Pacific Audio Fest 2022Impressions: The Pacific Audio Fest 2022, a Photo Essay, and my Audio Oasis! Awards, Part the First [updated 09/04/2022]

Robinson reflecting… (portrait by John Robinson; image processing by Ye Olde Editor)

Prologue…

At long last, after 2.5 years of pandemic interruption and scheduling conflicts, I was finally able to get to an audio show…and not a moment too soon. The Pacific Audio Fest was held from July 29-31 in SeaTac, WA, at the Hilton Double Tree Hotel. It being slightly under a three-hour drive from Happy Valley/Portland, Oregon, there was simply no way that I was going to miss this one. (Especially driving a wondrous fair Mercedes AMG S65 V-12 Twin Turbo, courtesy of a close friend!) And the fact that I had acted as a resource to Lou Hinkley, Show Director, on the planning of the event made it even more imperative that I be at this show.

Besides…audio cabin fever, you know!

And so, Lila and I made the trip north by driving on Thursday the 28^th, with Carol and Dave Clark flying up to SeaTac to meet us at the show on the same day.

Dave and Carol Clark, my unindicted co-conspirators here at Positive Feedback, kicking back on the day before the start of the show. It's like family they are to Lila Ritsema and I.

Dave the Magnificent: a portrait.

PAF Show Director Lou Hinkley looking cool indeed with the PAF 2022 T-shirt with the logo that he designed. Best logo that I've seen at any audio show!

Gary Gill, PAF 2022 Show Manager, at the controls!

If you were at PAF 2022, I certainly hope that you snagged some of the cool merch. I picked up the T-shirt and a Hoodie...ultra. Lou designed the logo, and I think it the best audio show logo that I've seen.

It was a particular delight to see Marjorie Baumert, for so many years the Show Director of the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, at PAF and helping with the event. Cheers, Marjorie!

At every audio show that PF's Managing Editor Carol Clark and I attend, we follow our tradition of getting at least one portrait of her toasting with a glass of wine. PAF 2022…done!

The inimitable David Solomon of Qobuz, working hard to get his Qo buzzed….

Andy Jones and Dave Clark enjoying the moment; Pastor Dave is in the background, contemplating.

Naturally, Carol wasn't going to let Dave be the only one who sat by Andy Jones!

David Solomon of Qobuz with Lila Ritsema, CFO and Business Manager of Positive Feedback…a goodly moment.

You know, I just couldn't resist this photographic opportunity. Here we have Marjorie in a revealing moment of "You've got to be kidding me!" rendered in a very fetching fresco. You can learn a lot about the great person that Marjorie is in this one photograph….

While cruising the pre-event festivities, I ran into my good audio friend Merrill Wettasinghe of Merrill Audio. A brilliant audio designer, and a great person.

The rooms, and my 2022 Pacific Audio Fest Audio Oasis! Awards

As an explanation to anyone new to my Audio Oasis! Awards: these are my audio show awards for those rooms that really draw me in, seduce me with their performance (I have high standards!), and compel me to come back whenever I can. These are spaces that provide real emotional connection with the music, even under the very tough conditions that most venues impose.

Big note: these are not "Best Room of Show" awards, or anything like them. I don't think that they're particularly legitimate; most shows are too large for any reviewer to visit all the rooms, and too short for them to be able to do much more than spend a few minutes each in all of the rooms in the time available. And so, many years ago I decided to focus only on the rooms that pulled me in…and there are always a handful…and give them my Audio Oasis! Awards without bothering to sort them out.

At PAF 2022, the following rooms were the ones that I visited that did make that emotional connection for me. The participants in each of these special rooms will receive an Audio Oasis! Award from me.

In no particular order:

The Audio Company/VAC/Von Schweikert Audio/KRONOS/Aurender/LampizatOr/Esoteric/Hana

The majestic and powerful presentation of the music in this room was brilliant.

Big room. Big sound. As usual.

The music produced here was really spectacular. No surprise; VAC and VSA have been hooking up at audio shows for a number of years now, always with superior results. And over the past year, I've had quite a lot to say about the supreme LP playback technology that Louis Desjardins and KRONOS have been producing.

The KRONOS Pro LE and SCPS Power Supply and Esoteric strutting their stuff.

Most of my listening here was to LPs via KRONOS. While this isn't the Discovery turntable system...what is?...it was still very fine on the analog side of things. This is spendy stuff, without a doubt. But for sheer scale, dynamics, resolution, and presence, this room had it by the ton. I visited it several times, always with stellar results.

Kevin Hayes of VAC: a portrait.

In the Audio Company room with Von Schweikert Audio and VAC...

Definitely an Audio Oasis! Award winner, big time.

Focal-Naim

The Focal-Naim room

Focal-Naim showed off the latest generation of their symbiotic products at PAF 2022. I'm very familiar with the Focal line, with the Sopra One monitors, the Sopra Three floorstanders, and a pair of their larger outdoor speakers, the 100 OD8 in residence here at PF River-City-and-up-the-Hill. I was sure that I would be pleased with the Focal…I know the sound quite well.

Naim is a classic high-end brand, but one that I don't have much exposure to their characteristics and performance. I was therefore quite interested in hearing Focal with the latest generation of Naim electronics.

I got to hear this room on two or three occasions. Each time, the articulate detail, dynamics, and musical punch to the Focal-Naim combination impressed me. A lively system! And always musical.

Definitely worthy of one of my Audio Oasis! Awards…duly given.

More to come in Part the Second...

All photographs and image processing by David W. Robinson, except the opening photograph by John Robinson. The Alice in Wonderland cartoon by Sir John Tenniel is in the public domain.