As Choueiri subsequently explained via email, "The BACCH-SP (where the 'SP' stands for stereo purifier) is a digital audio processor that yields 3D imaging from stereo recordings by allowing the listener to perceive the spatial cues that exist in…
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For years, David Chesky has kept me abreast of developments and updates to Princeton Professor Edgar Y. Choueiri's BACCH-SP Adio System. Happily, the word is out. When I entered the room, none other than Stereophile's Alex Halberstadt was sitting in the prime seat, receiving all the benefits of the fully-loaded BACCH-SP system ($37,780).
First introduced at a show in August 2019, not long before COVID-related supply shortages put a major damper on new product releases, Zellaton's 3-way Plural Evo loudspeaker (69,950/pair) is finally available. One main goal of the design, according to company president Michael Schwab, is to minimize the impact of the sound of the speaker's materials on the music.
Unique to Zellaton is a cabinet whose midrange section is open in the back (above), and whose bottom is also open on the inside-facing side of the speaker. Both openings are designed to eliminate any possibility of…
MBL's Chief Engineer, Jürgen Reis (below), also records Cologne's famed period-instrument ensemble, Concerto Köln. It was thus only fitting that two musicians from the ensemble, bassist Jean-Michel Forêt and violoncellist Alexander Scherf (who is also music director of Concerto Köln), visited the MBL room at Munich High End to play some music, talk music history, and enable comparison of live vs. reproduced sound.
Given the damped nature of MBL's large room and the live acoustic favored for the ensemble's CD, however, comparison wasn't in the least bit fair. Nonetheless, thanks…
If you're looking for a simple-to-set-up, active floorstander, Vienna Acoustics brand new Mozart Infinity Active (12,000/pair and available in a few weeks) might just fit the bill. On Jason Mraz's "I Won't Give Up," the Mozart Infinity Active stuck to its guns and delivered nice, colorful, large, and solid hi-fi sound.
Piotr Cholewa, Chief Engineer of Vienna Acoustics, and Maria Gansterer, daughter of company founder Peter Gansterer, explained that his first challenge was to find the right combination of streamer—he chose one from Streamer Ltd. of Austria—and drivers. Development of the…
"What's in a number?" you may ask. In the case of InnuOS2.4, the latest update to music server company Innuos' own streaming software announced at Munich High End, a lot. As in:
1: The ability to multi-select tracks from multiple albums and create and name your own compilation.
2: For consistency's sake, you can rename and merge artists and change names in all your files. For example, if you have files identified by "The Beatles," "Beatles," and (goddess forbid), "beatles," you can merge them all.
3: You can filter artists according to genre. For example, you can display all…
There was a lot to take in in the Nordost room at Munich High End. Building upon the upgraded QB8 Mark III AC Distribution Unit ($2300), which I described after it first appeared at AXPONA 2023 in Chicago, the company previewed the QBase Reference, aka the QB10 ($18,000), which is expected in the late summer or early fall. Equipped with 10 outlets and a 20-amp IEC, the QBase Reference includes heavy-grade wire and traces capable of supporting high-current amplifiers. Think of it as a fully maxed out, 32A-capable power distribution unit.
The QBase Reference/QB10 also incorporates two…
Tidal (technically pronounced "tee-dahl" rather than "tie-dull") of Germany, headed by Jörn Janczak and repped in the US by Doug White, arranged two private displays for press and distributors. Jim Austin got to hear the forthcoming Tidal for Bugatti system, which includes the company's forthcoming cost-no-object loudspeaker. For this Stereophile reviewer, however, Tidal demmed the system that included the company's new Contriva G3 loudspeakers ($79,000/pair) with the Contros Digital Controller ($60,000), Intra Stereo Amplifier ($28,000), and Tidal Reference XLR, power, and speaker cables.…
I admit that I didn't get what the Fink Team of Essen, Germany was all about until I met the man himself, Karl-Heinz Fink, who is well known within the industry for designing many important loudspeakers marketed by other companies. Fink, who also owns the Epos loudspeaker brand, began his own engineering company 40 years ago. Then, about seven years ago, the late and revered Ken Ishiwata of Marantz asked him to build a big speaker for Marantz. Out of that came the Borg, a two-way system with an AMT tweeter that was launched five years ago. The Borg Episode 2 (30,000/pair), which is marketed…
Welcome to the first GoldenEar loudspeaker completely redesigned by AudioQuest since the cable company bought the speaker company. Re-envisioned and realized by a US/Canadian team headed by Garth Powell, the T66 ($6900/pair in black or $7200/pair in red) will hopefully become available in either August or September. It contains a folded-ribbon AMT tweeter, two MVPP, cast-basket, passive midrange drivers, and two active long-throw, DSP-controlled oval subwoofers powered by 1200W class-D amplifiers. Passive quadratic planar radiators are located on each side of the speaker. It goes without…
Although I never managed to meet Daniel Weiss over two days of trying—his son, Joschka Weiss (above), even took me to the company's booth to show me the discrete analog operational amplifier used in the new Weiss Helios DAC ($18,000) and introduce me to his dad, who was elsewhere—I was mighty impressed by what I heard.
Through a system, assembled by WOD Audio, that consisted entirely of unfamiliar components—an Ypsilon CD transport feeding the Weiss Helios DAC, Alieno amps, and ultra-limited-edition speakers from Cessaro—a CD of Eva Cassidy singing "I Know You By Heart" possessed…