Have You Seen?
Shows-Events
- Details
- Written by: Matt Bonaccio
- Category: High End 2024
As a first-timer here at High End 2024, I was struck by the scale of this event. The show venue is roughly the size of the state of Rhode Island (perhaps that’s a slight exaggeration), and yet is filled to capacity. What’s mind-boggling about the World of Headphones section of the show is that it takes up about one-eighth of the total floor space of the exhibition hall. When you consider that headphones are absolutely miniscule compared to, say, a pair of Vivid Audio Moya M1s, you realize that that’s a lot of space to devote to just headphones. It’s clear that High End 2024 is really serious about ’phones.
- Details
- Written by: Matt Bonaccio
- Category: High End 2024
Yes, it’s a stupid title, but it gets to the point. At SoundStage! we know that sensible people—especially the sort of people who are serious about headphones—appreciate it when you get to the point. Here it is: Focal brought two new pairs of wired headphones to Munich, the closed-back Azurys and open-back Hadenys. They’re quite good, and they’re affordable—€549 for the Azurys, €699 for the Hadenys. On the left side of the pond, the prices are the same in US dollars.
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- Written by: Matt Bonaccio
- Category: High End 2024
Italian speaker manufacturer Sonus Faber has been on a tear developing impressive speakers lately, but this will not surprise you if you visit the SoundStage! Network sites regularly. I say this because publisher Doug Schneider and our video team recently paid the Sonus Faber folks two visits, first at their headquarters in Italy, and then at the House of Sound in New York. You can read about his encounter with the new Suprema loudspeaker over on SoundStage! Hi-Fi.
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- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: High End 2024
I have a recurring dream. It’s not exactly a nightmare because it’s not overtly scary. I emerge from it more perplexed than unsettled. It goes like this. I’m sitting in the corner of a dimly lit room, and right there in the middle of the room is what’s ostensibly a single Vivid Audio Kaya 45 speaker. This right here is odd, huh? A dream about a speaker?
- Details
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: High End 2024
I popped in to the Crystal Cable headquarters here at High End 2024 to let founder Gabi Rynveld know how much I enjoyed reviewing the company’s Art Series Monet speaker cables a while back on SoundStage! Ultra.
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- Written by: Matt Bonaccio
- Category: High End 2024
I’ve yet to have the chance to have a proper listening session with any of Q Acoustics’ speakers, but I hope to change that soon. In recent years, the British brand has earned a reputation for high-performing speakers that are affordable enough for almost anybody, and the world has taken notice. When I learned that a new generation of the venerable 3000 line of passive speakers was being shown for the first time at High End 2024, I zipped over to Q Acoustics’ exhibit room to see what they’re all about.
- Details
- Written by: Matt Bonaccio
- Category: High End 2024
Okay, I exaggerated a little in that title, but I couldn’t resist. The D120 speaker from Totaldac is new indeed, but rather than being “totally” new, it’s more of an “evolution” than a “revolution.” I’d never heard of this company before the days leading up to High End 2024, but I’m glad to have been introduced.
- Details
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: High End 2024
After Matt’s somewhat unsatisfying “factory tour,” I decided that I should stop by Göbel’s room, which it shared with Pilium Audio and Kronos Audio, to see what’s what with its speakers.
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- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: High End 2024
Upon entering Gryphon Audio Designs’ room, I encountered Anthony Chiarella, the company’s North American director of sales and marketing. The room was jammed full—standing-room only—but there was no music playing. Chiarella explained that I’d have to wait about ten minutes before they could play music, as they play it really loud, and so does the room next door. The two exhibitors had agreed to alternate demos so as not to bother each other.
- Details
- Written by: Doug Schneider
- Category: High End 2024
SoundStage! began publishing in 1995, which makes us quite young compared to many of the brands we cover. For example, PSB and NAD recently celebrated their 50th anniversaries. KEF was founded in 1961, so it’s over a decade older than those two brands. Klipsch was founded in 1946, and Luxman was founded in 1925!
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- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: High End 2024
I am sad. It’s true that I wear my heart on my sleeve, and that’s why I never play poker. So I walked into the Estelon room and saw the brand new Estelon X Diamond Signature Edition speakers. From a distance, they immediately evoked the XB Mk II speakers that spent several months in my listening room. That’s what made me sad, because I’ve never been so unhappy when a product left my house.
- Details
- Written by: Matt Bonaccio
- Category: High End 2024
About 44 miles outside of Munich, just down the River Isar into Lower Bavaria, lies the small town of Landshut. Landshut is known mostly for its medieval architecture and reenactment of the Landshut Wedding. Held every four years, this festival is based on the 1475 celebration of the marriage of a Bavarian duke to the daughter of the king of Poland. It’s a cute, quaint little town in the Bavarian countryside, but it is also home to Göbel High End, a manufacturer of extreme audiophile speakers and cables.
- Details
- Written by: Matt Bonaccio
- Category: High End 2024
Many believe that there exists a sort of knowledge that cannot be found in the observable universe, and that the quest for Truth (with a capital “T”) necessarily involves the pursuit of such knowledge. Studies of spirituality, magic and the dark arts, and religious esoterica exemplify this search, but for the humble electronic engineer, a deep understanding of electromagnetics is just as profound. Polish manufacturer Fezz Audio is here in Munich displaying its mastery of the subject with two new analog hi-fi products, each of which relies on seriously audiophile-grade transformers.
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- Written by: Matt Bonaccio
- Category: High End 2024
Doug Schneider, the SoundStage! Network’s publisher and head honcho, basically dragged me by the ear into International Audio Group’s room in one of the upper atria of the Munich Order Center. We had to drop off a Product of the Year award for Mission, which is one of IAG’s brands. I don’t normally enjoy chores like this, but I’m glad Doug pulled me into the room.
- Details
- Written by: Doug Schneider
- Category: High End 2024
At High End 2022, DALI (Danish Audiophile Loudspeaker Industries) debuted its Kore loudspeaker, which, today, is priced at Є90,000 per pair in Europe (including Europe’s VAT, also reflected in the prices below). The company’s main goal with the Kore was to show the world everything this Danish brand had learned about loudspeaker design during its 40-year history (DALI was founded in 1983). Also, I’m pretty sure DALI’s accountants hoped the company would sell quite a few pairs.
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- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: High End 2024
Earlier this year, Hans Wetzel reviewed the Audionet Humboldt integrated amplifier and found it to be good. That’s the biggest understatement I’ve cranked out today—it’s a biblical understatement. The $59k (USD) Humboldt (all prices in euros except that one) impressed Hans with its insane build quality, huuuuge power, and neutral, resolving sound quality. “It’s a statement-level integrated amplifier,” he testified.
- Details
- Written by: Matt Bonaccio
- Category: High End 2024
The S 230 loudspeaker, which T+A Elektroakustik recently added to its Criterion line, is still pretty much brand spankin’ new. It only began shipping last month, at a price of €9500 (VAT included) in Europe, or $11,990 per pair in the US. Naturally, I was excited to get my eyes and ears on a pair of S 230s here in Munich. Imagine my surprise when I visited T+A’s exhibition room and was greeted with a newer-still Criterion loudspeaker, the S 240.
- Details
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: High End 2024
During High End 2023, I spent a fun hour or so in the AudioSolutions room checking out the company’s Figaro M2 speaker. We listened to a bunch of cool music that was right out of my forever playlist. And it was all on vinyl. In my report on the room, I mentioned that the source was the Immersion II turntable from Poland’s BennyAudio, but I didn’t go into much detail other than to throw in a photo.
- Details
- Written by: Matt Bonaccio
- Category: High End 2024
There’s something inherently gonzo about trying to report on one of these massive hi-fi shows. It’s nigh impossible to strip oneself of the sensory overload one experiences at the show so that one can write about it in a sensible way.
- Details
- Written by: Matt Bonaccio
- Category: High End 2024
Wenn schon, denn schon is an idiomatic phrase in German with no direct translation to English. Even to a native German, it’s one of those things that sounds like weird nonsense once you get thinking about it. In use, however, it’s very much akin to the English phrase, “If you’re gonna do something, you better go all the way.”
Subcategories
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