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- Written by Jason Thorpe Jason Thorpe
- Parent Category: Company Tours Company Tours
- Created: 05 June 2023 05 June 2023
Gold Note—Dreaming in Tuscany
Following the Unison Research and Opera Loudspeaker factory tour, the Fidelity Imports caravan pulled into the Santa Maria Novella train station in downtown Florence in late Tuesday afternoon of the week following the High End Show in Munich. After a short tram ride, we were met by Ottavio Marino Cerrato, Tom Dola, and Alice Zoppi, Gold Note’s graceful, stylish, and friendly representatives. We traveled along some of the twistiest one-lane mountain roads I’ve ever experienced, up an ear-popping circuitous route that devolved into a rough dirt track. The end game was the classically marvelous Le Fonti a San Giorgio “farmstay” villa. I melted into a puddle as I soaked up the twilight views of hillsides layered with vineyards, cypress trees, and flowering honeysuckle.
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- Written by Jason Thorpe Jason Thorpe
- Parent Category: Company Tours Company Tours
- Created: 03 June 2023 03 June 2023
Opera Loudspeakers and Unison Research—Slow Down and Eat
As is my wont, I woke up early on my first morning in Treviso, Italy. My presence here, an extension of my week in Munich covering High End 2023, was arranged by Steve Jain of Fidelity Imports. A US distributor of high-end audio gear, Fidelity represents Opera Loudspeakers, Unison Research, Gold Note, and Audia Flight—all of which I’d be visiting over the course of the week, along with several other journalists and one dealer. Jain had arranged this trip so that we could gain some familiarity with these Italian brands.
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- Written by Roger Kanno Roger Kanno
- Parent Category: BloggingOnAudio BloggingOnAudio
- Created: 02 June 2023 02 June 2023
Yamaha’s R-N2000A Network Receiver: Beautiful Old-School Amplification Meets Thoroughly Modern Streaming
When I first heard from Yamaha Canada about its yet-to-be-released integrated amplifier with an integral DAC and streaming capabilities over a year ago, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. All of the previous models in the company’s four-digit series of high-end integrated amplifiers and preamplifiers have been all-analog affairs requiring an outboard DAC or optical disc player for digital playback. Case in point, the gorgeous A-S3200 integrated amplifier I reviewed a couple of years ago. While I loved the sound of the A-S3200, including its fabulous MM/MC phono stage and its absolutely stunning cosmetics and build quality, I lamented its lack of an internal DAC.
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Parent Category: Shows-Events Shows-Events
- Created: 21 May 2023 21 May 2023
High End 2023 Trophy Time: Products of the Year and Outstanding Achievement Awards for 2022 (and 2020)
At the end of each year, the SoundStage! editors pick the best products based on the reviews that have appeared across our network of sites during the previous 12 months. This year, we created an award for Outstanding Achievement in the industry—and there were three people in 2022 who won.
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- Written by Jason Thorpe Jason Thorpe
- Parent Category: Shows-Events Shows-Events
- Created: 21 May 2023 21 May 2023
High End 2023 Product Coverage: Auris Audio Bayadere 5 Turntable and Hawk Tonearm
It’s not often I get stopped in my tracks by a turntable. I should qualify that statement a bit . . . I’m a cheap date, and any turntable that isn’t a rectangular slab of wood will give me horny pains. But that said, I’m quite capable of walking past most of the chrome and acrylic monstrosities without going ga-ga.
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- Written by Jason Thorpe Jason Thorpe
- Parent Category: Shows-Events Shows-Events
- Created: 21 May 2023 21 May 2023
High End 2023 Listening Session: Rockport Technologies and Absolare—Fly to the Moon in Luxury
The Rockport Technologies and Absolare room was packed. Standing room only. This was Saturday, the first of two days during which High End was open to the public, and attendance seemed to have more than doubled. Thank heavens the COVID-19 emergency has officially ended because this would have been a superspreader event.
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Parent Category: Shows-Events Shows-Events
- Created: 21 May 2023 21 May 2023
High End 2023 Product Coverage: Vitus Audio Signature Series SM-103 Mk.II Mono Amplifier and SD-025 Mk.II Digital-to-Analog Converter
In the weeks leading up to a show like High End 2023, I research what new products have been announced and ask manufacturers to let me know what new products they’ll be displaying. I plan my initial coverage around products for which I’ve received advance information. Everything else I discover at the show is secondary.
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- Written by Jason Thorpe Jason Thorpe
- Parent Category: Shows-Events Shows-Events
- Created: 21 May 2023 21 May 2023
High End 2023 Listening Session: AudioSolutions Rocks Out for a Reasonable Price!
For the first time ever, I got to listen to Pink Floyd’s The Final Cut at an audio show—on vinyl, no less. It impressed me that Gediminas Gaidelis, owner and engineer of AudioSolutions, had this LP buried in among the usual audiophile bumfluffery. Why more exhibitors don’t use this album in demos is beyond me.
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- Written by Jason Thorpe Jason Thorpe
- Parent Category: Shows-Events Shows-Events
- Created: 21 May 2023 21 May 2023
High End 2023 Listening Session: ESD Acoustic’s Biggest System in the World
Are you not entertained? Is it a spectacle you want? Well, ESD Acoustic, a new-to-me company that’s just thrilled to tell you it’s from China, presented a truly over-the-top spectacle at High End 2023. In all my days, I’ve never seen anything like this outrageous system. I mean, just look at this setup.
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- Written by Jason Thorpe Jason Thorpe
- Parent Category: Shows-Events Shows-Events
- Created: 21 May 2023 21 May 2023
High End 2003 Listening Impression: Sonus Faber and McIntosh—Italian Elegance Meets American Muscle
Certain iconic products have become part of our cultural DNA. The Coca-Cola bottle. The Rolex Submariner watch. The Chanel N°5 bottle. The Ferrari 308.
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Parent Category: Shows-Events Shows-Events
- Created: 21 May 2023 21 May 2023
High End 2023 Product Coverage: Stenheim Alumine Two.Five Loudspeaker
Switzerland’s Stenheim used High End 2023 to launch the new Alumine Two.Five loudspeaker, which the company describes as “a passive two-way, floorstanding, high-performance speaker that incorporates the company’s essential design attributes in an elegant tower that adapts to most living spaces.” The Alumine Two.Five reportedly “builds on the simplicity of the original bookshelf Alumine Two, but with greater cabinet volume and double bass drivers for lower extension.”
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- Written by Jason Thorpe Jason Thorpe
- Parent Category: Shows-Events Shows-Events
- Created: 20 May 2023 20 May 2023
High End 2023 Listening Session: Verity Audio, the Mint Meltaway of Audio
After sitting down in Verity Audio’s room, I realized within 15 seconds just how much I’ve missed listening to the company’s speakers. It’s been well over a decade since I reviewed a Verity speaker. It was the Amadis, back in 2010. That sealed my fate, as the Amadis was probably the most musically satisfying speaker I’d ever heard in my room.
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Parent Category: Shows-Events Shows-Events
- Created: 20 May 2023 20 May 2023
High End 2023 Product Coverage: Lyngdorf Audio Cue-100 Loudspeaker
For 20 years, Denmark’s Lyngdorf Audio has been making products that are both technically advanced and lifestyle-friendly—the latter meaning that interior designers might approve of using Lyngdorf components in the home. That can’t be said of all hi-fi brands.
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Parent Category: Shows-Events Shows-Events
- Created: 20 May 2023 20 May 2023
High End 2023 Product Coverage: Gryphon Audio Designs Diablo 333 Integrated Amplifier
Denmark’s Gryphon Audio Designs is well known for massive class-A-biased power amplifiers that generate a lot of heat, take up a lot of space, and probably injure a lot of backs as buyers try to maneuver them into place. Examples include Gryphon’s flagship Apex stereo and monoblock power amplifiers. The stereo version of the Apex won a SoundStage! Network Product of the Year award in 2022.
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Parent Category: Shows-Events Shows-Events
- Created: 20 May 2023 20 May 2023
High End 2023 Product Coverage: Naim Audio Nait 50 Integrated Amplifier
I’ve been into audio since 1980. Since then, I’ve been aware of the Naim Audio brand, but I’ve never owned a Naim product—though I’ve been tempted to. Naim Audio has always had a fervid, almost cult-like following. People don’t seem to just buy Naim; they live Naim. I’m reminded of that whenever UK-based SoundStage! contributor Jonathan Gorse speaks of the brand. He owns several Naim components, including the Nait 1 integrated amplifier, which the company released in 1983 and just refurbished for Jonathan. Never having owned a Naim component, I can’t quite understand this fervor, but it’s something I kind of envy.
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- Written by Jason Thorpe Jason Thorpe
- Parent Category: Shows-Events Shows-Events
- Created: 20 May 2023 20 May 2023
High End 2023 Listening Session: YG Acoustics Ascent Loudspeakers and My Horrible Hangover
It had been a slow start to Friday morning. After dinner Thursday night, we’d made a tactical error and ended up at a bar with some industry folks. I proceeded to drink more than was strictly advisable given the early starts we had scheduled for ourselves. Doug Schneider is much more mature than I am when it comes to this sort of thing. He had one beer and then split, shooting a look of warning at me as he bellowed, “8:30 tomorrow in the hotel lobby. Right, Jason?”
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Parent Category: Shows-Events Shows-Events
- Created: 20 May 2023 20 May 2023
High End 2023 Product Coverage: Diptyque DP 140 MKII Loudspeaker
France’s Diptyque showed the new DP 140 MKII in one of High End’s hall-area displays on the main floor. Priced at €14,000 per pair and measuring 55″H × 19″W × 1.85″D, the DP 140 MKII is a ribbon-based design described by the company as being part of “a new generation of isodynamic speakers designed for music lovers.” Frankly, the beauty of this tall, wide, shallow speaker might be in the eye of the beholder, but I think it looks really good. It could dress up an appropriate living room with its lithe, modern look.
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Parent Category: Shows-Events Shows-Events
- Created: 19 May 2023 19 May 2023
High End 2023 Product Coverage: PMC Prodigy1 and Prodigy5 Loudspeakers
At High End, companies usually showcase very expensive products. But at High End 2023, the focus of UK-based Professional Monitor Company, aka PMC, was affordability.
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Parent Category: Shows-Events Shows-Events
- Created: 19 May 2023 19 May 2023
High End 2023 Product Coverage: Sonus Faber Stradivari G2 Loudspeaker
When covering events like High End, we hardly ever include products that are being displayed away from the show itself. It takes too much time to visit offsite exhibits, which means we’d shortchange the event we’re supposed to be covering.
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- Written by Jason Thorpe Jason Thorpe
- Parent Category: Shows-Events Shows-Events
- Created: 19 May 2023 19 May 2023
High End 2023 Listening Session: Marten and Engström Present Speakers in Tuxedos
If you’re ever feeling too comfortable in your life, if you ever wanna be overwhelmed for a spell, nip on over to Germany and spend a morning walking around Munich’s High End show. It’s huge—way bigger than any show I’ve ever experienced. I’m on audio overload.
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Parent Category: Shows-Events Shows-Events
- Created: 18 May 2023 18 May 2023
High End 2023 Product Coverage: NAD Masters M66 Streaming DAC-Preamplifier
In the weeks leading up to High End, many companies send out press releases describing the products they’ll be unveiling at the show. I try to look at every press release, though I sometimes miss a few. But the one that jumped out at me the moment it arrived came from NAD, announcing the Masters M66 streaming DAC-preamplifier. The M66 is priced at €5999 and will be available this fall.
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- Written by Jason Thorpe Jason Thorpe
- Parent Category: Shows-Events Shows-Events
- Created: 18 May 2023 18 May 2023
High End 2023 Listening Session: DALI Epikore 11—the Sensible Trickle-Down
Last year I spent a week visiting Danish Audiophile Loudspeaker Industries (DALI), one of the world’s largest manufacturers of hi-fi speakers. DALI had invited a group of journalists to Denmark to tour its factory and gain detailed insight into the design and construction of its flagship Kore loudspeaker.
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Parent Category: Shows-Events Shows-Events
- Created: 18 May 2023 18 May 2023
High End 2023 Product Coverage: Estelon Aura Loudspeaker
Since its founding in 2010, Estonia-based Estelon has focused on making sculpture-like speakers where form and function appear to be on an equal footing. According to CEO Alissa Vassilkova, this form-and-function approach has been guided by her father, chief designer Alfred Vassilkov. From the beginning, his goal has been to make speakers that look and sound beautiful. Estelon’s latest speaker is the Aura, which was announced a few months ago. As far as I know, High End 2023 was its first public showing. It sells for €17,500 per pair.
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- Written by Doug Schneider Doug Schneider
- Parent Category: Shows-Events Shows-Events
- Created: 18 May 2023 18 May 2023
High End 2023 Product Coverage: Crystal Cable Minissimo Forte Loudspeaker
Holland’s Crystal Cable is well known among audiophiles for its thin, attractive interconnects, speaker cables, and power cords. It’s the sister brand of Siltech, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. But although much younger, Crystal Cable has enjoyed astonishing success during its 19-year history.
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