AudioNec? I wanted to say “oh my aching neck” after a long flight, but this room with its massive dual computer server/DAC and substantial modular floor-standing speakers put my body at ease.
The setup included the world premiere of…
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“Hitting the ground running” is a suspicious phrase at High End Munich. The show is humongous, a beast, four large buildings with three floors apiece crammed to the rafters with every imaginable audio brand, many unknown to me and most American hi-fi fans. Thankfully, a smart app and a well-organized show prevented total meltdown on day one.
Walking around this show, your brain blurs. So much information. So little time. But occasionally, a flash of light reflecting a gold hardware detail catches your eye. Consider, for example, amplification products from HSE Swiss Huber, which are beautiful to behold and beautifully made.
Brand Ambassador Johnnes Farkas showed the HSE Swiss Master Line 7 Phono Preamp, the HSE Swiss Master Line 8 Preamp, and the dual HSE Swiss Reference Phono Preamp and Power Supply. All prices include 10% VAT.
The dual mono Master Line 7 Phono Preamp (€81,500) is a stunning piece of class…
With the daring, midcentury modern–influenced designs of their amplifiers, Sweden’s Engstrom paired with Marten’s new Coltrane Quintet loudspeaker for a big, bold, yet surprisingly intimate sound.
Timo Engstrom streamed John Scofield and Pat Metheny’s serpentine “The Red One,” Metheny’s acoustic guitar exploration of “And I Love Her,” and Tribal Tech’s “Face First,” a bludgeoning 90s jazz fusion piece.
The system played these streams with solid fidelity to the source while revealing the good (“The Red One”) and bad (“Face First”) of the recordings.
Equipment…
Mansour Mamaghani’s Audio Reference, one of Munich’s top high-end showrooms, again filled a massive exhibit space in the MOC with multiple display areas dedicated to major brands.
Accompanying exhibits that combined products from Basso Continuo, Dan D’Agostino, dCS, Krell, Meridian Audio, Nordost, Perlisten, Velodyne, Vicoustic, VPI, VTL, Western Electric, and Wilson Audio (among others) were a host of industry luminaries. Among these were Dan D’Agostino and Burhan Coskun (D’Agostino Master Systems), Joe Reynolds (Nordost), Luke Manley (VTL), Charles G. Whitener (Western Electric), and…
Voxativ owner and designer Inès Adler and head of marketing Christopher Owens debuted Andagio, “their newest horn-loaded model meticulously optimized for their exclusive range of field coil drivers,” the press release stated.
The base model costs $32,900/pair, equipped with the paper-coned AC-X field coil driver, the Andagio is also available with higher-resolution drivers including the wood-coned AC-X2 at $36,900/pair. In the video, Ines Adler introduces the Andagio and discuss its features and sound.
The Andagio can also be fitted with a “hybrid field coil driver,” the…
Assisted by IAD Audio’s Thomas Henke, I learned about Quad HiFi’s relaunch of their beloved 33 preamplifier and 303 power amplifier, which were available and very popular from 1967 to 1985. (Stereophile’s Spin Doctor, Mike Trei, owns an original set in perfect working order). Also on premiere, the new Quad electrostatic loudspeaker, the ESL 2912X (app. €17,000), a floorstander in the lineage of the classic Quad ESL 57. (Mike has those, too.)
Henke told me that the new Quad components will be available within six months. The 303 will offer 60Wpc, cost approximately €1500 apiece…
Tannoy consultant/designer Danny Cooklin gave me a proper introduction to the company’s forthcoming 70th Anniversary Autograph 12 loudspeaker, which was in the prototype stage at High Munich.
The Autograph 12 is built around Tannoy's current 12" concentric driver with an AlNiCo-magnet motor on the mid/bass driver. “The new design retains AlNiCo for the legendary midrange Tannoy is known for while employing a dedicated neo-magnet for the tweeter, a redesigned waveguide, and many other improvements to form a new flagship driver design for the brand,” a press release stated.
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Air Tight Managing Director Yutaka "Jack" Miura was in Munich to introduce the new Air Tight Stereo Power Amplifier ATM-1 (price TBD).
A Primary Control Kinea turntable (€17,900) with new Primary Control Solaris Tonearm (TBD) and Air Tight Opus-1 cartridge (€13,500) fed an Air Tight ATH-3 S SUT (€2677) then an Air Tight Reference Phono Stage ATE-3011 (€27,500).
An Air Tight Control Amplifier ATC-7 (€30,000)) drove the same company's new ATM 1E Mono Power Amplifier (TBD) or the not-as-new ATM-3211 Mono Power Amplifiers (€78,000).
Speakers…
Big components need a big room and a big man to explain it. Nick Döhmann talked turkey and then some regarding his new Döhmann Helix One Mk3 turntable ($70,000) with a new 10.5” Supatrac Nighthawk tonearm (£12,500), and Air Tight Opus 1 cartridge.
Amplification was the same tricked-out, tube-powered bonanza I saw in in Jeffrey Catalano’s High Water Sound room at AXPONA: Acustica Applicata’s new Alieno Tube Phono Stage (€35,014), Line Preamplifier ($75,000), and the new Alieno 150-120 LTD stereo amplifier (€56,107). The 150-120 LTD allows use of either 300B or 2A3 tubes—150Wpc…
When Jason Victor Serinus arrived at High End Munich 2024, he found the scale and scope of the show to be truly impressive, as you'd expect from the world's largest two-channel audio expo.
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