South West Audio Fest 2026

The South West Audio Fest was held in Dallas, Texas from July 23rd through the 25th, 2026. And its show’s host Gary Gill and Lou Hinkley really know how to throw an event. This particular one was as well organized as their others and the rooms were nice sized as well.

What a wonderful sight and delight it was to attend my first South West Audio Fest. I’ve attended the Capital Audio Fest for a few years now, so this year I decided to reconnect with Texas. I was stationed in San Antonio and Wichita Falls during my military service. Heck, it’s been 45 years since I was last there, but I’ll tell you one thing: the heat’s the same! As soon as I walked out of the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, I was reminded of how intense the Texas heat is in July!

What I so enjoyed about this particular audio fest was how light the attendance was, both from distributors and attendees. This gave me a great opportunity to actually listen to many systems without the usual distractions or stresses associated with capturing so much within a given time frame. Yeah, it may sound somewhat selfish of me, but in the end, I enjoyed this show much more than any other. For the first time, I was actually able to sit down and listen to a system for 30 minutes or more with very few disturbances. Finally, I had an opportunity to speak with designers and showgoers alike. I felt like there was no stress whatsoever while walking this event.

It was a pleasant surprise to run into MA Recording’s owner, artist, and musician Todd Garfinkle. I haven’t seen Garfinkle in many years and can boast that his MA recordings are among the best audiophile recordings available. I impressed myself when I counted over a dozen of his recordings on display that are still on my playlist.

One of the manufacturers I heard about that I wanted to introduce myself to was Snake River Audio. These impressively built cables boast some interesting design features that are custom designed and come in various affordable models starting at under $1k.

I don’t know where to start when I walked into this suite. Altec Lansing planar loudspeaker??? Huh? Yep, the new Altec Lansing model Ribbonacci Reference ($89k) was on full display. I did see Infigo Audio electronics of Canada, Method 4 DAC ($35k), Method 7 pre ($20k), and Method 3 mono amps ($55k). The room was so dark that I couldn’t really tell what was doing what, but I did run into my old NY Audiophile friend and Altec Lansing dealer Steve Rabitz of Sound Insight, who told me he’d invited me out to his NY home for a closer inspection. I think I’ll take him up on his offer.

Get out the Windex!

Perfect8 Cube T ($78k): These Swedish-built designs always impress me. Having heard this brand for many years, I remain in awe of how inert their specialized glass enclosure is, which results in a level of quiet that immediately stands out above all else. Driven by Thrax electronics, this system excelled in its low noise while improving translucency and overall balance. The Cube-T is a quasi-omnidirectional design (with side-firing midrange drivers), while its woofer section is self-powered. I’ve awarded the Perfect8 model The Force ($300k), Best Sound FOUR YEARS IN A ROW back in 2010. I must add, this might be the only loudspeaker company I am aware of over the past decade that reduced its prices rather than increased them. Bravo!!

I was unfamiliar with Pilot Radio and was pleasantly surprised by the guile and sonic dexterity of their stereo Pilot 232 amplifier ($4,790) and matching preamplifier (starting at $3,590). As a longtime fan of the DeVore Fidelity O/93s ($11k), I found this new-to-me pairing delivered a fantastic performance via the Linn Majik LP12 or Benchmark DAC3.

As a longtime fan of Gauder Acoustics, their 2.5-way Arcona 80 loudspeaker ($13,975)—driven by a trio of Eversolo components, including the AMP-F10 ($2,500), T10 streamer ($2,200), and DAC-Z10 ($1,980)—reminded me that affordable sonic excellence is still available if you know where to look. In this suite, two pairs of the Arcona 80s were set up side by side. One pair rested on the bare carpet, while the other sat on a set of IsoAcoustics GAIA isolation feet. Switching back and forth, the results were strikingly obvious: with the GAIA feet, the soundstage opened up, and the bass became unstuck from the loudspeaker’s plane. I was impressed by how these affordable accessories elevated an already capable loudspeaker.

Grandinote of Italy and Kimber Kable really put on a great demo at this year’s event. This was my first time listening to the Grandinote Mac8 Evoluzione loudspeaker ($128k), after hearing a number of their previous models. The Evoluzione easily sounds like the most dynamically alive. Built on a milled aluminum chassis and crossover-less design, this 98dB efficient line source is at home with a flea-watt or mega-watt setup. Of course, the system here was composed of the Grandinote Solo integrated/DAC ($28,600) and Celio dual mono preamp ($8,400). Kimber Kables chosen were the KS6065 series ($12,500) and Kimber Palladium PK10 AC cords ($2,400). It was nice to see how many showgoers walked into this suite, sat and just listened to music rather than ask 100,000 questions. A good sounding system can do that. I just sat in the back and admired the show. Bravo to another excellent sounding setup.

PureAudioProject Quartet15, w/ Walnut gloss baffles ($19,500), brings forth an open-baffle design 96db, and honed over 14 years by Ze’ev Schlik. The Quartet15 features two 15″ woofers, a 10″ mid-woofer that also uses Coax10, and the unique Voxativ AF-2.6, a 5″ full-range driver serving as an extended tweeter. All drivers feature paper cones and share a common sonic signature to maintain tonal consistency across the entire frequency range. Driven by the 18-watt Opera Consonance Reference 5.5i ($4k) and Opera Consonance Linear 845 ($7k, at 28W using SE 845 tubes). Analog was via a Well Tempered Lab Versalex turntable with a CTRL motor controller, using a Dynavector Prima phono cartridge (North American debut). Digital Source was the remarkably affordable LAIV Harmony DAC. Silversmith Fidelium speaker cables and interconnects were used throughout.

Oklahoma audio salon Reference Analog, located on the 11th floor, put on a dazzling display of sonic showmanship. Of all the eye-catching components on hand, the Dohman Helix One turntable ($80,000), equipped with a 12-inch Supatrac Nighthawk tonearm ($21,000), won me over. I, too, noticed what appeared to be the Hana Unami Black cartridge ($11,500) resting atop a Boulder 2108 phonostage ($62,000) and an Audio Research pre ($$$?). I’ve always been a fan of Boulder electronics, and the Boulder 2160 stereo power amp ($71,000) driving a pair of Rockport Orion loudspeakers ($159,000) performed at a level I hadn’t previously experienced with any Rockport loudspeaker. In nearly every experience I had listening to Andy Payor’s impressive transducer, it always came across as sweet and delicate but never exciting. Blame it on the absolutely gorgeous (wrapped in Italian leather) Absolare hybrid signature electronics they were driven with. The sound was always excellent when driven with Kerem Küçükaslan’s gear, but something was different here. Call it synergy. The sound was light and rich but viscerally tight in the low-end, with an expansive three-dimensional soundstage (thanks to the really big suite here). I think the most important aspect of this setup was how easily it drew me in and allowed me to focus on the music and nothing else.

Scott Walker Audio really showed up for this year’s event.  Rooted in Dallas, Texas, the company had no fewer than five rooms featuring some of the most luxurious audio products at the show. The City View 8 setup featured: VonSchweikert Audio Ultra 7s ($190k), VAC Master 300 iQ Monoblocks ($50k), and MSB Cascade DAC ($95k).

The City View 7 system featured: Sonus Faber Amati Supreme loudspeakers ($78k), paired with full McIntosh electronics and a REL Acoustics carbon special 6-pack subwoofer setup ($30k).

The Presidential Suite 655 system featured: Magico S5 Mk 3 loudspeakers ($82k), JMF HQS 7001 monoblocks ($79k), Ideon Absolute Meta DAC ($50k), and REL Acoustics No. 32 Subwoofers ($10k ea).

The City View 6 system featured: Estelon Extreme Mk II loudspeakers ($340k), Vitus SM-103 Mk II monoblocks ($85k), and Taiko Olympus Music Server ($95k).
Stay tuned for more show coverage!