A Look Back at AXPONA 2018

In 2018 Merging Technologies hired Michael Broughton to do the production of their room at AXPONA in Chicago. Michael quickly reached out to us and we agreed to work together to showcase DSD music in its greatest capacity (at the time). This is a look back at his experience, in his own words from his blog posts. Michael has agreed to let us post these as a reminder of an amazing audio show, and in preparation of another upcoming collaboration. NativeDSD will be the DSD music sponsor of a listening room set up by Michael and Locrian Audio at the Dallas SouthWest Audio Fest 2024 in just a couple of weeks!

All albums included in this article are now available for 25% off!

*Offer valid through March 18, end of day Central European Time
*Discount will be applied automatically at checkout

Day 1

It’s Friday, opening day of the show. I was up very early along with Chris Hollebone from Merging Technologies. Reflecting back to Thursday, how would I describe the rest of set up day…? Grueling! Unless you have worked these shows you just can’t understand the individual and company commitment and effort that is made in putting these rooms together.

For us in room 1540 we immediately got to work unpacking and storing boxes setting up the Star Sound platforms with the help of Robert Maicks from Star Sound Technologies. Eventually someone said Uhhh… and where are the speakers? And we all stoped dead and looked around dumbfounded. Yes, there was lengthy silence and then the rush of activity as we all filed down stairs in righteous indignation on a holy mission to recover what is ours.  

A couple of hours later all is well as we find the speakers at (“Door 17” sounds like an X-file plot doesn’t it?) in the shipping department and bring up the speakers to the room ourselves. Crises averted everyone gets busy setting up the Merging Player NADAC and Power.

Everything was humming along famously once again, this goes here that goes over there and someone says Uhhh… where are the acoustic devices from Acoustic Geometry? Silence reigns again for a moment and we are out the door one more time heading down to the shipping department hooting and hollering how could this happen. After several hours while part of the tribe continue to work on the Merging Technologies equipment we figure it out, see the very large wooden crate with the address ripped off guess what, we found Acoustic Geometry box. Back to the room with the acoustic devices, we are back on track. 

Now just so you don’t get the wrong idea. I have to give credit to the shipping department at Axpona. Neither issues we had with missing equipment was the fault of Axpona shipping departments. These people are extremely competent and diligent and a pleasure to work with.

Success we had music a little past 12:00 pm on Thursday. The system will continue to play from then on until the show ends on Sunday to give it as much time to settled down as possible.

Back to Friday morning after having left the system playing all night with the Purist Audio System Enhancer we are back in room 1540 dialing in the final position of the speakers and placing the Acoustic Geometry devices one at a time as we listen to how they affect the sound in the room. This will be my first time using Acoustic Geometry at a show so I’m very curious as to how well they work.

We clean up the room and make everything tidy and it’s 10:00 am, time to open the doors to the public. From this point forward we will be playing NativeDSD DSD256 pieces of music. We have some new selections from them that we are looking forward to hearing. We will let you know how things went in the next report.

Day 2

It’s Saturday and the doors are open at Axpona 2018. I’m looking back at Friday, the crowds were enormous. The Merging Technologies room was constantly full with music lovers.

A very good sign during these types of events is if you begin to recognize the same faces returning for another listen or two. Especially when you see them returning with their friends. I saw this happen several times.

I continue to find parallels between my work in audio and my work in photography. When I have a showing of my work in photography and I see folks walk up to that work and hear them let out a slight gasp of disbelief and just stare at the piece. I know something is right about the piece of work in question.

I was witness to this same type of response off and on as it occurred throughout Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Music lovers would walk into the Merging Technologies room, their eyes would go slightly wide, there mouths would drop a bit in disbelief of what they were hearing. Or perhaps they were totally caught off guard by what they were hearing I’m not quite sure. I’m finding it difficult to describe what I was witness to.

The bottom line is the musical presentation we were able to put together in our room achieved what we wanted it to. Folks were happily listening to music as it should be in these situations and in not too much of a hurry to move on.

We played the first cut of Maya Friedman’s Tanaka – Song of Songs. You could almost see the instruments slowly emerge from the deep silent velvet black background right in front of your ears. Transfixing!!

The live cut Seriously off the Jazz album Yoko Mabuchi Trio album is just off the chart. Talk about a toe tapper.

Lisa Jacobs Locatelli Violin Concerto No II – Andante is totally rich and involving.

Day 3

It’s Sunday. It’s been a great show so far. The cold weather has hit and thinned the crowds yet we have had quite a few people wander in and listen to the music in spite of the weather. These folks have the luxury of staying as long as they want to enjoy the experience and many do.

Once we located and placed all the equipment on setup day things have remained on and stayed that way, simply sounding better on each following day. The system is really rocking today and sounding great. As 4:00pm rolls around and it’s time to tear the system down there are bittersweet feelings. To have planned and labored so hard to assemble this wonderful sounding musical work of art only to take it apart just seems wrong! But that is the nature of these shows, isn’t it?

I have a few passions in Life. Guys, pay attention to this next bit. First, my wife. The wife is always first when talking of such things. 🙂 especially if you want that next expensive doodad for your system. And yes, the Wife Acceptance Factor is a real thing!!

Audio and photography are on pretty much equal footing as far as other passions for me. Generally when I’m done with a show like this I rest for a week or two and then head out to the desert for a few weeks to clear my head. I drive as far out into the middle of nowhere that I can and set up camp. 

I pull out the ice chest, the chair, set up the umbrella to protect my very delicate skin from the sun, take a seat and pour a Pellegrino over ice and get the music going, there always has to be music, and promptly fall asleep ( my wife says I snore like a freight train so I’m not too worried about the local critters bothering me ) while keeping one eye open on what the light is doing. I can see many of you shaking your heads in sympathy. Yes, yes it’s a tough job!

Eventually I go wandering to see what I can see. When I find that next spot to set up the camera I pull out one of the many little devices that exist out there in the audio world and listen to some music, very quietly, just barely discernible, as I capture that next scene, and the hours pass. It just doesn’t get much better than this folks. See you at the next show, maybe RMAF.

All the best to you music lovers good luck in the hunt. Here are a few more pieces of Native DSD music we played at Axpona, enjoy the discoveries.

Day 4

Let’s call this a sort of “after show” report for the Merging Technologies room at Axpona 2018. How did things go? Are we happy with the end results? Would we do this again?

All of this stuff we do in audio can and should be distilled down to one thing, the music! Did we get not just good music at Axpona 2018, but were we able to reach that somewhat intangible border between the elusive magical presentation of lifelike music versus a really expensive stereo system that just plays loud?

Based on the comments of those of you who visited the Merging Technologies room I would say yes. We crossed into the borderlands where such things exist. So much so that Positive Feedback has awarded all the participants in the Merging Technologies room with their second Audio Oasis award. Making that two out of three shows in the past few years. A well deserved congratulations to all involved!! So how did things go, quite well I would say.

But let’s get back to the reason why this industry exists. If you will remember my earlier quip about “what good the player without the music.” Simplistic and obvious I know. Yet if I only remember to say this once now is a good a time as ever. The reason for this industry that we so easily and unintentionally push to the recesses of our minds. So lets remember the musicians! Those folks that are bold enough to bare their inner selves and share their musical creativity with us.

And then of course the long chain of folks that pour so much of themselves into capturing these musical works of art in recording sessions. To that point in this case, NativeDSD. The consistent positive reactions we received in the room were due to NativeDSD recordings. The award that we received was given during the playback of NativeDSD recordings. The attention to detail, the care they and their partners put into preserving the intent of the musicians in question deserves recognition. But again, a well deserved congrats to all!

Are we happy with the results? Yes, very much so. Would we do this again? Hmmmm.. You betcha! The reaction of music lovers to good quality musical equipment such as Merging Technologies, a well set up system and the best recordings we can dig up from companies like NativeDSD are more than worth it and accomplish our goals of letting you the music lover experience what is musically possible in your home.

Michael Broughton 
Audiophile Source

All albums included in this article are now available for 25% off!

*Offer valid through March 18, end of day Central European Time
*Discount will be applied automatically at checkout