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In a large Atrium showroom, Sonus Faber introduced their five new Second Generation (G2) Sonetto loudspeakers. Though I didn’t have an opportunity to audition any of the new models which comprise the company’s most affordable and popular series—speakers that are priced far, far lower than Sonus Faber’s Suprema flagship ($750,000/pair—I was privileged to end up face-to-face with Florian Marmisse, the acoustic engineer who designed the line’s drivers and crossovers.

High End Munich continued to unveil new (at least to me) names in the world of hi-fi; amplifier manufacturer hARt Labs was another fascinating discovery.

Manically energized after watching Dua Lipa’s “Illusion” video on repeat for all nine hours of my flight from Newark to Munich, I was ready for some calming turntable action. The off-white colors of Luphonic Labs’s turntable line caught my attention, their curvy design aesthetic and retro appeal comforting my jet-lagged brain.

Riviera Audio Labs’s founder Silvio Delfino and designer/engineer Luca Chiomenti introduced two world premiere components at their booth at High End Munich: the APL-1 Tube Line Preamplifier ($26,000) and the AFS-32 Hybrid Stereo Power Amplifier ($28,000).

Ofra Gershman premiered Gershman Acoustics’s 30th Anniversary Black Swan speakers ($95,000/pair) at Munich, and a fine sight they were. The two-in-one speaker construction come with a specified frequency range of 18Hz–24kHz, 88dB/W/m sensitivity, and 6 ohms nominal impedance and stand 52" high by 15" wide and weigh 145lb each. Who says good things don’t come in large packages?

My first encounter with an Audiovector loudspeaker was at the 2019 Toronto Audiofest. Driven by colorful (both sonically and visually) Alluxity electronics, the R 3s sounded pure and very fine. As I sat listening to the R 3 Arretés, the R 8 Arreté, their big brother, sat quietly in the corner, seemingly pleased with the performance of its smaller sibling.

I ended up reviewing the R 8 instead of the R 3, which in retrospect hardly seems fair:It was the R3 I heard that day, the R 3 that attracted my attention and got me interested in the brand.

German analog powerhouse Acoustic Signature roared into High End Munich with a trio of new products: two feature-packed phono stages and a cutting-edge tonearm. Their booth was a showcase of gleaming AS equipment, from precision tonearms and turntables, including the behemoth Invictus Neo, to meticulously crafted, matte-finish phono stages.