundation (ACMF) and Musicians Making A Difference (MMAD), in addition to being involved in The Leichhardt Collective, a support network for businesses and locals of the Inner West suburb.
For this event, bringing together key high-level personnel from some of the biggest high-end audio names in the biz would have been a mammoth task for the store’s organisers. Nevertheless, the mission impossible was accepted. And successfully pulled off.
On the night, Hi-Fi is of course, a given, and more on that below. A live performance by special guest Aliya, supported by an acoustic guitarist, provided another musical dimension. Aliya is making waves after dropping her debut single “Unfinished Love”, which got some traction after recent acclaim in the ‘Unearthed’ Australian music scene.
Of course, as the functions progresses, the focus turns. The vibe takes a more social dimension. Food and drink feature strongly. In this case, attendees were treated to a variety of delicious wood-fired pizzas courtesy of Bergamotto Catering, bookended by truly excellent Australian wines from Wine is Thicker Than Water and delicious on the spot made-to-order donut treats by Loukoumades Lane.
The Presentations
dCS
The dCS digital sources were employed in both the Gryphon Audio and Nordost demonstrations as the source component of choice. The UK company’s representative Alasdair McDonald ran through key aspects of dCS product design with an emphasis on the new Apex technology. In fact, he had at hand fully populated Apex circuit boards in order to inform and update attendees on what the exclusive technology is capable of. The company has pushed further into uncharted proprietary digital technology with its recent announcement of the uber flagship Varèse multi-chassis product.
Hegel
Johan Coorg demonstrated Hegel's recently released H400, a 250 watts powerhouse with a high current power supply and very high damping factor (meaning excellent loudspeaker control over the low frequencies). Coorg emphasised the stability and user-friendliness of the new User Interface (UI) which he asserted provides Hegel’s fastest connection to your music to date. The new Hegel H400 was driving the Meta technology-upgraded KEF Reference 1 Meta.
Gryphon Audio
Rune Skov introduced the Diablo 333 (review here) which was used in an upwardly skewed system. By that, I mean the AU$35K integrated amplifier was driving Estelon’s gargantuan Extreme Mk II speakers at AU$350K (with dCS’s Rossini Apex DAC at near AU$40K with support by Gryphon Audio’s own cables). Literally a 10 to one ratio between amplifier and speakers. Skov played expertly selected music, including a piece from the movie A Good Person which he was emotionally connected to. The Three Blind Mice label track Skov played was K.I.L.L.E.R. It was quite a revelation hearing the performance this system provided. I heard excellent dynamics, controlled low frequencies and terrific resolution belying the cost disparity between components.
Linn
Linn Selekt DSM Classic with the new Linn 150 loudspeakers were the conduits for Michael O’Rourke’s presentation. The 150 speakers were shown in Exakt configuration. O’Rourke talked about the 2024 version of the Linn Selekt Classic hub, which offers users the option to embark on a Linn full system journey at a point which aligns with their budget. The in-built flexibility allows incremental upgrades, elevating the system while also providing a path for to the company’s latest technologies. O’Rourke also highlighted the benefits of not sacrificing equipment to the variations of trade-in and the second-hand market. The 150 speakers are a very promising new product from Linn.
Nordost
“Cables are a take-away device. They cannot add”, said Bjorn Bengtsson, an experienced hand at presentations. He ran through some company history while addressing misconceptions and myths associated with cable design, especially AC power cables. He also conducted quick A/B comparisons between mid-tier Blue Heaven balanced interconnect cables of different vintages to illustrate the sonic differences wrung from Nordost latest cable technologies. It seemed the wider consensus in the audience acknowledged the improvements rendered by the current version of this affordable cable. The system sounded powerful and super-resolving with dCS Bartok source, Burmester pre/power combo, Nordost AC and power distribution products plus, of course, a full Nordost cable loom. Speakers were the new WATT/Puppy from Wilson Audio (review here).
Conclusion
The best way to conclude this feature is by leaving the last words to Audio Connection’s proprietor Nigel Ng. When I asked how he felt about having these industry leaders gathered together at Audio Connection for this special night, he stated:
What a blessing to have such incredible support for our country from international representatives. It's no small sacrifice on their part. The killer 50+ hour return journey for most of them, the weeks away from their homes and families, and by coming here, it means another part of the world is without their support (and let's face it, Australia and New Zealand represent a very small part of the world in relative terms). So, to have one of the representatives from one brand, let alone twelve representatives from eight different brands all fly down for nine customer events around the region was a milestone level of support for Australia... and quite a logistical challenge! [Representatives from Audioquest, Harman International and KEF were unable to attend the High-End Audio Innovators event at Audio Connection but visited dealers around the country… EK].
Thank you to all the Advance Audio/Audio Connection teams, the retailers we held events with, and of course, the international representatives: David Tovissi, Mark Ng and Amrit Lyall from Harman, Robert Wong and Adam Shaw-Cotteril from Audioquest, Michael O'Rourke from Linn, Alasdair McDonald from dCS, Bjorn Bengtsson from Nordost, Rune Skov from Gryphon, Johan Coorg from Hegel, and Lawrence Chu, Hylas Wan and Herris Chan from KEF.
Having this level of international support for Australia and New Zealand shows how important the region is for the brands, and also, our deeper level of connection with our brands that goes beyond just business. We have an attitude that "a high tide raises all ships", meaning that we work with our stakeholders, including manufacturers and retailers, to achieve a universal positive result for all, focussed on providing a world-class level of service for the end-users who own, or will one day own, any of our represented brands.
Owning both a retail store and a distribution company, some might think that it might present a conflict of interest, and a potential source of nepotism. However, the truth couldn't be further. As a distributor, entrusted with the brands in our portfolio, our duty is to uphold a standard of excellence in representation, knowledge and ethics. There's no better way of doing this than having our own store that we can use as an example of this. As a distributor, we can only really talk about these standards to other retailers, and as a retailer, we can put them into practice. Not only that, we use our real-world retail experiences to collaborate with other retailers around the region, sharing initiatives that have worked, and those that haven't, so that we can all grow together. For me, it’s so important that we collaborate with other industry men and women, as we have a much better chance of being able to live up to the flag bearing expectations that our brands have for us, by working together, rather than if we were to do it alone.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. Congrats Audio Connection on yet another successful soirée.
… Edgar Kramer
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Audio Connection
515 Parramatta Road
Leichhardt NSW 2040
+61 (0) 2 9561 0788
www.audioconnection.com.au
