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Munich 2022News
Ana Mighty Sound Room: Stenheim Ultime Reference Two, Alumine 5 SE Loudspeakers; darTZeel NHB-18NS Preamplifier, NHB-468 Monoblocks, Döhmann Helix One Turntable, Plus Live Jazz from Jérôme Sabbagh
Julie Mullins  |  Jun 01, 2022  | 
Parisian high-end audio dealer AnaMighty Sound's room, F114 in Atrium 4, showed several products made in Switzerland from darTZeel, Stenheim, and Nagra. The room also became a mini-concert venue for a couple of demo sessions on Saturday that incorporated live music: Jazz saxophonist Jérôme Sabbagh played solo, accompanied by playback of his No Filter album bandmates on the room's system. They played 24-bit/96kHz versions of the tracks with Sabbagh's sax parts/tracks omitted.
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Munich 2022News
The Wadax Room: Wadax Atlantis Reference Server with PSU Power Supply, DAC, and Transport X CD Player; Audio Research Reference 6SE Preamplifier and Reference 160 M Amplifiers, Wilson-Benesch Eminence Loudspeakers, Transparent Cable
Julie Mullins  |  May 30, 2022  | 
The Wadax room brought huge gear and huge sound to Munich High End, along with a couple of new product introductions. Their main demo, in Atrium 4.2's E207 room presented the Wadax Atlantis Reference Server ($64,900) with a new, upgraded Reference PSU external power supply ($49,000) that's said to improve performance (as well it should). Its output noise is said to be crazy low: reportedly setting a record of 200nV of RMS noise from 0.1Hz to 20kHz. It uses a feedforward topology that adjusts its power regulation circuitry in real time based on current load requirements; this helps minimize current variations, CEO Javier Guadalajara (above) explained.
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Munich 2022News
Wilson-Benesch's Omnium Loudspeaker Dances with Audionet's Stern Preamp, Bohr Phono Preamp, and Heisenberg Monoblocks
Jason Victor Serinus  |  May 29, 2022  | 
There are no accidents, eh? A chance meeting with Wilson-Benesch's Luke Milnes, followed by several email and WhatsApp check-ins, led me to my final exhibit at Munich High End. There, in a system that also featured Audionet products, reigned the 308lb Wilson-Benesch Omnium loudspeaker ($169,000/pair), second in command in the company's reference Fibonacci Series. Containing three pairs of isobaric-loaded woofers, two additional bass drivers, one midrange unit, and the Fibonacci tweeter, this hardly diminutive loudspeaker utilizes new bio-composite technology that replaces the carbon-fiber Monique enclosure technology Wilson-Benesch pioneered in 1994.
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Munich 2022News
Voxativ 9.88 Pi Speaker System and T-850 Integrated Amplifier, Weiss Medus DAC and DSP502 D/A Processor, EAR Acute CD Player
Julie Mullins  |  May 29, 2022  | 
Purists might disagree, but for many listeners, having equipment that enables subtle sonic adjustments is welcome. This rings true for me, as I enjoy a wide variety of musical styles. Evidently Voxativ's Founder and Chief Engineer Inés Adler does too. Adler, a former designer of engines for Daimler's Mercedes-Benz marque, has made modern updates and options available for vintage hi-fi approaches.
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Munich 2022News
EgglestonWorks Oso Loudspeakers Meet Doshi Evolution Monoblocks
Jason Victor Serinus  |  May 28, 2022  | 
A happy 35,000-foot-high encounter with Jim Thompson and John Callery of EgglestonWorks led to the unveiling of the new Oso loudspeaker ($12,895/pair). Mated with the belated show premiere of the same Doshi Evolution monoblocks ($44,000/pair, below) that graced the cover of our May 2021 issue, as well as an Innuos Statement music server and J. Sikora turntable ($21,000 without arms—see Michael Fremer's review in the forthcoming July issue), the speakers produced lovely sound.
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Munich 2022News
Gryphon Audio Designs EOS 2 Prototype Loudspeaker, Gryphon Apex Amplifier and Rosso Cables
Julie Mullins  |  May 28, 2022  | 
One of my first stops at the Munich show was to find out who made the shiny red loudspeaker shown in an atrium room—shown in the same room as the latest gargantuan Gryphon Commander preamplifier and Apex amplifier. The striking speaker was rotating on a round platform that you couldn't miss when you entered the room. Why the rotation? It was an attractive speaker from all angles. It, uh, turns out, it was indeed a Gryphon—the EOS 2, a prototype, as text in large letters beneath clearly stated.
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Munich 2022News
Estelon's Eye-Catching Extreme Mk.II Loudspeakers with MSB and Kubala-Sosna
Jason Victor Serinus  |  May 28, 2022  | 
Perhaps the folks at Estelon were being intentionally tongue-in-cheek when they wrote, on their website, "By elevating the act of listening to new heights..." about the new Estelon Extreme Mk.II flagship loudspeaker (€200,000/pair) whose mechanical system enables multiple height and tweeter depth adjustments to ensure stable imaging. (It also intentionally isolates the upper drivers from the speaker's bass units.)
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Munich 2022News
dCS Vivaldi One Apex
Jason Victor Serinus  |  May 28, 2022  | 
The briefest of visits to the dCS room in Munich revealed the Vivaldi One Apex ($95,000). Originally released as the Vivaldi One in 2017 to commemorate the company's 30th Anniversary, the MQA-friendly, single chassis, all-in-one network music player, CD/SACD transport and Master Clock, upsampler and DAC has resurfaced in new Apex form. Only 50 new Vivaldi One Apex units are available. The 250 owners of the original 30th Anniversary model can upgrade to full Apex status ($9000).
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Munich 2022News
Troy Audio Acapulco Loudspeaker and Schröder Special K3 Tonearm
Jason Victor Serinus  |  May 28, 2022  | 
A chance encounter, in MOC's interconnected ground floor Expo Halls, with Santos (Santy) Oropel of Southern California's TWIN Audio Video led to an enclosed booth where Troy Audio's Acapulco loudspeaker (€36,000/pair), an improved version of the 1960 Altec Santana, held forth. The speaker cabinets are built in Riverside, CA and Oklahoma City, OK by Great Plains Audio, and house the new GPA 415-8C Biflex driver with Alnico magnet and a modified Fostex supertweeter. The full-range reflex speaker, which has no crossover, is certain to appeal to vintage loudspeaker lovers, and equally likely to win over converts to the cause. If only the late Art Dudley were here to report about how it sounds.
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Munich 2022News
Absolare Hybrid Stereo Power Amplifier, Signature Edition
Jason Victor Serinus  |  May 28, 2022  | 
One of those "OMG, it has been far too long" encounters with Kerem Küçükaslan enabled me to catch up on Nashua, New Hampshire-based Absolare's latest release, the Absolare Hybrid Stereo Power Amplifier, Signature Edition ($52,000). Using two 12AU7 or 12BH7 NOS tubes, the tube input and transistor output of the 73lb, dual-mono hybrid delivers 275Wpc into 4 ohms and maybe 175Wpc into 8 ohms.
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Munich 2022News
The Moonriver 404 Reference Integrated's new DACs
Jason Victor Serinus  |  May 28, 2022  | 
When I reviewed the Moonriver 404 Reference integrated amplifier in the February 2021 issue, I noted that the then-recent fire in the AKM factory in Japan had left the company without chips for the unit's optional DAC. A year later, that issue has been resolved.
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Munich 2022News
AVM Introduces the CS 8.3 All-In-One Streaming Receiver
Jason Victor Serinus  |  May 28, 2022  | 
Though a wild goose chase on the hottest day of Munich High End led me to AVM's across-the-street press conference just in time to discover that my only option was to stand in the doorway and sweat buckets or visit their MOC display later in the day, I eventually managed to photograph the innards of the new high-performance AVM CS 8.3 All-in-One (above). This baby offers Wi-Fi and network streaming with a CD player, DAC, class-A headphone amp, and a 250Wpc stereo amplifier.
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Munich 2022News
CH Precision's C1.2 DAC/Controller Joins Their Line-Up
Jason Victor Serinus  |  May 28, 2022  | 
CH Precision made a move equally smart and enlightening. Rather than devote endless minutes to introducing the new CH Precision C1.2 DAC/Controller, they harnessed many of their finest components together for a demo, which Jim Austin attended at a different time, in which Kevin Wolff compared the sound of various silver disc formats. Thanks to the wise music choices of Kevin Wolff and Roy Gregory, it was time well-spent.
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Munich 2022News
Perlisten's s R7t
Jason Victor Serinus  |  May 27, 2022  |  First Published: May 28, 2022  | 
Two years ago, Dan Roemer founded Perlisten loudspeakers. Just one year later, when the company went public, their inventory already included 25 different speaker models. I don't know about you, but I find that an astounding achievement.
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Munich 2022News
The IAG Room: Mission 770 loudspeakers, Luxman L-507Z integrated amplifier, Lumin U2 Mini, P1, L1, Luxman D-10X CD player/DAC, Vintage Thorens TD124 turntable
Julie Mullins  |  May 27, 2022  | 
I went into a room looking for Lumin's latest components and found a broad range of gear, both classic and modern. The recently relaunched Mission 770 speakers demo'd in this room represent a prime example of heritage speaker revival. Behind this exhibit was International Audio Group (IAG), the company behind Mission and other British brands, such as Wharfedale, Castle, and Quad, as well as Luxman. Peter Comeau, IAG's director of acoustic design, gave me the download on the Mission 770 redux. He mentioned that he and John Atkinson had listened to 770 prototypes in 1978. (JA will be reviewing the new 770 in a future issue of Stereophile.) Comeau owned an original pair of the Mission 770s, so he knows all about them: "We used a lot of the same concepts but everything is now up to date to make them suitable for modern sources."
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