O relato das Ultimate Sessions de março’26 em português
I arrived early on purpose. Wednesday afternoon, before Saturday’s event, late in the day at Ultimate Audio Porto — without the buzz that would fill the space come Saturday. Just me, Francisco, Nuno, and the systems warming up. There’s something sacred about hearing a hi-fi system before the proper event — no background chatter, no social noise, just the dedicated moment. Like driving a single-seater racing car. Like accessing backstage before the concert hall doors open.
The March Ultimate Sessions happened some days ago, but I let my notes settle. I wanted to understand what remained, what survived memory’s filter. Because between this event and the next — Ultimate Sessions Extreme (next April 10-12, literally 100 meters from the 2nd HiFi Show Estoril) — there are only days. And what was heard in Porto now seems, from a distance, almost a prelude: two opposing musical philosophies, two paths to the same destination.
Room 1: When Speakers Disappear
The Silent Pound Challenger II is a technological compendium. Open baffle bass, patented midrange enclosure, constant directivity across the entire spectrum — the kind of spec sheet that makes an engineer smile. But this isn’t a technical magazine, and what matters aren’t the numbers: it’s what happens when you press play.
The complete chain was meticulous orchestrated: flagship Accuphase E-5000 amplification, digital source handled by Matrix with SS-1 switch, SC-1 clock and NT-1 streamer, conversion via the DAC integrated in Accuphase’s flagship SACD player, the DP-770, Crystal cabling, IsoTek power treatment. Everything in its right place, each piece fulfilling its role without flourishes.
And then came Kyrie (Vidala-Baguala). Mercedes Sosa’s voice buries itself in the earth like ancient vine roots—deep, telluric, each vibration a physical prayer descending from the Andes. The Silent Pound respond, not only in the bass driver skins but also in Mercedes’ voice and the choir. Deep bass, realistic, physical enough. Scale. These speakers don’t do fireworks — they make music happen without interposing themselves between you and the emotion.
The moment of total suspension arrived with Offenbach’s Barcarolle. The Royal Opera House, conducted by Georg Solti, glides through the music like a gondola in Venice, no confetti, just beauty disappearing into absolute transparency. The Silent Pound disappear completely. Rare moment. Only the music, floating in space, without apparent physical origin.
John Adams stripped Prince to the bone in Purple Rain (Acoustic): naked guitar, exposed voice. Pain without disguise or electricity. And then Leonard Cohen, with Happens to the Heart — final Cohen, each word a testament, the farewell of someone who has seen everything.
Alexandre Desplat brought his Tubular Bells moment with The Heroic Weather-Conditions of the Universe, Pt. 7: After the Storm. Michel Camilo & Tomatito in duel with Spain Intro, piano and flamenco guitar in mutual seduction. Duke Ellington dressed the blues in a tuxedo in The Swingers Get the Blues, Too, and then came Fragile with The Thrill Is Gone — B.B. King twisted until revealing new geometries. Pure joy. The Silent Pound’s realism doing its thing.
Correct imaging even outside the sweet spot. The Bass? Stiff, never excessive. The Silent Pound disappear in the room. Absolutely. If the flamboyant posture of some equipment irritates you, these are the speakers for you.
Room 2: Radical Simplicity
The other room was the philosophical opposite: Matrix TS-1, a streamer already reviewed here at MoustachesToys, paired with the new Avantgarde Opus1 active horns. That’s it. Two components. €15,000. And performance far above what the price suggests.
With each release, Avantgarde manages to climb a step in musicality, and in my ears’ consideration. Even this model, now the base of the brand’s offering, reveals another step of evolution. Active horns mean freedom: no external amplification, no filters, none of the usual orchestrated complexity. Just music, direct, immediate.
And so, so much joy!
Wynton Marsalis and Natalie Merchant expose wounds with delicacy and without fear in The Worst Thing. Brian Bromberg tells adventure stories without words in The Saga of Harrison Crabfeathers.
Kari Bremnes sings the cold war of the heart with Scandinavian restraint in A Lover In Berlin. A.R. Rahman’s confrontational percussion in multiple layers of tension with Dacoit Duel.
Manuel de Falla explodes in The Three Cornered Hat: vertiginous scale, precise attacks, impossible highs, a Spanish explosion compressed in 30m² of room. Scale, speed, attack, and extremely complicated highs (Francisco’s very risky bet) — everything there, effortless, without drama. The Opus1 don’t promise: they deliver.
Then Jean-Guihen Queyras in Boccherini’s Cello Concerto in C Major. The cello gallops with rustic virtuosity, wild elegance, pure dancing energy. Barenboim played Piazzolla’s Adiós Nonino with the intimate melancholy of someone who knows loss, and there was space for Cat Stevens to ask uncomfortable questions wrapped in sweet melody: Where Do The Children Play? Stevie Nicks levitates in Dreams, ethereal voice over hypnotic bass, the perfect pop dream born from amorous chaos. Jagger and Richards tamed Wild Horses with assumed fragility.
Avantgarde is on the right path. So much joy listening to music. Simplicity that liberates.
Two Philosophies, One Destination
Two rooms. Two radically different approaches.
In Room 1, orchestrated complexity: each component hand-picked, everything in its right place, technology serving music without intruding. The Silent Pound as emotional microscope — realistic, relentless, but never cold.
In Room 2, radical simplicity: two speakers and a streamer/preamp, direct and immediate music. The Opus1 as a reminder that sometimes less is infinitely more.
Both rooms arrived at the same place: at music. At emotion. At the moment when machines disappear and only what matters remains.
In som days, between April 10-12, Ultimate Sessions Extreme will happen simultaneously with HiFi Show Estoril, 100 meters apart. I’ll be at both. And the question that remains is this: what has Ultimate Audio saved for these Extreme Sessions, if already they managed to make speakers disappear completely?
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