For the occasion, I made my first jaunt to Southern California in a handful of years. I arrived partway through the first day, blurry-eyed yet excited to see what was new. (The Eastern Time zone jet lag hasn't hit yet.)
Plenty seems new, and not just products. T.H.E. Show has a new name, a new rationale for the old acronym. T.H.E. used to stand for "The Home Entertainment…
What more delightful way to end the third day of High End Munich than having a cup of tea and a short chat with Jean-Christophe Calmettes, owner of Jadis Electronics? He had some interesting news to share about the French company's two forthcoming integrated amplifiers, the Aria class-AB ($5200, all prices approximate when converted from Euros) and the Ode 30W pure class-A (available fourth quarter 2025, price TBD).
Calmettes said that innovation with tube circuits is difficult, but that his team was equal to the task of making the new designs more attractive, modern, and user-…
Also in the system: an Engström M-Phono phono stage ($32,500), plus, on the digital side, an APL Hi-Fi DSD-WR DAC and an NSP-GR streamer ($21,500 each), along with an ANS-MR network switch ($2500). An Engström Arne 300B integrated amplifier ($40,900) drove Kroma Atelier Macbeth standmount speakers ($29,000/pair). Ikigai Audio cables, an…
The debut Klaudio Magnezar KD-MGZ-TT1-NC turntable ($50,000) with Klaudio KD-ARM-AP12 12" tangential tonearm ($18,000) had attendees craning their necks around the display in the Klaudio room.
Klaudio claims on its site that "the Magnezar's platter floats entirely on permanent magnets, so there are no mechanical thrust bearings... Liquid is used to enhance stabilization." Also, the company says, an automatic clamping system "flattens both center and periphery of the LP." The Magnezar supports dual tonearms.
The Klaudio KD-ARM-AP12 was also new, styled in a way…
The great-sounding rig, largely unfamiliar to me, featured the Thuono Audio TH400 turntable and TH12 tonearm ($52,000, all prices approximate when converted from Euros), an Omega Audio Concepts Zenith CD Player ($107,000), and the four-chassis Omega Audio Concepts Accordo integrated amplifier ($85,000). These components powered the AlsyVox Michelangelo loudspeakers ($530,000/…
Remton Audio focuses on hand-built phono stages. The company offers nine products, most of which were on display in Munich. The lineup at the show included a Remton RHA tube headphone amplifier ($2900, all prices approximate when converted from non-US currencies), the 383 tube phono stage ($2900), an additional unnamed tube phono stage, the LCR tube phono stage ($7900, MM/MC),…
Lee's Revival speakers, which I'd previously heard in the rooms of US distributor Tone Imports, included the new Atalante 7 Évo (about $10,000/pair with stands), and the Atalante 5 ($2700/pair; stands $430…
"The MC X Series was the result of some lofty goals on our part," Dorio explained, adding that the products offer better dynamics, lower distortion, and higher resolution—much of it coming from refinements of the magnet system and rubber dampers.
Dorio also noted that the production process has been…
A Kuzma Stabi Reference II turntable ($15,773) was fitted with a Tri-Planar U2-SE 9.8" tonearm (damped carbon fiber wand, silver wire, $9500) and a My Sonic Lab cartridge. Digital playback came via a Kalista Mantax DAC (approx. $63,500) and a SOtM music server. A Studer 810 reel-to-reel deck rounded out the sources.
In my experience, when Nick Doshi's components…
Audio show demos too often…