LATEST ADDITIONS

As someone who has repeatedly reaped the sonic benefits of MQA, I found the MQA Labs press release tantalizing. "MQA Labs Debuts FOQUS ADC Design with First Ever Demonstration, Showcases Full Technology Suite," it declared, then continued, "Highlights will include a first listen to audio captured with a FOQUS ADC chip, showcasing the enhanced clarity made possible by a reimagined decimation process." The press release promised further surprises, including "a walk-through of our new and upcoming studio plug-ins, offering creators powerful tools for managing impulse response and noise shaping," and "a showcase of QRONO d2a, our playback solution that delivers unmatched transparency and time performance across all audio formats."

Göbel didn't debut a new speaker at High End Munich. In a totally selfless world, I would have bypassed the room for another with something new. But I'm an audiophile, and audiophiles have needs. Not having heard a Göbel speaker for a long time, I strolled into the room for a listen.

Three years after finalizing the design of their HQS G 7001 monoblocks, brothers Arnaud and Laurent Fusilier of French company JMF Audio completed the design of the JMF Audio HQS G3 9001 amplifiers ($164,000/pair). Alongside other JMF Audio products, the 9001s debuted at the ancillary HiFi Deluxe show in the Munich Marriott, offering a similar sonic signature as their smaller cousins.

The Munich unveiling of dCS’s Lina DAC X network music player ($15,500) drew significant attention from lovers of the Lina DAC ($14,400). The debut occurred alongside a static display of the top-of-the-line Varèse transport, due in June.

Cary Audio’s Billy Wright, with his characteristic Southern charm, introduced a pair of new offerings at High End Munich: the Cary Audio SLP-300 preamplifier and the Cary Audio DMS-300A streaming integrated. Prices are yet to be announced.

You gotta love press releases. “This May in Munich, history won’t just be written—it will be heard.” Thus opened the invitation to a joint press conference of “two Norwegian powerhouses” whose system “doesn’t whisper innovation—it roars it.”

The big news in the Constellation room was not the Revelation 2 Series, complete with its special Constellation Switch-Mode Power Supply (C-SMPS)—we’ve reported on it previously, including at AXPONA 2025. Rather, it was the chance to glimpse prototypes of the higher-level Performance 2 stereo amplifier and preamplifier, both due later this year.