AXISS Audio Garners Rave Reviews at 2023 AXPONA
April 20, 2023
The 2023 AXPONA Show: Jonathan Valin on Speakers $30k and Up
"I’m going to organize this report by floor, starting at the top (16), where Dr. Roland Gauder of Gauder Akustik introduced his four-driver, three-way, $149k DARC 200, driven by a complete suite of Soulution Series 7 electronics and sourced by a Soulution 760 DAC (one of my references) and an exotic Yukiseimitsu Audio AP-01 turntable. As it turned out, this room was a delightful surprise, as the DARC 200s were not equipped with Accuton ceramic woofers, as has been the case with the Gauder speakers I’ve heard in the past, but with aluminum-sandwich ones (the midrange, I believe, remains ceramic and the tweeter diamond). The characteristic ribs of the handsome chassis have also been changed to solid aluminum, with intermediate dampers between each rib. The sonic result of these changes to drivers and enclosures couldn’t have been more positive. Gauders have never lacked for detail, but in tone color they’ve tended toward the lean, cool, antiseptic side. Not the DARCs! The sound was extremely rich, smooth, dark, lovely, and listenable. And tremendously dynamic. It was just a matter of luck, but this very first room turned out to be a potential candidate for Best of Show." —Jonathan Valin, The Absolute Sound
Robert Harley’s Best of Show
Best Sound (cost no object)
"Axiss Audio’s demo of the Gauder Akustik DARC 200 loudspeaker driven by Soulution electronics with a Transrotor turntable and Air Tight Opus One cartridge. Spectacular dynamics, hard-hitting bass, quick, clean, non-fatiguing, and just plain musical." —Robert Harley, The Absolute Sound
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