I was at VTV. Now, keep in mind I own Druids. I didn't find any room at the show where equipment I was familiar with sounded anywhere close to what I know it can sound like in a home, so there was a general problem with lackluster tone, even in horn-based systems. The room characteristics were terrible in all respects. In the Zu room, the Druids exhibited flashes of the character I know them to have but most of what I heard was far below what I get out of my own Druids. Compared to what could be heard in other rooms, Zu's setup was competitive but not as convincing as it should have been. Sean and Adam also bring music strongly skewed to what they like, which is energetic, often musically dense and sometimes not well recorded. Their music choices are always fun, however, so people hang out and enjoy the content with not much obsessing about the gear itself. Also, the hotel carpet turned out to be thicker than usual for hotel carpet. On Saturday at VTV, the Druids in the Zu room didn't have the proper spike height for the conditions, which of course affects performance. This was corrected on Sunday with the arrival of taller spikes. Zu is still getting their act together with respect to refining their show configuration and practices.
Zu also uses a pro audio dac which they like alot. I've heard it twice now and I don't share their enthusiasm for it. It seems to bleed character from music, to me.
They did not bring Definitions because they knew the room would be too small for a proper demo. You really have to be able to locate your ears at least 10' from the Def to hear its sound integrate. It is definitely not a near-field speaker.
On the other hand, when Zu had their own demo session in L.A. in August in a ground-floor room with stable floor, 24' x 32' space, and all their speakers present, they were able to show stellar sound quality.
I did not like the sound quality in the Shindo room. It was clean but dry and bleached of character. The VRS front end may have been a factor in addition to the room itself, and the Shindo amps were an unknown to me.
I also don't know how broken-in either pair of VTV show Druids were. There's no substitute for getting then in your house and breaking them in for a month. I know Zu put the exhibited Druids through the factory blast for break-in, but it's also known not to be enough for a new speaker that is then packed up and shipped.
General reaction nevertheless by listeners in the Zu room was highly favorable and while I think the essential qualities were communicated by the demo, the startling qualities that give Druids a sense of intimate ultra-reality were not vivid except on a few occasions when a highly-energetic, dynamic, recording that was also nicely recorded was used. The room was just a black hole for acoustic energy.
Phil
