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"Re-Tales #1: George Vatchnadze's Newest Gig"
Written by Julie Mullins | Stereophile | September 24th, 2020
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"...The conveyance of musical information influences the choice of equipment he carries at his dealership. Mostly he seeks accuracy, or realism, but the emotions it provokes must also resemble what you can experience at a live event. "It will never be the same, but it can get pretty darned close," he told me. What equipment have those criteria led him to? The webpage for his dealership lists 27 brands, from Acoustic Signature to Zanden (footnote 4).

Vatchnadze founded Kyomi Audio in 2007, in Michigan. In 2011, he and his wife—Kyomi, also a concert pianist—moved to Chicago, both taking positions at DePaul University. (Kyomi is not involved in the business that bears her name except that she participates in most listening tests and product evaluations.)..." (Continue Reading).

"Jason's Day One Continues: One Step Closer to Oz"
Written by Jason Victor Serinus | Stereophile | April 23rd, 2017
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"...The most outstanding system I heard on the first day of AXPONA 2017 sang magnificently in the Kyomi Audio room of Chicago dealer/concert pianist George Vatchnadze. Whether I was listening to hi-resolution files of Melody Gardot and Lori Lieberman, as supplied by distributor Philip O'Hanlon's On a Higher Note and played through a Merging Technologies NADAC ($14,000) and MBL 1621A CD transport ($28,000), or to the LP version of Chet Baker's 1981 Someday my Prince will Come, played on a TechDas Air Force Three turntable ($29,750) with Graham Elite 10" tonearm ($12,000) and Koetsu Jade Platinum MC cartridge ($9995), I could not stop repeating to myself over and over again that the sound of this particular combination of Jadis electronics with Vivid Audio Giya G1 Series II loudspeakers ($68,000/pair), Stealth cable, and Artesiana Audio racks and supports was incomparably lovely and seductive.

Kyomi Audio's was the first room I'd entered where I was so taken by the sound that all I wanted to do was sit and listen, and then listen some more. And it wasn't just the fabled Jadis midrange that had me in its grip; the bass was also quite good, and the highs divine. Which is all the more astounding given that the Jadis JA200 MK II monoblocks ($33,900/pair), which are now upgraded to perform with KT-150 tubes, had only 30 out of the requisite 200 hours of break-in on them..." (Continue Reading).

"Gamut Product Demo at Kyomi Audio of Chicago"
Written by Greg Weaver | The Absolute Sound | March 25th, 2017
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"...Kyomi Audio operates within George’s multi-level home, and this event featured an encore showing of the same components the company presented at AXPONA 2016: the Gamut RS7i loudspeakers ($39,990/pr.), M250i monoblock amplifiers ($25,990/pr.) pictured below, and D3i dual mono linestage ($8390), pictured second below; Gamut Reference cables connected the system: biwired speaker cables (starting at $3790 for 1.5m), interconnects (XLR and RCA, $2990 for 1m), and power cords ($4290 at 2m). This setup gave listeners the opportunity to hear these remarkable products in an environment similar to one they might actually live in. And, because both George and Benno had collaborated to refine the room’s setup, the system was completely dialed in..." (Read More)

"Vivid Audio Giya G1 Spirit"
Written by Doug Schneider | SoundStage! Global | February 24th, 2017
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"...The newest thing that the G1 Spirit has that no other Vivid model has is the option for an external crossover. Some may think this was done primarily for performance -- and perhaps there’s a little bit of that there -- but Dickie told me that it was really done for future expansion into active speakers (i.e., fully powered with either line-level analog or digital crossovers). Dickie has made no secret about his affinity for active speakers, so this allows a way to one day transition the G1S to active operation -- G1 Spirit Active, perhaps. The G1 Spirit was first shown last September, at two shows held the same weekend: the Tokyo International Audio Show, in Japan, and HiFi Messen, in Norway....." (Read More)