I love audio store events. First, they get me out of the house and force me to mingle. Second, they’re about audio, which is one of my favourite things in the world. They’re also just one of the perks that separate the brick-and-mortar store from the anonymous internet vendor you click an order from. They tend to be communal, celebratory, and chill—in the warm and cozy sense, of course, like a living room gathering of people passionate about the same thing—in this case, about audio and music. They’re like mini Osheaga festivals for the anticrowd crowd, except with better sound quality and much less chance you’ll step in puke. What’s not to like?

Most of these events are run by the store owners themselves, which leads me to the second perk that separates the brick-and-mortar store from the anonymous internet vendor—the caring. You don’t own an audio store if you don’t love audio and want to share that passion with others. The store is the owner’s baby, and they want you to love it as much as they do. Here’s a secret—the best audio stores I’ve been served by are the owner-run ones—like the store I visited for this piece, Passion Audio, and another store I frequent, Audiophile Experts—where the owners often work the floor and serve the clientele.

And work the floor Passion Audio co-owners Martin and his lovely wife Sabrina did at this event—not only were they humble and engaging hosts, but their place is rockin’, with a variety of somewhat uncommon but interesting LPs displayed in wood racks against the front wall and inside a brick-walled alcove (the building was built in the 1940s), along with a bevy of cool-looking gear by the likes of Shindo, Dutch & Dutch, BAT, and J.Sikora, to name a few. Also at the event—and I have to mention her because she has done so much to enrich the audiophile scene in Canada—was Lily Luo, a woman who embodies—who lives and breathes—our hobby. She was at Passion Audio in her role as Canada’s recently appointed Canadian distributor for Germany-based Burmester.

Which brings me to why the event took place—it was to mark two things: Passion Audio’s new status as a Burmester reseller—only the second in Canada, with a third on its way—and the Canadian launch of Burmester’s 232 Classic Line integrated amplifier. For the occasion, two Burmester products were being demoed, one silently—a silver-coloured Burmester 216 power amp—and one actively, the show’s centerpiece—the class-A/B, dual-mono 232, whose retail price of CA$ 29,000 makes it Burmester’s entry-level integrated amplifier. Two things I was surprised to learn at this event: Burmester is a family-run business; second, Burmester’s core business, by a long shot, is the car audio industry. Home audio is a personal passion for Burmester, passed down by the late Dieter Burmester to his wife, Marianne, and his family, who have dedicated themselves to keeping the home audio flame alive.

Burmester, the company, calls the 232 a “Swiss army knife.” It can be configured with an MC phono stage module based on the company’s Reference 077 preamp and 100 phono stage, or a DAC module that can process a variety of digital signals, including those from Qobuz (although the amp wasn’t Qobuz-ready that evening), Roon, TIDAL, and Spotify Connect, or an external hard drive. The 232—Burmester’s model numbers reflect the year and month the product was released, so, in this case, the year ‘23 followed by a 2 for February—is rated at 150Wpc into 4 ohms and is the first product to feature Burmester’s new aesthetic design.

So, how did it sound? I’ll start by mentioning the products paired with the 232: a LampizatOr Atlantic 3 TRP (“Tube Rollers Paradise”) DAC (US$ 7325)—Martin is the exclusive Canadian reseller for LampizatOr products—and a pair of high-sensitivity Wolf von Langa SON speakers (US$ 19,995/pair) featuring AMT tweeters and 12″ field-coil drivers. Descriptions I heard from guests throughout the evening: effortless-sounding, propulsive, micro-dynamic, impactful. To those I would add: tonally beautiful, transparent, nuanced, and musically mesmerizing. I stayed and had more German beer and pretzels (it was a German-themed night, after all)—and found myself listening to more music than I expected to.

The  most-memorable, great-sounding track of the night? Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ “Red Right Hand”, the version used as the theme song to the British TV series Peaky Blinders. The presentation sounded vast, vibrant, unfatiguingly detailed, and deep-view transparent. It expanded my consciousness and melted into my ears. Great music and a great test track!

The evening ended up being a stimulating, inspiring event. I went home happy, and not only that—each of us was sent home with a gift—a cool-looking, cream-coloured, superb-sounding LP of the wonderful Dragon – Concerto for Pipa—courtesy of Lily Luo and her company Forté Distribution.

That’s what these evenings are all about—music, gear, and conviviality. Thanks to all for making it happen.