[HiFi Show Reportage] Toronto Audiofest 2025

Toronto Audiofest 2025 - high end audio show

Event official website: Audiofest.ca
Reporter: Arvind Kohli - TNT-Audio USA
Published: November, 2025

First - a rant

Well, actually two rants.

The first rant is aimed at those who host the rooms at these shows. Many rooms are hosted very well indeed, but it is a surprising numbers that seem to have no clue. So here are a few pointers:

People visit the show to listen to gear, not to you. Please refrain from speaking while the music is playing, we cannot listen to you and the music at the same time.
People visit the show to listen to gear, not to others. Please actively discourage those who need to speak while the music is playing.
It is not a SPL contest. Rooms that are too loud are off putting.
Have other hosts posted outside the room, to answer questions and engage in conversation. It is part of the reason folks go to these shows. But there is a time and place for everything.
Post a page with the gear models and prices, so those questions need not be asked.
If several models are on display, have a card placed on the actively playing gear. So the question does not need to be asked.
Curate a diverse playlist, and it is not necessary to play the entire song. It is very useful to hear a range of music and display the gear's capabilities in all the key aspects.
Posting the times for various gear playing in rotation is very helpful.
Keep the door closed.
Post the brands on the door.

The second rant is for those who attend the shows. Most folks are a joy to be around and enjoy the shows with, but some were not loved enough as children. So here are a few pointers:

People visit the show to listen to gear, not to you. Please refrain from speaking while the music is playing, we cannot listen to you and the music at the same time.
Please do not crowd the doorways - either get all the way into the room or get out.
Smile and greet each other, we are all here to have fun.

Rant over.

On to the rooms

I cannot get a conclusive understanding of any gear at a show. So I reserve judgement till I get to do a thorough review. But there are rooms that sound very impressive, and I make sure to return to those rooms several times and listen to many tracks to see if the impressiveness is consistent. All prices are in Canadian dollars.

Audio Note was the first room. And they are always a stunning experience at every show I have seen them at. Their iconic corner placement, extreme toe-in and wide baffle speakers are not universally accepted practices - but the proof of the pudding is always in the eating. This is one of the rooms I visited many times, to try and hear a variety of programme. And I can confirm that the sound was stunning every time.

Unfortunately, they had not posted a list of the gear on display. I asked, but with the music playing I am not sure I caught the names correctly. But I believe the speakers were the AN-E with hemp woofer cones, and the integrated was the the Jinro.

Canton Reference 2 floorstanding speakers.

Mark Von Langa is a brand I had not heard of till now. They were presenting their Serendipity speakers that retail for just over $15,000 without the optional stands. These were phenomenal sounding speakers, I returned to the room several times and listened to many tracks, and these sounded stunning everytime. The speakers feature the Purifi woofer, an AMT tweeter and two passive woofers. These were driven by the $35K Burmester 232 integrated. The DAC was by LampizatOr.

Mon Acoustic were presenting their Platimon Virtual coaxial two speakers.

It was all PS Audio here, from power conditioning to their FR30 and FR10 speakers. The smaller FR10 were playing and sound was quite impressive.

PMC speakers here.

Gershman Acoustics Grand Avant Garde with a Pass Labs setup.

And then there was the Joseph Crowe Audio room. The speakers playing were the 2807 model, featuring a 15" woofer, 5" paper cone and 1" compression horn - each in their own horn. These definitely amongst the best sounding speakers I have ever listened to. I was able to listen to them a few times and over several tracks, and they consistently impressed. The bass response was definiitely too much for this room, and it had audibly overloaded the space.

The Macaria speakers by Maco Sound.

The MoFi 888 speakers powered by Hegel upstream. This room really threw me off. I was expecting to be wowed, and I wasn't. Moreover, the tracks being played were pretty obscure and there was some bizarre motif fabric draping all the walls. I came back again the next day to give the room another try, and it still was disappointing.

AudioSolution speakers driven by Pilium amplification and Wadax digital source. Placing speakers in a room this deep and wide almost always sounds good - you've taken the room out of the equation.

Coherent Audio speakers driven by Saturn Audio and Baetis Audio upstream.

Kharma Elegance db7 speakers retailing for $51K, driven by Mark Levinson gear upstream.

Golden Ear speakers.

The Borrensen M2 retails for $290K. Powered by Aavik amplification.

Back to the Joseph Crowe Audio room on day 2. This time the smaller model 2800 was on display, it retails for $39K. I visited the room a couple of times on this day, and sounded just as amazing as the day before. These speakers were actually a bit more size appropriate for the room, as the space was not bass overloaded now.

Castle speakers with Quad electronics.

The Audio Physic Avanti and the Audiovector R8 were on display here. The hosts sensibly played the same track and both speakers, which was nice to hear. I've always had an affection for Audio Physic, even though I've only heard them in auditions and not in my own space.

The Bryston room had their entire lineup on display and the flagship T10 was playing. Bryston has done something quite brilliant with their lineup - all their speakers come with a passive crossover, but these can be swapped out to be driven by an outboard analog or digital crossover - and Bryston makes all the components. The outboard crossovers come preprogrammed for each speaker, so users cannot wade out of their depth of knowledge.

The Tidal Audio Contriva G3 driven by AudioNote Kindo electronics.

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