• Verity Audio Rienzi Loudspeaker, $7995 ($3195, head unit only)
• Nagra CDC-CD Player $14,995
• Silversmith Audio Silver interconnects and speaker cable: Interconnect, $1400 (3 ft/pr) Speaker Cable, $2500 (6 ft/pr)

The Verity Audio/Nagra room had been moved to a much larger space than initially planned for the debut of Verity’s new modular speaker the Rienzi. Nonetheless the Rienzi with it’s two-way head unit sitting atop a sub-bass module was one of the prettiest voice speakers that I have thus far enjoyed at the show. Smooth, and coherent with excellent low level detail, I listened to a combination of vocal favorites, from Lyle Lovett to Rosanne Cash and came away with an appreciation of this system’s expressive midrange detail and microdynamics (particularly during the mingling of Lovett and Ricki Lee Jones harmony during “North Dakota�). The top end was particularly effortless and had the kind of bloom that I rarely perceive from digital playback. The Nagra was yet another stunning exercise in miniaturization from the Swiss company known for its film industry standard tape and hard drive recorders. In this iteration the CDC is equipped with variable output, level and balance controls and both XLR and RCA outputs. The true extent of bass extension and composure wasn’t revealed in this overwhelming setting but I can only imagine what more there is to be heard in a room more suited to the scale of the Rienzi.

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