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Holger Stein may be one of the softer-spoken men in the audio business, but he's hardly shy when it comes to attracting attention. For eye candy alone, Stein Music's new Bob XL Plus Ultimate loudspeaker (€348,000/pair) had few rivals at Munich High End.

Vitus Audio, now in its 27th year, introduced its forthcoming entry-level RD-101 Mk.II DAC/Streamer ($15,000, release date TBD) at Munich High End. The unit sports a redesigned streaming module—the old one is obsolete—a newly optimized power supply, and significant noise reduction. There's also a new DAC chip, the ESS9038 Pro, which replaces the 9028 Pro.

Will wonders never cease? With Andrew Jones designing MoFi loudspeakers, Allen Perkins designing their turntables, and their latest fabled designer catch, Peter Madnick, designing their new Master Phono preamplifier ($5000), I can't but wonder if Mobile Fidelity, aka MoFi, is poised to take over the world. Madnick, whom you may recall as the former Design Manager for Constellation and ELAC and the founder of Audio Alchemy, has been in the audio business for 50 years and has designed over 400 products in the past 40 years.

Danish audio company Dynaudio launched a new trio of Focus wireless speakers in Munich. The company's show presence encompassed a larger-than-average-sized room, with another off to the side. There, Dynaudio Technical Trainer Otto Jorgensen (below) gave a presentation on the new Focus active speaker series: the 3-way Focus 50 floorstander ($11,000, presumably for a pair), the 2.5-way Focus 30 floorstander ($8250/pair), and the 2-way Focus 10 stand-mounted speaker ($5500/pair). This series supersedes the previous Focus XD speaker line.

The German loudspeaker and cable manufacturer released its new Divin Sovereign Referenz Subwoofer ($29,500, with extra charges for special Black 24k Gold, White, and White 24k Gold finishes). Demonstrated with Göbel's Divin Marquis loudspeaker that John Atkinson reviewed in October 2020 and billed as the company's "ultimate benchmark," the active, DSP-controlled, closed-chamber sub includes an 18" driver in a resin-bound composite board cabinet with "massive acoustic baffles" of 75mm maximum thickness and extensive internal bracing. Weight is 145kg—that's almost 320lb—dimensions are nearly as major, frequency response is 10–200Hz depending upon DSP filters, and total output power is 2500W.

In a room that vied for recognition as the hottest enclosed space on the hottest floor on the hottest day of Munich High End, 45-year-old Burmester Audio introduced its new CEO, Industrial Engineer Frank Weise, and at least four new products.

The stylus that cuts the grooves in your favorite records is best described, in simple terms, as "chisel-shaped." The most accurate playback styli—the "extreme" ones that extract the maximum amount of information from the grooves—have a similar shape, with sharper and more severe contact edges than a standard elliptical stylus, itself an advance over spherical styli.