Axpona

Donc55,
You are correct, that's my impression as well. I didn't bother with CES this year(after attending the previous two shows). I don't understand why that type of sound is seemingly the High End standard. It isn't a natural sound but rather a dry and sterile sound IMO. Don, I guess we hear alike.
Charles,

Charles and Don,
I concur. I was only at AXPONA for a few hours on Friday, which we all know is the usually the worst day of the an audio show. Of the couple of dozen rooms I visited, most were boring with the unfortunately typical "audiophile" sound, including the much discussed Magico. The exception to the rule was the Muraudio room, omni-directional electrostatics. I found them to be quite engaging - tonal balance with an expansive soundfield. And it is certainly true that I gravitate to my biased personal preferences, in which case I need to give a shout-out to the Volti/BorderPatrol room. For me, it was the much needed musical island of the show.

Hi Papermill,
No question there are good and even excellent sounding systems at shows, I've heard my share. It's just that too many of the highly touted and often very costly components are actually disappointing to listen to. They have that artificial sound that Don described so well. I bet the Volti- Border Patrol room was very good and more natural sounding.
Charles,

Yes, the Volti/Border Patrol and Muraudio rooms both sounded fine at Axpona. Ditto the new Legacy V. Among omnis I also liked the two MBL rooms with RTR sources-- though the smaller 116F on Jolida tube monoblocks amps seemed often to surpass the larger 111F on MBL 1000wpc Class A amps. By Sunday the gaps between many rooms had narrowed or closed.

You all may be right, but strong conclusions were hard for me. A lot of rooms played too loudly (like MBL to get over the sound of the HVAC), so there was too much room interaction with sparse acoustic treatment. The antidote for the dry sound at Axpona, along with Volti, I think was Harbeth/Vinnie Rossi. They had that system really dialed in. Good sound is more careful execution and taste, and maybe not so much technical features, although those products have merit. And some like big Wilsons and YG I thought were outstanding.